Help needed for wiring for satellite to other rooms

Debicj

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I would be grateful for any advice from people who know more than I do about this. I do not know very much! Thanks.

At the moment I have on my roof a normal aerial and a sky dish. In my living room I have a sky+ box that has a double wire coming in from the dish. A wire comes in from the aerial to the dvd recorder. I also have another sky+ box (multiroom) in the conservatory that has a double wire connected to the dish. In 3 bedrooms, there are tv's that have wires going up to the attic into a white box that I assume is connected to the tv aerial on the roof.

What I want to do is enable the 3 bedroom tvs to watch satellite channels rather than digital tv. In one bedroom, I want to be able to control the main sky box in the living room and watch things recorded on it. The other 2 bedrooms will be ok with just the free channels which I understand I could get by putting a sky box in each room and would not need to pay for multiroom.

Any suggestions on what I need to do to achieve this?

I have worked out that I need to run a wire from the dish to the white box in the attic and/or a wire from the sky+ box in the living room to the tv in bedroom 1 which will share control of the sky+ box. Am I correct or is there more to it than this?

Thanks.
 
Hi and welcome to AVF.
Cable from Sky machine's RF2 Out socket to white box with a device there to combine its signal with that from the box's connection to the aerial. Each of the three TVs then gets, on an analogue programme number tuned to channel 68, the Sky channel that's currently selected, as well as whatever it gets now from the aerial.
For the alternative of a satellite receiver in each room you'd need an alteration to the dish, and a new cable from it to each room. Freesat receivers might be better for those than Sky ones.
HTH but feel free to ask for more details.
 
Thanks for your quick reply. It does not appear to be as simple as I thought!

I was hoping that I could use the existing cables from each room rather than have to put in new ones as the rooms are decorated and the existing cables are hidden.

Would it be possible to connect new cables to the dish for 2 bedrooms, forget the white box and join the new cables to the old ones in the attic? Would this enable each room to view different satellite channels with the use of a freesat box? For the other bedroom, would I then need to run a cable from the main sky box in the living room up to the bedroom to enable shared control of the sky box?

Thanks for your help. I need to understand this in order to instruct hubby on what cables to put where as he has even less understanding than I do!
 
That's OK, and it needn't be too complicated.
You suggested "a wire from the sky+ box in the living room to the tv in bedroom 1" and my version of that is to take the cable to the white box instead of to the bedroom - does that make a lot of difference?
For the remote control aspect of that you might find a wireless IR Extender the best method.
If you did take up my alternative suggestion, of a change at the dish and separate separate receivers in two of the rooms, you might be able to use the cables that currently go from the white box to those rooms.
 
Ok, taking the cable from the sky box in the living room to the white box in the attic is possible. I had planned on using a 'mouse' for changing channels as I already have one I could use. Is this the same as a wireless IR extender?

What device do I need at the white box to combine signals?

For the other 2 bedrooms, I would rather get a freesat box each and use the existing cables to connect to the sky dish rather than have them watch the same channels as the sky box in the living room. If they have freesat they will not need to be connected to the aerial as well as the sky dish. What alteration is needed to the dish?

Sorry to ask so many questions, but I find this a bit confusing as I haven't done anything like this before.

Thanks.
 
. What alteration is needed to the dish?


Thanks.

You will need to change the existing 4 output LNB (quad) to an 8 output one (octo).
In theory you only need 6 outputs but 6 output LNBs are not made.

As you will have 8 outputs you may as well take twin cables to bedrooms 2 and 3. This will give some future proofing if you decide later to have Freeview recorders there.
 
You will need to change the existing 4 output LNB (quad) to an 8 output one (octo).
In theory you only need 6 outputs but 6 output LNBs are not made.

As you will have 8 outputs you may as well take twin cables to bedrooms 2 and 3. This will give some future proofing if you decide later to have Freeview recorders there.

You do mean freesat and NOT Freeview recorders of course.:)
 
Ok, taking the cable from the sky box in the living room to the white box in the attic is possible. I had planned on using a 'mouse' for changing channels as I already have one I could use. Is this the same as a wireless IR extender?

What device do I need at the white box to combine signals?

For the other 2 bedrooms, I would rather get a freesat box each and use the existing cables to connect to the sky dish rather than have them watch the same channels as the sky box in the living room. If they have freesat they will not need to be connected to the aerial as well as the sky dish. What alteration is needed to the dish?
You're fine with questions - that's what we're here for. :)
The "mouse" sounds more like a "magic eye" than an extender, and if it is it might or might not work, whereas an extender would work: Amazon.co.uk: ir extender.
It's only a simple Y or T combiner for the aerial input and the RF 2 connection: eBay: aerial splitter.
The present LNB on the dish would need to be replaced as w2010 says by an octo version.
On the cabling from that, as I said "you might be able to use the cables that currently go from the white box to those rooms", and that's what you want to do, but the option is always there to change to a single new cable each for receivers, or twin for PVRs.
 
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I think I have it clear in my mind now.

However, I have just been informed by daughter that she is happy with freeview if she can't have full multiroom sky+ features. So I do not need to mess around with the other bedrooms or dish.

So this is what I will do. I will run a cable from the RF2 output on the sky box up to the attic where it will go into a 'combiner' along with the aerial wire that is already connected to the white box. The 'combiner' will plug into the white box. I will then leave the 2 bedrooms with freeview as they are now and the other bedroom could control the sky box with use of a magic eye or if that doesn't work I will use an IR sender.

phewwww, I think I've got the idea now! :thumbsup:
 
You have.:smashin:
 

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