Does DIRECTV have to be hardwired?

A common question that many individuals ask is whether DirecTV satellite TV service needs to be wired into the house or whether it can be wireless. The answer to the question on whether DirecTV receivers require direct connection to the outside satellite dish using coaxial cables is that they do. However, once you get the signal indoors you have some ways of getting TV to different rooms without having to stick wires into walls and floors.

Why DirecTV Equipment Needs to be Hardwired

DirecTV satellite dishes and receivers are optimized to provide extremely high-quality HD video signals that demand a great amount of bandwidth and a stable connection. WiFi kind of technologies just cannot provide the bandwidth necessary for satellite TV to deliver hundreds of thousands of data. Not even the current 802. 11ac WiFi standards are even close to delivering the throughput of a coax cable wired directly from the dish.

Therefore the dish has to be connected directly to DirecTV receiver with RG6 coaxial cable copper wire. This brings about a separate video path between the dish and the receiver to ensure the finest picture and stability of the picture. If any of the wireless transmission technologies were to be inserted between the dish and the receiver, the video quality and stability would be considerably affected.

Is It Necessary to Hardwire All the DirecTV Receivers?

Once the satellite signal enters the home through the primary receiver, you have a couple of good options for wirelessly transmitting DirecTV to other rooms without having to punch holes through the walls.

Many DirecTV installations use one dish on the roof or balcony that feeds a wire to the central area where there are television sets. Then Genie Minis can be used to wirelessly transmit DirecTV to other rooms of the house. The Genie Mini is basically a small receiver box that is able to receive the DirecTV signal through wireless method from the main Genie DVR from a distance of up to 200 feet. As long as you install the main DirecTV receiver somewhere in the middle of your dwelling, you can easily distribute HD video to various rooms utilizing the small Genie Mini boxes. Through DECA technology installed in the boxes, up to 8 Genie Minis can connect to this main Genie DVR. It offers you the full functionality of a DVR and adds an On Demand service to all the linked TVs.

Another non-wired solution for the secondary rooms is the wireless HDMI system. Instead of having to put HDMI cables through the walls and under floorboards to multiple TVs you can use wireless HDMI transmitters and receivers. HDMI systems such as the IOGEAR Wireless 42 GHz HDMI system can wirelessly transmit uncompressed 1080p video signals up to 30 meters away. Thus, the HDMI output of your main DirecTV receiver would connect to a wireless transmitter close to that particular TV. Then HDMI receivers would connect to TVs in other rooms. This sleek and relatively inexpensive delivers the complete DirecTV satellite package in full 1080p to any TV within range without any new wires at all.

Going Completely Wireless?

Although distributing the DirecTV signal from the centrally located primary receiver wirelessly is quite effective, it is impossible for the signal from the dish to be transmitted wirelessly rather than through coax cables. Satellite TV dishes require precise alignment for the signals to come through clearly and this is why the dish is often mounted on the rooftop or balcony. Transportation of cables from dishes into homes can be difficult. However, some form of physical interconnectivity is required and that is through a cable connection.

Some subscribers question the possibility of employing outdoor powered antennas for receiving satellite signals rather than roof cables. However, even if this was technically possible, putting electrical equipment outside is prohibited by DirecTV policy. All the dish hardware must be grounded and weathered, and cables should directly penetrate the home.

The good news is that while that initial DirecTV line needs to be hardwired from the dish to the main receiver, wireless options like the Genie Mini and wireless HDMI make it easy to enjoy full DirecTV satellite programming on any TV in your home without needing to run any additional cables inside walls. After bringing the signal inside through that first coax line, technological improvements have made whole home wireless distribution to other rooms possible.

In the future, the internet delivered on line TV services are likely to be more versatile for wire-less solutions in other areas of homes. However, without the unparalleled channel selection option of satellite, DirecTV requires only a single, hard line run from the dish to the central home entertainment cabinet. This ensures that the picture quality of the programs being aired over the various channels is optimized and the clients are able to have full access to the all the premium programs through direct TV. For the rest on how to get DirecTV in any room to any TV, wireless distribution with genie minis or wireless HDMI kits can do the rest.