Best way to do this?

Macky

Macky

Macky

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Sky+ Box in my bedroom. Under the TV set and only a few cm of spare cable coming from the dish (right outside my window).

I am planning on moving the TV to the opposite side of my room and can't move the Sky+ box due to the cables.

Would the best solution be to leave the Sky+ box near the window on a shelf or something and get one of those Magic Eye RF Extender thing's and route the RF cable around the room and put the receiver where the telly is going to be?

Although this seems stupid, it seems like the most logical and visually appealing way to do it to me. Instead of having a huge scart lead going across the floor.

Any other ideas?
 
You'd prob get away with not needing a magic eye, considering I can point my remote in the opposite direction to the box and it still changes channel
 
Jonnybmac said:
You'd prob get away with not needing a magic eye, considering I can point my remote in the opposite direction to the box and it still changes channel
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Yeah I was thinking that. What would be the best way to transmit the signal then do you reckon? Can you do it with just an RF cable?
 
Picture quality via RF won't be as good as RGB on SCART, sound will be in mono, and you might lose the tv switching automagically to the sky box as you turn it on, too. Maybe try it out with an RF lead and see if it's ok for you, otherwise how about:
- replace coax cables from dish to new location for sky+ box.
- make some extension cables (satellite coax, F connectors and F-couplers) for the satellite cables (not ideal having joints in the cable but unlikely to be a problem)
- video sender (no cables but more boxes and picture quality may suffer a bit)
 
wonko said:
Picture quality via RF won't be as good as RGB on SCART, sound will be in mono, and you might lose the tv switching automagically to the sky box as you turn it on, too. Maybe try it out with an RF lead and see if it's ok for you, otherwise how about:
- replace coax cables from dish to new location for sky+ box.
- make some extension cables (satellite coax, F connectors and F-couplers) for the satellite cables (not ideal having joints in the cable but unlikely to be a problem)
- video sender (no cables but more boxes and picture quality may suffer a bit)
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TV doesn't switch automatically anyway so not a problem. Can you buy those coax F connectors from Argos or whatever? Please link because I've only seen them for normal Sky, not +. How much of a loss are we talking about in audio and picture? Noticeable?
 
Macky said:
TV doesn't switch automatically anyway so not a problem. Can you buy those coax F connectors from Argos or whatever? Please link because I've only seen them for normal Sky, not +. How much of a loss are we talking about in audio and picture? Noticeable?
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I doubt Argos sell them, but suspect bigger B&Q stores might do along with something like PF100 cable. Personally I'd buy the bits mail order from somewhere like satcure as it would probably end up cheaper anyway. I don't want to recommend them over anyone else particularly but it looks like they sell ready made-up leads and F couplers (090-3078 ( H090-3078 )) at http://www.satcure.com/accs/page7.htm

Sky+ boxes need two LNB feeds from the dish (so you can watch/record 2 channels at once), whereas a normal Sky box only needs one. Sky may have installed a 'figure of 8' type cable, so they only have to drill one hole through the wall, but it's equivalent to having two cables running in parallel. So you'd have to get two extension cables for Sky+, which might still be cheaper than getting a magic eye plus an RF coax lead.

I'm not sure whether you're asking about the drop in picture/audio quality if you extended the satellite coax cables or used RF:
- If you extend the coax cables, there should be no change to picture or audio. This is provided that you've got a decent signal quality now such that adding the extension cable won't drop quality to a point where it starts to go 'blocky' and break up. If its only a short cable run from the dish now though it should be fine.
- If you use the RF then picture quality will suffer and will look worse on bigger TVs. If it's only a small TV for occasional use it might not bother you, but it would probably bug me. I doubt you'd notice audio quality dropping on a normal TV other than it being in mono instead of stereo. Try it and see.
Hope this helps.
 
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Cheers mate. Just tried the RF cable out and not even sure how to set it up. Just tried what everybody else did when they used the magic eye, services, turn RF power outlet on. Then not sure what to do. This is looking like it is going to be much more effort than I first thought.. Is a 10 metre odd scart cable feasible?

Does that link you provided have the correct Sky+ dual cable? Pictures are so small I can't tell and I don't know the terminology.

Just been reading and that site saying that the dual cables are the exact same as singles but there are just 2 of them. Makes sense I guess. How much am I looking at for around 10metres? Tenner?
 
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Macky said:
Cheers mate. Just tried the RF cable out and not even sure how to set it up. Just tried what everybody else did when they used the magic eye, services, turn RF power outlet on. Then not sure what to do. This is looking like it is going to be much more effort than I first thought.. Is a 10 metre odd scart cable feasible?

Does that link you provided have the correct Sky+ dual cable? Pictures are so small I can't tell and I don't know the terminology.

Just been reading and that site saying that the dual cables are the exact same as singles but there are just 2 of them. Makes sense I guess. How much am I looking at for around 10metres? Tenner?
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Turning the RF power on is only needed for the magic eye, but it wouldn't do any harm. In the same setup pages it should tell you what RF channel the Sky+ box is outputting on. You'd then have to go into the TV setup to tune it in to that analogue channel.

A 10m SCART lead would be do-able if you get a reasonable quality one, but I'd still go for extending the cables from the dish. On the satcure page it sells 10m leads for £5.99 each (e.g. FF10MW), plus £0.29 for each F coupler (ex VAT and P&P). Two of each should be about £19 delivered.
 
Got the RF working. Quality is slightly reduced. Still watchable but not as good. Hmm. If I were going to extend the coax cables I would get the couplers add them to the short coax cables from the dish and then add more cable to fit around the room. Easiest option?
 
wonko said:
Yep, sounds right.
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Right. Sorry for being a complete noob but I'm going to need the exact names of what I am going to need, so, if you don't mind. :p F connector won't reduce quality in anyway will it? Signal strength is good at the moment.
 
No probs... parts would be (if you wanted white):
2x FF10MW white lead 10 metres 5.99 11.98 (sat coax cable with F connector on each end)
2x 090-3078 Threaded F barrel 0.29 0.58 (F coupler - female to female)

if signal strength and quality is good you're highly unlikely to have a problem and picture quality will be unaffected. It's best to avoid joints in the cable but FWIW I've got 2 joints in my cables and it works fine with much longer cables than you'll have :).
 
wonko said:
No probs... parts would be (if you wanted white):
2x FF10MW white lead 10 metres 5.99 11.98 (sat coax cable with F connector on each end)
2x 090-3078 Threaded F barrel 0.29 0.58 (F coupler - female to female)

if signal strength and quality is good you're highly unlikely to have a problem and picture quality will be unaffected. It's best to avoid joints in the cable but FWIW I've got 2 joints in my cables and it works fine with much longer cables than you'll have :).
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Cheers a million fella. Will get onto it by the weekend probably and will let you know how it goes. :)
 
Hi Macky, yep, they should do the job just as well (and Argos have a good returns policy if there's a problem). Sorry I dismissed Argos too soon now...:o
 
wonko said:
Hi Macky, yep, they should do the job just as well (and Argos have a good returns policy if there's a problem). Sorry I dismissed Argos too soon now...:o
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Right after all this, the father has just showed me a half decent way how to do it. Scart-->phono plugs (adapter) about 12 metres of these cables around my room, to the telly in it's new postion. Sky box on a shelf or whatever near the window. Just tried the 10 metre cable, picture and sound equally as good as the scart lead.
 
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