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ehzaz

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Hi Guys,
I am totally new to all of this. I am on an info gathering mission. I currently have no setup. I want learn as much as possible b4 investing in a satellite setup. I will be, over a period of time, asking a lot of questions. Here goes the first one.
1) What, apart from the obvious reasons, are the differrences between the twin, the quad and the monoblock lnb's.
for eg. if I want to be able to watch multiple channels(in differents rooms) at the same time, should I go for twin lnbs or quad. Would the picture and sound quality be affected. btw I am a little bit of a purist(staunch audiophile).Which would be best. I would like to receive signals from Atsra1, Astra2 and hotbird. So I think a three LNB config would be the best.

Thanks for helping a newbie.
Ehzaz
Be cool y'all
 

rolfw

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You can rule out the monobloc for 3 satellites, so you are down to the quad and twin LNBs. You will need 3 quad LNBs and 3 four way DiseqC switches to serve 3 separate receivers, but the picture will be as good as each individual receiver is capable of providing.
 

ehzaz

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Thanks Rolfw,

But I would still like to know the differrence between the twin and the quad?


Forever grateful

Ehzaz
 

BGonaSTICK

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'Twins' and 'quads' are LNB configurations that look like a single LNB, and point at a single satellite, but have either two (twin) or four (quad) outputs. Each output is fully independent link a normal LNB, and can therefore be switched between high/low band and vertical/horizontal polarity to receive any channel on the single satellite at which the dish is pointed.

This setup will allow you to run either 2 or 4 receivers independantly.

Look out also for quattros which are like quads, but have the four outputs split as 1 - High/Vertical, 2 - High/Horizontal, 3 - Low/Vertical and 4 Low/Horizontal (but not necessarily in that order!). These are often used for 'communal' setups.

A monoblock in constructed (on the face of it) in a similar way to a twin, but is actually two LNB's pointing at different satellites with a fixed angle between them (often 6 degrees to accommodate 19.2E and 13E). They also incorporate a diseqc switch to flip between them using the diseqc control from the receiver. It has one output and can therefore only feed 1 receiver. Obviously you cannot receive more than two satellites with the monoblock setup.

HTH

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ehzaz

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Thanks for the info BgonaStick. If I plan on having three LNB's(to receive 3 sats) how many diSeqC's would I need? And what size dish would you recommend? Is there anywhere I could obtain a diagram to understand the configuration.

Thanx again
Ehzaz
 

twag42

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instead of messing about with all that monoblock BS which is a bit of a pain,why dont you motorise your dish then your not restricted to just a couple of sats. i am also in amsterdam and with a motor you can pick up some really good telly from the different sats.something that is not possible with a fixed dish and the monoblock lnb
 

twag42

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i have a good idea,go to one of the sat dealers here in amsterdam ask what it would cost to have your idea installed,then find out what the same would be with a motor.if you need some advice after this you could PM me and we could discuss the best option for you.
 

ehzaz

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twag42 said:
i have a good idea,go to one of the sat dealers here in amsterdam ask what it would cost to have your idea installed,then find out what the same would be with a motor.if you need some advice after this you could PM me and we could discuss the best option for you.

Thanks for the info Twag42. One of the reasons I want to have more than one receiver is to allow my kids to watch kiddies programs, while at the same time I could watch football, or more adult oriented(not mature content) programs. The advice I got from the dealer and also from a friend that's really into this stuff for the last four years, is to have 3lnb's+diseqcs mounted on one 1meter dish running into three receivers. I have already bought a twin tuner topfield4000/40Gb. Apparently the motor setup is not good enough for what I want.

Thanx
Ehzaz
 

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A motor with a quad LNB would be fine, but the main advantages of the multi-LNB setup you suggested are that it's silent in operation, and that switching between satellites is near-instant. I'm not trying to sell you on either approach. Only you can decide which you fancy most.

Three fixed quad LNBs and one 4-way DiSEqC switch for each receiver - or to be more accurate TUNER (up to a maximum of four) would do you. One output from each of the three LNBs would go into each 4-way DiSEqC switch (leaving one input spare) with a single cable then running to your receiver's tuner from each switch output.

Not sure how your twin-tuner setup would work, i.e. if both would have the capability of DiSEqC 1.1 switching, or if just one tuner would?!?! If only one had DiSEqC, then that could get complicated. :confused

Depending on your exact location, and the footprint and relative strength of the satellite signal(s) you are receiving, I would guess that a 1m dish would be a reasonable starting point. There are several good manufacturers of dishes around this size, and all I can say is that I'm very happy with my Triax dishes. Triax also make matching multi-LNB brackets for these.

STICK
 

ehzaz

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BGonaSTICK said:
A motor with a quad LNB would be fine, but the main advantages of the multi-LNB setup you suggested are that it's silent in operation, and that switching between satellites is near-instant. I'm not trying to sell you on either approach. Only you can decide which you fancy most.

Three fixed quad LNBs and one 4-way DiSEqC switch for each receiver - or to be more accurate TUNER (up to a maximum of four) would do you. One output from each of the three LNBs would go into each 4-way DiSEqC switch (leaving one input spare) with a single cable then running to your receiver's tuner from each switch output.

Not sure how your twin-tuner setup would work, i.e. if both would have the capability of DiSEqC 1.1 switching, or if just one tuner would?!?! If only one had DiSEqC, then that could get complicated. :confused

Depending on your exact location, and the footprint and relative strength of the satellite signal(s) you are receiving, I would guess that a 1m dish would be a reasonable starting point. There are several good manufacturers of dishes around this size, and all I can say is that I'm very happy with my Triax dishes. Triax also make matching multi-LNB brackets for these.

STICK
Thanx
This clears up a lot of the confusion. Although there is still much to learn and understand

Very much appreciated
Ehzaz
 

BGonaSTICK

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ehzaz said:
Although there is still much to learn and understand

I feel like that everyday! :D
 
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