Please can someone advise on my new system design?

Diablo96

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Guys,
We are self-building our new house and are shortly about to start first fix wiring.
I really am not that clued up on Satellite TV, so could really do with some advice. We live in a semi- rural location where Virgin is not available. We will have BT broadband, but the bandwidth is typically no more than 35Mb, so unless I am mistaken, Sky is our only option?
What we need today:
· To have the receiver in the electrical cabinet, so not visible. Signal to then be plumbed around the house.
· HD signal to the lounge TV
· HD signal to the Lounge projector
· HD signal to Master bedroom
· All of the above rooms will have the same channel at any one time.
· Freesat to 5 other rooms
What we night need in the future:
· 4k signal around the house
· The ability to watch different programmes in different rooms
We are already running a lot of CAT6 Ethernet cable around the house.
Please can someone advise on the best way to meet our current requirement and how, subject to budget, I could future proof the set-up?
Thanks in advance for any advice.
 
It depends on whether or not you require dual tuner PVRs or single tuner receivers in the 5 freesat rooms. Each tuner requires its own separate feed from the dish - so a dual tuner PVR would require two separate feeds for full ability to record one channel and watch another. The maximum number of feeds available direct from a dish is 8 with an octo lnb which would only allow one dual tuner PVR in the freesat rooms. For more than 8 feeds you would need to use a multiswitch (available with 12, 16 and 24 outputs) fed from a quattro lnb on a slightly larger dish ( the next size up to allow for the inherent signal losses in most multiswitches). With a multiswitch there is also the advantage that the signal from a terrestrial aerial (UHF for Freeview and even DAB and VHF for FM) can be fed down the same cables as the satellite signals and separated out in the rooms with a diplexer outlet plate.

Some freesat PVRs will allow a restricted use of watch one record another on a single feed.

So you need to decide what you want in the rooms and feed either a single or twin coax cable to each room.


.
 
For sending the same channel to three locations, if the Sky machine is happy with that, the CAT cable will handle it.
For different channels you'll need separate machines.
 
Hi, we only require the ability record or playback in the lounge and, if possible without complicating things too much, in the master bedroom. All other rooms just require the ability to view.

Thanks again.
 
Do you definitely want Freesat not freeview in the other (5) rooms ?

For the SKy HD you will require a SKY HD box and multiroom subscription for any TV location that requires to watch a different SKy channel, and if you want to record you will need the SKYHD+ box.

Option 1

If in your example you required 3 locations to be able to watch and control the same SKY HD box but want everything centrally located (all watch the same channel)

2 x Satellite feeds
1 x SkyHD+ Box and subscription
1 x HDMI Over Cat6 HDBaseT Splitter with three Receivers

Option 2

If in your example you required 3 locations to be able to seperately watch different SKY HD Channels but want everything centrally located

6 x Satellite feeds (technically 5 if one of the rooms only needs to watch and not record, pause etc but may as well run 6)

3 x SKY boxes (2 x SKYHD+, 1 x Sky HD Multiscreenbox) and Sky Multroom subscription

3 x HDBaseT HDMI Over Cat6 Extenders (transmitter and receivers)
One from each SKy box to each room

Option 3

If in your example you required 3 locations to be able to seperately watch different SKY HD Channels but want everything centrally located and also access any Skybox from any location

6 x Satellite feeds (technically 5 if one of the boxes only needs to watch and not record, pause etc but may as well run 6)

3 x SKY boxes (2 x SKYHD+, 1 x Sky HD Multiscreenbox) and Sky Multiroom subscription

1 x HDBaseT HDMI over Cat6 4x4 matrix with three HDBaseT receivers


All three of the options above would also give you IR control back to the Skybox(s) so you can change channels , record etc from the TV locations.


I have at the moment left out the Freesat(freeview) requirement for the other rooms until i can clarify if you mean freesat or that was just what you thought would be easier as you had a satellite dish.
 
Should have added that all the HDBaseT solutions can potentially support 4K over a single Cat6 cable
 
Hi, we only require the ability record or playback in the lounge and, if possible without complicating things too much, in the master bedroom. All other rooms just require the ability to view.
OK, so one machine is all that's needed.
Option one.
 
I have recently done the HDMI over Cat6 - works a treat!
 
Neet adapters and cat6 cable
 
Seb,

Appreciate the detiled response.

As you suspected, I confused Freesat with Freeview...Doh.

At this point, we only need Freeview in the 5 other rooms.

I guess my concern is to get the right cables in now while the building is all open. It sounds like Cat6 is the way to go.
 
Id still recommend HDBaseT single CAt6 over the dual cat6 solutions.

We have used both over the last 5 years and dual cat5/6 caused us more problems than HDBaseT has, so much so that we have dropped all dual cat5/6 products

Yes its more expensive but the support issues have dropped to nearly zero
 
Winston : A strange statistic, I also agree that probably 95% of people watch free to air channels on Sky but the 5% is what they pay for eg Movies, Sky Atlantic and Sky sports mainly.

Diablo : so for freeview you need coax to each room linked back to an aerial (including the HD ones as always worth having a backup)
 
You are mistaken. Freesat is what you want.
Quite right, though now it looks like you might not even need Freesat.
I don't at all agree with AT about what people watch, but for many people the SD and HD channels on FV are adequate.
 
Diablo , maybe you could answer the question do you want sky ? Or will free view be ok ?
 
I'm not sure i understand the point.
If someone has sky they would be getting it for the channels they cant get on freeview/freesat
 
Which in my case don't include the three that you quoted.
 
Diablo , maybe you could answer the question do you want sky ? Or will free view be ok ?
Hi, yes I doo need Sky, as I tend to watch a lot of Discovery and Nat Geo programmes. I also need freeview for the other bedrooms. Will the freeview require a normal room aerial?

Rog
 
Thanks

I would suggest a roof aerial and an 8 way aerial distribution amplifier with a coax aerial feed to each TV

With this you could even link in your sky box so you could have standard definition from the sky box to the 5 extra TVs. You may need sky to send you the rf output module if you have a newer box as they don't as standard have the aerial(rf) output on them

Seb
 
Hi, yes I doo need Sky, as I tend to watch a lot of Discovery and Nat Geo programmes. I also need freeview for the other bedrooms. Will the freeview require a normal room aerial?

Rog
There is nothing normal about a room aerial. It is anabonimation that only works in about 10% of cases. The broadcasts are designed for outdoor aerials 10 metres high and that is what you should use.

With a good signal you may be able to use a passive splitter to all the rooms, otherwise a distribution amplifier will be required.
 

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