Friends,

We've been asked to look into an issue in a MDU that has a gym full of Precor and Woodway exercise equipment.

Spectrum came out and installed a DCI401TWC2 box w/remote at each machine.

What the HOA would like is for the user to be able to control channel and volume via the built in controls on the machine rather than by the Spectrum remote.

I did the usual DTV & ATV channel scan, but it would just find the single output Ch. 4 of the DCI401TWC2 and not the full host of DTV standard channels.

We haven't needed to do this sort of thing since ATV went away and Spectrum isn't much help.

Any ideas on what is required to do this?

TIA!

-Jay

All cable signals are encrypted now. You need the box to do tuning, and it's rf output is only going generate channel 3 or channel 4, depending on its setting. The only way to do what you are wanting is to have charter to install an MDU modulation system like they use in hospitals and hotels.

This is your only option, other than soldering the equipment buttons to the remote control.

This will get expensive, so be advised. The price is typically determined by how many channels they want available for the machines.

Indeed. Understand that for each channel they want patrons to watch they'll need a channel of modulation. They'll need a cable box tuned to that channel, permanently, connected to the modulator.

The displays will need to decode Qam channels.

For a small place, way too expensive. For a large place, a tough choice.

My favorite supplier can lay this out for you. There are lots of additional things to think about, and frankly, don't want to waste your time if this is a generic question..

I've had great luck with zeevee.

You only need 1 box per channel you want them to access, then the zeevee qill modulate that out over coax, the machines use the built in tuners and controls for volume and changing channel.

Thanks guys!

Yes, I'm wary of wasting time on this, but we do a ton of resi business in this building and a little bit of due diligence for them will pave the way for a smooth relationship with the HOA and the building engineering staff on future projects.

thecynic315, what ZeeVee product do you use??

Yeah, but if they want 30 channels, that means 30 cable boxes and 30 zeevee's.

Usually commercial accounts only want about 10 channels (weather channel, news, local, etc...). It's sports bars and such, that are paying for the big commercial packages, that need more - and usually they still go with only 15-20 in-house channels and just change the service on any given channel when needed.

All this depends on how many video displays the place even has. To need a lot of channels, usually means the building has a LOT of video displays. Otherwise it's cheaper just to hide a box away at each display.

Off-air antenna is your friend. It's all we do in apartment community fitness centers now. Granted these aren't "gyms" where people pay to go, but it is so much less painful than dealing with any other option at the moment.

So would the design be for say, 8 exercise machines with NTSC tuners be:

One OAA antenna > 1x8 splitter > out to each machine > channel scan ANT. at each machine

Done?

Yes. But prepare the client for the bitching when people can't get sports center, CNN or Fox News.

We usually go with the HDB2540 4 input 720p output units. they have other flavors as well. nice thing is the web interface lets you log into one unit then click a box and see ALL the units and make changes to ALL at one time.

Also the only thing limiting the number of displays is the power loss from all the splitters. Zeevee has really good support to help figure that out and you can make adjustments to each RF channel to boost or lower the power.

Only thing to note on this unit is since it is 720p you will need a small TV to set up all your STBs for their channel and output resolution.



well the zeevee is an X input unit so, no it isn't 30 it'd be 8.

But yeah in a gym type install for an MDU 15 is A LOT.