[Bramfrank]

I just picked up a 9500 and am looking for a second remote. I was wondering if the Fibe remote works with the 9500, and if not how to tell the difference between them.

Thanks in advance.

 

[X-Treme]

I have a question.....

I recently got 2 9500 and 1 7500. I wired the 7500 to my main floor 9500 using hybrid solo hub, but due to it stealing one or both of the tuners from that one, I rewired it to the other 9500 in the basement that doesn't get used as much. When I go to the setup screen, it shows the 7500 as linked to the basement 9500. However, it still has all the recordings, timers, etc. AND steals the tuners from the main floor 9500. How? Why? Is it grabbing the tuners by going all the way back to the LNB, to connect to the main floor 9500?

How do I change that, so it steals tuners from the basement 9500 that it's physically wired to through the solo hub?

I should let it be known that I do have a duo hub on order, due to arrive in a few weeks, so I can link all 3 together. But, I'd like to fix it properly for the time being.

 

[peelreg]

I have a 10 year old system. The PVR has 2 receivers and the cable outlet runs 5 tvs throughout the house. The remotes run on radio.

I would prefer to run the remote TVs on wifi, so as to get HD pictures, but the 9500 seems to only have an IR remote. Is there a work around for this issue?

 

[ExDilbert]

I would prefer to run the remote TVs on wifi, so as to get HD pictures,

One solution would be an HDMI extender, aka transmitter/receiver. There are two commonly available types that use CAT6 and RF. An RF model may be a better bet since some are available with more than one receiver, though 5 TVs might be more than what is available for one transmitter. If the TV is not too far away high quality HDMI cable may work. An HDMI splitter may be required. Be aware that there are distance limitations for all of these methods and distance varies with products and methods.

the 9500 seems to only have an IR remote.

An IR extender works by receiving the IR signal and sending it to an IR transmitter in another room. I've seen models that work over coax and RF.
Another solution would be a third party remote control that uses wifi or RF to send commands to a base station near the 9500. One of the best, the Harmony Hub (with Companion remote) is no longer made and is difficult to find. I've seen others but don't know what is currently available. At one time, Bell had an RF remote that used a base unit to control IR receivers remotely. Don't know if this is still available or if it would work with a 9500.

 

[peelreg]

I am an old fart (78) and am not up on all the modern technology, BUT what is the point of having a PVR that can hook up TVs with wi-fi, but can't use a remote to control the programming with the TV in the next room? Now that we have "smart TVs" in multiple rooms, a wi-fi receiver makes perfect sense - if it has a remote.

 

[ExDilbert]

I don't recommend using extenders or long cabling but offered it as a possibility. On second thought, it was a bad suggestion for Bell TV and the 9500.

The Bell TV smartphone app should be able to control some functions of the 9500 using wifi.

A better HD solution might be a streaming device that supports the Crave TV app. I believe the Amazon Fire Stick, Chromecast with Google TV and several others are supported by Bell TV. The Bell 7500 receiver is also an option for HD on the other TVs.

 

[peelreg]

Why would the 7500 be good for HD on other TVs?

A long HDMI cable is not a solution for a TV 60 feet away.

 

[peelreg]

I spoke to Bell technical Support today. I did not get the feeling the lady was very tech savvy. But, she did say that the 7500 will connect to smart TVs wirelessly AND it comes with a RF remote.

This is what I am looking for. I want to be able to watch hockey in my workshop while the wife is watching Coronation Street. Our current machine has two receivers in it, so we can watch two different shows at the same time. Is the 7500 a 2-receiver machine?

I would think that what I want would be a fairly common consumer need that bell would cater to. No?

 

[57]

Is the 7500 a 2-receiver machine?

The 7500 has no tuners. I suggest you read through some of the recent posts in this thread. The 7500 communicates with the 9500 (which has two tuners) and the 7500 can view recordings or live, depending on what the 9500 is doing. I don't have Bell Sat.

Satellite TV Receivers | Bell Canada

Buy or rent your HD receiver from Bell TV. Our receivers feature an easy-to-use on-screen guide. Plus, you can set recordings using your computer or smartphone.

www.bell.ca

 

[peelreg]

Thank you. The Bell material is confusing to me. So the 7500 is just a PVR and the 9500 is just a receiver. If I want to watch 2 programs at the same time, in different rooms, I would need 2 x 9500 receivers, but I could not control the receiver from a different room with the IR remote. But I could watch PVR material in another room, using the RF remote of the 7500.

I guess i will stick with my current unit, that has 2 receivers, a PVR and supports both IR and RF remotes. The downside is that it needs cabling for each TV and the second outlet is not HD.

 

[57]

So the 7500 is just a PVR and the 9500 is just a receiver.

No, the 7500 is just a box that communicates with the 9500, which is a two tuner PVR.

 

[peelreg]

Oh. I am sorry to sound so dense, but I am used to having the one two tuner PVR.

So the 9500 is like my existing two tuner PVR, but no good for TVs in other rooms because it does not have a RF remote. Right?

The 9500 can communicate with a 7500. My understanding is that the 7500 can send the programming to TVs by wi-fi, and it uses RF remotes.

So, is it possible to have two tuners, running two tvs by wi-fi, that can be controlled by RF remotes?

 

[ExDilbert]

The 7500 is basically a dedicated media player that only supports the 9500 and whatever else Bell provides. The 9500 does all the work like receiving the signals and recording. There are other media players that will provide much of the same functionality as the 7500 and are usually much cheaper and more versatile. They include the Amazon Fire Stick and the Chromecast With Google TV. There are other supported devices listed on the Bell web site and they must support the Bell app. The 7500 would likely be the simplest solution to install and use but the cost for 5 TVs would really add up.

 

[peelreg]

Two questions:

Media player? The only thing I want to play is the bell Satellite TV and Netflix.

5 TVs. If the 7500 sends out the program in wi-fi, could not all 5 tvs get the same signal?

I have TVs in my office, workshop Kitchen and garage. I am the only one who watches those TVs. So if they are getting UFC, I can watch the UFC wherever I am. Wife would be watching her program on the tuners other channel.

Can we do this?

 

[ExDilbert]

If the 7500 sends out the program in wi-fi, could not all 5 tvs get the same signal?

Wifi is two way. The 9500 and 7500 both send and receive signals. The 7500 receives programming from the 9500. I believe Bell will only rent 4 receivers so that's one 9500 and three 7500s. (The 7500s shouldn't be too difficult to move between TVs but depend on a wifi signal being available.)

The 7500s cost $8/mo each and the third costs $50 to install. They can be purchased but they are all refurbs (aka used,) the 7500s are almost obsolete and get bad ratings. $199 or $8/mo for a used HD receiver is a bad deal, especially when a 4K Amazon Fire Stick or the Chromecast With Google TV can be purchased for about $70 or less. Just make sure they will do what you want and work with Bell TV. (I don't have Bell TV but it has been reported that the Bell TV app will work to watch recordings on the 9500.)

 

[peelreg]

I am obviously missing something here. My TV is a "smart" TV. It can receive a wi-fi signal. Why do I need a 7500 for each tv. I think you are saying the 9500 can send a wi-fi program to a smart TV.

That is what I want. i want my tvs to pick up a wi-fi program, so where ever i go, i can turn on the tv and watch my program.

And it would be real good if I had a RF remote to change programs.

This what i do now with my old Bell box, except the tvs are all wired back to the box.

 

[ExDilbert]

The smart TV must be supported by Bell TV. If Bell has an app for the TV then it may work with Bell TV. There should be a list of supported devices on Bell TV's web site. That may include some Samsung TVs or some Sony TVs with Google TV and Chromecast built in. Otherwise, a supported device or 7500 must be added.

 

[Sharbotcom]

I'm going to be replacing a 9400 with a channel modulator to distribute to the other rooms to a 9500/7500 setup. How they work will influence my installation layout. I tried to get my answers from Bell but the support folks gave me conflicting answers on my two calls with them so I'm reaching out to this community. Somewhere (perhaps a previous post here) mentioned that the 9500s don't allow access to each others recorded programs while you have access to all attached 9500's recordings from the 7500s Is that true? If so, it means a tv attached to one of the 9500s has the disadvantage of not being a true whole home participant such as it doesn't have access to all of the available recordings. I hope this is not the case as the configuration I am looking at only requires 3 locations within the house (livingroom, den and bedroom) and according to Bell I need 2 9500s and 1 7500. I would not want any of those locations to not have access to all recordings. My configuration would need to change by adding additional 7500s to coexist on the the tvs with 9500s to simply access recordings on the other 9500...a totally waste of money and resources to ensure true whole home coverage. Thanks in advance for your help in answering this question.

 

[Dr.Dave]

Somewhere (perhaps a previous post here) mentioned that the 9500s don't allow access to each others recorded programs while you have access to all attached 9500's recordings from the 7500s

Here's the post from 9 months ago. I can't confirm if it's true since I'm not a satellite customer. The poster hasn't logged in for 8 months, so he may not respond.

the 9500s talk to each other, BUT they do NOT share their tuner or PVR recordings with other 9500s, they only share their Tuners and Recordings with a 7500 and they must be on a Hybrid Duo Hub (203961) or the Quad Hub (can’t get the number right now).

 

[Sharbotcom]

Here's the post from 9 months ago. I can't confirm if it's true since I'm not a satellite customer. The poster hasn't logged in for 8 months, so he may not respond.

Thanks Dr. Dave. One Bell guy said they do share recordings and the other said he wasn't sure...hence my confusion. Hopefully a multi-9500 user will chime in.