combining sky and aerial

rookie76

Hi,

Getting sky+ installed and also have an aerial, but only have 3 cables to living room. Need advice on how to combine all for the following arrangement : Sky+ (2 cables) and aerial (1 cable) to living room, and a return cable to attic to distribute to 4 other tvs.
Was looking at labgear distribution loftbox but not sure if suitable.
Any ideas !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rippy

One cable for 1st sat. feed.
Combine 2nd sat feed and aerial signal using a pair of combiner/splitters.
like this-
http://satellite.ie/acatalog/Satellite_UHF_VHF_Cable_Combiner.html

3rd cable return line from RF2 of sky box.
Loftbox would work well as would any distribution amplifier that allows DC pass and return path for magic eyes .
This would do the trick far cheaper.

http://satellite.ie/acatalog/copy_of_copy_of_Amplifier_4_Way__for_sky_digital.html

TheDriver

ditto, combine aerial and sat on one cable using a combiner and splitter at both ends, works perfectly for me.

rookie76

Thanks to all.

Just confirmed what i hoped would work. Will see how it goes over the weekend.

Cheers..........

rookie76

Update on sky+ tv aerial combining.

Sky installer told me you can't combine the two feeds, that sky feed must be direct to sky box!!!! So now tv aerial is disconnected.
Also went to local AV shop and got the same response (although not as convincing) from them when i asked if they stocked the combiners.
I know that thats not true but why am I told so. Is there any problems with signal strength or reception when combined.

Would be great if I could sort this out myself, but need to be sure if going to buy the gear online.

steveon

In truth it does weaken the signal but not enought to cause u any problems whatsoever.

Another option would be a stacker/destacker option which will combine both satellite signals into one cable in the loft and then de-stack them back into 2 cables when it gets to the sitting room....much more expensive option however.

rookie76

Thanks for quick reply.

Can you confirm exactly what i need to order. Do the combiners work both ways or is there a different one to split signals between wall plate and box?

steveon

Just buy 2 of these..... use one in the attic and one in behind the tv...

http://satellite.ie/acatalog/Satellite_UHF_VHF_Cable_Combiner.html

U can reverse them no problem, so ud use the input on one as the actual output.....to feed the room etc...

User Daniel

Hello all.

I have used those Triax TV/Sat combiners and they work great you can also get a wall plate version which is a bit neater than just using a second combiner at the back of the tv.

http://cpc.farnell.com/triax/304260/tv-sat-diplexed-white-module/dp/AP01538?Ntt=304260

http://cpc.farnell.com/triax/304201/polycarbonate-white-full-module/dp/AP01514&crosssellid=AP01514&crosssell=true&in_merch=true&

steveon

The plates are great but often gave me problems hence why id go with the 2 splitter option and besides behind the tv i dont see em anyway..

mukki

this might not work but it would be the first thing i would try....


can you not just put the sky+ box in the attic

and feed it the 2 sat feeds and the uhf feed it is antenna in

join the skys antenna out to a sky friendly 5 (or more) way splitter

then you can have 1 co-ax to every tv with a magic eye for sky control


note... presume you could even get sky multiroom and fit the second box in the attic too, so every tv would have a choice of sky, sky+ or uhf, to avoid fights

steveon

That would work but on the main tv Id prefer the sky box been there than in an attic on scart instead of rf for stereo sound and better picture.

TheDriver

the combiner works grand, doesn't reduce signal that much to be honest and you won't notice it (you shouldn't!!). Just combine one of the sat feeds with the aerial and uncombine at end. Why do you want aerial going to sitting room when you can have 2 channels from sky+ box on?

steveon

So that he can send it back around the house with rte and the sat...

rookie76

Thanks for confirmation of set-up guys. I'm going to order the 2 combiners and will post an update on the results.

One other query. Using a standard rf f-type splitter in the attic for other rooms, but have a bit of interference on these tvs. will the Global F140 splitter mentioned by "Rippy" solve this or is there any difference? Currently don't need magic eye so is there any advantage?

steveon

Yes an F140 is a great piece of kit, the sky box will power it and it will distribute the signal to four rooms without problems after successful installation.

rookie76

Thanks Steveon. Good to get advice from someone who knows what they are talking about.

Cheers...............

Trevord

A couple of related questions:

1.
Given that joining and splitting is said to reduce signal quality, can anyone comment on whether using a diplexer/joiner/splitter created any difficulty with HD reception?

2.
Is there anyway to combine 2 Sat feeds (for freesat +) and 1 aerial feed into a single cable. (my sister's new house was built with just a single cable to each room) ?

dublindanny

why not get a wireless combo for four tvs,i was looking at maplins magazine and they were advertising a video sender specially for sky box at less than 40 euros.

Tony

1. loss is minimal and a Hd signal is no different to an SD signal in any case

2. In theory this can be achieved using a stacker de stacker but i've never tried this with a terretrial feed also so i'm not sure whether the UHF will be carried through ok

Trevord wrote: »

A couple of related questions:

1.
Given that joining and splitting is said to reduce signal quality, can anyone comment on whether using a diplexer/joiner/splitter created any difficulty with HD reception?

2.
Is there anyway to combine 2 Sat feeds (for freesat +) and 1 aerial feed into a single cable. (my sister's new house was built with just a single cable to each room) ?

Tony

Bear in mind though that video senders are prone to interference from other devices like microwaces etc

dublindanny wrote: »

why not get a wireless combo for four tvs,i was looking at maplins magazine and they were advertising a video sender specially for sky box at less than 40 euros.

steveon

I'd recommend a quttro lnb and a multiswitch with 2 cables and u can use a diplex plate for the rte etc...as another solution.

tag1

I have a spare sky digi box. Could I use a combiner to seperate the signal coming from the one LNB and have a fresat box working along with my subscription sky box

Coolaboy

Another question guys. I have a sky dish with sky subscription feeding into one room. I have a free to air box coming from same dish in another room. Can I get RTE 1 and other Irish channels fed from my sky box into the the tv that my free to air box is on? Thanks.

Tony

Still does not solve the one cable problem though, cannot use a PVR.

steveon wrote: »

I'd recommend a quttro lnb and a multiswitch with 2 cables and u can use a diplex plate for the rte etc...as another solution.

Tony

Do you have an aerial for RTE?

Coolaboy wrote: »

Another question guys. I have a sky dish with sky subscription feeding into one room. I have a free to air box coming from same dish in another room. Can I get RTE 1 and other Irish channels fed from my sky box into the the tv that my free to air box is on? Thanks.

Coolaboy

No Tony. No aerial up.

Tony

Ok the only thing you can do then is run an RF cable from the sky box to the tv but this will only let you watch what is being viewed on the sky box at that time.

Coolaboy wrote: »

No Tony. No aerial up.