New House...no tv

guideanna

Hi All,

Just wondering...i've just build a new house and we've arranged for sky to come in and set up the dish for the tv but i'm not sure am i supposed to get someone out to connect the tv points to some sort of a hub, Literally all i've done is got the electrition to put in the tv points an the power is on but do sky need anything else done before they come in?

JDxtra

It depends on your requirements. You may be better off arranging for a local installer to set it up for you if you want a custom setup. The cabling used by your electrician is not likely to be suitable for satellite.

The Sky installer is likely to be in a hurry and will only setup what he is paid to do - Sky in a main room and Sky with a multi-room subscription in another room if required.

guideanna

Do you know what set up i need for the satellite, i can check with electrition.
When i got sky set up in my last house the guys from Sierra drilled a hole thru my sitting room wall to the outside to feed the cable up to the roof, didn't seal it up properly and it's left hole in the wall now for the next occupant.
They will NOT be doing this in my new house i don't care how much of a rush he's in!!!

JDxtra

Find out what cable he used - don't accept "its fine" as a response. Where does the cable from the living room terminate? Does it go to some sort of hub location?

Also, are there other cables running from this hub to the outside for an aerial and satellite installation? If not how can Sky get a cable in without drilling a new hole and running a cable?

There are many options, but personally I would have run five cables from outside back to your "hub". 4 for satellite feeds and one for an aerial.

guideanna

i dont' have or plan to get an ariel. I don't have a hub as far as i know so who would i get to do that, would sky man do it or would i have to get a local tv guy?

JDxtra

Sky man will pop a hole in the living room wall and use his own cabling, job done.

If you want anything different, go to a local installer or try and do it yourself.

guideanna

will sky man feed it up thru attic, i'm not having holes in my new sitting room wall.

JDxtra

Maybe. Maybe not. They could use an "I'm not insured to go in your attic" excuse. Also, as I said, it depends on the cabling you have in place and where it is terminated.

If you just ordered Sky direct they will send somebody around who is paid a small amount per job and will be keen to get going. The chances are he is not going to hang around and decipher what your electrician has done.

The Cush

guideanna wrote: »

will sky man feed it up thru attic, i'm not having holes in my new sitting room wall.

How many tv points do you have on the wallplate in the sitting room one, two or more?

How many cables come to the wallplate? (you may have to remove it to check)

The cables probably go back to a central point in the attic.

lucernarian

I'm currently living in a new build, there were a couple of wall plates in the living room with coax cables behind them. There were a pair of cables going outside to connect to a sky dish and they simply led straight back to one of the wall plates. Knowing the general building industry, I'd say most simply pre-cabled direct from dish or cable tap to the living room, and perhaps a cable from living room or cable tap to master bedroom or all bedrooms. Builders tell me that's what usually happens, and it's the case in my own house anyway.

Just tell the sparkie that you want to get sky, and he'll tell you what cables you or the installer need to connect up to have sky where you want in the house. It'll save an awful lot of hassle and figuring out.

I'd say most electricians are using the "satellite grade" silver paper with copper braid coax. Branded RG6. Not great but it generally works. And from what I can tell, "RG6" is being sold much more than "low loss" coax is, precisely because so many people want sky and sooner or later most electricians learn that low loss is utterly crap for satellite.