New house, several questions on Sky

[Squiffy]

We've just moved into a new house, and I've got a few questions on the best way to get Sky put in to suit us.

The house already has a dish, plus cabling to front room and master bedroom. On the boxes front we already have a Sky+ box and 3 other digiboxes.

Ideally we would have Sky+ in the living room, sky in the play room, kitchen-diner and master bedroom. It would also be nice to pipe one of the Sky feeds to the other rooms in the house.

That means 5 cables. Unless there is something better than a Quad LNB, I assume we have to reduce the number of boxes? This would mean Sky+ and 2 other Sky boxes in total. Do Sky do a deal on a third subscription?

What is the best way of piping the signal around? We already have analogue TV points in all rooms - could we piggy back on that? Is there anyway we could relay remote control signals back to a central box?

And finally would it be cheaper to reactivate our old Sky account, or open a new one? I'd assume a new one would have to be in my wifes name?

[Squiffy]

Anyone got any ideas? The wife is giving me grief to get Sky sorted ASAP.

The big question to start the ball rolling is what will be the best way to get Sky back? Use our existing account to get Sky to install the extra cables and get the additional subscriptions we want, or open up a new account (in my wifes name?) with a subsidised installation.

[preston]

Assuming that the new house has previously had sky+ installed plus a mirror to the master bedroom then plug sky+ box in front room and plain old sky box up stairs. Ring sky and start paying for sky+ plus mirror sub.

Use the RF output (from the sky+ or sky box) and connect to the the analogue TV point. Find where all the anologue TV points join in the house and connect them via a signal splitter. Sky should now be available to every room with an analogue TV point. If you want to be able to change channels from one of these rooms then buy a magic eye.

Anything else will defenately require a visit from the sky man and will probably cost. Saying that I don't know any details of specific deals.

[Squiffy]

The previous front room installation was Sky only, and not Sky+.

I suppose for the timebeing I'll just have to get the Sky+ card validated with one of the other digiboxes.

Thanks for the info Preston on the analogue signal / splitter stuff. Now I just have to find where all the analogue signals join...

[Starburst]

Tricky one
A new subscription taken out in your wifes name would get you a new subsidised install and a new digibox or SKY+ box depending upon the deal. It would also get a 12 month warranty but also require phone connections as well but that may not be an issue if you intend to get a mirror subscription for a second or even third room. I'm sure SKY allow you to have a primary subscription and the two mirror subscriptions although you might have to convince CS that you do have three SKY STB's in your home, the mirror subs should be £10 each since you would be a SKY+ subscriber on the primary account.
Now if you get a new installation there are local council rules on having two dishes although someone has to "tell on you" before that became an issue so it is possible to have SKY install a second dish in another location and run a new digibox/SKY+ from that dish the use the existing dish for the other locations.

A more expensive option would be to use a Quattro LNB which when fitted to a suitable IF distributer allows you to run as many
digital STB's as you have got. However you may need a new dish to match this type of LNB and of course getting it installed by a proper dealer.

[Squiffy]

Well, I'm reinstating the existing account.

I've got to pay £50 under their Moving Home Offer. This is made up of a flat £40 fee to re-install, plus £10 for each additional box. (We already have cabling in the bedroom that we will just re-use).

So all I need to do is find out how/where the RF points join to get Sky to all the other rooms in the house.

[preston]

I used a signal splitter/booster made by OneForAll. Bought it from Dixons. I think it was quite cheap. I've not tried it with a magic eye but I do know that you can get problems running the remote signal back through a booster/splitter so try before you buy if you can.

All my co-ax points originate in the front room so I connected as follows:

Sky dish ---co-ax--->|SKY |---scart--->TV
TV Aerial---co-ax--->|BOX |---co-ax--->splitter---co-ax--->room1/2/3 etc

This way you can also send analogue signals (BBC1/2, ITV, C4 and C5) around the house. Obviously because it is a component signal carrying 6 channels (5+sky) the picture will not be as good as the RGB scart connection to the TV but good enough for the kids.

If all your points join in a different room then you will need to put you splitter in that room and connect up to the co-ax points.

Good Luck.

[Squiffy]

Thanks again for the info Preston - I'll pop into our local Dixons this lunchtime to see about a splitter/booster type thingy.

[windfall]

Squiffy

You can also try maplin, they do a box with 2/4/6/8 outputs that will also do digital pass through so that the remote eyes work on all aerial sockets.

I think the 4 output was about £33

Hope this helps.

Tone