Satellite Receiver with Series Link

Pat6519

I have a 2 satellite cables that used to be connected to a Sky+ HD box and I also have 1 terrestrial cable that comes from the old RTE aerial.

I have connected one of the satellite cables and the terrestrial cable to my new TV and can now record programmes from either source onto an external hard drive. The satellite channels are FTA with a Now/Next Guide. The terrestrial channels have a 7-day EPG for the Irish channels. But I can't watch one channel while recording another.

The TV does have a second satellite tuner and I could connect the 2nd satellite cable into that to overcome this issue but this would not really satisfy all my needs.

Instead, I want to use the 2nd satellite cable to connect it to a satellite receiver box that has a 7-day EPG and is capable of recording an entire series at the touch of a button, without it affecting me watching whatever programme I want to through the TV's own terrestrial and satellite tuners.

First of all I want to ask, is what I am proposing above even possible? If it is then I have a few questions below if anyone can help.

If the above is possible, am I right in saying that I will need a Freesat+ box to do this?

Or would a Linux box be able to do the same thing?

Would a box with a single satellite tuner work in this situation to series record, as the other satellite cable is connected to the TV directly?

A lot of questions, and I'll probably have more, but any help appreciated.

Gerry Wicklow

If I was in your position I would get a triple tuner linux combo box that will do all you want and more. You would then have both terrestrial and satellite channels in a combined list in any order you like. You can then record multiple sources at once with full 7 day EPG, series linking, live pause etc. You will also have the ability to watch both live TV and recordings from any device on your home network that has a web browser.

Using the TV and box is adding a lot of extra messing switching inputs etc.

The Zgemma H7S is good value. Admittedly there is a bit of a learning curve setting one up. They are not plug and play but easy enough if you are in anyway PC literate. A wizard 'talks you through' the initial setup.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2057971250/zgemma-h7s-guide/p1

Pat6519

Thanks for the reply and apologies for taking a few days to come back.

I'm a bit caught with the current wiring, where the terrestrial cable and one of the satellite cables are coming out of the wall directly behind the TV.

But the other satellite cable is coming out of a TV socket that is in a TV unit about 3ft underneath.

So if I connect all 3 cables to the ZgemmaH7S, it will look a bit unsightly with cables showing. But it wouldn't be the end of the world, I suppose.

What functionality would I lose in the Zgemma H7S if I just had it connected to the one satellite cable and left the TV connected to the other two cables?

Gerry Wicklow

It is possible to configure the Zgemma for single cable use however you would only be able to watch the same channel on the box if it was recording. The main advantage of a combo box is that you would have all channels grouped together and just need one remote. Splitting between the TV and a separate box means two remotes and having to switch the inputs on the TV from terrestrial to internal satellite or box as required. I also found the recording functions on TVs to be rather limited and not very user friendly.

Pat6519

So just to clarify, if the Zgemma is recording via the single satellite cable, can I not watch a different channel on the TV via the other satellite and terrestrial cable?

Gerry Wicklow

No the TV will still be free to watch whatever you like. If the box is recording IT will be locked to that channel. Your TV will not be effected.

dam099

Also note you can split the terrestrial cable (though sounds like you may run into your aesthetics problem with this too) and have it feed the TV and Zgemma allowing you to record one terrestrial channel on the Zgemma and watch another on the TV.

Pat6519

Thanks for all the advice. I am going to buy the Zgemma H7S, I think.

Just one quick thing.

When I look behind the TV there is 1 cable coming out of an opening in the wall and that cable is then split into a terrestrial and a satellite cable, both of which are connected to the back of the TV.

Then the TV socket in the TV unit below has one satellite signal coming into it.

So I think my electrician has combined the 2 satellite cables and 1 terrestrial cable in the attic and split them out again in the sitting room.

I think I'll contact the electrician who did this work for us recently and see if he can change the cable configuration around to suit the Zgemma H7S.

Do you think that is possible?

Gerry Wicklow

From the way you describe things, it should be a fairly easy task to re-route the cables to the lower unit. He could run the HDMI between the box and TV back the other way to keep things neat.

The Cush

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118814950#Comment_118814950

Can you check the attic to see what the config is?

Fairly simple I would guess, a sat/terrestrial combiner in the attic for the aerial feed and a single satellite feed, the other satellite feed direct from the dish.

The wall behind the TV, is it concrete or partition? Would it be possible to route a new coax cable from the upper TV point to the lower TV point or are they in separate conduits?

Pat6519

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118819565#Comment_118819565

Yes, the config in the attic is as you described.

The wall behind the TV is concrete. The hole in the wall behind the TV is just barely wide enough for the 1 coax cable and the 2 HDMI cables.

The other end of these 2 HDMI cables appear in the TV unit below through another narrow hole in the concrete wall. There is a TV connection point beside this hole in the lower unit.

This TV connection point in the unit has 2 ports but only 1 works and it is satellite only. I took the front cover off this and there are 4 cables coming into the back of this TV connection point. All 4 are cables are coming from above and are in line with the 1 coax cable behind the TV.

It's probably going to be too messy to make the holes in the concrete wall bigger and feed more cables down.

I had earlier this year downloaded ExpressVPN to a tablet in order to watch BBC and ITV players, but it doesn't work with Google Chromecast so I could not cast the players to the TV. I could only watch on the tablet. They told me I'd have to buy a specific router and download Express to that before the casting would work.

I find manually scheduling recordings on the TV to be unreliable as the programme time and/or day can change.

So I thought a satellite box that could series record was the next best option. But obviously the wiring has to be right first for that.

The Cush

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118824425#Comment_118824425

Just to be clear there are 4 coax cables coming to the lower TV point and 1 coax cable to the upper TV point? All going back to the attic?

If this is the case you have all you need to feed the 2 tv points with satellite and terrestrial, all you need now is a multiswitch in the attic and 4 feeds from the satellite dish + TV aerial, each multiswitch output carries both a satellite and terrestrial feed combined for direct connection or splitting at the TV point.