Small B&B distribution set up

Finne1993

Looking for a bit of advice here folks, I've spent the last few hours extensively searching through websites and forums on this subject!

There is a local B&B who have 14 TVs in their set up and want to be ready for the digital changeover, all the TVs are relatively new but only have analogue tuners and they want a choice of 10-14 stations on each TV. eg: RTE1,2,News, TV3, 3e, TG4, BBC1,2, UTV, CH4, FIVE, Sky News, CBBC, E4. or a similar list, you get my drift anyway.

They dont want individual STBs for each TV as they are afraid of the boxes being whipped so the multiple boxes in the control room seems to be the preferred choice.

The idea I have in mind is a standard aerial feeding 6 Saorview boxes for the Irish stations each individually linked to RF modulators and a sky dish with an octo LNB to feed 5-8 Sky or FTA sat boxes with built in RF modulators to pick up the UK stations.
The plan then is to daisy chain the boxes via RF and send the end feed into the distribution system with a different UHF frequency assigned to each STB.

Now I know I'm likely to have problems with the obvious interference and noise with so many modulators in the chain especially the Sky boxes. Would using an attenuator after say every third or fourth box in the chain help eliminate the interference? Or am I just creating more problems? I know there are matv systems and other expensive solutions out there for these type of installs but this job is being done on an extremely tight budget and expensive multiswitches or the like is out the window for these people.

Can anyone advise me of the potential pitfalls of this set up?

MrSneeg

go for it !!

or consult a professoniall

or read this and understand it


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra_high_frequency

Digital Satellite TV

We get asked this a lot and have a page done up on it.


http://www.tvtrade.ie/distributing-uk-and-irish-channels-around-a-hotel.html

The headend is dealt with in the first part of the page and also in the first section of the video. If done properly, the headend system can work very well with the added bonus of knocking theft on the head!

pegasuspub

trying to daisy chain 10 to 14 boxes or modulators will not work,you will end up with lots of interference,you should use either filtered single channel amplifiers as made by alcad or use two or three 4 or 6 channel filter combiners linked together feeding a wideband launch amplifier,unfortunatly both of these options will add considerable expense however the picture quality will be much better and in the long run will take far less time to setup,using single channel amplifiers or filter combiners will ensure you only pass and amplify the wantewd signals thereby removing unwanted signals,harmonics and patterning.

Finne1993

pegasuspub wrote: »

trying to daisy chain 10 to 14 boxes or modulators will not work,you will end up with lots of interference,you should use either filtered single channel amplifiers as made by alcad or use two or three 4 or 6 channel filter combiners linked together feeding a wideband launch amplifier,unfortunatly both of these options will add considerable expense however the picture quality will be much better and in the long run will take far less time to setup,using single channel amplifiers or filter combiners will ensure you only pass and amplify the wantewd signals thereby removing unwanted signals,harmonics and patterning.

Thanks for the info, any links to the products you're suggesting?

Finne1993

Digital Satellite TV wrote: »

We get asked this a lot and have a page done up on it.


http://www.tvtrade.ie/distributing-uk-and-irish-channels-around-a-hotel.html

The headend is dealt with in the first part of the page and also in the first section of the video. If done properly, the headend system can work very well with the added bonus of knocking theft on the head!

Seen the video as I was researching this last night, that was exactly the idea I had in mind, although you say its restricted to a maximum of 10-12 boxes, thats why I thought a simple attenuator every few boxes might do the trick and allow a few extra boxes and be a cheap way of elimininating interference, would it?

I think I'm just gonna have to set it up first at home to see if it works, and if I end out not taking on the job in the B&B it will be a good learning curve for me anyway!!

Finne1993

Digital Satellite TV wrote: »

We get asked this a lot and have a page done up on it.


http://www.tvtrade.ie/distributing-uk-and-irish-channels-around-a-hotel.html

The headend is dealt with in the first part of the page and also in the first section of the video. If done properly, the headend system can work very well with the added bonus of knocking theft on the head!

Just after coming across an RF modulator that does VHF as well, if i was to Daisy chain say 10 boxes via RF modulators (As I've been reliably informed will work ok and you also state this on your video) through UHF and then say another 4 through VHF and combine the end product with a UHF/VHF combiner would that work well enough?

And also rather than using distribution amplifiers to split the signal, why not use these http://www.tvtrade.ie/passive-8-way-tv-splitters.html, would these not lessen the chance of each individual channel interfering with each other?

Doirtybirdy

surely if you're in Louth after analog is turned off,you will be in range of an NI transmitter so you will get those UK channels and saorview with a decent aerial set up and a distribution amplifier ? No need for all the daisy chaining,just a decoder or saorview compatable tv at all tv points and away with you.

The boxes are in as much danger as the tv's being whipped if that's the kind of clientelle they have.

Finne1993

Doirtybirdy wrote: »

surely if you're in Louth after analog is turned off,you will be in range of an NI transmitter so you will get those UK channels and saorview with a decent aerial set up and a distribution amplifier ? No need for all the daisy chaining,just a decoder or saorview compatable tv at all tv points and away with you.

The boxes are in as much danger as the tv's being whipped if that's the kind of clientelle they have.

As I said in my first post all the TVs are already there. They're actually hung on the wall, buying 14 new 32" TVs would be a helluva lot more expensive than going for this set up! Along with that it would be messy adding a STB to each existing TV and having to put it on a bracket or hide it somewhere and then you've the need for 2 remotes or have to buy universal remotes. No freeview signal where this B&B is until the Kilkeel relay goes digital next October and on top of that there wont be Sky News or CNN on the freeview lite.

They want a simple way of going from channel 1-12 on the TV remote and having the basic channels on it with the possibility of adding perhaps a sports channel or changing the channel line up in the future and I have to agree this would be the best set up for them, with all the TV stuff in one central location it would be much easier to maintain in the long run.

Trick of the Tail

You have a choice: Either get a stack of Saorview boxes, one for each channel, plus a sat receiver for each sat channel you want, then running it into a channelised combiner/launch amplifier/distribution system, OR going for an integrated headend unit which itself receives the Saorview plus whatever else you want, and feeding that into the distribution.

PM me if you'd like more info - its what I do so more info will start getting a bit commercial!

Andy.

Finne1993

alinton wrote: »

You have a choice: Either get a stack of Saorview boxes, one for each channel, plus a sat receiver for each sat channel you want, then running it into a channelised combiner/launch amplifier/distribution system, OR going for an integrated headend unit which itself receives the Saorview plus whatever else you want, and feeding that into the distribution.

PM me if you'd like more info - its what I do so more info will start getting a bit commercial!

Andy.

Thanks for the reply, any links to the channelised combiners you're talkin about?

Trick of the Tail

Polytron is one manufacturer I've used to good effect.

Its very modular.

I wouldn't recommend the daisy-chain method, your results will be awful - you'll get lots of noise and patterning on the channels.

The key to a good distribution system is to get all channels presented to the distribution system at the same signal strengths. You need a channelised system to be able to do this.

I recently set up a hotel system (with 200 rooms, but thats irrelevant really) which used RF distribution - I had a station every other channel from 21 onwards - i.e. 21, 23, 25, 27 etc.

When I arrived there it was atrocious, when finished every channel was perfect.

A.

SRB

This may be of interest, though isn't cheap !

http://www.promax.es/ing/news/extdnew.php?text=173

The Cush

Another option but only 3 modulated analogue channels per receiver

Satellite - MyM-3S http://www.a2b.se/index.php?id=248
Terrestrial - MyM-3T http://www.a2b.se/index.php?id=223