Sky TV in new house - what's best?

aido_b

Hi all,

Having just finished building an extension to the house, the time has come to the time to get some proper tv into the houes. At the moment we are restricted to using an old tv with rabbit ears! In the area where I live, we are unfortunately restricted to getting Sky or Saorview (UPC is available to the houses a few doors down the road, but it was never cabled up to the end of the street where I live!). Before we started building we had the regular Sky satellite dish and box (I still have the old sky box).

When building the extension, the electrician put tv points in 3 different rooms (living room, bedroom, office) and all the cables are now run up to the attic. Now all I need is to get it all hooked up. However, I'm not sure what is the best option for me here.

In all likelihood, I will go for Sky again as we want to get Sky Sports this time. So that means getting another satellite dish, Sky+ box, etc. However, I'm not sure how the engineer will connect all this up to the new cables in the attic? I don't want to have a cable run straight from the dish to the sky box in the living room.

Basically, I'd like to know what the best options would be to get Sky in and connected up, so that we can view from all 3 rooms through the tv points that we already have? Also, I don't really want to pay for Sky Multiroom. Can anyone please provide any suggestions as to what would be the best setup for me?

Thanks,
Aido_b

runawaybishop

You want different sky channels in each room? You need separate boxes+cards then if you don't want multiroom.

watty

You can also have ONE sky box sub and have "Freesat HD" in other rooms, no sub.

You don't need Sky for main UK TV, only for Pay Channels.

www.saortv.info

aido_b

@Runwaybishop - No I don't specifically want different sky channels in different rooms.

runawaybishop

aido_b wrote: »

@Runwaybishop - No I don't specifically want different sky channels in different rooms.

Any idea how many cables are dropped to the living room (or wherever the sky box is going)? You could pass the decoded pic back along to the attic and then to the other rooms if you have enough and thereby watch whatever was on sky in the other rooms. You'd need 3 cables most likely as sky + takes up 2 already. If you don't have enough you can run another one or get the sky installer to run a fresh one from outside.

zg3409

aido_b wrote: »

When building the extension, the electrician put tv points in 3 different rooms (living room, bedroom, office) and all the cables are now run up to the attic. Now all I need is to get it all hooked up. However, I'm not sure what is the best option for me here.

For Sky plus you need 2 cables between the box and dish. Is there two cables run from the living room? There should be two outlets on the wall plate.

In reality for "free" installation Sky do a "standard install" which means them running the cables as fast as possible and getting the hell out of your house. For standard install they DO NOT GO INTO THE ATTIC, and they normally run cables on the outside of the house rather than inside. They also won't lift carpet. They normally won't put the dish on the chimney and will put the dish low down on the south east side of the house. If that happens to be the front then it will look unsightly. They use health and safety to say they cannot go on the roof, nor attic, but if they use the appropriate safety gear they can.

You could opt for non-standard install, which is extra, where they charge you for the extra hassle and possible extra work. They may not want to use you existing cables.

However what I would recommend is getting a good, non Sky installer, from one of the recommended bodies, to give a quote for a neat install, and then afterwards tell Sky you already have a dish and now need a box.

I know one guy who does this a lot. He puts up a good dish, neat cabling, and then people get Sky box themselves or through the installer.

"Free installation" means you get what you pay for.

aido_b wrote: »

Also, I don't really want to pay for Sky Multiroom. Can anyone please provide any suggestions as to what would be the best setup for me?

Firstly for multiroom you need a seperate cable from the dish to each room and a box in each room. You also need a landline connected to every box.

The cheaper alternative is called a "Sky Magic Eye" There are various brands that will work. If you get this installed then there is no extra monthly charge for multiroom.

The main catches are
1) The cabling is different. You need to run a cable from the main (living room) Sky box, all the way to the back of each TV in each room. This is different cabling than you already have.

2) As your house only has one Sky box, everyone on every TV must watch the same program. The only good thing is you can get the main Sky box to record one program, while someone watches another.

3) This system is a fine bodge if you have say two people in the house and you are willing to put up with only being able to watch one TV show at a time, in any room.

4) It's handy if you are watching a show and then want to go to bed and watch it in bed etc.

5) If you have kids, or a partner/housemate who wants to watch something long and time specific (say a football match/film) then everyone in the house is forced to watch the same thing.

The benefit is that you don't pay anything extra per month, yet you have access to all Sky channels in every room, and better than multiroom you have access to all recordings on the main box from every room. It's also very neat as you do not need a Sky box in bedroom etc. Think of it like being only able to power on one TV in the house at the same time.

http://www.sky-remotes.com/setup-sky-magic-eye.shtml

Cantona's Collars

Sky have a Wholehome Offer for new customers where the multiroom cost is capped at €15 a month once you get more than one multiroom sub.

They install one multiroom box for free & charge €69 per box for subsequent boxes.

Simply get your new Sky+ box installed along with the 2 multiroom boxes: Outlay for install is €99 and you have Sky in 3 rooms.After the first 12 months your contract is up & you can cancel the sub on the multiroom and use the boxes for fta or try and wrangle a deal out of Sky.

If it's the soccer that you want Sky Sports for you can cancel it for the Summer & save a few quid,the European Championships are all on FTA.;)

runawaybishop

zg3409 wrote: »

In reality for "free" installation Sky do a "standard install" which means them running the cables as fast as possible and getting the hell out of your house. For standard install they DO NOT GO INTO THE ATTIC, and they normally run cables on the outside of the house rather than inside. They also won't lift carpet. They normally won't put the dish on the chimney and will put the dish low down on the south east side of the house. If that happens to be the front then it will look unsightly. They use health and safety to say they cannot go on the roof, nor attic, but if they use the appropriate safety gear they can.

About 2 years ago in my new build i got a free standard sky installation as a new customer. The installer put the dish where I requested on the second story, drilled through my mass concrete walls in the attic and ran his cables to be patched into my existing network. I guess it depends who you get.

zg3409

runawaybishop wrote: »

About 2 years ago in my new build i got a free standard sky installation as a new customer. The installer put the dish where I requested on the second story, drilled through my mass concrete walls in the attic and ran his cables to be patched into my existing network. I guess it depends who you get.

It also depends on how many installs they have pencilled in for that day. Having spoken to a Sky installer (a team of two) for the month of December they usually do 5 installs a day, sometimes 7. If you take into account the time taken to drive to each place and drill a few holes x 5 x multiroom etc you can understand when they are very busy anything goes.

suitseir

Just picked up on this thread and looking for some good advice!

At present, I have UPC and have it for the last 14 years...installed when house was built!

We have problems with trees (forest) causing freezing picture and aerial has been raised once already and that's it...no higher it can go!

So we are looking at Sky but I am worried that they will be drilling holes everywhere. We are a dormer with first floor hollow-core, with the main upc box in sitting room and the second in the kitchen...either end of the house. Can Sky use the existing coax cable? If it is too complicated, I will get the chainsaw out and cut down the trees:D....

I would prefer to get an independant TV service company who install all types to get an opinion?

Any advice?

zg3409

suitseir wrote: »

Just picked up on this thread and looking for some good advice!

At present, I have UPC and have it for the last 14 years...installed when house was built!

We have problems with trees (forest) causing freezing picture and aerial has been raised once already and that's it...no higher it can go!

So we are looking at Sky but I am worried that they will be drilling holes everywhere. We are a dormer with first floor hollow-core, with the main upc box in sitting room and the second in the kitchen...either end of the house. Can Sky use the existing coax cable? If it is too complicated, I will get the chainsaw out and cut down the trees:D....

I would prefer to get an independant TV service company who install all types to get an opinion?

Any advice?

Sky needs at least 2 cables for installation so no. If you get an independant installer they can usually install the dish anywhere facing south east you want (including ground level) and install a better quality rust proof dish. They can normally supply and setup Sky boxes. No need to call Sky. Nowever consider the total annual costs. It can work out very expensive for Sky with multiroom, movies etc. If you can livewithout premium sports and movies then Free Satellite options are far, far cheaper if only for the 2nd and third rooms.