Chorus Digital & Analogue (Multi Room!)

DublinAl

Hiy folks,

Firstly, I've quickly trawled the forum and can't find a thread that answers my problem (several threads with part answers). If the questions below are already covered perhaps somebody might post the link, thanks in advance !

- Currently have Chorus Cable Basic Service(€27.99 / month)
- Cable comes in through attic
- I have split the cable 5 times. First 4 splits, reception fine. Final split reception degraded.

- In room where the last split is (main TV room) I got new Samsung LCD and channel reception appalling , far worse them when using my old Sony Triniton CRT.

Want to ugrade the Main TV Room to Chorus digital while retaining my single (!!!) chorus analogue service to other rooms where reception is good (but could be improved, but that another days work).


1. If I get Chorus Digital through cable, will I loose analogue transmission
to house.

2. Will he use the same cable that I have already or do they install
another cable from the box at the front of the house ?

3. Will engineer have to go upto attic when putting in digital receiver (he'll
will deffo see the 'Y' splitters). Worried that he'll cut of signals to
playroom and 2 bedrooms.

4. What additional charges will there be.


Would appreciate some advice on this ,

Thanks
Al

bk

Ok, first of all, no guarantees, but this is general experience:

1. No, you won't lose analogue service (you are obviously not in Cork where the analogue service is scrambled).

2. Depends on the quality of the cable and which way is easier. Sometimes they will run new cable, other times they reuse exiting cable.

3. He might do ,but if the existing cable is good enough quality, he might not bother.

However usually they just ignore existing connections, it isn't worth the the hassle having an argument with the person in the house, but no guarantee.

Might be an idea to temporarily disconnect the other connections.

BTW don't forget to be very friendly, made him a cuppa tea, etc. more likely to help you out then.

4. Legally Chorus have the right to charge you for the additional points, but usually they don't bother, so jsut the charges for digital.

DublinAl

Thanks BK.

On replacing the cable ... what I was getting at there was that hopefully he would leave the existing set-up the same and run a new cable. Reson being, the new point will be at the back of the house in a sun-room that's been extended out the back.

Not too sure how all this works ! Are you saying that both the analogue and the digitial signal / transmission use the same cable ????

Ideally, the engineer would run a new cable round to the back of the house externally, drill a hole in the nw exytension wall and then install the set-top.

If both cable and digital signals are run throught the same cable, and he decides to use this cable then he would have to phish the cable from the attic , over to the other side of attic, down and into the extension at the back etc. etc. This way he would have a full view of all the splits !

Don't know if this makes any sense !


Al

watty

Yes broadband/Phone/Analog/Digital Cable can all be on the same coax.

If you are exceptionally brave and have the right gadgets you can even run satellite IF from dish/LNB on the same coax too (PF100 coax recommended!).

bk

Yes, that makes sense.

Digital and Analogue (and also broadband) all run over the same coax cable.

If you want him to run the cable along the outside wall, you can certainly ask him to do that and if it isn't too difficult he will do it.

However they often run it through the attic and then drop it down into a room, that is how they did it in my house.

DublinAl

Thanks guys,

Still seems to be a question mark about this and it seems to be down to pot luck with the engineer and probably the current policy of Chorus.

If I order the digital package what reason do I have to Chorus to retain the cable signal aswell unless I were using it in order rooms (i.e. split) ... I'm sure they're not thick and are well aware as to what's going on.

Anybody any ideas as to a good reason I can tell Chorus that I want the digital package in one room but retain the exiting cable set-up ..... i can't think of one.

WRT Running it through the roof ... that's going to be messy because the room extension is running from the house with it's own roof i.e. they'd be drilling holes everywhere !

I also don't want to order the damn package and then wait until the day to find out if they've removed the analogue facility ... I need to know for sure if they'll leave it intact.

The only other way around it is to get SKY Digital and retain Chorus which is a very pricy alternative !

If anybody could come back with some idea of how to approach this I'd be much obliged.

Thanks for you input to-date folks,

Al

bk

Well they can't actually cut off your analogue signal, the Digital is actually transmitted over the analogue signal, it is just encrypted digitally and needs a box to be decrypted. So if you get digital, you must also therefore get analogue.

Worst they do is disconnect the little splitter you have and there is nothing at all stopping you buying a new splitter and reinstalling it.

They have no way of turning off analogue without turning off your digital service.

Also it looks like it would run the cable along the outside wall instead of going into the attic.

DublinAl

Bang on there Bk. I rang Chorus today and one of customer service girls said that when getting digital that they don't disable the analogue (she didn't say why).

If you wished to avail of analogue in say, another room, you have to pay an extra €5 / month per point and they could organise putting the point in for you if needed..... I said nothing and that I'd just switch over to Digital for the moment and if I'm not happy with the quality or package I'll switch back to the analogue signal (which is €5 euro less per month).

Obviously, this was a spoof on my part. thre's no way I'm paying €5 per tv point per month. I think the whole thing is a rip-off in the first place no matter who you're going with but I do love my telly !!

I'll post on Tuesday morning and let everyone know the charges for upgrading and whether the other 4 points in the house still work after the digital goes in.

Thanks for everyones' input.

Al

DublinAl

Just thought I'd give people a final update on the Chorus situation:


They installed Chorus Digital on monday. They took a line from a line that I had already split !! i.e. they used all the same wiring that I had put in place.

The engineer actually said that all other tv's in the house will still get the analogue signal and the required television outlet will have the digital.

No extra charges (unless you offer the info. up) except of course the extra €4.00 for the diigital package. (I think you are meant to pay €5 per additional tv using analogue or something like that).

The Digital seems fine but I'm just starting to think , would the signal be weakened because it has been split i.e. it's not the first point of origin for the signal ???

The quality seems quiet good but I've no benchmark to work off.


Also a Question:

I've got my Samsung QT-20 surround sound system in i.e. 5 speakers and dvd player but I' don't know how to set my digital tv channels up for Dolby 5.1. .... is this generally the done thing i.e. UTV, Ch4, BBC1 and all the other 40 odd channels feeding into the speaker system rather than the inbuilt Surround sound - stereo system ??

My DVD movies play excellent surround sound with the speakers, which are directly plugged into the dvd player but when I switch back to Chorus TV it doesn't recognise the speakers ..... Can anyone explain how to route everything through the tv in layman's terms or re-direct me to a relevant thread that will explain how to set my digital tv audio signal to come through my external speakers ?

I would be much obliged ,

Thanks
Al

watty

Digital either has enough signal or not.

We should do a Home cinema guide on ICDGopedia. Meanwhile go see Martin Pickering's excellent site www.satcure.co.uk or google is I have address wrong.

DublinAl

Thanks Watty, will do.

I'm showing my ignorance with that last Q but I understand what you're saying WRT signal you either have all or nothing.

The Chorus Digital channels this evening are relatively brutal. I checked the signal strength on the set-top box and it said 'Very-Low'. This gives the impression that it can be otherwise i.e. high / strong which raises the question about variation in signal strength (although I was referring to weakening the strength by splitting, which you answered for me).

I'll have a look at that thread tomorrow ... methinks I need to do some reading up on this stuff !

thanks

Al

watty

If the signal is "on the edge" for digital you get blockyness and freezing or loss altogether if it rains very hard.

There isn't the gradual degradation that there is with analogue. Bad signal is either bad signal on main coax or MMDS.

If in doubt find FIRST place signal is split and disconnect everything and re-connect the Digital box there. It may go to "low". It signal is high there and picture perfect then you have a wiring fault on your own cables. If the signal is still low and breaking up etc, then it is a Chorus fault.

DublinAl

thanks again Watty,

The cable comes in through the attic from the front of the house. It is split there to start with with one line going to the front room. The other l half of the split is dropped into the bedroom and split again for the other bedroom etc. etc.

The first line (front room) is taken out through the side wall of the house, down the length of the front room and them back into the house. The Chorus guys used this existing wiring. He then put some on sort of connector that allowed the wire to be continued down to the end of the extended sunroom (about another 50 foot).

All this wiring was put in place by my electrician but the Chorus guys seemed happy enough to use it.

I'll check the first (front room) outlet for signal strength and if this is still poor I'll ring them and get them to check the first point of entry i.e. the attic, although I dont fancy them going into the attic and seing all the splits. They could quiet easily insist on removing the split if they feel I'm being awkward.

Anyways, either way I'll log a call.

Another Question For anybody with Chorus Digital : What signal strength is generally acceptable i.e. will suufice for a good picture and also what signal is generally supplied by them. I ask because my signal is at low strength and this seems an unacceptable level but could well be the norm from them in which case I'm p*ssing in the wind.

I have seen some pixalation from time to time. RTE 1 & BBC 1 was very grainy this evening. Deffo not the telly because I just got a brand new Samsung 32" LCD.

Any answers much appreciated,

Thanks
Al