Planning a new setup

Payton

Hi, I'm thinking of changing over to fta during the year (probably august, when its announced what boxes are soarveiw approved) and I've been planning the cable runs so all the cables are behind walls as I've 3 tvs that are wall mounted, and what type of combo boxes to get, at the moment I'm planning on the Arivia 120 and I'll need 4 boxes (4 tvs). My query is Ill be using a quad lnb for the 4 feeds to each box, but for the uhf ariel do I use a splitter (1 in 4 out) for the feed for the antenna? And is a booster required for the ariel?
Thanks in advance.

The Cush

on the verge wrote: »

but for the uhf ariel do I use a splitter (1 in 4 out) for the feed for the antenna? And is a booster required for the ariel?
Thanks in advance.

If you currently have an aerial, how is your signal at the moment?

For the aerial feed you could use either a masthead amp in conjunction with a power passing splitter or a distribution amp in the attic.

Payton

Cheers, I don't have an ariel at the moment, but I'll have look at those links when I get back home. If I can get all the work done now as regards the ariel, dish, and cables and then it'll be just plug the boxes in (which ever boxes are approved). A mate is giving me an old combo box just to set it up as regards alignment of the dish and ariel and hopefully I'll just have to plug in and ready to go.

zg3409

If redecorating rooms it is probably best to run cables as:

1) Satellite Cable for Basic Channels
2) Satellite Cable for recording while watching another channel
3) The normal TV aerial cable *might not be needed
3) Phone line in case sky box multiroom is needed
4) Network cable for future use (wireless is not as good as a cable)

* You can combine an ordinary TV cable and a satellite cable but it is not possible to combine TV aerial and UPC, so if you have UPC you may need more or less cables.

I know some of these might go to waste, but it's a guess on the future.

Payton

I have most of the cables run already through the attic space. The cable for UPC will be used for the ariel. I'm looking a maybe getting a humax box for the main tv just for recording. The phone cable for sky boxes won't be happening as I'll never get them in again...too much hassle with them.

Peter Rhea

Did you get any advice on the correct cable specs for use with satellite frequencies?

Something to think about before you go pulling them into the walls . . .

Payton

Peter Rhea wrote: »

Did you get any advice on the correct cable specs for use with satellite frequencies?

Something to think about before you go pulling them into the walls . . .

I only put new RG6 satellite cable in about a year ago for all the bedrooms for the UPC connections. I have the reel in the shed I'll post the specs on it in the morning.

zg3409

There is a dicussion on Sat Cable here:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056526781

I agree 100% copper for both screen and centre conductor and proper branded, tested is best. You may get away with anything but you may regret plastering it in later.

Payton

I'm lucky enough that the walls where the tv's are mounted are studded so it was just a matter of fishing them down about 18" just behind the tv's along with the power supply, so no wires are visible. I'm thinking of running some cat5 cable also for the future e.g Smart TV.

skippy2

Re the Cat5 I just did something similar to what you are doing and I ran two cat5 cables to each room one for each TV as they will be Internet ready and a spare for either computer use or for a combo box if needed. Its as easy to run two as one and the cable is relatively cheap.
I used a multiswitch for the satellite cable from the LNB and the aerial cable also runs into this and then ran one satt cable to each room and used a wall plate splitter to split the signal back out to the aerial and satt connection for the combi box. So saved on the more expensive Satt cable