Sky and Freesat boxes on single cable?

rsmike

I recently switched to BBC's Freesat and retired my Sky box (which has a Sky Freesat card).

Happy with the switch as can now take advantage of the BBC and ITV HD channels, however always wanting more, I just wanted to ask on the possibility to use a satellite cable splitter to feed the signal to both the Freesat box and the Sky box, to give me the option of occasionally watching Five USA or Fiver channels on the Sky box ( they sometimes have a decent film on).

I understand there could be conflicts trying to run both boxes at the same time, however, if one box is put in standby when using the other, would this work, or would I be degrading my signal unnecessarily by using a splitter.

I know running another cable from a multi LNB is a cleaner solution, but can't do that without a lot of trouble.

Thanks

watty

No it won't really work and there is a small risk of damage.

The Sky box still controls LNB in standby.

Swap the LNB for a Quad. See Forum Supplier stickies. A bunch of the regulars here sell them online too.

It will give grief. An F-connector manual switch is a better idea than a splitter. Just bite the bullet and run a cable. It can always go round outside.

rsmike

watty wrote: »

No it won't really work and there is a small risk of damage.

The Sky box still controls LNB in standby.

Swap the LNB for a Quad. See Forum Supplier stickies. A bunch of the regulars here sell them online too.

It will give grief. An F-connector manual switch is a better idea than a splitter. Just bite the bullet and run a cable. It can always go round outside.

I gave it a try anyway tonight, yes the Sky box seems to keep the polarity locked even when in standby, however if I power off the sky box it works fine, there does not appear to be any signal degradation at the Freesat (Technisat) box, though its the first time I connected the Sky box to the new Samsung 40" and the difference in picture quality between the Technisat and Sky Box is noticeable.
I used one of these, cost about €4.50


In fairness I might only need to turn on the Sky box once in a week to watch Fiver or Five USA, so I'll try with this setup for a while rather than running cables and drilling holes in walls.

watty

If you do that, the keys will expire and it then taks up to 24hrs for the Sky card to reactivate.

rsmike

watty wrote: »

If you do that, the keys will expire and it then taks up to 24hrs for the Sky card to reactivate.

No idea what your talking about?, never been an issue before, The subject of standby or power off of Sky boxes is hotly debated on sat forums, but I have always favored powering the sky box off at night, its a power hungry beast, relatively speaking , (consuming about 25w in standby).

Since I put the freesat box in, the Sky box has been powered off while connected to on my 2nd TV and probably only been powered up once or twice a week, and again no issues.

Why a sky box must consume 25w in standby when a fressat box needs less than 1w is a puzzlement?

Mr McBoatface

Your Sky FTV card receives an EMM "Stay Alive" code when in use your SKY box. This code extends the duration the card can be used for. When a card receives the EMM and it can continue to decode scrambled signals on channels like Fiver for about six weeks. If during that six week period an other EMM "Stay Alive" code is not received the card will temporally expire until in receives a EMM to bring it back to life.

The EMM code can only be received when the card is in a receiver which is powered on and connected to a satellite feed. Running the sky box/card in the way you propose increases the risk of EMM being missed and the card expiring.

watty

Essentially the Sky box has no standby. It turns off SCART, Modulator and if a HHD, spins it down. But the receiver runs all the time as Sky usually do Firmware changes in the early hours (those sometimes cause a reboot) and the keys are updated at odd times.

If you really can't do 2nd cable and Quad LNB, then a manual change-over switch (you can make or buy one with F-connectors) left in Sky Position when FTA box is off. Or a "smart priority switch", but I have not seem them advertised in a long while since Quad LNBs became cheap and common.

rsmike

OK, thanks for the advice guys, all this convinces me even more I made the right decision to switch to Freesat.

The manual switch sounds like a better/safer idea, but I could not find one, I will try to find one / make one (what components would I need to make one?), and live with that arrangement for a while. I may even still power off the Sky box and when the keys eventually expire, I'll stick the sky box in standby to reactivate.


I'll have to see if having Fiver and Five USA is really worth it, I may just end up binning the Sky box, another reason I'm not ready to start investing much more that the €4.50 I did yesterday, or start drilling more holes in walls.

PS: I see there is also a splitter available that has only one port that passes power, would that be better to keep the Freesat box in control, then pick a fressat channel with same polarity as Fiver /Five USA before switching over to Sky Box?

watty

two way toggle switch out of maplin and take out insides of a cheap TV f-connector splitter. You can lever off the back cover plate. It's just stuck on somehow, or soldered.

middle pin of switch goes to common center pin. Outer legs of switch go to the other two middle pins.


With the up to 50 favorites setup, the Sky box is better than any generic FTA box as FTA receiver.

snaps

Manual A/B switches can be got for about 4e on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.ie/F-Type-Satellite-Cable-A-B-Switch-FREE-P-P-UK-SELLER-/190351592624?pt=UK_ConEle_SatCableFreeview_RL&hash=item2c51d6ccb0

ricman

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=9273 with this you could use 2 boxes at once, sky and freesat.IT should be safer than a 4 euro unit, i cant gaurantee you ,ll get all channels perfect .if you use both recievers at the same time.IT may depend on what channels you watch.
i,m buying one this week,so ill see how it goes.
i much prefer the skybox as a fta unit, as it has a good epg, and you can use the favourites menu to store channels.And you can see whats on for the next ten hours, handy for recording, planning viewing.
The freesat epgs i,ve seen are fairly basic.

ricman

its better to use for 1 sky box and 1 freesat box.

fat-tony

ricman wrote: »

...
The freesat epgs i,ve seen are fairly basic.

You haven't seen proper Freesat on a branded receiver, then;) Full 7 day EPG Here's an example http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/humaxfoxsat.html

watty

ricman wrote: »

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=9273 with this you could use 2 boxes at once, sky and freesat.IT should be safer than a 4 euro unit, i cant gaurantee you ,ll get all channels perfect .if you use both recievers at the same time.IT may depend on what channels you watch.
i,m buying one this week,so ill see how it goes.
i much prefer the skybox as a fta unit, as it has a good epg, and you can use the favourites menu to store channels.And you can see whats on for the next ten hours, handy for recording, planning viewing.
The freesat epgs i,ve seen are fairly basic.

You are wrong. You can't.

You can ONLY get all channels if you use a Dual, Quad or distribution system.

Those splitters are NOT for ordinary LNB cables. Only useful for splitting a Quattro to two Multiswitches (4 x splitters needed).

The Sky box is no use for stations not on EPG, you can't add them to favorites. Also it only records with a Sub.

You are confusing Generic DVB FTA EPG and the Freesat EPG (which is very like Sky except not full of pay TV channels you don't get).

rsmike

I think the Maplin write up acknowledges ( as did ricman) that one sat box will be the master, i.e. the one that is connected via the DC passing port, the other box can't pass DC to the LNB so has no control, but neither can it interfere with the master box.

I would think pro's are you can leave both sat boxes on or in standby without fear of the slave ( sky box in my case) interfering with the masters (freesat) control of the LNB

Con's would be you might have to experiment as to which channel to tune the master to ( polarity) to allow you get the channel you want on the slave.

I'm using the splitter that passes DC on both ports without any problems since last week, but I am powering off the sky box when I use the freesat box.

I might change for one of these Maplin splitters to allow leaving the sky box in standby for longer to avoid the expiring keys issue.

ricman

Even with a sky box, no sub, fta i think you can record using an external recorder, my friend does it as she has no sub, using a recorder connected by scart.
as regards fta box i prefer sky i can buy a box for 40 euro ,obviously for 150 euro you can buy a good fta box with epg and hardrive recording.
I dont record anything at the moment ,i just watch whatever is on tv.