Routing Sky around the house

[WiZeR]

Hi all

I am moving to a new house and while we are completely renovating it I want to think of a neat way to pipe Sky into every room. The best way I can think of is the following.

2 Sky boxes (i.e 2 zones).
Sky Box 1 routes to Loft, Bed1, Bed2, Bed3 & Bed 4
Sky Box 2 routes to Kitchen & Lounge.

Firstly I realise that in either zone we will all be watching the same channel. That is fine for now.

I would like to house both sky boxes in a dedicated cupboard under the stairs (along with the ethernet hub).

Can I route to the entire house using coax? Will I need something like this? I intend to use remote eyes at each TV.

Should the sky boxes be connected to at least one TV each via scart?

I would really appreciate some guidance in this area, only got one chance to plumb all this in.

Thank you

I am not interested in Sky+ or SkyHDD

 

[WiZeR]

sorry, posted in wrong section..

 

[WiZeR]

come on guys, someone must have done this before?

 

[hornydragon]

yes can be done i would seriously suggest you consider sky+. If you had sky+ and sky you have both boxes in every room I would also consider wiring so you can add aditional boxes if required without having to run new cables I also reconmend not putting boxes in cupboard for several reasons the most important being the cost vs quality problems for main rooms

 

[WiZeR]

I'm not interested in recording TV, is there any othere reason i'd need sky+?

I can understand that this might be a bad idea in terms of image quality. What about if I was to get SkyHD and run a HDMI to the cupboard. What reasons are you against the cupboard idea?

 

[hornydragon]

PQ and cost running an HDMI to cupboard will help with sky HD but not + or normal RF is the lowest PQ you can have and looks dire on anything larger tha a 21" CRT I would think it much better to have box 1 in lounge and then feed to cupboard and onto kitchen, the box 2 with another TV and feed into cupboard then off to bedrooms distributing from cupboard is fine but i wouldnt have the boxes there i would also if you have the chance (ie house being refurbed/decorated/built) run a bigger distribution system o and dont forget phone lines

 

[WiZeR]

Thanks, What do you mean by distribution system?

 

[hornydragon]

Ditribution of more than just sky i would try and furture proof yourself as far as possible. A distribution system is just that a system that allows you to distribute multiple signals or devices around the house.

 

[derbyjj]

HI. You have several options for piping sky around your house and as your renovating now is the time to do it all.
option 1
(cheapest and easiest) use coax.
main advantage 1 cable to each room takes video and audio(mono only) to each room and allows the remote eye signal to be returned to your sky boxes for remote control from each room you stick an eye in.
option 2 ( expensive at least £30 GBP for each remote tv and another 50 or so for a tramsmitter for each sky box) video will be composite so just a bit better than RF via coax also need an extra power socket at each tv. Also need to make sure you select trnsmitters that can return your remote contraol sognals or you will need to run coax as well.
Option 3
semi professional cabling using special transmitterand recievers over cat 5 wiring.

regards sky and sky+ if you can get hold of a sky+ box it will make setting up your 2 zones easier. this is because the remote controls for the boxes use different codes. If you have 2 sky boxes then the remote will work both boxes at the same time.
you can combine 2 sky RF out signals using a sky+ combiner.

I have sky, sky + and freeview piped around my house via coax. sky boxes are located by decent teles to get RGB and dolby digital in lounge and 1 bedroom. Kids rooms kitchen study and garage all have rf via coax.

Send me a private message and I'll send a diagram and some infor on here to buy the bits and pieces and also tuning yous rf signals to avoid interference

 

[Paul_Maddocks]

Centralising the distribution point is a good idea, however you don't necessarily need the boxes to be located at that point.

I would consider doing the following:

Run 2 Coax cables to each room, terminating into 'F' connector faceplates, have the cables from each room run back to the cupboard. Select 2 rooms to be main rooms and run or 2 additional coaxs with faceplates. (c13846 on this page http://www.satcure.co.uk/accs/page15b.htm - you will need standard single (2) or double (4) gang patress boxes and C12846 (2) or C12843 (4) module face plates)

Using the houses around you, get a rough idea of where you can put your sky dish when the install is completed and run 4 coax cables from the cupboard to around where you wish to put the dish, leave plenty of slack!

In the cupboard, install a F connector patch panel (basically 20 'F' barrels mounted on a plate with fixings for rack install or onto some form of frame), terminate all the cables run from the rooms into these panels, terminate the dish feed cables into the panel. (Here http://www.canford.co.uk/commerce/item_48-4041_2006317.aspx)

Make small patch leads and connect the dish feed ports to the room ports where you want the sky boxes to be installed.

Connect a RF signal booser / repeater (with DC pass-throu) outputs to the other rooms you wish to pipe the sky into. I would recommend a booster for each zone, as using different RF channels can get messy. I would recommend one with F connectors on (like this http://www.satcure.co.uk/accs/page15.htm the SLX4CF)

Connect the RF2 outputs from the sky boxes to your spare 3rd coax in the main rooms. Turn on the RF2 power in the setup menus. Make sure all the red lights on each remote eye come on! You will want an F to RF cable, or a converter (easily availible from Maplin or similar)

Get hold of some magic eyes which are connected via an F connector (get them here - the VisionLink range http://www.satcure.co.uk/accs/page3.htm

Connect the magic eyes to the wall sockets using standard F patch cables.

Connect the sky boxes in each room to the TVs there.

Purchase a 4 port LNB for installation onto you sky dish if you choose to have sky installed from 'Sky'. If you get an independant, request a 4 port LNB for your dish.

When its install time, request that they connect all 4 of the supplied cables to your 4 port LNB. If you have patched it right, your dish feeds should get to the boxes in each room with the returns being piped around whereever you select.

This assumes the following:
You have a budget of up to £200 for parts and cable (depending on length, can be around £25 per 100m).

You know how to terminate coax with F connectors (either twist on or crimp on (crimp tool required!). There are guides on the sat cure site above if you are unsure.

You are happy mounting the faceplates into the wall (terminating into the faceplates is simple stuff!)

I have recommended running cables in pairs becuase when running 1, you might need 2 later on. As Sky+ or HD need 2, having 2 in each room means that sky boxes can be moved around to most rooms without the need to re-cable. Also, if you ever wanted to go to Sky+, you should always have enough ports for this, similar theory for the dish feeds, although you may only need 2, you got 2 spare for later (another multiroom box, or a sky+ box)

Hope this has made sense, I have implemented very similar myself (hence all the links where I got my stuff from!) so any questions I will be happy to answer.

 

[davemurgatroyd2]

Routing the output of your Sky boxes around the house using RF outputs and using magic eyes through coax cable is very unlikely to be future proof in any way. This requires an analogue tuner in the TVs and fewer TVs are fitted with analogue tuners and are likely to almost totally disappear with digital switch off. So although it may work well now any replacement TV is unlikely to work with it.

Wireless video extenders OR sending a composite video signal through cat5 cabling is probably going to future proof it until you decide to go HD around the house.

 

[Paul_Maddocks]

Well HD around the house via cat 5 would be a much more future proof solution, I was only providing input to expand the OP ideas though.

In my case, I have at least 2 CAT5 ports next to all my SKY ports anyway!