Connecting up my new TV - can anyone help me?

carr62

Apologies if I'm posting in the wrong forum as I really am clueless when it comes to technology, but thanks so much to anyone who can take the time out of their day to give me some advice.
I had a Sky HD box connected by scart lead to a very old tv in my kitchen. In my sitting room I have a much newer TV with free view.
I have 4 cables coming out of the wall in my kitchen. 2 of these are connected to my Sky box in sockets labelled "dish input 1" and "dish input 2". The third cable runs into a small "Triax" box. The fourth cable is tagged with a label marked "in" and it connects to another length of cable labelled "out" and this also runs into the "Triax" box. (It seems that this Triax box is splitting my aerial signal and sending it on to the tv in my sitting room as when i break the connection between the "in" and "out" cables i lose signal in my sitting room.) I use the sitting room TV to watch the freeview channels and that suits me fine. However, I've just bought a new HD TV for my kitchen. I have connected up the Sky box using the scart lead and I have all my Sky channels. However this TV also has freeview. I know I need for the TV to be connected to my aerial to access the freeview but is there any way I can do that using the leads I've got? At the moment it seems I can only connect one TV to my aerial but not both?
If anyone can solve this problem for me, can I also ask :-
As I live close to the boarder, would I get more channels by listing my region as "UK" rather than "IRELAND" when I do initial set up? Also, as my new TV is HD should I buy a HDMI lead to connect up the sky box to the tv instead of the scart? Is it as simple as just plugging in the HDMI, like a scart connection? Sorry for all the questions but I truly don't know where to start! Thanks very much for reading.

Thurston?

Can you give a bit more detail on the Triax box? Any writing on it or maybe post a pic? Does it have a mains supply or a connection to the Sky box?

carr62

Thanks for replying. It is connected to the mains. it has 2 sockets for cables to connect to. I will try to post up a photo now if thats not beyond me also!!

carr62

Yep! Its beyond me! Sorry, I have taken a photo but I can't figure out how to upload it. That gives you some idea how far behind I am when it comes to technology!

Thurston?

How far did you get with uploading? Did you click on the 'Manage Attachments' button in 'Additional Options', below the reply panel? (Well that's where it is for me.)

SPAWKER

carr62 wrote: »

Apologies if I'm posting in the wrong forum as I really am clueless when it comes to technology, but thanks so much to anyone who can take the time out of their day to give me some advice.
I had a Sky HD box connected by scart lead to a very old tv in my kitchen. In my sitting room I have a much newer TV with free view.
I have 4 cables coming out of the wall in my kitchen. 2 of these are connected to my Sky box in sockets labelled "dish input 1" and "dish input 2". The third cable runs into a small "Triax" box. The fourth cable is tagged with a label marked "in" and it connects to another length of cable labelled "out" and this also runs into the "Triax" box. (It seems that this Triax box is splitting my aerial signal and sending it on to the tv in my sitting room as when i break the connection between the "in" and "out" cables i lose signal in my sitting room.) I use the sitting room TV to watch the freeview channels and that suits me fine. However, I've just bought a new HD TV for my kitchen. I have connected up the Sky box using the scart lead and I have all my Sky channels. However this TV also has freeview. I know I need for the TV to be connected to my aerial to access the freeview but is there any way I can do that using the leads I've got? At the moment it seems I can only connect one TV to my aerial but not both?
If anyone can solve this problem for me, can I also ask :-
As I live close to the boarder, would I get more channels by listing my region as "UK" rather than "IRELAND" when I do initial set up? Also, as my new TV is HD should I buy a HDMI lead to connect up the sky box to the tv instead of the scart? Is it as simple as just plugging in the HDMI, like a scart connection? Sorry for all the questions but I truly don't know where to start! Thanks very much for reading.

The triax box you talk about seems to be a splitter /amplifier which is giving you terrestrial tv in both the kitchen and living room so there must be 2 cables coming out from this for both tvs to be able to receive a signal.
You say that you live close to the border so if you set up your tv for the UK your Rte channels will be up in the 800s if its a Samsung tv and you set it up for Ireland it should set the Rte's up first and then from maybe 22 on the UK channels will be listed,which you can then rearrange later.
And yes it is only a matter of connecting the sky box to the tv with a HDMI lead like a scart one.

carr62

Thanks so much for all your replies. I'm embarrassed to say that I still can't upload the photo! I've googled triax splitters but none of the images resemble mine at all. I'd say the one I have is an older version. White box approx 4 inches x 2 inches. It has a non removable mains cord and when plugged in to the mains it has a small green light on the front. It has sockets (if thats the right word) for two aerial leads to run into it. I can't remove these leads are they are tightly connected into the sockets.
My suspicion is that one of those leads is bringing the aerial signal into the Triax box and the other is feeding it out into the second TV in the other room. There are 2 cables running from the wall into the sky dish. Perhaps one of those is bringing the aerial signal to the sky dish. I am feeding the info from sky box to this new tv via scart lead but in order to pick up freeview i'm guessing it needs an aerial signal independant of the sky box?
I might well be very wrong, but I'm beginning to think i should look for a new Triax box. One with more aerial "out" sockets, so I can feed the aerial signal to both TVs. Would somewhere like Argos be a good bet to buy these things cheaply? I'm guessing i need a hdmi cable and a new aerial splitter.
That way i can connect sky to my new tv via hdmi. The new aerial splitter can be set up just as it is now, but with another cable running from it to my new tv to bring the freeview signal. So the new TV with have an aerial cable running into it and an hdmi cable. Does that sound about right or am I making a mountain out of a molehill and making too big of a job out of it? Thanks for taking the time out to help me guys, your info really is such a help to me. Theres no way I can afford to call in someone to do this, and boards like this are a lifesaver when you have to take on jobs you know nothing about! Thanks again.

carr62

here goes....trying to upload a photo...I've just looked at this photo again, and theres what looks like a candy striped brown and white cable but thats just a trick of the light. Theres just 4 cables coming out of wall. theres 2 cables running from wall to sky box, one running from wall to triax and the fourth runs from triax back into wall.

carr62

yay! Thanks Thurston? I think it worked, though don't know if its a great photo. By the way, the TV is the cheapest of the cheap Bush TV bought in Northern Ireland. I've read the reviews and I know its meant to be brutal but it will do for what I need ( as long as i can rig up the freeview haha) Once the kids are happy this Christmas thats all I need from it!

SPAWKER

carr62 wrote: »

here goes....trying to upload a photo...I've just looked at this photo again, and theres what looks like a candy striped brown and white cable but thats just a trick of the light. Theres just 4 cables coming out of wall. theres 2 cables running from wall to sky box, one running from wall to triax and the fourth runs from triax back into wall.

That box in the picture is a power supply for a masthead amplifier that is up near your aerial. The coax that goes back into the wall is more than likely the one that feeds your living room.
The two feeds that go into your sky box are the satellite feeds from your dish so you can watch one channel whilst recording another.
Hope this makes some sense to you.

Thurston?

The Triax box is more than likely a power supply for a masthead amplifier, with the amplifier itself outside near the aerial: does it have the model no. P1001 by any chance?

More than likely, going by the now-joined 'in' & 'out' labeled cables the aerial feed would have been looped through the Sky box at some stage via aerial-in, & RF1/RF2 sockets: does your current Sky box have these sockets? (Newest types don't.)

hatchman

You cut and connect the cable on the out of the amp into sky box (aerial in) and other end onto rf out and you will get signal from aerial and sky box into second TV ! Only need to coax connectors and YouTube how to fit.

Edit :Sorry read your first post again and see what u were trying to achieve. I would still do above and you will need a coax cable from second rf out connection on back of sky box plugged into new TV in kitchen and you can then use the new TVs tuner.

Thurston?

hatchman wrote: »

... I would still do above and you will need a coax cable from second rf out connection on back of sky box plugged into new TV in kitchen and you can then use the new TVs tuner.

That's assuming the Sky box has an RF modulator & the accompanying in/out connections.

Suppose it should also be asked why the OP actually wants Freeview on this TV (Saorview too?), in addition to Sky, not that it should be a big deal to get it up & running. I know RTE1 HD isn't yet available on Sky.

hatchman

If the OP does have RF connections on SKY box they can have the flexibility of SKY available on both TV's and also have Freeview on both too. All thats needed to achieve this is a couple of tv cables and a connector. And throw in a magic eye.

Thurston?

From my reading of the OP, there is already a joint in the cable coming from the masthead PSU, cable parts labeled 'in' & 'out', & I would imagine this was previously looped through a Sky box.

I mentioned this already in post #11, & asked the OP if they could confirm whether or not their current Sky box has RF in/outs. If it doesn't, it won't be hard to try a 2-way splitter in the joint, or an IO link if they want the Sky box output selectable as an analogue channel on the other TV.