using skytv and freeview on the same satellite at the same time

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daabomb2002

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#13217 28-Apr-2007 16:01

is it possible if you are a skytv subscriber to use skytv and freeview on the same satellite at the same time? can both be plugged into the same sky satellite dish at the same time and be switched on? or can you only use the skytv satellite dish with freeview if you are not a skytv subscriber?

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#68769 28-Apr-2007 16:20

Currently there is an issue and you can only have one box on at a time. This assumes that you use a two way splitter or if your FTA box has a Lband IF pass through.

Early next month Sky will move to Hpol as Freeview is, this will mean that you will can operate both a Sky STB and a FTA STB simultaneoulsy from one dish with just a simple 2GHz rated Fconnector splitter.

Cyril

raytaylor

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#68798 29-Apr-2007 02:06

One of the freeview approved boxes (I have been told) allows you to daisy-chain the sat cable through the box and then into the sky decoder.

There is however a problem where if you are watching a horizontal channel, you cannot watch vertical channels.
I forget the exact polarity but if you are watching say sky movies 1, and its a horizontal channel, your sky box will send 18v up the sat cable to switch the dish to recieve a horizontal signal.

Then if you use a freeview decoder or another sky box (sky multiroom) and try to watch a vertical channel eg. discovery, there is a rainfade problem as the second box will try to send 12v up the cable. Because 18v is more than 12v, the dish will stay switched to horizontal polarity.

This is said to be an effort on sky's behalf so that people are discouraged from putting a freeview decoder onto a sky owned dish at the same time, however they are hurting their own customers who are paying the extra $35 for multiroom and have rainfade on the second decoder.

Now correct me if I am wrong on any of this but I am sure I have the concept right.

Ray Taylor

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sbiddle

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#68807 29-Apr-2007 10:08

raytaylor: One of the freeview approved boxes (I have been told) allows you to daisy-chain the sat cable through the box and then into the sky decoder.

There is however a problem where if you are watching a horizontal channel, you cannot watch vertical channels.
I forget the exact polarity but if you are watching say sky movies 1, and its a horizontal channel, your sky box will send 18v up the sat cable to switch the dish to recieve a horizontal signal.

Then if you use a freeview decoder or another sky box (sky multiroom) and try to watch a vertical channel eg. discovery, there is a rainfade problem as the second box will try to send 12v up the cable. Because 18v is more than 12v, the dish will stay switched to horizontal polarity.

This is said to be an effort on sky's behalf so that people are discouraged from putting a freeview decoder onto a sky owned dish at the same time, however they are hurting their own customers who are paying the extra $35 for multiroom and have rainfade on the second decoder.

Now correct me if I am wrong on any of this but I am sure I have the concept right.

You have the concept right but it's not something Sky have done intentionally. The problem is a result of the error on D1 with the nz spot beams being incorrectly fitted the wrong way around with Hpol rather than Vpol. Sky transmitted on Vpol previously but need to use a NZ spot beam and ideally use the same polarity as Freeview so that means moving their transmittion to Hpol as well.

raytaylor

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#68813 29-Apr-2007 12:55

sbiddle:

You have the concept right but it's not something Sky have done intentionally. The problem is a result of the error on D1 with the nz spot beams being incorrectly fitted the wrong way around with Hpol rather than Vpol. Sky transmitted on Vpol previously but need to use a NZ spot beam and ideally use the same polarity as Freeview so that means moving their transmittion to Hpol as well.

Thanks :-)

Ray Taylor

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Americancars

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#68863 29-Apr-2007 21:12

That is interesting. You learn something new every day.

Can't beat the burble of that American V8. Ohh yea!

daabomb2002

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#68924 30-Apr-2007 13:33

if you have a mysky set top box,do u still need the sky decoder box? Does mysky act as a recorder and skytv decoder box all in one?

cyril7

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#68930 30-Apr-2007 14:07

So you are saying that you have a MySky and a normal non recording Sky decoder and you dont know if you need both.

The MySky has two tuners in it, so it can record one program while you watch another. You can also replay a recorded program and record two others at the same time. Unless you want to have full normal Sky STB functionality elsewhere in the house in addition to MySky then you are paying Sky $25/month for a box you dont need.

Most folk only have a MySky as it functions as both a normal decoder and a recorder (and more) in one box.

Cyril

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raytaylor

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#68993 30-Apr-2007 23:58

daabomb2002: if you have a mysky set top box,do u still need the sky decoder box? Does mysky act as a recorder and skytv decoder box all in one?

The mysky is a twin decoder (2 set top boxes) as well as a hard drive recorder all in one. You dont need any other sky box unless you want to watch a different sky channel on another tv set

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Plug

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#69298 2-May-2007 20:44

sbiddle:
You have the concept right but it's not something Sky have done intentionally. The problem is a result of the error on D1 with the nz spot beams being incorrectly fitted the wrong way around with Hpol rather than Vpol. Sky transmitted on Vpol previously but need to use a NZ spot beam and ideally use the same polarity as Freeview so that means moving their transmittion to Hpol as well.

If you're willing to run two cables to your dish, you can replace the LNB with one that supports dual outputs. Otherwise, it's a waiting game to see if Sky change.

gyrogearloose

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#69776 7-May-2007 09:18

Cyril7 or anyone else with knowledge:
Does anyone know with certainty when Sky will change to Hpol? I've seen "early-May" and "May 7th" mentioned in forums but there is nothing on Sky's website.

sbiddle

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#69778 7-May-2007 09:37

gyrogearloose: Cyril7 or anyone else with knowledge:
Does anyone know with certainty when Sky will change to Hpol? I've seen "early-May" and "May 7th" mentioned in forums but there is nothing on Sky's website.

I heard late May (after Super 14 final) to minimise any potential bad PR as a result of users losing their Sky with such an important event screening.. I guess if both NZ teams lose this weekend however nobody will care about the final! :-)

Even if a 1% of very old installs don't work after the switch with 700000 users that still represents 7000 users. Sending out techs to repair the problem will take time.

JaBZ

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#70120 10-May-2007 12:03

A universal dual output LNB works fine, I have Sky Multiroom via a splitter on one LNB output and Freeview on the other and all STB's work independently of each other.

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Plug

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#70143 10-May-2007 13:15

JaBZ: A universal dual output LNB works fine, I have Sky Multiroom via a splitter on one LNB output and Freeview on the other and all STB's work independently of each other.

Did you buy the LNB, and if so, where/how much?

cyril7

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#70166 10-May-2007 14:47

A few places have them, but they are around $120-$140. I suggest its cheaper to wait.

Cyril

TTZX

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#70271 10-May-2007 23:20

I just made a bulls up. I bought this:

This LNB has two L.O. (local oscillators) running together (5150, 5750). This means both vertical and horizontal signals are running on one cable simultaneously. This allows many receivers to run on one cable using splitters or drop taps. Each receiver can access all transponders without affecting the other receivers. Requires some setup in receiver.

Turns out it's a C band which wont work for sky/freeview. As you may have guessed, I'm new to this, ha ha. What I would like to know is can I achieve the same thing using 2 lnb's , one with a L.O. of 11300 and one with a L.O. of 10750 on the same cable. I guess you would have to limit the voltage on one of the LNB's to 13V some how. Has anyone tried this? I really want this to work on one cable.

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