Lucid thanks for your help,
Both my dishes are at different angles. I did a check on a site entering postcode, and they both appear correct for 28 degrees, however one satellite is definitely pointing lower to the sky.
It's no big deal to get the dish(es) realigned.
So the connections that say FM/DAB, these are taking aerial from the regular TV aerial, but using a filter?
How it works is the house has aerials for TV, and one FM radio and one for DAB; so three in total potentially.
The larger and more comprehensive aerial amplifier/splitters have inputs for the three types of aerials plus a satellite dish input. Because the frequencies don't overlap, it's possible to combine them (multiplexing) without mixing them up. The wall plate at the TV-end has frequency filters so that the signals are separated back out to their constituent parts.
The benefits are obvious: one wire instead of 4 to carry TV,FM, DAB and satellite to each room.
In reality, putting the satellite through a system like this is a PITA. Most of us have satellite receivers with dual tuners, and that means two sat cables immediately. Second, if there's multiple boxes in the house then only one sat box can be connected to the aerial distribution otherwise there's a risk of a signal conflict when two boxes call for different channels.
The practical solution for most people with Sky or a dual channel Freesat recorder is to ignore the distribution system completely and send the LNB signal directly to the receiver. That works for most folk with, and a Quad LNB will support two dual-tuner recording boxes (eg Sky HD) or one recorder and a couple of live view TVs/receivers. Once it gets beyond that then the bodge is to put up a second dish. The proper way to do it is with something called a 'multi-switch' running off a single dish.
It's RF2, not FN2.
If you have had a Sky box then you might have seen it has aerial connections on the back. This is a "pass through" feature where the Sky satellite receiver can add an analogue version of its output to the TV aerial signal. It's the same principle as used with VHS video recorders before SCART and AV connections became common. You'd tune a spare TV channel to the VCRs signal, then switch to TV channel 0 or 6 or whatever number you'd used when you wanted to watch recordings or films.
A Sky box works very much the same way. It's possible to add its signal to the aerial feed being distributed around the house. In this way it's possible to watch the same channel as being viewed in the lounge in other parts of the house. There are two aerial (RF) outputs on the back of a Sky box; RF1 and RF2. The second one allows a remote control signal via the TV aerial cable. This means watching Sky in a bedroom or the kitchen can work the same as the lounge: Ch +/-, pause, play, rewind, record etc. RF2 is the aerial socket on a Sky box for this control.
Yes there is lots of TV cables in attic not connected, there is a board with mains plugs, however the TV amplifier is missing - reprocessed house so presume he took this with him before leaving.
Sounds about right.
Finally, i'm building a media center PC for front room, someone on here is selling a Quad TV tuner with Satellite input (see link below), is this compatible with things I have in the house.
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/audio-visual/digital-tv-recorders/black-gold-bgt3540-452320/review
This are the plugs where the media PC would go
http://www.yourmenu.co.uk/other/plug0004.jpg - the other plugs (in picture background) are 5.1 audio cable plugs for front room.
http://www.yourmenu.co.uk/other/plug0003.jpg
As you can tell i'm a novice when it comes to satellite equipment
Yes there is lots of TV cables in attic not connected, there is a board with mains plugs, however the TV amplifier is missing - reprocessed house so presume he took this with him before leaving.
Sounds about right.
Finally, i'm building a media center PC for front room, someone on here is selling a Quad TV tuner with Satellite input (see link below), is this compatible with things I have in the house.
Yes.
DVB-S is standard definition digital satellite (FreeSat to you and me). DVB-T is standard definition terrestrial TV (Freeview to you and me). DVB-S2 and -T2 are the respective versions that include HD signals.
This are the plugs where the media PC would go
http://www.yourmenu.co.uk/other/plug0004.jpg - the other plugs (in picture background) are 5.1 audio cable plugs for front room.
http://www.yourmenu.co.uk/other/plug0003.jpg
To make full use of the tuner cards features you need three connections: two direct feeds from the LNB for satellite (i.e. not doubled up from a single cable using a 2-way splitter because Satellite won't work properly like that), and one TV coax feed.
TBH, with such a jumble of wiring and multiple dish feeds and the need for an aerial amp I'd be tempted to call in an aerial guy to come sort you out. It's highly unlikely you need 6 or 8 satellite LNB feeds unless you have multiple Sky subscriptions of a lot of Freesat TVs and recorders. Get one dish taken down and the cable removed off the face of the house. Have the other dish aligned properly, and recabled if required to get feeds to your lounge if they aren't already there. Finally, have an aerial amp installed and the aerial changed to a Log Periodic. This will be the most future-proofed terrestrial aerial choice to cope with the channel changes still in progress as new HD channels come on stream.
