UPC box & Magic Eye - New UPC install - Quick Q

budfox

Hi all..

I've decided to move from Sky and UTV, phone/internet...triple play gig saves us about 80 euros a month...

They came today to do a survey and can use all of the cable I had installed prior to them coming in.

All seems OK (not so sure about UPC after reading this thread though!)..

Quick question, will the small UPC boxes work with the magic eye? I've one tv that's on a wall with no place to put their box.

THe engineer wasn't too sure.....and I dont trust the plebs in the call centre...

Thanks a lot...

B

djimi

No, not with the Sky magic eye anyway. There are other options for transmitting TV between rooms tho.

Id urge you to seriously reconsider moving away from Sky for your TV. For broadband and phone, absolutely; in my opinion there is no better broadband in Ireland than UPC, but their TV service is woeful compared to Sky.

budfox

Djimi,

THanks for your note. As such I dont need to transmit to the other room as the box will be in a wardrobe, and the tv on the wall if that makes sense. You gave me an idea though, that I can use a sender on one of the other boxes so just get two and not three (one for each tv) which is what I have now.

What's wrong with the tv service btw? They've upgraded all their cable in the area which is meant to be OK. And with SKy, there's just too many channels and you've to scroll down pages and pages just to get to say, BBC.

Is it a service problem i.e. poor signal? Or just their customer service? Or other? The idea is that we just have one bill coming in, same as with Bord Gais now for gas and electricity..

GOod to hear your views on it...thx...

djimi

I find the quality of the SD channels inferior to Sky, the EPG guide feels like it was designed in the 17th century, the lack of HD channels (Sky Sports/Movies and ITV HD especially), the lack of interactive services, the fact that you get far less channels and far less flexibility of channels compared to Sky, the fact that you can only record one program at a time. Not all of these are the fault of UPC, but when you consider that the service overall costs much the same as Sky, and in my opinion you get far more for your money with Sky, I really dont think its much of a contest.

Unfortunately for me I live in an apartment where I cant put up a dish so Sky isnt an option, but for those who have a choice Im not sure why anyone would voluntarily choose UPC over Sky for TV.

This of course is based on my experience and expectations of my tv provider. YMMV.

scottyboy

Well I can give you a clear and easy answer. Yes! The Magic Eye does work but not the one you used for your Sky box.

I moved from Sky to UPC HD two months ago and find the service excellent. I never watched the endless selection of rubbish on Sky and am more than happy with the reduced selection on UPC. Equally, I had a minor issue with the phone service and found UPC Customer Service fine.

Anyway, back to the Magic Eye issue. I had a similar setup in the bedroom. LCD mounted on the wall but no place to put the Sky box. So I ran the cables behind the wall into the wardrobe and used the magic eye to forward the IR signal. When I moved to UPC I was worried this would not work. Basically, the guys that make the Sky Magic Eye make a generic version to forward IR signals to all types of media devices (DVD players etc.) It can be bought at B&Q for about €40 and looks almost identical to the Sky Magic Eye but includes a power supply (as the sky box would normally provide power) a IR Receiver and three infrared eyes that you stick to the front of your cable box. NB. The UPC IR receiver is positioned around the centre of the LED display. Place the new Magic Eye with the TV and use the existing Coax to forward the IR signal to the receiver. The unit is made by sLX, I'll try and find a link and post it later.

To summarise, it works a treat!!

Freddie59

djimi wrote: »

I find the quality of the SD channels inferior to Sky, the EPG guide feels like it was designed in the 17th century, the lack of HD channels (Sky Sports/Movies and ITV HD especially), the lack of interactive services, the fact that you get far less channels and far less flexibility of channels compared to Sky, the fact that you can only record one program at a time. Not all of these are the fault of UPC, but when you consider that the service overall costs much the same as Sky, and in my opinion you get far more for your money with Sky, I really dont think its much of a contest.

Unfortunately for me I live in an apartment where I cant put up a dish so Sky isnt an option, but for those who have a choice Im not sure why anyone would voluntarily choose UPC over Sky for TV.

This of course is based on my experience and expectations of my tv provider. YMMV.

I've got UPC (on a 42" Viera Plasma). My niece has Sky (on a Samsung). It's a toss-up on SD. And you can record two programmes simultaneously with the box in standby.

Freddie59

scottyboy wrote: »

Well I can give you a clear and easy answer. Yes! The Magic Eye does work but not the one you used for your Sky box.

I moved from Sky to UPC HD two months ago and find the service excellent. I never watched the endless selection of rubbish on Sky and am more than happy with the reduced selection on UPC. Equally, I had a minor issue with the phone service and found UPC Customer Service fine.

Anyway, back to the Magic Eye issue. I had a similar setup in the bedroom. LCD mounted on the wall but no place to put the Sky box. So I ran the cables behind the wall into the wardrobe and used the magic eye to forward the IR signal. When I moved to UPC I was worried this would not work. Basically, the guys that make the Sky Magic Eye make a generic version to forward IR signals to all types of media devices (DVD players etc.) It can be bought at B&Q for about €40 and looks almost identical to the Sky Magic Eye but includes a power supply (as the sky box would normally provide power) a IR Receiver and three infrared eyes that you stick to the front of your cable box. NB. The UPC IR receiver is positioned around the centre of the LED display. Place the new Magic Eye with the TV and use the existing Coax to forward the IR signal to the receiver. The unit is made by sLX, I'll try and find a link and post it later.

To summarise, it works a treat!!

Or THIS ONE.:)

Ranicand

Just one thing to add rather then a magic eye why not multi room it's only 5 euro extra a month and you can watch whatever you like in the 2nd room.

scottyboy

Ranicand wrote: »

Just one thing to add rather then a magic eye why not multi room it's only 5 euro extra a month and you can watch whatever you like in the 2nd room.

I have multi room but that is not the issue. It is the control of the extra box in the extra room that is the problem. I.e. LCD in bedroom but no place to put the Sky/Cable/or an other box so you hide the box in a cupboard or wardrobe and run a scart/coax/hdmi cable from the cupboard to the tv. But how do you change the channel if the box is hidden from view?! Solution: Magic Eye!

Note: The UPC HD boxes do not output an RF signal so if you did want cheap multi room you would need an RF modulator to use with the magic eye. You can have more than one magic eye per coax network (same as sky setup).

scottyboy

Freddie59 wrote: »

Or THIS ONE.:)

Good if you have somewhere to place the receivers, but I use this one as the TV is on the wall without a handy shelf or chest of drawers.

http://www.chsinteractive.co.uk/electrical-components/remote-controls/sky-remote-controls/omnilink-infrared-signal-extender-system-view-your-satalite-program-in-another-location.htm

Freddie59

scottyboy wrote: »

Good if you have somewhere to place the receivers, but I use this one as the TV is on the wall without a handy shelf or chest of drawers.

http://www.chsinteractive.co.uk/electrical-components/remote-controls/sky-remote-controls/omnilink-infrared-signal-extender-system-view-your-satalite-program-in-another-location.htm

If you want to carry it through the cables (instead of wirelessly) THIS ONE works very well.

tmalmb

budfox...did you find a solution i.e. did what the guys recommend work? I have the same issue myself and would like to see what worked

thanks
T

bob11

Freddie59 wrote: »

If you want to carry it through the cables (instead of wirelessly) THIS ONE works very well.

Hi Freddy,

Can you confirm that this unit works well with the UPC HD+ remote control and that all the functions work , Guide, Menu etc ... ?



I have hidden my UPC box in a cupboard and was trying to get the Phillips Ipronto to work with it, but some buttons, Guide especially, do not work ...

Is there no requirement for an external power source to power the unit ?

Does it simply use a splitter on an existing Coax cable ?


Rgds,

Bob ...

jonsmoke

In case this is of use to anybody, I bought an IR extender on Amazon last week and it works perfectly with my upc digital box (the silver Thomson one).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003DL50NU

KD1976

Hi,

how does this item works. Do i need anything else.

thanks
keko

Staplor

Hi All,

interested in this too, from my reading of it I need 2 things:

1. Something to send the picture wireless
2. Something to send the Remote Control commands to the UPC box.

The IR extender will do the remote control, but what can be used for the picture.

Or is there 1 piece of kit that'll do it all?

sierra117x

budfox wrote: »

Djimi,

THanks for your note. As such I dont need to transmit to the other room as the box will be in a wardrobe, and the tv on the wall if that makes sense. You gave me an idea though, that I can use a sender on one of the other boxes so just get two and not three (one for each tv) which is what I have now.

What's wrong with the tv service btw? They've upgraded all their cable in the area which is meant to be OK. And with SKy, there's just too many channels and you've to scroll down pages and pages just to get to say, BBC.

Is it a service problem i.e. poor signal? Or just their customer service? Or other? The idea is that we just have one bill coming in, same as with Bord Gais now for gas and electricity..

GOod to hear your views on it...thx...

they had the poorest reputation for customer service in europe so they changed their name from chorus ntl to upc. they still have a crappy customer service but other than that there not too bad. they do get more technical problems than sky and you dont get the same amount of channels or bonus services but its a trade off for atrocious customer relations and extra channels

dubmark74

jonsmoke wrote: »

In case this is of use to anybody, I bought an IR extender on Amazon last week and it works perfectly with my upc digital box (the silver Thomson one).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003DL50NU

I bought one of these to use with my UPC recorder box and it does not work, works with TV but not digi box, does anyone know of a remote control extender which definitely works with the UPC recorder box, don't want to waste another e20. I only need to change the channel, have scart for signal, don't mind if wireless or not. Thanks.

JimsAlterEgo

would the lack of air circulation not be an issue

dubmark74

JimsAlterEgo wrote: »

would the lack of air circulation not be an issue

What are you talking about?

JimsAlterEgo

dubmark74 wrote: »

What are you talking about?

putting a piece of electronic equipment in a small closed space

D'Peoples Voice

scottyboy wrote: »

Good if you have somewhere to place the receivers, but I use this one as the TV is on the wall without a handy shelf or chest of drawers.

http://www.chsinteractive.co.uk/electrical-components/remote-controls/sky-remote-controls/omnilink-infrared-signal-extender-system-view-your-satalite-program-in-another-location.htm

my UPC box (Thomson 16221UPC) doesn't have a RF out slot,
it only has a RF in and a scart connection.
Strangely enough it doesn't even have a HDMI connection either.
How would I set-up multi-room viewing in this case? (okay not exactly multi-room, the wife doesn't want a set-top box in the bedroom, so have the TV on the wall, and a coxial point on the wall, and want to put the set-top box in another room, and be able to change the channel from the bedroom)

D'Peoples Voice

Solved my problem - or should I say someone one else by the name Willby has solved my problem
Thank you Willby - I will give that Triax Trilink a try