Can I Use Sky/Freeview on Same TV

Rowan88

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Hi,

I have a Sky box downstairs plugged into my living room TV. I then had a cable going from the RF Out 2 to my upstairs TV which allows me to watch Sky in my bedroom.

I was wondering is it possible to also tune my upstairs TV to freeview also so I can have a channel for my sky box and then flick to freeview channels?

Thanks
 
Assuming your TV has a freeview tuner. Take the aerial out of your TV and plug it into the Sky box rf in. Connect rf1 out on the Sky box to your TV. The rf2 out now has one PAL analogue channel plus all the Freeview digital channels from your transmitter. A auto tune on the bedroom TV should now find them all.
 
Sorry let me try and get this right.. for ease lets say TV1 is downstairs with the skybox and TV2 is upstairs with freeview built in...

I have the 2x sky cables going into the 2x dish sockets on the back of the sky box. I then take an RF cable and go from RF-Out1 to TV1 (downstairs) and then use another RF cable from RF-2 to TV2 (upstairs tv with freeview built in). Then I just set the TV2 to retune all the channels?

Attached a quick drawing to help understand
 

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You need a UHF TV aerial feed to receive Freeview signals.
Do you have one? If so where does the cable from it appear?

If near TV1 then plug it into the $ky box RF1 in... and then as per Graham's post.

If no UHF aerial the you will need to obtain one...
 
On the wall there is two ports for UHF one says FM one says TV.. I will need to check if they are still attached to an aerial on the roof..

I take it I need that aerial to be there and if not then it cannot be done?
 
Hi and welcome to the forum.
Obviously you won't get Freeview without an aerial but you get all the channels anyway from Sky so I don't see much point!
 
Connect a cable from socket labelled TV and plug into the TV1 in lounge and tune that in... (assuming it has a Freeview tuner built in).

If that works OK connect the cable to $ky box RF in, another lead between RF1 out and TV1 and check it still works ok and there is no programme channels suddenly lost.

NB Depending on the frequency chosen for the $ky box RF modulator in use, you may need to change the modulator frequency if it interferes with a Freeview frequency.

As TV2 is already connected to RF2 out of the Sky box it can then be tuned on its digital (Freeview) tuner. The analogue tuner may need retuning as well?

Obviously, if no Freeview channels are tuned in from the TV wallplate connection, then you will need to investigate further into the feed to that point. Locating any aerial etc.,.
 
Obviously you won't get Freeview without an aerial but you get all the channels anyway from Sky so I don't see much point!
Except if the viewer of TV2 wants to watch something other than the programme the viewer of TV1 is watching, perhaps?
 
Yes indeed.:)
 
Sorry let me try and get this right.. for ease lets say TV1 is downstairs with the skybox and TV2 is upstairs with freeview built in...

I have the 2x sky cables going into the 2x dish sockets on the back of the sky box. I then take an RF cable and go from RF-Out1 to TV1 (downstairs) and then use another RF cable from RF-2 to TV2 (upstairs tv with freeview built in). Then I just set the TV2 to retune all the channels?

Attached a quick drawing to help understand

You need to connect an aerial into the socket marked aerial in as already posted. Does your downstairs TV have an aerial connected to it and is tuned to Freeview ?
 
Hi and welcome to the forum.
Obviously you won't get Freeview without an aerial but you get all the channels anyway from Sky so I don't see much point!
It was so that they can change the channel to whatever they want with freeview but can only watch what sky is watching downstairs..

If the TV downstairs is using Sky do I need to tune the freeview onto it for the freeview upstairs to work?
 
No. But why wouldn't you?
 
Why would I need to setup freeview on a TV that has sky working fully on it? :S Surely if you have Sky you are upgraded from freeview hense no point.

If you are recording two channels on a Sky-HD box then you cannot watch a 3rd channel while making the recordings. As Freeview is free (and many Smart TV's can record it to a usb drive), there is certainly a point. You also are not restricted to what the main TV user is viewing on a remote TV if you have a Sky magic eye link to a remote TV which more than likely has Freeview tuning capability.
 
Oh I see, well thats not something that would be getting used anyway.. I was just looking for a backup to getting freeview tuned onto the upstairs as a backup to if someone is watching sky downstairs.

So really I need to either run a cable from my roof aerial or attach another cable from the satellite dish?

Also I take it that the sky magic eye only lets the remote be used upstairs it doesnt split the signal?
 
Oh I see, well thats not something that would be getting used anyway.. I was just looking for a backup to getting freeview tuned onto the upstairs as a backup to if someone is watching sky downstairs.

So really I need to either run a cable from my roof aerial or attach another cable from the satellite dish?

Also I take it that the sky magic eye only lets the remote be used upstairs it doesnt split the signal?

Sky HD boxes have a TV modulator built in on older boxes or as a cheap add on for newer ones. The modulator creates a analogue (PAL) TV channel that can be used to view the sky box on remote TV's. The magic eye as you say provides remote control of the sky box using the coax cable delivering the signal to the remote TV (or TV's).

It has a standard aerial input and two outputs. The idea is you connect the standard aerial to the input. Output 1 connects to the TV to provide Freeview. Output two sends Freeview and the Modulator channel to the remote TV and provides 9V power for magic eyes. You simply use the analogue tuning to watch the Sky box and the digital tuning to watch all Freeview channels available in your area. You do not need another cable from your aerial if there is one at the Sky box location you simply connect to the Sky box Aerial IN (Sometimes labelled rf in) and add a coax link from rf1 out to your local TV. You then need a return coax from the sky box usually to a skylink compatible amplifier (usually in the loft). This cable is often built in on newer houses and one of the two cables for Sky also has the terrestrial signals diplexed onto it. If you have a faceplate with two satellite outputs, a terrestrial aerial out and a return socket you have all the cabling you need other than providing a skylink amp in the loft.

Loft Box Help
 
Major reason for tuning in main TV is to ease any fault-finding... running up and down stairs (or even just room to room) to see if a connection problem is gone is a pita. ;)

O/P 1 on a $ky box also carries the analogue modulated signal (but doesn't support the magic eye remote control function), so you can check the picture being sent is OK.
 

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