Thread hijack sequence initiated.

I went up yesterday to a long time client's cabin 2 hours from here to replace all 7 of the ancient DTV HR22 receivers they had. 1 died, and we decided it was best to replace all of them at one time.

We put in their place 4 HR24 and 1 HR54 with 2 C61 clients. Existing infrastructure was upgraded in 2012 to a SL5 LNB (needed at that time, but now I believe a 3 would suffice) powered by a Sonora inserter, split into 2 SWM-8. From there, there is an 8 port SWM splitter and a 4 port SWM splitter attached, respectively, to each SWM-8. 4 receivers were connected to the 8-way, and 3 to the 4-way.

I took with me, a SWM 21 LNB and a single 8-way SWM splitter, anticipating replacing the existing hardware (this was recommended by the local DTV dealer we purchase equipment from). Dish is on the peak of the roof above the second story. Not ideal at all, and when it began snowing and raining when I arrived, I decided against going up there.

I replaced the dead HR22 with a HR24, ran through the setup, contacted DTV to activate, and all was well. I proceeded to connect the remainder of the receivers, got them all activated, and things seem to be functioning fine. On my way home, I told the boss that it all worked without having to replace the other parts. He told me that the dealer said things would probably work mostly, but issues would likely arise when trying to view recorded programs on the clients. I am not sure the reasoning behind this.

My guess is that maybe the 2 SWM-8 do not "talk" to each other? And if I were to have placed the HR54 on one SWM-8, and 1 or both of the clients on the other, maybe they would not communicate? At any rate, I was smart enough to put the genie and clients on one SWM-8 and the 4 HR24 on the other. No need for whole home DVR here. 4 HR24 are in "private quarters" with no need for viewing between them or the HR54 for that matter.

Sooooo......is there any benefit to going back to replace the LNB with the 21 tuner SWM LNB, yanking the Sonora PID, splitters and SWM-8s and simplifying the hookup? Would it be just as well to replace only the SWM hardware with a SWM16, and leave the LNB as is?

Many ways to skin this cat. Which is best? What would you do?