Multiroom TV Setup

[tomparker95]

Hi all,

I am soon to be having work done on my parents house, and currently we have Virgin Media for TV&BB, and have the main box in the lounge and I have a tivo box in my bedroom upstairs. However, when the work is complete we will have a garden room and a new dining room so would want a extra two boxes to watch TV on.

Who is best to go with, Virgin and just add another 2 boxes in (if possible) or SKY Q?

 

[lucid]

AFAIK, VM supports two mini boxes in addition to the main box on a single account. If you already have a Tivo in addition to the main lounge box then I think you might only be able to add one mini before you're maxed out. If that's the case, and you don't have two VM accounts at the property, then how will that affect your plans?

The benefit with VM though is that the monthly cost for 1 + 2 mini multiroom is cheaper than Sky Q and the mini boxes do 4K UHD too.

Sky Q supports more mini boxes - a total of 4 - but there are some catches. There's an upfront cost per box after the first unit. The boxes don't do 4K UHD, and I am not sure if anything downloaded at UHD res is accessible by them. Someone with Sky Q multiroom can clarify, I hope. Also, the number of mini boxes that can be used at any one time is limited to 2. In a 1 + 3mini system you can watch in any 3 out of 4 rooms.

Although Sky Mini boxes work via Wi-Fi you'd be more sensible to run some CAT cable for them and for streaming on the TVs too. Wi-Fi doesn't do well passing through walls with metal-foil-backed Kingspan insulation.

VM need their coax cable running to each of their mini box locations. I would also run some Cat cable as a back-up and for direct feeds to the TVs too.

There options to distribute the signal from one of the mini boxes at 1080p over TV coax or via Cat cable at either 1080p or UHD subject to distance.

The monthly cost of Q multiroom though is almost the same as VM.