Why Do Some Zuku Decoders Have 2 Cables Connected To The Decoder As Well As The Dish? This is a question one of my readers asked me and I am glad to answer him. First I will explain why then at the end I will go in to the technical details as well as use some images to drive the point home. The featured image is actually a Zuku LNB with the two cables already connected.
The decoder is connected to two cables in order to enable you the view one channel and at the same time recording another different channel using the Personal Video Recorder option on the decoder, PVR. In lay mans words, it simply connecting an external Hard Disk Drive to the decoder and storing the movie, series or music video you want.
Can a Zuku decoder be used by two TVs? The answer is Yes.
Can I watch two different channels on the two TVs. No, it is only used to record one channel while viewing another channel at the same time.
It is that simple, but you will notice that not all Zuku decoders have this feature. The one decoder I know my reader was talking about was the grey in colour, ADTH CSTB3032Z-S decoder.
So how is it possible to watch two channels at the same time? The answer is in the twin tuner that the decoder has and the Twin LNB that comes with the decoder. To explain better I removed from storage my old Dstv DSD 820 Dual View decoder. It’s the pictured below but on the rear side. Notice the ports labeled LNB IN 2 and LNB IN 1 on the right side? Also do you notice the labels TV2 and TV1?
Two Televisions are usually connected to this decoder and a Twin LNB connected at the Ports LNB IN 2 and LNB IN 1 respectively. This makes the DSD 820 become two separate decoders in one unit. You can select any “decoder “(TV1 or TV2) simply by using the remote control.
For example you can have two TV’s in the house, one in the living room showing Supersport 9 and the other one in the bedroom showing Movie magic from the same decoder and remote control. To change the channel you just press the remote to select either TV1 or TV2 first before changing the channel normally.
Such decoders use twin LNBs because of the polarity of the signals received. In Ku band frequencies; there are two types of polarities namely Vertical and Horizontal, abbreviated as V and H.
For the decoder to receive V channels, it switches the voltage provided to the LNB to 13 Volts. When the LNB receives 13 Volts, it will provide V signals to the decoder.
For the decoder to receive H channels, it switches the voltage provided to the LNB to 18 Volts. When the LNB receives 18 Volts, it will provide H signals to the decoder.
The LNB does not have an intermediary position; it is either V or H. This is an example of a Twin LNB used by provided by Zuku.
So it is absolutely impossible for the decoder to receive both polarities at the same time and that’s why such decoders use twin LNBs and twin tuners. It is basically bringing together two decoders into one unit. In the image below you can clearly see the identical tuners inside the Dual View decoder.
