I had the worst Time Warner installer today. Poor language skills, terrible accent, poor understanding. That probably answers my question. However --

The order was for one HD DVR and four SD receivers. Don't ask why -- client didn't know me then and thought it was a good idea.

Anyway... installer said he needed to run the HD connection first because that will need more signal than the rest of the receivers. After he got that one, he could run the others, since SD doesn't need as much signal strength.

Does this sound as wrong to you as it does to me? What am I missing?

Sound wrong to me.

It's a digital stream, and channels will be scattered all over the spectrum. You basically want a meter to read as close to 0db as possible at any outlet, regardless of what you're plugging in, or what the content is. Unless the HD receiver for whatever reason has a much weaker tuner than the SD receiver, or is at the end of a much longer run than any of the others, but even then the premise is wrong.

So long as the meter is showing the target signal strength, whatever he plugs in - in whatever order - should work fine.

His reasoning may be wrong. The only reason I could think of hooking one up first is for quicker setup and this is really pushing the reason. Perhaps the DVR has a long boot up time. Or, he knows the DVR model is unreliable and as they do not carry extra he could have someone bring another while he continued working. The only other reason is a whole house DVR setup. The DVR issuing the addresses and again speeding up install instead of radomly plugging in boxes and maybe having to go back and reboot. Being SD boxes I doubt this an issue. You did not provide the make and model of the installer.

Since this will be a "system" of units and the DVR is the hub, it makes sense to get the hub going before adding satellite units.

Hopefully, the installer added the filter somewhere, else neighboring MOCA systems might be visible to each other and interact.

And installed it at the proper place. Comcast wanted the filter to be installed at the street. But for some homes that have a long ass drop, and/or inside wiring. The MoCA filter didn't bounce back the signal inside the house good enough. I personally installed it at the ground block.

KOT

I didn't realize that this was in the Comcast vocabulary. I'm still counting the grounded Comcast installs I've encountered on one hand with fingers to spare.

I've been in areas where lightning strikes are very common and most houses include very serious lightning arresters and surge protection, while the cable slips in raw.

(yes, I know that you are a former Comcast employee)

This and the other responses make me think this installer was carefully taught to get the DVR going first, but his instructors lied to him about the reasons. It was pitiful to watch him sincerely explain to me that the HD (he didn't say DVR, he said HD) needed to be connected first so it would get a better signal than the other units, which did not need as strong a signal.

It's not like the cabling would be run to the DVR location and then split off from there, making the other locations lower in signal; all the splitting was to be done outside the house at the west end. Four TV locations were closer (n wire footage) than the DVR.

I'm reminded of the installer I knew who ALWAYS ran a fresh cable instead of using an F81 to extend an existing cable. The pitiful thing is that you and I know the reasons to avoid using an F81, but it was hammered into his head that each F81 introduced a 3 dB signal drop, so an F81 was simply forbidden.

I agree with always running a new cable, but why must they teach lies to the installers, making them unable to think when it might be needed?

There are plenty of reasons why you might want to install the HD receiver first. Even personal preference is one of them. But it's the reason given that's the head-scratcher (and cable topography doesn't work with the DVR as a physical hub, even if it is intended to communicate with the other units).

Speaking of MOCA, I never asked for it, but one day earlier this year (and no changes to anything in probably a year), it suddenly started to work in my house. Normally it's something you have to order, they push different firmware and an installer comes out and puts the filter on and everything... but not in this case. Just one day the little "house" icon started showing up, and I could access shows on other DVRs. No filter. Thankfully no neighbor DVRs visaible either.

While I know that's not ideal, it's hard to gather the will to battle with cable company tech support about something that's *working*.

You never know what flies in late at night.