Feeding Multiple Receivers using Switch

Schorpio

Hi all,

I've had a trawl through the forum and while this has come up before, I'm still a little unclear on what I have in mind is acceptable.

In summary, I currently have a Sky+ box (with an active sub) and a Humax HDR-1000S (a twin-tuner freesat hd receiver). I previously lived in a house with a quad lnb and enjoyed the best of both worlds. However, I've now moved into an apartment block with 2 feeds coming from a communal dish.

So, I've no access to this dish - but I would still like to keep both boxes, not least because the Humax allows me to receive (and record) the UK HD channels without worrying about frequency changes.

I know I could connect both boxes with manual A/B switches, but I'd prefer a more elegant solution if possible (particularly to avoid a situation whereby a box tries to record but I've forgotten to switch its feed back on).

I've been looking at this. A bit expensive I know, but I'll happily pay for i if it ticks all my boxes, which it seems to. However, I don't want to end up damaging either receiver. Will this do what I want it to? Any help would be much appreciated.

watty

You need FOUR feeds minimum in all of Europe for a Multiswitch. Usually from a Quattro, but some can take regular LNBFs.

Then if the signal is good enough you can drive 8 to 1000 PVRS with dual tuners.

The best you can do is set both boxes to only use one tuner, which seriously limits the recording flexibility.

Possibly that Multiswitch might be usable on C band in Europe. Certainly not on Ku Band which Sky/Freesat uses.

I use a multiswitch which takes 4 sat feeds (so 16 inputs) and has 16 outlets, but 4+1 to 8 or 16 exist.
The odd input (if present) is always for an aerial, or if passive, can be adapted for cable/broadband. If the extra input is used you need a Sat/TV 900MHz splitter (diplexer) at each outlet.

Note this review

Verified Purchase
even though this box has two lnb inputs,it cannot switch polarity between them so only one sat box can be powered up at a time.if you have a twin lnb dish and sky+box with a second linux or dreambox this unit will not allow simultaneous use.[it took konigs support center two weeks to finally divulge this]..not impressed as it does nothing the £2 sat splitters already do.[apart from terrestrial tv mix]

The other reviewers have not tested it properly. It actually doesn't seem to be real multiswitch even for C band.
Worth about £8
Real Multiswitches have a PSU and cost €80 to €300

Schorpio

Cheers Watty. I thought that 4 feeds at a minimum would be required, but the existence of this made me think that maybe I was wrong. Thanks for clarifying.

I think for the time being I'll just get two A/B switches and manually switch to the freesat box. It seriously limits the box in terms of recording, but I think it's all I can do.

Apogee

Schorpio wrote: »

I think for the time being I'll just get two A/B switches and manually switch to the freesat box. It seriously limits the box in terms of recording, but I think it's all I can do.

If these were standard DVB-S2 receivers, then 2x Priority Switches would be the way to go. These type of switches automatically switch the coax from Rec 1 (slave) to Rec 2 (master) when Rec 2 is powered on.

The only complicating bit is that Sky+ tuner is always powered on even in standby. I'm not sure how the Humax behaves - if the tuners power off in standby, then a smart priority switch would work (with Sky+ as slave and Humax as master). But if the Humax tuners stay powered on in standby, then it won't work.

Anyone who owns a Humax able to confirm what happens when you put the receiver into standby? Do the tuners remain powered on or not?