Help 2x4K Freesat boxs

mearle73 · 22 Jul 2022 at 08:14

Sorry to ask but I can not work this out,I have sky q Multiroom, soon to be gone,I need 2 Freesat 4k recordable boxs,my sky q dish will work one of these,do I need another dish for the other one or is there a different LNB I could use?.Many thanks

Sparx · 22 Jul 2022 at 08:46

Do you know the model of the Freesat boxes you're looking at? The new 2022 models AFAIK now also use 2x Wideband channels, the same as Sky Q.

If it's a slightly older model box then they still use the old universal LNB type. In which case assuming your dish is Sky's own supplied one, all you should have to do is swap out the LNB for a Hybrid one if you want to retain the option of having Sky Q again in the future. You can get LNBs which have 2x Wideband and anywhere from 2-6x Universal connections for your Freesat box feeds.

However if both Freesat boxes require the new wideband, it's a little more complicated. I'm not aware of any LNB with more than 2x Wideband outputs... So the option would be either having 2 satelitte dishes, or look into putting a splitter on and seeing if that works. From having a quick read online I found a thread (here) where someone has asked about putting a splitter on the runs. If this works you could get a splitter on each of the 2x Wideband channels, giving you the 4 runs needed to go to your 2x Freesat boxes.

Someone else may be more clued up and correct me, or provide an easier solution. But from my own limited knowledge this is what I'd be trying myself

mearle73 · 22 Jul 2022 at 09:39

Sparx said:
Do you know the model of the Freesat boxes you're looking at? The new 2022 models AFAIK now also use 2x Wideband channels, the same as Sky Q.

If it's a slightly older model box then they still use the old universal LNB type. In which case assuming your dish is Sky's own supplied one, all you should have to do is swap out the LNB for a Hybrid one if you want to retain the option of having Sky Q again in the future. You can get LNBs which have 2x Wideband and anywhere from 2-6x Universal connections for your Freesat box feeds.

However if both Freesat boxes require the new wideband, it's a little more complicated. I'm not aware of any LNB with more than 2x Wideband outputs... So the option would be either having 2 satelitte dishes, or look into putting a splitter on and seeing if that works. From having a quick read online I found a thread (here) where someone has asked about putting a splitter on the runs. If this works you could get a splitter on each of the 2x Wideband channels, giving you the 4 runs needed to go to your 2x Freesat boxes.

Someone else may be more clued up and correct me, or provide an easier solution. But from my own limited knowledge this is what I'd be trying myself

Thanks for the reply,I am going to buy the new 2022 models.

Armageus · 22 Jul 2022 at 09:52

The new "Arris" Freesat boxes do indeed use wideband channels the same as SkyQ, but are also backwards compatible with older LNBs (but will be limited to viewing/recording only 2 channels at the same time).

Easiest option is to get a hybrid LNB fitted - connect the 2x wideband outputs to your "main" box, and then connect 2 of the standard outputs to your second box.

I would avoid using splitters, as although splitting the signal should be fine, there may be issues with power from both Freesat boxes feeding the LNB at the same time, (or even potentially power being backfed to the other Freesat box?)

Sparx · 22 Jul 2022 at 10:02

Good to know they are backwards compatible, just limits the recording channels.

I believe you can get one-way pass splitters to avoid LNB power issues and backfeeding another box, going by the thread I linked anyway.

mearle73 · 22 Jul 2022 at 10:13

Many Thanks for the info very interesting

lucid · 22 Jul 2022 at 13:27

You can mess about with hybrid LNBs or simple splitters. Neither is perfect though.

With the hybrid LNB you'll restrict one of the 4K Arris boxes to working in legacy mode. That means it will only allow two tuners to be active for a "watch one whilst recording another" type operation.

There are small splitters where one side have power pass but the other doesn't. But do you want to risk it?

For under £40 you can do this the correct way and get both boxes working correctly. All power worries will be taken care of too. The box will even split and distribute your TV aerial signal, buy that's by-the-by.

What you need is a Triax TW-S2.

It might look a little daunting at first but it's simply 3 inputs (2 from the dish + 1 aerial) going to two sets of outputs (3 + 3 sockets).

TWS2 Wideband Splitter H/V

TWS2 Wideband Splitter H/V The TWS2 splitter is designed to be used with Wideband systems with Satellite IF frequencies from 290 MHz to 2340 MHz, and Terrestrial frequencies between 5 MHz and 862 MHz.

triax.com

Job done.