sky and freeview running off the same satellite dish

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flintstonenz

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#95406 2-Jan-2012 22:55

hi my lmb has 4 outlets to plug cables in on the satellite dish , i all ready have one cable pluged into it that goes to my sky box and i would like to run a secend or third cables off it to go to different tv's with there own free view box is this possible.?

I have tryed it and don't seem to able to find freeview what satellite do both use ? and what do i have to do to make them both work in dargaville ,new zeland thanks

Jaxson

8041 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#563889 2-Jan-2012 23:01

What do you mean you have tried it already?
From memory there are 4 outlets, 2 for each 'lnb' inside the sky dual lnb unit. If that is right then 2 of the outlets should work fine, and you'll just have to try each outlet to find the 2 that work. (one of which is already in use for sky).

EDIT: Nope they appear to have a multiswitch inside them, so any outlet can see any lnb inside the unit, which is pretty cool. Reading Cyrils comments here: http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=106&topicid=34668

Nice pictures here by the way: http://www.legiontv.co.nz/archives/122

But yeah, it's totally do able, hopefully directly of the multi outlet lnb, but if you want to go to many more set top boxes then you'll need to split the signal from the lnb with a proper satellite splitter module. http://www.freeviewshop.co.nz/switches-splitters-c-8.html

Yes, freeview and Sky both use the same Optus D1 satellite, so any working sky dish is already pointed at the correct satellite for freeview.

flintstonenz

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#563891 2-Jan-2012 23:11

thank you i understand fully now , i just have just pluged the cable into the wrong port on the lmb i will try the other ones tommorrow thanks you for your time

Jaxson

8041 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#563893 2-Jan-2012 23:16

flintstonenz: thank you i understand fully now , i just have just pluged the cable into the wrong port on the lmb i will try the other ones tommorrow thanks you for your time

Not so fast, it might not be as easy as that. [I've edited the original post above having done a bit of searching around for you...] By all means give it a try in the other ports though (hope it's easy to get to?) and hopefully it will work.

Also make sure you are entering the right lnb settings in the freeview box as well.
You may have to have the sky box on too to power the lnb, depending on what settings you've got going on currently.

flintstonenz

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#563894 2-Jan-2012 23:24

yes the sky box is always running and yes it is easy to get to the Sharp’ Sky Quad LNB ,

the other thing yes i see all the settings there in the freeview box i just am not sure what settings it should be set to in dargaville , nz thanks

cgreenwood

201 posts

Master Geek

#563909 3-Jan-2012 06:24

An easier option could be to install a splitter on the existing cable closer to the tv sets. Be carefull though as you need the correct splitter, one with a power pass through often labelled f-diode.

flintstonenz

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#563915 3-Jan-2012 08:44

ok here is another question is there any way i can get this lnb to find the same satellite twice so you can use all 4 ports, from the other set of the lnb ports i get austrila chanels 7 of them (lol) . it seems that the splitter idea is the easyest so all the people in my house can have a tv in there room that picks up tv channels .

the other idea is to put up another dish i guess which will just look messy on the side of the house

thanks for all your help

cgreenwood

201 posts

Master Geek

#563952 3-Jan-2012 10:58

OK, so here is what IMO is going to be the best plan for you...

Leave the dish and LNB alone, as they were installed by sky they will be correctly aligned for Optus D1, which carries both Sky and Freeview and it is best not to mess with them unless you really know what you are doing.

Install a splitter, 3 or 4 way from the existing cable with one lead going to each decoder/TV.

Make sure you have the correct splitter as mentioned in the above post.

Each decoder should be able to pick up Freeview or Sky as they are both carried on the same satellite.

Make sure that only one of the decoders is powering the LNB - This is important.

Bear in mind that each time you split the signal it loses strength but you should be able to split it 3 ways without to much signal loss.

The LO frequency for most Sky LNB's is 10750, if the decoder asks for 2, enter the same number twice.

The freeview transponder frequency is 12456 with Horizontal polarization and a sym rate of 22500 but if your decoder can do a blind scan then it should find this for you.

Of course if you live in a Freeview|HD (terrestrial broadcast on a UHF frequency) coverage area then you could save yourself the trouble and use that instead. Check the freeview website for coverage details.