Splitting Sky/Freeview Issue

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nathan23h

35 posts

Geek

#136268 21-Nov-2013 07:39

Hi Guys,

I’ve just moved into a new house and im having some issues getting TV to all the rooms.

The old set-up in the house was a Standard Sky box (Not MySki) and a Strong Freeview decoder in the main living room. The RF cable went into the RF In on the freeview box & then looped into the Sky decoder.

This is then split to the bedrooms in the house so they can all watch 1 channel of Sky & 1 Channel of Freeview.

I have since moved in with a MySki box, my understanding is I can ring Sky and get them to install a RF Modulator which will fix the Sky to the bedroom issues?, but can anyone tell me if this will fix my freeview issues to the other bedrooms also ?

Any help would be appreciated

RunningMan

8953 posts

Uber Geek

#938304 21-Nov-2013 07:45

Can you tell us how the new house is set up?

scheduler

264 posts

Ultimate Geek

#938327 21-Nov-2013 08:50

A few years ago I was talking to a sky installer. His advise was at that time was if you were running Sky and Freeview together sky would wash their hands of fixing anything. Not sure if this applies still or not.

nathan23h

35 posts

Geek

#938331 21-Nov-2013 09:10

Just did some more looking and it looks like its setup as follows

1 Coax Cable comes for the Dish into the main living room.

This cable must be split in the wall as there is a face plate which has “Sky” & “Freeview” labeled on it.

1 RF lead use to run into the Freeview decoder & 1 RF lead ran into the old Sky decoder, then another RF lead ran from the Loop out on the freeview also into the Sky Decoder

There is a splitter under the floor, which goes to the TVs in the bedrooms, but im not 100% sure where the “In” for this splitter comes from

nathan23h

35 posts

Geek

#940157 25-Nov-2013 10:34

Can someone confirm that this modulator will work for splitting my Sky signal to the other TVs on the house

http://www.dishtv.co.nz/vmchk/Miscellaneous-Products/137-AV-to-RF-Modulator/flypage_web2_lite.tpl.htm

andrewNZ

2487 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#940173 25-Nov-2013 11:03

Sounds to me like there is a signal combiner somewhere, which is then split to all other points.

Spyware

3761 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#940238 25-Nov-2013 12:09

You are better off feeding the mySky HDMI out into a DVB-T modulator rather than dealing with the vulgarities of analog RF. You can then feed all the TVs DVB-T H.264, it may cost $2K or more I suppose but worth it.

Spark Max Fibre using Mikrotik CCR1009-8G-1S-1S+, CRS125-24G-1S, Unifi UAP, U6-Pro, UAP-AC-M-Pro, Apple TV 4K (2022), Apple TV 4K (2017), iPad Air 1st gen, iPad Air 4th gen, iPhone 13, SkyNZ3151 (the white box). If it doesn't move then it's data cabled.

JimmyH

2886 posts

Uber Geek

#940647 25-Nov-2013 20:47

My thoughts:

1. Avoid RF modulation like the plague - absolutely the worst video quality you will be able to get. Period.

2. Sorry Spyware, but spending $2,000+ on a DVB-T modulator is also expensive overkill, and probably won't give the best result. Unless you are planning on starting your own TV station......

Not sure how many bedrooms you have. On the assumption it's 2 or 3, a four-way HDMI splitter will set you back about $NZ150 + shipping from Amazon UK. You may then have to shell out $30-40 for a NZ power adapter.

If that doesn't work (say some of the TVs don't have HDMI input). I would either go with:

1. A 4-way composite video distribution amplifier (circa $US 30 off Amazon.com, plus likely extra for shipping and a NZ power adapter) - which will allow standard definition. OR

2. An HD Fury plus a 4-way component video distribution amplifier (circa $US 50 off Amazon.com) and an HDFury2 ($US 180 from hdfury.com) - which will allow high-definition over analog.

If the cable runs aren't too excessive and all the TVs will accept HDMI, the HDMI splitter option is the simplest and should give the best results. Otherwise, I would probably go with the composite option, unless the extra for HD over component is worth it to you.