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Originally Posted by Anomoly
personally i have dish with 2 recievers, but we have 4 remotes so we can have dish in 4 rooms, 2 are IR and 2 are UHF (radio) so we have a reciever in the den upstairs on the 2nd floor, and a reciever in the basement, we didnt have to add any extra equipment i would think yours might work the same?
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that functionality is something that is exclusive to dish network. DirecTV does not use that style of system.
You pretty much have two options, RF or IR repeaters. If you decide to go RF, you really need to get a remote that's designed for it. The RF stations you get at radio shack are crap. They're unreliable at best, and don't have near the range you need. For RF there are some options out there for you. Logitech makes a couple RF based remotes that would do the trick for you, and operate very simply. URC (Universal Remote Control) also makes some, and there are others out there.
IR repeaters are the other option. you install an IR receiver into the wall in whatever rooms you need control capabilities. They tie into the Cat5 wiring you already have in there. With the right system, you can use several recievers into a single IR distribution box. The dist box just relays the signals it gets from your remote via the cat5/reciever into whatever boxes you put the blasters onto.
Either way you go you will need independant systems for both upstairs and downstairs. In either case, to get a reliable system that you won't have to walk halfway to the basement to use, you're looking at several hundred dollars, even over a grand depending on how many rooms etc.
Honestly, unless you're thinking of putting receivers all over your house, I don't think it's worth the money it would cost to set up what you want. Just suck it up and pay the 5 bucks a month for the extra boxes. In the long run, this way will turn out to be more expensive, but only in the very long run.
Lastly, I don't know if you have any HDTVs in your house, but this system will NOT get an HD signal to your TVs from a central location without some specialized equipment.
Hope that helps.