TV System for a Hotel

bigpaddy2004

I have been asked to do a job in a hotel to provide tv in all the rooms, 30 to be exact. The owner wants terrestrial, sky & 8 free to air recievers combined down the one cable and distributed to all the rooms.But, from previous experience 4 satellite recievers looped together is the limit. The owner does not want to pay for an expensive headedend to connect all the satellite recievers into. I know that you can use video modulators, but never used them before. Does anyone know where I could get my hands on some, the type which loop through each other. TIA.

watty

2 x 16 way multiswitches driven by 1 or more quattro just with four x 2 way passive splitter on each gives 32 receivers. You can easily add Hot & Astra 19E on same 80cm dish, no extra headend HW needed apart from the 2 way passive splitters and extra Quattro.

Sky boxes work as long as 28E is the 1st LNB.

About 300 Euro each for the multiswitchs. The multiswicth take a terrestiral i/p too and then you need a terrestrial / sat splitter in each room.

bigpaddy2004

Hi Watty, The Hotel has 13 feeds coming down from the roof into the comms room so I believe I could connect each of the leads into an octo lnb on the roof and connect the other end into the receivers. Dont forget that all the box's will be in the one comms room and all 13 channels are to be fed down the one cable. I have not had a chance to read into what a multiswitch does, what does it do???

byte

From your first post it seemed that you wanted to put Sky boxes AND FTA receivers into each bedroom? But from your second post, you're just referring to a receiver rack feeding a number of channels to the rooms.

A multiswitch is just a sort of like a distribution amplifier designed for sat boxes though some switches do not amplify and do the opposite.

For any hotels I've worked in, we've always used a proper head end (always ALCAD gear). The Head-End rack has a PSU at the end, then a row of channelised amplifiers. Each amp on the rack has a pre-determined frequency input (eg C22, 25, 28, etc), so of course the RF output of the satbox would need to match the amp it's connected to.

What equipment is available to you in the head-end room at the moment? Is there anything that you can continue to use?

watty

You can't "spilt" an LNB signal. A multiswitch has a separate input for each of the four possible LNB states (four). Each output looks like an LNB. So ONE Quattro (or Quad with some multiswitches) can have each o/p spilt in two with a passive splitter and feed two multiswitches. It is like having FOUR dishes each with an octo LNB. Each Multiswitch has 16 Satellite feeds out (each of which looks like a Diseqc switch with 4 LNBs, if no Diseqc commands are sent, like Digibox, you get the first Quad/Quattro).

Up to four Quattros can feed it allowing 32 Satellite receivers with four satellites each.

You can get a distribution amplifiers and 8 way splitters to feed 8 x 16 way multiswitches. The Distribution amps/ splitters can be daisy chained allowing a large number of multiswitches.

bigpaddy2004

byte wrote:

From your first post it seemed that you wanted to put Sky boxes AND FTA receivers into each bedroom? But from your second post, you're just referring to a receiver rack feeding a number of channels to the rooms.

A multiswitch is just a sort of like a distribution amplifier designed for sat boxes though some switches do not amplify and do the opposite.

For any hotels I've worked in, we've always used a proper head end (always ALCAD gear). The Head-End rack has a PSU at the end, then a row of channelised amplifiers. Each amp on the rack has a pre-determined frequency input (eg C22, 25, 28, etc), so of course the RF output of the satbox would need to match the amp it's connected to.

What equipment is available to you in the head-end room at the moment? Is there anything that you can continue to use?

There is nothing in the room at the moment, it is a new build. Would you have a link as to where I could get my hands on this gear?

watty

Yes. it is on an earlier Thread. I have a bookmark someplace.

byte

Right, let's get this clear...

The head end will consist of

4 channels off air
8 channels from FTA satellite
1 channel from a Sky receiver

Which would be a total of 13 channels to be fed to each room?

Or do you intend on putting FTA boxes along with off-air signals into each room? I need this clarified first.

If you like, I can PM you the supplier I use for head-end gear

bigpaddy2004

byte wrote:

Right, let's get this clear...

The head end will consist of

4 channels off air
8 channels from FTA satellite
1 channel from a Sky receiver

Which would be a total of 13 channels to be fed to each room?

Or do you intend on putting FTA boxes along with off-air signals into each room? I need this clarified first.

If you like, I can PM you the supplier I use for head-end gear

Your on the ball, 13 channels to be fed to each room! Thanks

cast_iron

If you are in an area with VHF and UHF reception, use all UHF if possible.
Used the ALCAD stuff for a 30 odd apartment block, and the VHF caused a problem in every apt. Avoid if possible.
Besides that problem, the proper head end is the way to go.

byte

It's a pity you need 8 FTA boxes PLUS a Sky box. If you used just 7 FTA boxes, an Octo LNB or Quattro+8way Multiswitch would've done.

I guess the likes of BBC1 and 2 could be got using the Loopthrough function of the FTA boxes, freeing up 1 full feed. Though I prefer giving all boxes full feeds, just in case of channels changing tp or whatever.

You could of course get a Quattro LNB, together with a 12way multiswitch. I think 12 is the next up from 8 way.

THough, I think more importantly, is what you choose as your launch amplifier. THe ALCAD rack I mentioned is good, as the levels of each channel can be adjusted, as gain can vary as you stretch across the UHF band.

I'll PM you the suppliers number, as he can guide you well enough on what to get.

I'll get the number tomorrow at work.