Freeview or Sky in bedroom

Forums › Freeview (DVB-T/DVB-S) › Freeview or Sky in bedroom

OnceBitten

536 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 11

#146599 23-May-2014 10:19

In our house we have both a sattelite dish and a UHF aerial coming into the lounge and we have My Sky connected to the sattelite dish
We are looking at setting up our spare TV in the bedroom (that backs onto the lounge) to get either Freeview or Sky.

When we got My Sky about 4 yrs ago in Chch we got a special little box, so that we could watch sky in the bedroom - the disadvantage of this is we had go back into the lounge if we wanted to change channels.

I would have to drill a hole in the wall for the cables to go through as there is no aerial connnection in the bedroom, but I've got plenty of extn cables for UHF and Sky

my question is - does a standard freeview box run off a UHF aerial? if so that would be my preference - to buy a Freeview box and run the UHF Cable through the wall to the bedroom - that way one can watch something on TV in the lounge and one can watch something different in the bedroom.
If not I will have to run Sky through to the bedroom

any advise?

trig42

5828 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2024

ID Verified

#1051589 23-May-2014 10:33

So long as you are in a FreeviewHD reception area, then yes, a standard freeiew box (or, even better, a TV with built in freeview) will work fine off a UHF aerial.
If this room backs onto the loung where the MySky is, you might as well run wither the component cables or composite cable through the wall at the same time and plug them into the TVs AV inputs - that way you will have freeview and whatever channel the Sky decoder is outputting.

jonathan18

7413 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2850

ID Verified

Trusted

#1051590 23-May-2014 10:35

Terestrial Freeview (Freview HD) uses UHF, so will work straight off an aerial socket conected to a UHF aerial; of course, there are different decoders/recorders for UHF or satelite Freeview (though there are/have been some recorders that do both). Also think about whether you want a decoder which can record to a USB stick or hard drive, as that may be a useful feature...

I came across this unit- may be a useful one for a bedroom given that as well as being a decoder with recording functions it also has a DVD player and is currently priced at a pretty good point at $85; not sure of its rep though.

OnceBitten

536 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 11

#1051612 23-May-2014 10:56

thanks for the replies, we will have to re-arrange the furniture in the bedroom a bit, so wife won't be happy about that - but it was her idea to want the TV set up in the bedroom anyway!

I'm not sure about those 'no-name' generic DVD / Freeview players - will they be any good in the long run I wonder.

I think I will go to a couple of places and ask about Freeview units - don't need one that records or anything

bfginger

1284 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 174

#1051630 23-May-2014 11:54

What model is your spare TV?

It is possible to rent a second Sky TV box to install it in another room but that's expensive. It'd be cheaper to pipe the Sky to the other room and use one of those remote control repeater boxes so you can use your Sky remote in there.

Was the "special little box" an RF modulator? It can run through coax cable but the quality from RF modulation is bad.

I'm not sure about those 'no-name' generic DVD / Freeview players - will they be any good in the long run I wonder.

They're nearly all no-name unless you buy something like a Panasonic unit which isn't cheap.

OnceBitten

536 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 11

#1051720 23-May-2014 14:25

yes - I think it was an RF modulator we used to watch Sky on the bedroom - and it worked fine, just had to go to the lounge to change channels

the spare TV is a samsung 19-21" flat screen about 4-5 yrs old. A Freeview box is probably more beneficial because we can watch TV in the lounge and watch a different channel in the bedroom on Freeview

Spyware

3775 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1349

Lifetime subscriber

#1051731 23-May-2014 14:37

OnceBitten: yes - I think it was an RF modulator we used to watch Sky on the bedroom - and it worked fine, just had to go to the lounge to change channels

the spare TV is a samsung 19-21" flat screen about 4-5 yrs old. A Freeview box is probably more beneficial because we can watch TV in the lounge and watch a different channel in the bedroom on Freeview

One would think that a 4 to 5 year old TV would have a DVB-T tuner.

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.

trig42

5828 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2024

ID Verified

#1051747 23-May-2014 14:46

Spyware:
OnceBitten: yes - I think it was an RF modulator we used to watch Sky on the bedroom - and it worked fine, just had to go to the lounge to change channels

the spare TV is a samsung 19-21" flat screen about 4-5 yrs old. A Freeview box is probably more beneficial because we can watch TV in the lounge and watch a different channel in the bedroom on Freeview

One would think that a 4 to 5 year old TV would have a DVB-T tuner.

I would have thought so too.

6 years old maybe not - it could be on the cusp. Samsung TVs 4 years ago certainly had them.

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

wellygary

8404 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 4749

#1051812 23-May-2014 17:17

DVB-T freeview broadcasts began in 2008 in the main centres, and I am sure that a fair few tellys at that point were not Freeview capable,

heck I saw stores still selling (trying to sell) analog DVD recorders withing 9 months of analog switch off,