Sky HD - Question re IR Sender / Receiver

Hi All, My Sky HD box will be arriving today or tomorrow. I have done all the prepatory work myself and will complete the install myself.

My question is , currently I have my sky box connected through scart to my HD TV. This scart has an IR intercepter attached to it to allow the signal to be received in my bedroom.

When Sky HD is installed, I intend to hook it up through HDMI to my AV Receiver then on to the TV. So my question is, how can I get the AV Sender to pick up the channels and send to the bedroom? If I put a scart in it will lose the quality will it not?

Also if anyone knows the answer to my next question that would be great. Im thinking of getting a new LCD HD Ready for the bedroom. Can I run a cable from the SKY HD box to the TV in the bedroom and receive HD Quality on the new TV? I suspect not unless I get a hell of a long HDMI Lead and splitter.

Thanks a lot
Paul

 

Paul,

Sorry I don't know much about IR senders/receivers although I'm sure everyone will tell you that SCART is not as good as the hi-def output on either the HDMI or Component outputs.

However you could use the HDMI output on the SKY box for your TV downstairs and component output for the TV upstairs. The SKY HD box outputs hi definition content (either 720p or 1080i depending on what you set it too - SKY engineers use 1080i I believe as that is what all hi-def SKY content is currently transmitted in) on both the HDMI and Component outputs simultaneously (as well as down scaled content on the SCART). So you can drive two hi-def devices at the same time without the need for a splitter. (I do this to drive my TV and Projector.)

The benefit of using component cable for the upstairs TV is that (a) it's typically cheaper in longer lengths and (b) it is supposedly better for longer cable runs (HDMI cables can suffer from 'sparkles'). I'd also observe (although I know this will cause a barrage of alternative views) that I can't tell the difference between HDMI and Component on my hi-def displays from the SKY HD box.

Given that SKY only outputs one channel on all its various connectors you may be able to retain the SCART IR channel changer just for changing channels even if you are not using it for output? But, as mentioned, this isn't something I know much about.

Hope this helps in some ways...

Bill