Setting up a Sky+ box and magic eyes for the first time

dlambirl

I've ordered Sky and I am going to get it installed with the next 2 weeks or so. We have only moved into our house so every room is not done (we currently only have the kitchen/dining/living area, utility room, bathroom and bedroom done).

Ok, I know that i need 2 wires coming to the TV for Sky+ as well as an aerial for terrestial channels. I have 4 wires coming to the TV in the living room (which is one of the rooms we dont use at the minute). Would it be possible to set the Sky+ up in the living room on an old portable tv and use a magic eye or something to transmit the image to the kitchen? How do these magic eyes work? Would i be better get a TV installer to fit the magic eye or would I be better to do it myself?

Would this do the job? http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/5347799/c_1/1%7Ccategory_root%7CHome+entertainment+and+sat+nav%7C12160455/c_2/2%7Ccat_12160455%7CElectrical+accessories%7C12160456/c_3/3%7Ccat_12160456%7CTV+and+video+senders%7C12160480.htm
Does the magic eye cable run from the back of the sky box to a distributor and then to the tvs??

I know your probably gonna say why not put the sky+ box in the kitchen, but that TV only has one wire coming to it and the socket is black pewter colour and very expensive and it would be costly to change it for a 4 way face. PLus we have the TV on the wall with a bracket and we dont have anywhere to put the Sky box unless we hang a shelf under it or something. I've never seen it done and wouldnt imagine that it would look great.

syboit

Magic eye's work by taking a connection off the RF out port on the back of the sky/sky+ and running that cable into the RF in on your other tv.

That kit on argos will work for you, that one will distrubite the siginal upto 4 times, you can also just get single connection sets where there is no amp.

Sounds like you've the house wired up from a central location ? If thats the case then your sky+ will connect to 2 wires going to your living room. You can then plug the RF out of the sky box into one the the remaining wires and then from there connect to whichever room you want. Its something you can do yourself.
I cant remember but you might need to enable the RFout on the sky box aswell, google should help ya out there.

dlambirl

Thanks but I'm still no wiser!

I find this really confusing.

So in the living room 2 wires will connect into the sky+ box. That i get.
So the RF Output - i connect one of the remaining wires into this and the end of the wire in the attic to that amp and then another wire from the amp to the room where i want my magic eye and the magic eye connects onto that and i assume into the tv??
If a cable is connected into the tv where does the terrestial aerial connect?
Are the wires for the magic eye as big as the digital co-ax??
Would i have to change the faces of all the sockets for ones with twin holes??

edit: Or.... (after coming to me)
Would i be able to put the sky+ box in the attic and then connect the RF to the magic eye amp and then take the magic eyes to the rooms?? ah please say that'd work!!

syboit

dlambirl wrote: »

So in the living room 2 wires will connect into the sky+ box. That i get.
So the RF Output - i connect one of the remaining wires into this and the end of the wire in the attic to that amp and then another wire from the amp to the room where i want my magic eye and the magic eye connects onto that and i assume into the tv??

Yup thats right

If a cable is connected into the tv where does the terrestial aerial connect?

I'm afraid this I'm not sure about

Are the wires for the magic eye as big as the digital co-ax??

should be the same size. these are the types of connectors that would be on the end of the rf connection, http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/5-x-RF-CONNECTOR-five-RF-connectors_W0QQitemZ110170967790QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_ConEle_SatCableFreeview_RL?hash=item110170967790&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1683|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50#ebayphotohosting
Would i have to change the faces of all the sockets for ones with twin holes??

edit: Or.... (after coming to me)
Would i be able to put the sky+ box in the attic and then connect the RF to the magic eye amp and then take the magic eyes to the rooms?? ah please say that'd work!!

Yes that would work, but I've seen this in a friends house, the picture quality you get this way is never as good as the sky+ box plugged directly into the main tv.

Tony

dlambirl wrote: »

If a cable is connected into the tv where does the terrestial aerial connect?

Connect the aerial to RF in on the sky box. Putting the box in the attic will seriously shorten its life and you will lose picture and sound quality on your main tv.

dlambirl

I understand now that i need to connect the sky+ box to the main tv and return the signal to the amp which will then transmit the sky to the different rooms.

Tony - Connect the terrestial aerial coming from the attic into the sky+ box in the living room??
What will this do??
Will I still have to run a terrestial aerial and magic eye cable to each tv??

I'm sorry to be annoying everyone by asking these silly questions - its just that i'm not very technically minded (as i'm sure you have picked up on by now) and I would like the sky signal in more than one room

Tony

It will allow your system to work correctly as the rf out from the sky box will contain both the terrestrial and sky signal in RF form.

dlambirl wrote: »

Tony - Connect the terrestial aerial coming from the attic into the sky+ box in the living room??
What will this do??
Will I still have to run a terrestial aerial and magic eye cable to each tv??

dlambirl

So i'd have terrestial channels in the other rooms too??

Ah i'm very confused with the whole set up. I dont think I'll be able to do it myself. It'll cost a fortune to get a professional out wont it??

Tony

dlambirl wrote: »

So i'd have terrestial channels in the other rooms too??

Is there some reason why you should'nt?

dlambirl wrote: »

Ah i'm very confused with the whole set up. I dont think I'll be able to do it myself. It'll cost a fortune to get a professional out wont it??

Why would you assume it would cost a fortune?

dlambirl

Tony wrote: »

Is there some reason why you should'nt?

Well I only have one cable going to the tvs in the other rooms - if i need one for terrestial and another cable from the sky amp i could only pick one of other or run another wire and change the face on the box.

Tony wrote: »

Why would you assume it would cost a fortune?

Because most professionals do!!
I could buy and aerial and install it myself for my new build but i havent a clue what i'm doing so i got a professional in and it cost €300.

Well has anyone got any idea how much it would cost for a professional to come out and fit the magic eyes to a couple of rooms??
Would it be a better idea for the professionals to supply the equipment or to buy it myself?

slegs

Sky+ Box

---

In

2 Cables from Sky dish to Sky + box (LNB 1 + 2 ports)
1 Terrestrial Aerial Cable to Sky + box (RF In Port)

Out

Scart to TV
1 Cable to TV (RF 1 Out Port)
1 Cable to Attic and Amplifier (RF 2 Out Port)

Amplifier

---

In

1 Cable from Sky+ Box RF2

Out

4 Cables to Rooms


TVs in Other Rooms

---

In

1 Cable from Amplifier into Magic Eye
Magic Eye into TV


This setup will give you Sky+ and your terrestrial aerial channels in all TVs

Remember to have RGB on Sky+ box for best picture on main TV
Also, remember to turn on power on RF2 on Sky+ Box through Services 4,0,1 select hidden menu.

Hope this helps/

dlambirl

slegs wrote: »

Sky+ Box

---

In

2 Cables from Sky dish to Sky + box (LNB 1 + 2 ports)
1 Terrestrial Aerial Cable to Sky + box (RF In Port)

Out

Scart to TV
1 Cable to TV (RF 1 Out Port)
1 Cable to Attic and Amplifier (RF 2 Out Port)

Amplifier

---

In

1 Cable from Sky+ Box RF2

Out

4 Cables to Rooms


TVs in Other Rooms

---

In

1 Cable from Amplifier into Magic Eye
Magic Eye into TV


This setup will give you Sky+ and your terrestrial aerial channels in all TVs

Remember to have RGB on Sky+ box for best picture on main TV
Also, remember to turn on power on RF2 on Sky+ Box through Services 4,0,1 select hidden menu.

Hope this helps/

Thanks a million slegs. Thats a great help.

Just one more question (your gonna kill me!!)

The terrestial channels will be independant wont they?? Unlike the sky channels??

slegs

dlambirl wrote: »

Thanks a million slegs. Thats a great help.

Just one more question (your gonna kill me!!)

The terrestial channels will be independant wont they?? Unlike the sky channels??

Yes, your Sky will be on one UHF channel and your terrestrial channels will each be on their own channel. Normally people set it up like below on the other TVs but its up to yourself! You can then buy a Sky+ remote for each room and set it up to work with each telly (volume and TV channel changing along with Sky channel control etc) so you only need one remote per TV.

1 RTE 1
2 RTE 2
3 TV3
4 TG4
5 Sky+

or

0 Sky+
1 RTE 1
2 RTE 2
3 TV3
4 TG4

Tony

dlambirl wrote: »

Because most professionals do!!

Bit of a sweeping generalistaion there

recycler1

Tony wrote: »

Putting the box in the attic will seriously shorten its life.....

Why?

Tony

Temperature variations, dust etc and why would you want to lose sound and picture quality anyway?

recycler1 wrote: »

Why?

recycler1

Tony wrote: »

Temperature variations, dust etc

I would have thought that the average temperature in most attics would be lower than in the remainder of the house - meaning that reliability would be improved.

Tony wrote: »

why would you want to lose sound and picture quality anyway?

Entirely different issue.
Quality is only reduced where the Sky Box would otherwise be connected to the TV via a SCART, rather than coax, lead.

In any case...
In many situations the box is put in the attic as the TV feed can then be sent to multiple rooms in the house using existing cabling that was installed for terrestrial TV. (With magic eyes being used to control the box.) The advantages of this can outweigh the small loss in quality.

Tony

recycler1 wrote: »

I would have thought that the average temperature in most attics would be lower than in the remainder of the house - meaning that reliability would be improved.

Not true, I'm speaking from a lot of experience here replacing boxes after a relatively short time in the attic.

recycler1 wrote: »

Entirely different issue.
Quality is only reduced where the Sky Box would otherwise be connected to the TV via a SCART, rather than coax, lead.

Sky boxes should be connected via scart, its not a different issue its a another good reason not to put a box in the attic

recycler1 wrote: »

In any case...
In many situations the box is put in the attic as the TV feed can then be sent to multiple rooms in the house using existing cabling that was installed for terrestrial TV. (With magic eyes being used to control the box.) The advantages of this can outweigh the small loss in quality.

There is no reason why the sky box cannot reside next to the main tv and still feed the existing cable, anyone who says otherwise is short changing the customer and not providing all the available quality benefits of digital tv, its more than a small loss in quality. Its best practice and frankly I do not understand why you are trying to argue otherwise.

slegs

Tony is 100% correct. RGB scart to the main TV should be number 1 priority for picture and sound quality. After that it is just one extra cable run to put the RF2 out back up to the attic for distribution. I think people make this seem more complicated than it is. Once you have the opportunity to do the cabling correctly it only takes a little forethought to get it right.

ASTRALSAT

slegs wrote: »

Tony is 100% correct. RGB scart to the main TV should be number 1 priority for picture and sound quality. After that it is just one extra cable run to put the RF2 out back up to the attic for distribution. I think people make this seem more complicated than it is. Once you have the opportunity to do the cabling correctly it only takes a little forethought to get it right.

this is best practice ,I too have replaced many a sky box destroyed by attic dust and variation in temperature especially sky+ boxes.

dlambirl

Thanks a million slegs for clearing that up for me! I can understand now what has to be done. When the tv installer installed the aerials he put in a box which he said will be able to distribute the sky signal so we'll just have to see how that works!!

At the minute the terrestial aerial is coming from the aerial and into the box (which has loadsa blue flashing lights btw!!) and then distributes to the tvs around the house. So will i have to connect the terrestial aerial into the sky box at all?? it doesnt matter if i have or not - just wondering cos a terrestial aerial is already connected to the distributor/amp

Tony

dlambirl wrote: »

So will i have to connect the terrestial aerial into the sky box at all?? it doesnt matter if i have or not - just wondering cos a terrestial aerial is already connected to the distributor/amp

Perhaps not as RTE will appear on Sky on your main tv

dlambirl

Tony wrote: »

Perhaps not as RTE will appear on Sky on your main tv

No i want my terrestial channels independant on all the tvs just wondering if i'd have to take it from the amp, to the living room, into the sky box then back up to the amp when the aerial is already connected to the amp??

Tony

In your case I would connect a cable from the amp to your manin tv without running it through the sky box but still run a cable from the RF2 of the sky box to the amp, you may have to combine it with the RTE aerial feed as I'd imagine the amp only has one UHF input. Probably best to seek advice from the guy who installed the aerial and amp.

dlambirl wrote: »

No i want my terrestial channels independant on all the tvs just wondering if i'd have to take it from the amp, to the living room, into the sky box then back up to the amp when the aerial is already connected to the amp??

dlambirl

The amp has 2 inputs

Tony

Are they both marked UHF though?

dlambirl wrote: »

The amp has 2 inputs

dlambirl

i'll check now in a while and get back to you on that.

I asked yer man would it do for sky and he said it would :rolleyes:

So if it is going to work it should say UHF and ???

Tony

He was correct it will work but if it only has one uhf input (which is the norm) and you want all tv's to have independent RTE then you will need to combine the RTE and SKy UHF signals. I'm repeating myself but a call to the installer would surely clarify all this for you.

dlambirl wrote: »

i'll check now in a while and get back to you on that.

I asked yer man would it do for sky and he said it would :rolleyes:

So if it is going to work it should say UHF and ???

recycler1

Tony wrote: »

Not true, I'm speaking from a lot of experience here replacing boxes after a relatively short time in the attic.

I know two boxes, one of them mine, which have been in different attics for over six years, with no problem.

Tony wrote: »

Sky boxes should be connected via scart, its not a different issue its a another good reason not to put a box in the attic

Ideally yes, unless it's a HD box, when HDMI should be used. However, multiroom setups, using a single Sky box, always involve some compromise. At the very least, one TV will be connected via the RF outlet. Many people are very happy with the quality over COAX. (Let's remember its as good, if not better, than terrestrial "over the air" set-ups.)

Tony wrote: »

There is no reason why the sky box cannot reside next to the main tv and still feed the existing cable, anyone who says otherwise is short changing the customer

Not true! In some houses its very challenging to get two satellite feeds to a Sky+/Freesat Box. Many installers get around this by running satellite feeds down external walls and then drilling through the outside wall. I've even seen this done twice, for separate rooms, in the same house! Personally, I would not allow my house be hacked in such a manner. The alternative of placing the satellite receiver in the attic can offer a perfectly acceptable compromise.
(The situation with Freesat/Freesat from SKY is even worse. Most likely the existing internal COAX is required for the terrestrial (Irish) Channels.)

Tony wrote: »

.... its more than a small loss in quality. Its best practice and frankly I do not understand why you are trying to argue otherwise.

I totally agree that using HDMI, or, failing that SCART, gives better quality. Whether its "best practice" is questionable.
(Indeed, I have gone to a great deal of trouble to bring four feeds into my sitting room so that I can connect Sky and Freesat via HDMI.)

I simply do not agree that "Putting the box in the attic will seriously shorten its life". There is no reason why a satellite receiver cannot have an long life in the attic. In some cases it is an entirely sensible option and is in no way short changing the customer.

Tony

recycler1 wrote: »

I simply do not agree that "Putting the box in the attic will seriously shorten its life". There is no reason why a satellite receiver cannot have an long life in the attic. In some cases it is an entirely sensible option and is in no way short changing the customer.

Nonsense, several installers have already posted above to disagree with your view and between us we have many,many years of experience doing this. Putting a box in the attic is not best practice and never will be, it is never a sensible option and anyone who says so is either misinformed, does not care about the quality of the installation or is trolling.

dlambirl

Tony wrote: »

He was correct it will work but if it only has one uhf input (which is the norm) and you want all tv's to have independent RTE then you will need to combine the RTE and SKy UHF signals. I'm repeating myself but a call to the installer would surely clarify all this for you.

i'm after checking and it only has one uhf Input. Great. There is a white box beside it with a black cable running into it and a white cable coming from it and into the amp. So. . . I was thinking (run for the hills) if i was to join the black cable that goes into the white box with the cable that goes to the living room and get combine it with the sky box and bring it back to the amp and use the uhf input. Will that work?