Installation standards
edit | This section may be too long to read and navigate comfortably. (December 2011) |
| | This article may contain an excessive amount of intricate detail that may interest only a particular audience. (March 2012) |
A Bell TV receiver can only be activated with a minimum of 75% signal. On a clear day in most of the country, a receiver should be able to acquire close to 85% on transponders 11 and 3, two of the strongest transponders from Nimiq 1. Transponder 5 on Nimiq 1 and Transponder 1 on Nimiq 4 provides software downloads. Signal levels on Nimiq 4, at 82°W, vary between 90% and 100%. Receivers should only be activated with the proper signal and the correct software. An initial software download or update takes a maximum of 7 minutes. Some clients may mistakenly point their dish to other satellites, typically Echostar 11 at 110°W. This ends up writing Dish Network software to the receiver which makes it completely useless. Older receivers like the 2700 are said to have the ability to overwrite software simply by pointing back to Nimiq 1 at 91°W. Newly activated receivers generally also come with outdated smartcard revisions (the smartcard software). Leaving the receiver on for 2 hours max and then resetting the power of the receiver generally updates the smartcard software or setting the receiver to transponder 13 and turning the power off will do the same. In 2006, Bell TV took measures to improve the Nagravision 2 security system and are constantly updating revisions. Outdated smartcard revisions will leave the client with black screens upon changing channels.
For an installation with one or two receivers, a direct connection from the receiver to the dish's LNB should be made with a maximum amount of 125 ft of RG-6 coaxial cabling. An LNB has two outputs and each receiver should have its separate connection. Any splitters used will cause signal problems on both receivers. Beyond 125 ft of RG-6 will require a repeater (an in-line digital amplifier). Many installers will unfortunately try to cut corners and use existing coaxial cabling; this cabling is typical RG-59 and experiences significant attenuation. RG-59 is generally made to only handle CATV frequencies (900 MHz and less) instead of frequency range 950-1450 MHz (In most applications and some commercials systems up to 2050 MHz) and don't have proper shielding against interference. The usage of RG-59 cabling will cause significant signal loss on longer distances but can be used in short distances. Signal level can vary between -69dBm and -10dBm without any change in picture quality. (Signal level should not be mixed with IRD strength which can be obtained from receiver menus, which should be between 75% and 100%) but when signal level is lower, rain fade will have greater effect on signal.
Three to four receivers will require the installation of a 2x4 multiplexer (MUX). It takes the two lines from the LNB and provides four outputs. Some MUX models also require a power inserter; this provides additional current to the MUX to power LNB and the MUX itself. A power inserter is typically connected to separate input on a MUX. Clients requiring service on both Nimiq 1 and Nimiq 4 will require an SW44 or an SW21 switch instead of a MUX. Both lines from the Nimiq 1 LNB and both from the Nimiq 4 LNB come into the switch. The switch then merges both signals and provides four outputs; a power inserter is mandatory on all 4x4 switches. The purpose of the MUX is to permanently assign either 13 Volts or 19 volts to a particular LNB. In this way the output side of the MUX will connect to 13vdc polarization of the satellite or the 19vdc polarization. Satellite transponders transmit in both horizontal and vertical polarizations to increase the number of channels per transponder. The receiver switches the DC voltage 13/19 depending on the channel you select. A table of the correspondence between channels and satellite/transponder/polarization is downloaded from satellite and changed at will by the provider.
The installation of more than four receivers is a bit more complicated unless you have a MUX or switch that supports more than four outputs. ExpressVu does not officially provide any MUX or switch to customers with more than four outputs, so typical splitters in the range of 1.5 GHz are required to split the LNB lines; this provides additional inputs into a second MUX or switch. It can somewhat complicate the installation, but is still deemed as official and compliant to ExpressVu's standards. The easier (and cheaper) way to install something like six receivers would be to simply install a second dish which costs only $99 vs. installing a second MUX or switch and having to hassle with complex wiring. Another alternative is to follow the hardware setup used by The Dish Network using the Dish Pro Plus (DPP) series of antenna connectivity hardware available on the Internet. The DPP series allows connection to multiple satellites. You will need to check to see if all your receivers are DPP compatible.
Around Late 2009, Bell TV has begun to use DPP (Dish Pro Plus) Twin LNBF's. These LNBF's are being used to install newer 9242,9241,5200,3200 units which require 2 lines because they are dual tuners. The advantage of Dish Pro Plus is that it only requires a single line to one receiver and close to the receiver we what is known as a "DPP Separator", which band stacks both dual tuners into one line and feeds it to any dual tuner receiver. The only disadvantage to Bell TV is that only 2 Dual Tuner receivers can be used with this LNBF. So any more than 2 and you have to go back to Legacy Installations with the involvement of the SW44 and possible splitters. For example if someone had 4x 9242's I would need 2 SW44's and 2-way splitters to complete the installation. This is because Bell at this current time does NOT support the use of the DPP44 Switch which can be used in conjunction with DPP Twin LNBF only requiring 2 outside lines to be fed inside the home or building instead of the 4 needed to use the SW44. The software in the receiver itself supports the use of the DPP44 but bell with not help if you install the system yourself and run into any issues. Bell "may" in the future do one of three things, either make their own a DPP24 or purchase DPP44 switch's from USA Based Dish-Network or they may even create their own DPP Quad LNBF.
Many multidwelling units (MDU) do not allow the installation of more than one dish for an entire building. As a result, a multiplexer system must be installed. These typically involve the installation of larger if not cascaded MUXs. The problem with this is that if anything happens to the dish, the entire building loses service. In some MDU systems signals are stacked using whole bandwidth from 900 MHz to 2050 MHz. Advantage of this one is that signal can be split to multiple receivers but customer requires a destacker (downconverter) to be able to receive the signal.
Installers are responsible for the activation of all professionally installed receivers. A receiver typically takes a couple of minutes to respond to an activation signal, yet queued satellite signals (hits) can sometimes take up to two hours to process. Additionally, installers are supposed to coach the client on how to use the system.