Free to air receiver

southkilkenny

Hi all,

We have recently moved into our recently renovated farmhouse. There are two aerials on opposite gables of the house and also a satellite dish on the back wall. There was nobody living in the house for approx 6 years prior to us buying and renovating including re-wiring.

At the moment, new wires are run out to one of the aerials and I think there is a spare one out for connecting to a new or the existing satellite dish.

In the house there are TV points in the sitting room, kitchen and downstairs bedroom and also 3 TV points in bedrooms upstairs. We have recently purchased two Saorview approved TVs, one for sitting room and other for the kitchen but are working with indoor aerials for the moment.

What we would ideally like is to have the Saorview channels and also Free-to-air satellite channels including the BBCs, Food channel, Wedding TV etc. In addition we would like to be able to watch different channels in two or three of the rooms but this is something that we could live without if it was going to add significantly to the overall cost.

So, I would welcome recommendations for receivers that would be suitable. Also, if there are any installers on here, a rough idea of price would be great for labour bearing in mind that we also need to put the plugs on the ends of the wires to plug into the TV.

Thanks in advance

Sponge Bob

Get a local electrician for an hour or two.

Read threads on combi or combo boxes and have box ready before electrician comes

watty

Electricians often (but not always) install wrong type cables or make up the connectors wrong, or use wall plates design for VHF in the 1950s.

southkilkenny

Thanks for the replies.

I guess I could call our electrician back who did the re-wiring to take a look at it. Would it be best though to go with getting an aerial installer to do it instead of an electrician though? I know that some people have installed their own combi boxes and I was also wondering if this is something that could be done relatively easily. i guess one of the complications for us would be that we'd need a feed from the aerial for Saorview and from the dish for FTA channels. Is this done by way of a splitter in the coaxial aerial cable or do the combi boxes have two seperate ports for connections.

Also, is it difficult to fit the plugs on the ends of the aerial wires and get a good fit? Do these need to be soldered on or is there some other trick to this?

St Senan

Why is there a Electrician been mentioned at all here the house has been wired. There should be at least 3-4 TV cables at the back of your main TV and nowadays new TV wiring jobs have 2 cables in all the other rooms. Go contact your local TV shop or local installer to call out and survey the job. This man will have all the right equipment to Install what ever Tv system you want.

Peter Rhea

southkilkenny wrote: »

Also, is it difficult to fit the plugs on the ends of the aerial wires and get a good fit? Do these need to be soldered on or is there some other trick to this?

They can be soldered as in this guide to fitting: http://www.megalithia.com/elect/bellinglee/index.html

Another take on the subject here: http://www.aerialsandtv.com/wiringup.html#KinkyCentreCore

Worth looking at his entire section on cables & connectors: http://www.aerialsandtv.com/cableandleads.html

The ATV site is probably the best source of information for all things (terrestrial) aerial related.

Also see http://www.satcure.com/tech/index.html

winston_1

Peter Rhea wrote: »

They can be soldered as in this guide to fitting: http://www.megalithia.com/elect/bellinglee/index.html

Another take on the subject here: http://www.aerialsandtv.com/wiringup.html#KinkyCentreCore

Worth looking at his entire section on cables & connectors: http://www.aerialsandtv.com/cableandleads.html

The ATV site is probably the best source of information for all things (terrestrial) aerial related.

Also see http://www.satcure.com/tech/index.html

The first link is the correct method. The 2nd link shows the correct and incorrect method. The last link is definitely wrong.

Scrunching up the screen under the claws leads to a poor contact and ingress of interference.

Sponge Bob

Navarre wrote: »

Why is there a Electrician been mentioned at all here the house has been wired.

Why ...to prove it was rewired correctly and that signal and stuff exists.

St Senan

The same electrician who wired the house is not going to comeback out and say OOPs I put in insufficient amount of coaxial cable or I put in cheap quality cable. The OP should get a Rigger either local shop, local independent or a trade body installer out to check over the wiring and price up for the complete job.:)

St Senan

southkilkenny wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.

I guess I could call our electrician back who did the re-wiring to take a look at it. Would it be best though to go with getting an aerial installer to do it instead of an electrician though? I know that some people have installed their own combi boxes and I was also wondering if this is something that could be done relatively easily. i guess one of the complications for us would be that we'd need a feed from the aerial for Saorview and from the dish for FTA channels. Is this done by way of a splitter in the coaxial aerial cable or do the combi boxes have two seperate ports for connections.

Also, is it difficult to fit the plugs on the ends of the aerial wires and get a good fit? Do these need to be soldered on or is there some other trick to this?

There should be a least 3 coaxial cables at the back of your main TV and nowadays 2 coaxial cables in every other room. All these coaxial cables should be run back to a central point in your attic at this central point should be a electrical socket to power up a distribution amp. If this has been done properly then you wont need to split signals and use combiners.

southkilkenny

Thanks for your replies.

There are 4 or 5 coaxial cables at the back of the main TV and 2 cables at the point in the kitchen. In the other rooms, the coaxials are all hidden behind a white plastic blanker and I'm not at home now to count the wires here. Assuming 2 coaxials at all points, does this mean that one will be fed from aerial and the other from satellite dish for saorview and FTA simultaneously. Also, how is it worked when somebody wants to watch different channels in different rooms. Is this possible. Have heard of somebody modifying the dish itself by adding in extra eyes? Is this necessary or is there an easier way?

a neighbour of mine was quoted over 400 euro in their existing house to go from analogue RTE and TV3 to Saorview and also FTA channels from an installation shop. This seems expensive to me. Am I underestimating how much it should cost?

Also, anybody know of good reliable and reasonably priced people who do this sort of work in the South Kilkenny/Waterford area?

Ronnie Raygun

For different channels in different rooms, you'll need a separate receiver for each room.

A single tuner satellite receiver needs 1 feed from the lnb on the dish, a twin tuner PVR will only work to its full potential with 2 feeds. Lnbs with up to 8 outputs are available. Also, satellite & terrestrial signals can be diplexed onto 1 cable as they occupy separate frequency bands.