A lot of businesses choose headend installations when putting in satellite TV. A headend is a self-contained install where all the receivers and their accessories are in one place. A device called a “modulator” combines the signals from all the receivers and allows for easy wiring using practically any coaxial cable. It’s easy to add more TVs to a headend install… just add more cable and sometimes maybe a distribution amplifier. Compare this to a traditional large scale satellite system which might need more cables, more multiswitches, and even potentially another dish. When you really add it up, it makes sense.
Headends are used in bars, restaurants, hotels, fitness centers, and anywhere that you really want to control costs. In a headend system, you choose the number of channels and you often pay less than you would if each TV had its own receiver that way. Another way people save money is by planning carefully. Here are five things you can do to make sure you’ll get the best experience.
1. Don’t buy the TVs without talking to the experts
This is without a doubt the biggest mistake people make when doing a headend system is buying TVs from big box stores. Those TVs are attractive for sure, because they are so low priced. The problem is, choosing the wrong TV can end up getting a lot more expensive. You can generally get the right TV for a price not much higher than the big box TVs. If you’ve already bought the TVs, you’re not out of luck. You’ll probably need to pay for converter boxes or other equipment to bring your TVs up to spec.
2. Be a little bit flexible with your specifications
Here’s what happened to one of our customers. They told us they needed 50 channels. We told them that they could save about 30% on their final bill if they were able to cut down to 48 channels. The extra hardware for just those two extra channels meant a bigger rack, another large encoder, and of course two more receivers. Yet, they insisted they needed 50 channels. We bid it out for them and when our team went to install it, the on-site person said they really only needed 30 channels but bought a 50-channel headend to be future-proof. They admitted they would have been pretty much as future-proof with 2 fewer channels.
3. Do a site survey, or let us do one for you
A professional installer is going to be able to identify problems that may cost you money down the road. Your install may be small, but the wire may need to go an extra 100 feet to bypass a load-bearing concrete wall. The closet where you plan to install might not have enough space or enough ventilation. There may not even be an outlet of any kind where you want to put the TVs. All these things have happened to customers who admit that they didn’t plan ahead and do a site survey. A site survey by a professional will identify all these issues so there are no costly surprises down the road.
4. Tell us everything, we don’t judge
In one case, a customer wanted to distribute another channel alongside the satellite TV signals coming from the headend. They were embarrassed to tell us it was a pirated video feed from another country. When the headend came on site, all the modulators needed to be reprogrammed to make sure there would be no interference with the other channel they wanted to use. This cost the customer a lot of money on install day. If we’d known, it wouldn’t have cost them anything.
5. (BEST TIP EVER) Trust the professionals at Signal Connect
No one does more “non-traditional” satellite TV installs than Signal Connect. We can help you create the system that’s perfect for you, no matter what that looks like. As a top DIRECTV commercial dealer, we can get the right parts at the right price and put an installer at your doorstep ready to go. If that sounds like a perfect scenario, why not give us a call? You’ll get white glove service when you call the experts at 888-233-7563. Make the initial call during East Coast business hours and we’ll link you to a pro who will give you their direct phone and email. That means you can contact them with one step, when you need them. If it’s after hours, fill out the form below and we’ll get back to you, usually within one business day.
