TV Link with Sky Multiscreen

milleniumaire

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I've been using a TV Link system for many years in my existing setup to enable me to watch and control the Sky+ HD box from 3 additional TV's. My current setup comprises:

Aerial -> SLX6B Aerial Amplifier -> Sky+HD box in Lounge -> Back to SLX6B (carrying Sky channel)

-> loft room​
SLX6B -> bedroom
-> kitchen​

The signal from the Sky box via the SLX6B is then passed to 3 additional TV's around the house (loft room, bedroom and kitchen), each with its own cable from the amplifier. Each of the TV's has a TV Link device. Everything works perfectly.

We are now in the process of having an extension built, so the TV in the kitchen will be replaced by two new TV's, one of which will be connected to a second Sky+ HD box. I will re-run the existing kitchen coaxial cable to the new Sky+ HD box, then send the signal from the Sky+HD box to the other TV in the kitchen and to the 50" plasma TV (for digital freeview signal), which will also be connected to the new Sky+ HD box via HDMI. The new Sky+ HD box will obviously be connected to the existing Satellite dish by the Sky installer. This will allow the 2nd TV in the kitchen to be tuned into both Sky+ HD boxes and to also receive digital freeview. So the setup becomes:

Aerial -> SLX6B Aerial Amplifier -> Sky+HD box in Lounge -> Back to SLX6B (carrying Sky channel)

-> loft room​
SLX6B -> bedroom
-> Sky+ HD box in kitchen -> 50" plasma in kitchen
-> 2nd kitchen TV​

(I hope this makes sense so far - nearly there!)

I have a couple of questions about this setup:
1. Will the TV link used in the bedroom and loft room change the channel both Sky+ HD boxes? I suspect it will as all cables originate from the amplifier, which sends the TV link signal back to the Sky+ HD box and therefore I assume it won't differentiate between Sky+ HD boxes!
2. I would like the 2nd kitchen TV to have a TV link system fitted, but for it to only control the Kitchen Sky+ HD box. Essentially, I want two separate TV links systems;
a) Lounge Sky+ HD box controllable from loft room and bedroom
b) Kitchen Sky+ HD box controllable from second kitchen TV only

My suspicion is that I'm going to have to use a second amplifier to pass the signal to the Kitchen Sky+ HD box and the two kitchen TV's. This would ensure there are two separate "circuits". To do this however, I would need to split the aerial input to feed two amplifiers!

For flexibility, I'm also thinking that rather than running a coaxial cable from the new kitchen Sky+ HD box to the 2nd kitchen TV (which would be a relatively short 15m cable), I'm thinking it would be better to send the coaxial cable back to the amplifier (in the loft) from the kitchen Sky+ HD box, then take it back down to the 2nd kitchen TV. This would ensure ALL TV's are fed from the same point in the loft and would give flexibility in the future should I wish to change the setup. Unfortunately, this also means much more cable as the runs from the loft amplifier to the kitchen are about 20m.

I would appreciate your comments/recommendations on this setup.
 
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My current setup comprises:

Aerial -> SLX6B Aerial Amplifier -> Sky+HD box in Lounge -> Back to SLX6B (carrying Sky channel)

-> loft room​
SLX6B -> bedroom
-> kitchen​

Don't understand this. The aerial should go directly to the Sky box, not through the SLX6B.

Please explain the connections to the SLX6B.
 
Hi Neil, your are correct. I was doing this from memory and when I checked I can see the cable from the aerial runs directly to the existing Sky+ HD box in the lounge, then back up to the amplifier where it is routed to the other TV's in the house. So what I actually have is:

Aerial -> Sky+HD box in Lounge -> Back to SLX6B (carrying Sky channel)

-> loft room​
SLX6B -> bedroom
-> kitchen​

Sorry for the confusion, the SLX6B only has one input, so my original route was obviously none-sense as you spotted.
 
Hi Martin, that does look like a solution, however I'm a little confused about how it works. I can see the purpose of the different devices:

- RF2 out socket on existing Sky+ HD box (same as mine).
- Triax i/o link. Since I original posted I discovered that the new Sky+ HD boxes no longer have an RF2 out socket, but instead they have an i/o socket, which therefore requires a device to convert the signal. Naughty Sky! They have clearly underestimated the size of the market using TV links and are trying to cash in on it (by selling the converter or forcing people to use multiscreen).
- The SPC4 combines the RF signals from multiple sources into a single output.
- Amplifier - I assume this is nothing special and I can continue to use my existing SLX6B.

What I don't understand is:
- If a remote control is used at one of the TV's fitted with a magic eye, how does it know which Sky box to control? I assume the RF channel on each Sky box has to be different and the remote control signal "rides" on this channel to the source box?
- Where does the aerial feed into this setup? I guess this would come through my existing Sky+ HD box and would be fed into the SPC4, which in turn feeds the combined signals into the amplifier, which only has one input.
I suspect I've answered my own questions, but I would appreciate confirmation.

Another thing I've determined while looking for a solution to this issue. I've seen a lot of examples of systems that pass HD over cat6 network cable. I'm thinking about running a cat6 cable between the two TV's in the kitchen just in case I decide to use this in the future. However, I don't understand why cat6 cable has to be used as surely HD will travel over coaxial cable quite happily; we get 1080i HD through the Sky dish to the sky box over coaxial and freeview provides HD channels from the aerial to the TV over coaxial. Given that I have coaxial cable already running all over the house, why are the solutions to pass HD over coaxial so expensive compared to using cat6 cable (which is also expensive but not as bad).
 
The SPC4 comes with instructions telling you how to set up your remotes.
it IS possible to pass HD signals over coax but the HDMI converters are expensive. Achieving the necessary HDMI "handshaking" is complicated via coax. HDMI over coaxial solutions usually require a minimum of two coax cables, and often as many as four.
 
No, not to the TV from the sky box, but yes to the TV for freeview HD. What I'm pointing out is that coaxial cable is perfectly capable of transmitting a HD quality image and most homes tend to be wired with coaxial, yet there appears to be no cost effective solution to use coaxial cable to connect HD devices.

I assume the RF out connection on a Sky+ HD box "could" be used to transmit the Sky HD signal "if" it had been designed this way. In the same way it "could" be designed to transmit a digital signal, but isn't.

While I'm still looking to use coaxial cable to install the two kitchen TV's, I've decided it would be possible to connect them together using a long (17m) HDMI cable and hdmi splitter. This saves having to mess about with cat6 cable and various devices.

Anybody recommend a good quality 17m HDMI cable? Should I go for active HDMI? It will be hidden in the wall.
 
Quite so, though tbe two are very different.
17 metres is long for HDMI and I don't get the significance of "active", but I don't get the intention either.
 
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What I'm pointing out is that coaxial cable is perfectly capable of transmitting a HD quality image and most homes tend to be wired with coaxial, yet there appears to be no cost effective solution to use coaxial cable to connect HD devices.
But there is! It's called a Digibox.
You run the LNB coaxial feed to a Digibox and connect that to your TV via HDMI.
There would be no point in having a Digibox that also converts the signal back again to an LNB signal, just to run that through coaxial cable to another Digibox.
 

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