can you split a saorview ariel cable to a few tvs

franbe

dumb questions, but,

can you get an outdoor ariel, put it in the attic, and connect it to multiple tvs by using standard y splitters ? does it degrade over length like analogue cable?

can you feed it into the existing chorus cable network in the house in the attic prior to the tv access points in the rooms, or would this effect the chorus analogue reception or ariel reception or even the chorus contract ?

sort of a 'whats the middle ground' questions, before i dump the chorus analogue contract, can i run it in conjunction with the saorview on the same run of cable, test it out for a month.

The Cush

franbe wrote: »

dumb questions, but,

can you get an outdoor ariel, put it in the attic, and connect it to multiple tvs by using standard y splitters ? does it degrade over length like analogue cable?

can you feed it into the existing chorus cable network in the house in the attic prior to the tv access points in the rooms, or would this effect the chorus analogue reception or ariel reception or even the chorus contract ?

sort of a 'whats the middle ground' questions, before i dump the chorus analogue contract, can i run it in conjunction with the saorview on the same run of cable, test it out for a month.

can you get an outdoor ariel, put it in the attic, and connect it to multiple tvs by using standard y splitters ? does it degrade over length like analogue cable?

- Signal from the outdoor aerial in the attic will depend on how strong the terrestrial signal is in your area, distance from the transmitter etc. It's always better to mount an aerial externally. You may have to use a distribution amp to split the signal in the attic to feed multiple TVs.

can you feed it into the existing chorus cable network in the house in the attic prior to the tv access points in the rooms, or would this effect the chorus analogue reception or ariel reception or even the chorus contract ?

- There may be co-channel interference if the cable channels share some of the same frequencies with the aerial analogue and digital terrestrial channels. If there is no frequency conflicts it should work OK.

sort of a 'whats the middle ground' questions, before i dump the chorus analogue contract, can i run it in conjunction with the saorview on the same run of cable, test it out for a month.

- See answer to question 2.

ULMarc

You can get what's called a diplexer which combines 2 frequency bands on one cable and then splits them again. I think DTT has a maximum of 2 or 3 Ghz while chorus/upc has a minimum of 2.5 ghz.

I'll put it this way: a diplexer works well for combining a DTT and a satellite signal in one cable. I can only assume it would also hold true for cable tv. What you can do is find a decent supplier in Ireland and ask them if they think a diplexer can combine DTT with cable.

NOW! You can split an arial to multiple recievers. If you are splitting to a couple and have an average signal then use a booster to split the cables. The amplification doesn't have the same negative effect it does on analogue signals (if you've ever seen a tv with constant scrolling lines )

And just so you're aware. You cannot split a satelite feed. If you want multiple feeds coming from a dish then you need to install extra antennas on your dish. LNB's they call them and you can get them in doubles, quadruples and octuples

The Cush

ULMarc wrote: »

You can get what's called a diplexer which combines 2 frequency bands on one cable and then splits them again. I think DTT has a maximum of 2 or 3 Ghz while chorus/upc has a minimum of 2.5 ghz.

I'll put it this way: a diplexer works well for combining a DTT and a satellite signal in one cable. I can only assume it would also hold true for cable tv. What you can do is find a decent supplier in Ireland and ask them if they think a diplexer can combine DTT with cable.

DTT frequency range = 470 - 790 MHz (UHF Chs. 21 - 60)
Analogue terrestrial = 174 - 230 MHz, 470 - 862 MHz (VHF BIII, UHF)
Cable frequency range = 47 - 862 MHz
MMDS = 2500 - 2684 MHz
Satellite IF = 950 - 2250 MHz

The OP says he has Chorus (UPC) cable in the house. Cable and analogue/digital terrestrial tv use a similar range of frequencies so a sat diplexer won't work.

If cable and terrestrial TV in the area share similar frequencies he may not get reception of certain channels due to co-channel interference (CCI). The aerial can also pick up a signal from a far away transmitter and cause problems with cable tv channels.

franbe doesn't indicate his location so it would be difficult to comment further.

watty

Most of the Analogue channels on MMDS and Cable are 110MHz to 470MHz, A VHF / UHF diplexer will allow most but not all UPC analogue channels to share a cable with Off Air (aerial) Signals.

More modern parts of UPC (Chorus /NTL) and some MMDS downconverters use exactly the same frequencies (band) as TV aerial signals (Analogue or Digital).

Cable with Broadband on it uses most of 5MHz to 65MHz for the modem Return Channels and any number of 8MHz channels between 110MHz and 862MHz for the Downlink channels. Often 88MHz to 108MHz has FM radio on it.
The 8MHz channels from 110MHz to 862MHz on upgraded parts of UPC (ex Chorus / NTL) can all be in use for any combination of Analogue TV, Digital TV, HDTV and Modems, even if you only have an Analogue package.

winston_1

ULMarc wrote: »

The amplification doesn't have the same negative effect it does on analogue signals (if you've ever seen a tv with constant scrolling lines )

This is when you over amplify and overload the components so getting cross modulation.

You are quite right that overloading does not have the same effect on digital. Instead you bet blocking and freezing. Which is just as bad if not worse.

franbe

wow, loads of answers, thanks. i'm in glasnevin ballymun/finglas, with upc broadband + upc analogue tv. i think i read here that someone in this area got reception with rabbit ears (test) so put an outdoor ariel in his attic which worked.


the upc cable splits at the roof (outside),

one split goes to a tv point (with no tv) where the broadband modem is,

and there are 2 other tv points back of the house from one or two other upc wires that travel through the attic. i was thinking of using these wires for saorview.

maybe it would be simpler to skip the 'middle ground' and dump the upc cable analogue ? the other thing is are these cables up to spec or a bit cheep, they were re-wired by chorus/upc in the last 3 to 7 years afair. i rewired my sky cables and the wire i used seems much better than the upc ones.

the sky dish is about 12 foot up on the back wall, if an out door ariel is needed would it go by the dish or much higher, the back wall directly faces three rock and there are some tall trees in the rear neighbors.

im sure some of the info ive given highlights my terrestrial ignorance, lol, thanks again.:)

watty

If you are using UPC Broadband, then you definately need separate cabling or disconect all UPC cable except the one to Modem.

tmcw

I was wondering about distribution amps the other day... do they use up much power, how much would it cost to run per year? Anyone worked it out before?

And are they constantly using power, or just when a connected TV is on?

Sam Russell

tmcw wrote: »

I was wondering about distribution amps the other day... do they use up much power, how much would it cost to run per year? Anyone worked it out before?

And are they constantly using power, or just when a connected TV is on?

Hmm, depends. Normall they are on all the time, but can be powered from the TV. If they are powered by the TV, they only cost little or nothing to run. Another way they are powered is by a PSU feeding up the cable, again if it is turned on in sympathy with the TV - little or nothing. Otherwise, for about 10w - if on all the time would cost about €15 per year.

Cheaper than a Sky subscription.

franbe

im thinking on going with this set up,

http://img811.imageshack.us/i/50873884.jpg/

this way all ill need to lay is the ariel, the ariel cable, the distribution amp, and diplexers. (the red a green cables are already there with really good quality ct100 from when i was diy mirroring sky+ to the other rooms) and ill just leave the upc cables not shown untill i pull the plug on their bill.

(there is a upc point at the sky+ box so if it was possible to distribute the analogue upc even though i have BB i'd do it, but if not its not that important, or maybe ill swap the saorview out for the upc analogue for distribution, back and forth until saorview is fully up and running and then upc can be dumped)

im hoping to get

room_1 = sky+ and saorview

room_2 and room_3 = saorview, and freesat and the sky+ channel from room_1 mirrored


im still a bit confused about the connections can someone help fill in the blanks. thanks again.