How Do You Set Up A Second TV On DIRECTV? Complete Guide

Wondering “how do you set up a second TV on DIRECTV”? The answer is in this post!

Fortunately, DIRECTV has made it possible to set up more than one television on a single receiver.

For this purpose, you will only need the cable connections and to enable specific settings that will split up the signal to two televisions connected to the receiver!

Acquire a coaxial cable and plug it into the “OUT to TV” input on the DIRECTV receiver. Get a splitter and attach it to the 2nd end of the coax to the “Coax IN” jack on the splitter. From the splitter, lead the cable to the secondary TV and plug it.

Now let’s go into details about how you can set up a second TV on your DIRECTV receiver with easy steps and explanations.

How To Hook Up A Second TV To DIRECTV?

Pairing a secondary TV to your DIRECTV is possible, as long as the set-top box has available inputs.

You might have acquired a model that supports only a single television and you won’t be able to connect a second coaxial cable to the box.

For that purpose, before you proceed with the steps, make sure to peek at the back of your DIRECTV receiver and check if you have a free “OUT to TV” input.

If the receiver box has only one coax entry, which we assume it does, you must get a splitter for your setup.

If you do, here’s how to hook up a second TV to your DIRECTV receiver in easy steps:

Step #1 Prepare Your Setup

First things first, you must have your setup ready before connecting any of the televisions or cables.

We assume you already have the first TV connected to your DIRECTV receiver, so don’t disconnect the corresponding coax cable since it won’t be necessary.

What you will want to do instead is make sure that your DIRECTV receiver is up and running.

This is the only way you will determine if the signal flow reaching your secondary TV is healthy.

Make sure that the receiver is up and running, connected with the TV, and transmitting signal, and move to the next step in our guide.

Step #2 Acquire a Suitable Cable

We assume you won’t be putting the secondary TV in the same room as the first one.

If that’s the case, you should measure the distance from the receiver to the approximate position of your secondary TV and add a meter or two.

This way you will be sure that the coax cable will reach.

Moreover, if you tend to lead the cable through walls or solid objects that cannot be moved, prepare to make holes big enough for the cable to fit and go through.

And finally, purchase a coax cable long enough after measuring the distance. Once you get a long enough coax cable, move on to the next step so we can begin setting up your secondary TV.

Step #3 Get A Splitter

DIRECTV receiver boxes have only one coax cable entry, with the intention not to connect more than one receiver.

However, there’s a workaround that can enable you to connect two televisions to your satellite box and that is with the assistance of a coax splitter.

This is what your coax signal splitter should look like:

The splitter device usually has one coax entry on one side and two coax “OUTS” inputs on the other side.

You will want to acquire such a splitter for your own setup and have one additional coax of minimum length supplied.

How To Install Coax Splitter In My Setup?

1. Disconnect the coax cable of your first TV.
2. Plug the third coax cable (of minimum length possible) into the only input on your DIRECTV receiver.
3. Connect the coax of the first coax (that goes in regular TV) into one of the inputs on the coax.

Now as you can see, there’s only available coax input on the splitter. This is where you will be connecting the second TV you want to bring into your setup.

Let’s now get into the essentials of how do you set up a second TV on DIRECTV.

Step #4 Lead The Cable

Now that you have the inputs set up and the receiver, you will want to lead the coax cable of your secondary TV.

If the secondary TV is in a different room from your regular TV, you may have to make holes in the corners of the room. Unless of course, you decide to go with a corner of a door which is easier.

Figure out a suitable place from where you can carry out the cable and start installing the coax unit (before connecting it).

Keep in mind that the head part of the coax cable is a little thicker rather than the body, so if you make holes, make sure to measure using the cable’s head part, not the body.

Use the long coax cable you’ve acquired back in step #2 to connect it once you’re done.

Note: Avoid having the cable rubbing into objects or walls during installation because this may damage the body and functionality.

Step #5 Connect The Cable

Once the cable is guided through the location from where you’re going to set it up, it’s time to connect.

On your DIRECTV receiver’s side, there’s only one available input and this is exactly where you’re going to attach the secondary TV’s coax unit.

On the TV side, however, you will want to attach the coax cable either into the “RF IN” jack, or the “COAX IN” if it has one.

Regardless of where you attach the coax between these two options, you will still get the same effect, DIRECTV signal reaching the TV.

Once you’re done with connecting the cable, let’s make the last configurations to your secondary TV.

Step #6 Configure Secondary TV

Pretty much, all the steps by now should have installed the DIRECTV signal on your secondary TV.

Before that, you must complete the last configurations over your secondary TVs, such as connecting them to the power source, etc. …

Here’s what to do on your secondary TV to finish the configuration:

1. Make sure that your TV is attached to the power.
2. Start your TV using the remote.
3. Go to the channels guide.
4. From there, tap on “Install channels” and let DIRECTV add all available channels for your TV plan.

This was how to set up a second TV on DIRECTV!

Keep in mind that the secondary TV will share the same channel configurations as your regular TV. To make changes to the second TV, adjust your DIRECTV plan accordingly.

Thus, to set up a second TV on your DIRECTV receiver, install a splitter into the coax slot and grab a secondary coax cable. Lead the coax cable and connect it to the splitter and “COAX IN” on your TV.

Read Next: How Do I Fix DIRECTV No Servers Detected Issue?

Bottom Line:

After learning how do you set up a second TV on DIRECTV, we hope you were able to add an additional TV to your DIRECTV setup.

After all, if you’re experiencing any issues, don’t hesitate to contact DIRECTV for additional recommendations!