Simple & Inexpensive signal distribution and control

[jblandford]

Hi there

Need a touch of advice

Take look at the attached - all sources in living room (upstairs) are scart through to b-tech switcher then on to Tosh TV and Yamaha AV amp

Existing hard cable connection from sky box (co-ax, bypassing old distribution amp (not sky eye compatible) to dining room downstairs (through loft which is beside living room but not possible to run cable apart from existing co-ax that can be utilised (was the origonal aerial lead)

Old amp in the loft has connections to all rooms via co-ax

I need to be able to use the sky box AND DVD player in all rooms and control them both

How do I do this via the existing co-ax (happy to replace the distribution amp) without any re-cabling

Oh - yes - I also run wireless networking!

Bit tough this one!

J

[frensham]

I'm not 100% but I have a loftbox in my house. The sat feed comes into my receiver, then into the loft box. From there it is distributed as rf signal via the various coax's (bedrooms I have).
We can watch and change the sky in any room.

have a look at www.tv-link.com

David

[rectorydp]

There are likely to be several variations on the same theme but if you want to use the old coax then the simplest route is probably to get a modulated RF signal from the DVD and Sky box. You could use the modulator in the VCR or get a separate modulator eg http://www.letsautomate.com/11104.cfm? The suggestion from frensham may be best for Sky (I don't really know much about Sky).

For the control side you can use some Xantech kit to get the IR on and off the coax eg http://www.letsautomate.com/11913.cfm?

You may find the dedicated Sky stuff is better for Sky control. Indeed the Xantech kit may not even work for Sky. I am sure the guys at Let's Automate would help you out with this. I haven't tried any of this kit and you could probably obtain it from a number of sources but I have always had good success with the support and service at Let's Automate.

You may be disappointed with quality of the output using modulated RF but it is probably the simplest approach if you want/need to stick with the coax.

I hope this helps.

David

[jblandford]

Thankyou so much for the pointers so far

J