TV cabling query

[Piff]

Advice requested for practical solution to analogue switch off. I believe I already have most of the equipment needed but would appreciate confirmation that I'm not barking up the wrong tree.

Part of my aim is to reuse existing cabling as it is concealed, rather than surface fixing new cables. (Property is bungalow so access to roof cables not too bad.)

This request for help would have come soon with the pending analogue switch off, but has been made more urgent with purchase of new lounge tv which has a satellite input for hd freeview.

Current set-up:-
Sky dish with quad LNB. 2 ports feed sky+ box in lounge, other 2 ports vacant.
Reasonable quality aerial with mast head amp feeding sky box. RF output from sky box split to lounge tv, the other feed back via roof to central amp. (Amp is accessible from roof so cable modification in this area is ok.)
From central amp – 5 feeds to kitchen, study & 3 bedrooms.
Kitchen has grotty freeview box which really belongs in a skip.
Study has analogue tv card in pc and a freeview dongle (which is again not much use - could be due to distance from aerial or quality of dongle).
Bed 1 has just analogue tv
Beds 2 & 3 have analogue tvs & pc's with freeview cards.

Spare & available for use:- sky dish with single LNB, 2 spare sky boxes with freesat cards (both approx 4 years old, 1 not used for 2 years, the other not used for 2 months, both donated by family members).

My plan:-
either set up additional dish or change existing LNB to 8-way.
Retain 2 sat feeds to lounge for sky+ box
3rd sat feed from dish to amp area, disconnect kitchen from amp & connect to new sat feed, use sky freesat box.
4th sat feed from dish to amp area, disconnect bed 1 from amp & connect to new sat feed, use sky freesat box.
5th sat feed from dish to amp area, disconnect lounge return from amp & connect to new sat feed to feed new tv in lounge
Disconnect aerial (analogue) from sky+ box and feed direct to amp, amp now supplying study & beds 2 & 3.

The only problems I can see are:
I would be left with no analogue signal to kitchen & bed 1 – is this a problem?
Should the mast head amp be left in place in addition to the cheap distribution amp?
Better to use 2nd hand (untested) 2nd dish with single LNB or splash out (£20!!!) on an 8 way LNB on the existing dish?

Comments?

PS - sketches didn't insert in correct places, first time I've attached! But hey, I tried!

 

[oldcro]

Advice requested for practical solution to analogue switch off.

This request for help would have come soon with the pending analogue switch off, but has been made more urgent with purchase of new lounge tv which has a satellite input for hd freeview.



The only problems I can see are:
I would be left with no analogue signal to kitchen & bed 1 – is this a problem?


Firstly as you stated twice, the analogue signal will be switched off, so You would have no analogue signal at all never mind the kitchen and bed 1.
Secondly there is no HD signal broadcast on Freeview yet, only via Freesat.

Otherwise our plan looks about right to my inexperienced eyes, and you would need some Freeview boxes to replace the signals to the TV's using analogue at the moment.

Sorry to have snipped so much of your post, but I just left the bits I replied to.

Oh! Just noticed, you will not need the connection from the aerial to your Sky+ box, only the feeds from your dish. Instead connect it directly to your new TV if it has a Freeview tuner.

 

[CE230]

The aerial may need to be replaced in order to receive digital signals, not all are up to the required standard.

 

[troiscentmille]

A factor would be the number of people in the household and the likielihood of them wanting to watch different things at once, The RF 'magic eye' might be useful to you because you can use existing wiring. I wouldnt want two dishes on my house so lets put that to one side. Are you adamant you want dig. terrestrial and Sky? Im sorry cant be much more help until I know what your main priority is?

 

[nickcc101]

I have Sky + in the lounge and kitchen using the four outlets on the dish. I also ran a single coax to the one bedroom fed from the outlet on the Sky + box. The other bedroom is Sky fed from another dish located on the chimney (engineer fitted new Sky + dish at lower level as needed scaffold to fit quad lnb to old dish). Already had multiroom and movie channels so extra Sky + no problem (bought box of ebay). The Sky box viewing card was bought off sky for £20 and gives me all the freeview channels for my area.

 

[jaymanek]

You can have 2 inputs into an amp to allow you both your normal mast line and also one from your sky box in the lounge.. That way you will retain the ability to see whatever channel is being played in the lounge in bedrooms 2+3+study.

Also I dont understand why you have a third input into the lounge from the dish? TV's dont use sat feeds do they?! Only through the sky box?

 

[MikeL]

The aerial may need to be replaced in order to receive digital signals, not all are up to the required standard.

This answer is correct, however one thing to note is that many transmitters will be using a stronger signal after analogue is switched off.

In other words, to be certain you need a new aerial you will need to wait until you have lost the analogue signal.

Mike

 

[grober]

Also I dont understand why you have a third input into the lounge from the dish? TV's dont use sat feeds do they?! Only through the sky box?

Its for his new television which has a built in FREESAT HD TUNER (PANASONIC)??
#27 post here http://mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=64480&page=2

 

[timskemp]

I've recently done an install for someone who is digital-proofing themselves. We pulled cat5 through to all the TV points and used hdmi/cat5 converters thereby giving HDMI everywhere.

I don't have satellite TV at all, but if I were I'd be doing the following:

Quad LNB to 1x SkyHD and lounge TV, maybe a freesat HD box for the 4th output.
HDMI from sky and freesat to a 2x6 matrix and onto all the rooms
Coax from sky to all the rooms for the analogue only sets.
SLX for the remotes.

Job done.

 

[The G.F.P]

and i thought my set up was complicated (hd tv with sky hd, hd tv with sky+, hdmi cinema system, wii, hdmi 360, hdmi ps3, dvd recorder)

 

[Piff]

You can have 2 inputs into an amp to allow you both your normal mast line and also one from your sky box in the lounge.. That way you will retain the ability to see whatever channel is being played in the lounge in bedrooms 2+3+study.

Also I dont understand why you have a third input into the lounge from the dish? TV's dont use sat feeds do they?! Only through the sky box?

New tv has a direct dish connection for freesat hd!!!

 

[Piff]

I've recently done an install for someone who is digital-proofing themselves. We pulled cat5 through to all the TV points and used hdmi/cat5 converters thereby giving HDMI everywhere.

I don't have satellite TV at all, but if I were I'd be doing the following:

Quad LNB to 1x SkyHD and lounge TV, maybe a freesat HD box for the 4th output.
HDMI from sky and freesat to a 2x6 matrix and onto all the rooms
Coax from sky to all the rooms for the analogue only sets.
SLX for the remotes.

Job done.

Lost me somewhere amongst that lot!
I already have cat 5 at all tv locations which I didn't mark on the sketches, fed back to a patch panel adjacent to the distribution amp.
Can you give more info using my sketches? What does a hdmi/cat5 converter cost? TV has a cat5 network port - is this useable?
Sorry if I'm being a bit thick. I'm great at installing the cables but have no idea how to use them once installed!!!

 

[timskemp]

Lost me somewhere amongst that lot!
I already have cat 5 at all tv locations which I didn't mark on the sketches, fed back to a patch panel adjacent to the distribution amp.
Can you give more info using my sketches? What does a hdmi/cat5 converter cost? TV has a cat5 network port - is this useable?
Sorry if I'm being a bit thick. I'm great at installing the cables but have no idea how to use them once installed!!!

HDMI over cat 5 needs 8 pairs for the cheaper convertors (2x outlets) - adaptors weren't dear, about 50 quid per set (tranmsitter / receiver). You sound like you've done what I've so far not got around to (in my own house, done others!).

SLX is a remote distribution system that uses the coax and talks directly to other SLX devices and the RF2 connector on sky boxes (including sky HD) making remote control easy - IR distribution is my colleagues speciality though not mine...

 

[agatward]

The other thing which may be worth looking at is using combiners in the amp area so you can bring the LNB and Aerial feeds down a single cable to each room. I have done this in my house, so I have two dedicated LNB feeds and a dedicated aerial feed to the lounge, then combined LNB and aerial feeds to the bedrooms and under stair cupboard (where my Slingbox is).

Lots of people sell the diplex or triplex face plates, but not many sell the combiners that go with them. Screwfix do, however:

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/61474...ion/Labgear-PSF410-S-Combiner-Splitter-4-Band

 

[stevesey]

Why not keep the loop from the aerial down to the lounge and back up to the roof amp - so you can watch whatever you are playing on your freeview HD/sky+ boxes in the other rooms (as well as terrestial freeview)

 

[Piff]

Why not keep the loop from the aerial down to the lounge and back up to the roof amp - so you can watch whatever you are playing on your freeview HD/sky+ boxes in the other rooms (as well as terrestial freeview)

Because I need (I think) a third sat feed in the lounge for the new tv.
Currently only have 4 cables to/from lounge. Potentially, and this is where the spare sky dish could come in, I could cable externally either from an 8 way lnb or fix the extra dish near the lounge for the 5th cable.

 

[Piff]

Thinking now of adding an additional cable to lounge to retain the "loop".
With the 2nd rf output from a sky box (ours is sky+), what does this output? Is it the same as the rf 1 output, ie the sky channel being viewed and the analogue signal?
Secondly, I remember from an earlier sky box that this rf 2 output had to be switched on. I've just had a fiddle & can't find where the setting is to switch it on. Is it permanently on in an amstrad box?

 

[DSLiverpool]

To make things easier why not use a video sender from lounge to kitchen or would you mainly be watching differing progs in those two rooms ?

When sending a sat signal over "anything" then check you retain the HD element of the signal

 

[jonnyboy]

Thinking now of adding an additional cable to lounge to retain the "loop".
With the 2nd rf output from a sky box (ours is sky+), what does this output? Is it the same as the rf 1 output, ie the sky channel being viewed and the analogue signal?
Secondly, I remember from an earlier sky box that this rf 2 output had to be switched on. I've just had a fiddle & can't find where the setting is to switch it on. Is it permanently on in an amstrad box?

IIRC its menu, then 01 gets the installer menu (01 not 1), poss option 4 after that. you only need it switched on if you are powering something like a magic eye, not just for an rf signal (which is automatically there)

 

[agatward]

IIRC its menu, then 01 gets the installer menu (01 not 1), poss option 4 after that. you only need it switched on if you are powering something like a magic eye, not just for an rf signal (which is automatically there)

Close... services 4 0 1 select. Had to do this at the weekend when 'downgrading' from Sky HD to Sky Plus.