New Sky+HD box installation problem/question

Cherrycola

Had Sky+HD box installed on thursday, and because we only had one cable, we wont have the full range of Sky+ features, like watching one channel and recording another, not a lot we can do about that really.
Everything has been working fine, until my DD had to move some plugs around to use the dvd player, and plugged the Sky box out.
When we plugged it back in, our signal was gone.

After much searching online, and trying a few things, we found this relating to Single Feed Mode;

http://mysky.sky.com/portal/site/skycom/skyhelpcentre/producthelp?nodeId=2d9bb979-7977-411f-a219-a12a66e90e7f&articleId=5770710

We tried it, and it worked, however, we noticed that the installer had our feed cable attached to the Dish Input 2 socket, so we had to move it to the other one to get this to work.

So what im wondering is, why would he have attached it there in the first place, and how come it stopped working for us just by plugging the box out?
And has switching it to Dish Input 1 and turning Single Feed Mode on made any difference to our ability to record when we're not home now?
we still have the pause, rewind etc functions working perfectly, and can record while watching that channel

Mr McBoatface

Is there any reason why the second cable wasn't put in, the normal practice is to replace any single feed LNB on your dish with a multi-feed LNB. The installer should run the 2 cables from the dish to the box. The only reason I can think why this wouldn't happen is your using a shared dish in an apartment block with just one feed to your apartment and there are rules in places that don't allow for the running of 2nd cable on the exterior of the building.

As things stand your paying Sky for a complete service and your not getting that with the installation as it is. If you got the system through Sky and there is no valid reason for not having a 2nd cable running into your box ring them up straight away and demand the installation be done correctly.

If it was a local installer ring them and get them to fix it.

Cherrycola

jobyrne30 wrote: »

Is there any reason why the second cable wasn't put in, the normal practice is to replace any single feed LNB on your dish with a multi-feed LNB. The installer should run the 2 cables from the dish to the box. The only reason I can think why this wouldn't happen is your using a shared dish in an apartment block with just one feed to your apartment and there are rules in places that don't allow for the running of 2nd cable on the exterior of the building.

As things stand your paying Sky for a complete service and your not getting that with the installation as it is. If you got the system through Sky and there is no valid reason for not having a 2nd cable running into your box ring them up straight away and demand the installation be done correctly.

If it was a local installer ring them and get them to fix it.

Thats interesting, cos we DONT live in an apartment, we live in a 2 storey house, and he told us that he couldnt run a second cable down because of this.
I thought at the time he was just saving himself the trouble to be honest!
The aerial point is at the back of a built in tv corner unit, so it is hard to get to, but not impossible.
He started talking about drilling a hole on the other side of the fireplace(on an outside wall), and feeding a second cable in there, up across the mantelpiece but it wouldnt look very nice.....no ****! :rolleyes:

He did say that there COULD be a second cable in there, he just couldnt see it.:rolleyes:

Kashkai

Just trying to work out for myself why he couldn't run a second cable.

How did he connect the single sky cable to the receiver? Did he connect it to an existing coax cable in the house through an outside junction box put there by the builder? If so, thats not a great solution as the cable from the satellite dish to the receiver should be a straight run with no joins if possible due to possible signal loss.

Normally, unless you're building the house from scratch, drilling a hole through an exterior wall is the only way to get the sky cable into the living room, unless you want it coming down through the attic/bedroom, and then the sitting room ceiling! It sounds like your tv is situated at the partition wall with your kitchen/diner and away from the front wall of the house where the sky cable would normally be routed through. Do you live in a semi detached house? If so, is your tv beside an exterior wall (where the cable could be drilled through) or is it on a dividing wall with your neighbour's house?

Moving the tv might be the best solution to site it near an exterior wall so a cable can be drilled through to the receiver. Having a single cable on a SKY+ box kind of defeats the purpose and heavily reduces most of the useful features of this receiver.

Mr McBoatface

In my own house a 4 year old new build the TV cables where in place but like in most house only a single standard cable was put in place by the builder. This is fine for standard none + Sky but the + Sky requires 2 cables (or a single cable with 2 cores)

When I upgraded to Sky + a few years back the installer came along explained a 2nd cable was needed. In my case the Dish is at the back of the house, the installer ran the cables into the attic via a vent hole in the PVC faca through to the other side of the house and ran it down by the front drain, drilled a hole in the front wall into the sitting room. He placed a plastic cover over the hole in the front of the hole and the cable was cable tied and can't be noticed. Many of my neighbours have the same setup, some have the cable running over the roof and down the front wall which doesn't look as good but some installer won't go into attics, it depends on the level of insurance they have.

The fact the installer got the single cable set-up wrong speaks volumes of him. Ring Sky/the installer and complain tell them your not paying any bills until the installation is done correctly.

Did you pay for the installation or was it a free upgrade ? Was it got through Sky or a local installer?

Edit Just seen this :- "He started talking about drilling a hole on the other side of the fireplace(on an outside wall), and feeding a second cable in there, up across the mantelpiece but it wouldnt look very nice.....no ****! "
It might be best to move the TV to a easier location beside the exterior wall then you won't have cables in plain view. In the mean time Ring Sky to trouble shoot you single cable set-up

Cherrycola

We are in a rented house, so dont really want to start messing around drilling holes in walls if at all possible.

Its a detached house, and i really dont know what he did with regards to the feed coming from the dish into the attic, all i know is he put up the dish, and then went into the attic to connect cables(he was good enough to connect a second point that runs to the playroom for an old standard box that we have, but ive not been able to test if this is working, as we only have one tv at present, the other is enroute from abroad in our container as i speak)

The house was previously wired for Chorus/NTL, and from what i can see in the tv unit, he removed the white socket cover, pulled out some brown colourd cable, and attached the SKY satellite cable to that, then he connected that to the Dish Input 2 port on the SKY box.

And then when we plugged out the box last night, we lost signal, and could only get it back by following the Single Feed Mode instructions, and moving the cable to the Dish Input 1 port.

Confused yet? I am!

We wouldnt have bothered with Sky+ at all to be honest, but these are now the standard boxes installed by Sky, so we had no other option.

It was a Sky/ Sierra installation, not local.

We had a Sky dish installed at my mams house last year by a local guy(friend of ours), and it was just for them to receive the free channels, no sub.
Well, he had to get into the attic and feed down a satellite cable, as they had none at all, so i suppose im wondering why this guy felt that it would be impossible to do in our house. Ok, so its 2 storeys, but surely he could have attempted it anyway?? Surely the new cable would follow the path of the original?! Or is that just my simplistic view of it??

The tv point is actually on an exterior side wall of the house, but at the corner of the room that adjoins an interior one if that makes sense, and there is a large wooden tv unit built into the corner, so the wall itself is not accessible really.
The other side of the fireplace(where both walls are exterior) has no plug sockets so would just end up being a mass of messy cables and extension leads.

Mr McBoatface

From what you describe and the location of the existing socket there is no reason why the installer could not have run the cable through the wall near the existing point. All he needed to do was run the cable from the dish to a suitable point on the relevant exterior wall.

Ring Sky and complain, your not getting what you paid for. Demand a different installer come out and do the job correctly, you can withdraw from their service within 30 days with no issues as far as I'm aware, so tell them you'll leave if it's not fixed.

Kashkai

If I understand you correctly, he connected the cable from the dish to some old coax cable (which is good enough for tv aerials but poor quality for satellite signals) in the attic and then spliced this again behind the tv so you have 2 breaks in the cable which could lead to a poor signal.

I can't understand why he didn't just run the cable from the dish down the side wall of the house and drilled into the sitting room (or better still, drilled from the sitting room out). He could have run 2 cables this way or used "shotgun" type cable which is 2 cables joined together. Drilling holes through the wall of the house is no big deal (so long as you don't hit electric wires etc) and holes can be filled in at a later date if necessary.

Sounds like you got some muppet in who did a p!ss poor job. Ring SKY and complain as you are paying through the nose for their "service". You should have gone the Freesat route like I did (and many others I've convinced - no bills ever you see ).