tv distrubution around the house

irelandhouse

we are re-wiring our house and would like to get the TVs running correctly.

We have 8 TV's (4 bedrooms, living room, kitchen, sitting room, office) we have sky plus, regular sky, a UHF aerial and and FM aerial = we would like to be able to watch the UHF in each room and also watch and use both digi-boxes from each room if possible.

what would we need to do this ? so that we can control either of the digiboxes from any of the rooms and watch it on any of the tvs?

altered121

sky stuff here http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=55
hope this helps;)

ethernet

You need a distrubution amplifier for the number of outputs you need. Here is an example of such a device you could use.

Have the terrestrial UHF input going into RF in of digibox. RF2 out of digibox is then connected to the amplifier. The eight-way amp I linked needs a connection to the mains; the others in that range of products don't.

Set the digibox to output on a channel well clear of your terrestrial channels. Just run a cable to each TV point and terminate it on an unshielded wallplate.

Now the fun part -- you'll need a TV link for each point in order to allow you to change channels on the digibox.

irelandhouse

thanks for that

just a question, how does one watch normal terrestrial TV when not viewing the 2 sky 'channels' ? - do you have to watch it through the sky channel?

and with the 'eyes' how do these differenciate between the two boxes?

ethernet

irelandhouse wrote:

thanks for that

just a question, how does one watch normal terrestrial TV when not viewing the 2 sky 'channels' ? - do you have to watch it through the sky channel?

and with the 'eyes' how do these differenciate between the two boxes?

Having two digiboxes complicates things somewhat. However, as far as I know, a Sky+ remote won't control a standard digibox unless you force it to do so by using a combination of key-presses on the remote and vice verse, so the Sky+ will ignore commands from the standard Sky remote and the standard Sky digibox will ignore the commands from the Sky+ remote. I'm open to correction on this.

You could have the RF out of the standard digbox go into the RF in of the Sky+. Ideally you won't have to relocate them for this so be sure to use satellite-grade cable to reduce signal loss.

You'll have six channels to tune in on each TV: four for terrestrial and two for the output of each digibox. You may choose to allocate positions 1-4 to terrestrial TV and 5 and 6 for each digibox, tuned to the channel you set each digibox to output on. Pick these channels carefully to reduce/prevent interference. Make reference to the '1-5-9 Rule'. For example, say one terrestrial channel is on channel 40, don't set either digibox to output on 39, 41, 35, 45, 31 or 49.

irelandhouse

thanks again for your help ethernet. that sounds excellent. so we would really just need to get an extra sky and sky plus remote around the house!

with regards what you said about cable, I have read about 100ohm cable would this be the best bet ?

to physically connect the sky, skyplus and aerial how do they all go into the tvlink box?, there only appears to be a single input on the T180 Amplifier/Splitter (F100533) or would you think to go for the 8 Way Loftbox (F100542)..

many thanks again

ethernet

irelandhouse wrote:

thanks again for your help ethernet. that sounds excellent. so we would really just need to get an extra sky and sky plus remote around the house!

with regards what you said about cable, I have read about 100ohm cable would this be the best bet ?

to physically connect the sky, skyplus and aerial how do they all go into the tvlink box?, there only appears to be a single input on the T180 Amplifier/Splitter (F100533) or would you think to go for the 8 Way Loftbox (F100542)..

many thanks again

I'll answer your last question first. I'd go for the eight-way altogether -- just in case you were to add more points later.

The loft box is rather different. If you use it, you connect an output of the LNB to it as well as terrestrial TV, cable, modulated scart outputs, etc. All this is combined into one download to each room. At each point, a special multi-service wallplate [MSWP] is required which splits the signal back into terrestrial, radio, satellite and so on. This system would require a satellite receiver -- maybe a cheap FTA box -- at each TV point if you wanted to use it, possibly in conjuction with the two outputs from your Sky and Sky+ boxes.

I know little about cable! Was always advised to but satellite-grade CT100 or CT120 cable but I'm now advised that it is now longer produced. I can't advise you regarding your resistance question. AFAIK, bog standard RF fly-leads have a resistance of around 70 Ohms [should be written on the cable].

conax

irelandhouse wrote:

with regards what you said about cable, I have read about 100ohm cable would this be the best bet ?

100 Ohm cable is primarily for data. All general use TV cable has a nominal impedence of 75 Ohms. CT-100 cable is still available (its a generic brand name now) its just the original manufactures of CT-100 have stopped.