SAT>IP LNB Questions

Fatal Except1on

Hi folks,

My Sky Q contract is ending in 2 weeks and I'm hoping to have a project to move away from them and go with bog standard free satellite.

I have a Telestar Digibit R1 on the way and I was wondering if anyone could advise me on what I need to do? I know that I will need to change my LNB on the Sky Q dish as it is a standard Sky Q wideband LNB with 2 cables going into the house and into my SkyQ box.

What I want to achieve is:

> Sky Dish + LNB
> Digibit R1 SAT>IP Server
> TVHeadend running on HP MicroServer
> Clients (nVidia Shield / FireTV)

Getting it from the R1 to the rest of the network is no problem for me, but I'm not in any way competent when it comes to the former stuff and LNBs/Dishes etc all go over my head.

Basically, what I want to know is - what do I need to do and purchase to get my Sky Q dish to work with my Digibit R1?

I won't be a heavy user as it's just two people in the house, so worst case scenario is 2 channels at same time.

EDIT: I also just want to say that I don't want to have to run new/extra coax as well, so any way of integrating the dish with the existing two cables would be awesome

Johnboy1951

Sky Q uses two cables, but I have no information on how the signal is divided between them from the LNB.

It just might be possible to set up one Digibit tuner to use what is available on one coax, and attach a second tuner to the same feed.
Then do the same for the other coax and the other two tuners.

It might well be worth testing ...... else replace the LNB with a Unicable LNB using one coax cable to feed all tuners.

Fatal Except1on

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Sky Q uses two cables, but I have no information on how the signal is divided between them from the LNB.

It just might be possible to set up one Digibit tuner to use what is available on one coax, and attach a second tuner to the same feed.
Then do the same for the other coax and the other two tuners.

It might well be worth testing ...... else replace the LNB with a Unicable LNB using one coax cable to feed all tuners.

Thanks for the speedy response.

So there's a possibility that the Sky Q LNB could work as is with the Digibit?

Would I be right in saying I have a Mk4 Sky Dish? i.e. it was a new one installed with the Q installation a year ago, kind of oval shaped.

EDIT: I don't mind getting the Unicable LNB if I need to - just want to make sure I get one that fits my current dish without any mounting adapters/hacks etc!

Johnboy1951

Fatal Except1on wrote: »

Thanks for the speedy response.

So there's a possibility that the Sky Q LNB could work as is with the Digibit?

Possible .... depending on what the Sky Q LNB outputs and how the Digibit tuners can be manipulated.

The safest option, IMO, is a Unicable II LNB.

Would I be right in saying I have a Mk4 Sky Dish? i.e. it was a new one installed with the Q installation a year ago, kind of oval shaped.

EDIT: I don't mind getting the Unicable LNB if I need to - just want to make sure I get one that fits my current dish without any mounting adapters/hacks etc!

I don't know enough about Sky dishes to comment.
Hopefully someone who is familiar will jump in.

Fatal Except1on

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Possible .... depending on what the Sky Q LNB outputs and how the Digibit tuners can be manipulated.

The safest option, IMO, is a Unicable II LNB.



I don't know enough about Sky dishes to comment.
Hopefully someone who is familiar will jump in.

Think I'll buy the Unicable II LNB so!
If anyone has any insight into my dish that'd be awesome!
Is swapping the LNB easy? i.e. if the mount is the same is it just a case of popping the old on off and the new one on?

Johnboy1951

Fatal Except1on wrote: »

Think I'll buy the Unicable II LNB so!
If anyone has any insight into my dish that'd be awesome!
Is swapping the LNB easy? i.e. if the mount is the same is it just a case of popping the old on off and the new one on?

I have only ever used a Unicable LNB on a standard dish so have no idea what problems you might meet with a Sky dish, sorry.

Ten Pin

Explanation of Sky Q LNB...
https://www.smartaerials.co.uk/blog/what-is-difference-between-a-sky-q-and-quad-universal-lnb

One output is horizontal, other vertical -> needs 2 tuners.
The Q LNB uses frequency down to 230MHz, so even with 2 tuners it still won't tune all channels.

Re: dish...
https://www.world-of-satellite.com/showthread.php?54875-Unicable-2-LNB-for-Sky-mini-dish-ok

Sky dish and Unicable LNB are a slight mismatch but should work fine.

Johnboy1951

Ten Pin wrote: »

Explanation of Sky Q LNB...
https://www.smartaerials.co.uk/blog/what-is-difference-between-a-sky-q-and-quad-universal-lnb

One output is horizontal, other vertical -> needs 2 tuners.
The Q LNB uses frequency down to 230MHz, so even with 2 tuners it still won't tune all channels.

Re: dish...
https://www.world-of-satellite.com/showthread.php?54875-Unicable-2-LNB-for-Sky-mini-dish-ok

Sky dish and Unicable LNB are a slight mismatch but should work fine.

It might be possible to use the Digibit tuners in pairs from the Sky Q LNB .... one pair to do V and the other to do H channels.
Even if it could work a more versatile use of tuners would be available with the use of a Unicable LNB .... all 4 tuners could receive V (or H) channels at one time, whereas with the Sky Q LNB only two tuners could be tuned to either H or V channels (IF it worked).

Fatal Except1on

Thanks for your help guys. It seems that Unicable II LNB is hard to come by - will an Inverto Unicable LNB work instead (i.e. Unicable 1)?
I am only planning on feeding my Digibit R1 with it and there will be max 2 client devices using using the system.

Johnboy1951

Yes a Unicable I LNB will suffice to feed four tuners.

The Unicable II LNB will feed many more. Examples below of Unicable II some of which feed 24 and others 32 tuners.

https://www.digital-devices.eu/shop/en/search?sSearch=unicable%2BLNB&p=1

https://www.hm-sat-shop.de/lnb/unicable/2860/inverto-unicable-ii-lnb-idlu-32ul40-unboo-opp-fuer-bis-zu-32-teilnehmer

https://www.antennenland.net/Inverto-UnicableII-LNB-32UL40

https://www.megasat.tv/en/produkt/unicable-ii-lnb-diavolo/

https://www.reichelt.com/de/en/unicable-ii-lnb-for-24-subscribers-40-mm-feed-durline-uk124-p165065.html?ARTICLE=165065&&r=1

Inverto are not the only manufacturer.

Fatal Except1on

Ah, awesome, thank you for that. I actually already have the Unicable I LNB on orders - think it will do fine.
Just need to make sure it fits the dish mount now and I'm good to go!