Really easy question about having 2 TVs

[Wayne666]

Hello

I am new to the forum but I've looked on here lots of time for advice, it's been very useful. I will try to give back, on this Home and Garden sub forum in particular as this is my speciality.

I have an easily solvable issue but I can't find the time to educate myself about how to sort it out (I'm getting old and out of touch with modern technology). If anyone can suggest a solution that'd be awesome.

I have a TV in my lounge, currently connected to sky but soon to be replaced by a Freesat box. I have a TV in my guest room which isn't connected to anything (though I can plug it into the computer to watch DVDs or youtube etc). What is the easiest/cheapest way to watch TV (a different channel to the lounge TV) in the guest room? ie: What hardware cables do I need to buy and what do I need to plug into what? I also have a wifi router and HDMI cables coming out of my ears. There is a RF socket it the guest room but the signal is terrible.

 

[Wayne666]

Are you wanting to view different Freesat channels to those seen on the lounge TV on the TV in the guest room?

I need to be able to view different channels on each TV.

... if you want to watch freesat then you need a freesat box connected to the TV with associated cables running to the satellite dish, if the TV has HDMI connection you could use various on-demand devices like Amazon Fire TV or Now TV box (although they will need separate subscriptions to get the most out of them).

I guess it has to be freesat as the terrestrial signal is so weak. I don't really want to subscribe to anything but I was wondering if there was some sort of freeview usb stick that got it's signal from the home wifi?

How many cables goes from your dish to your sky box in the lounge? if there's two cables and recording is not important to you with freesat then just extend one of the cables.

There is 1 CABLE from the dish to the sky box. I can install a second cable if there is a socket on the sky dish to run to the guest room. The freesat box I have coming can record. I guess I need to buy a second box for the guest room.

You haven't said what type of property it is and whether its your own dish or a communal system. I am going to presume it's your own house and you currently have a Sky box capable of recording, therefore it has twin cables connecting it to the dish. Should that be the case, then it's extremely likely that the dish has an LNB with four outputs, and currently two are free for use. However, all bets are off if you live in a block of flats..

Yup my own house. It's a sky dish and was installed about 3 years ago so it could well be the one with 4 outputs (will check when I get home).

What I would do immediately is get out the ladders and go swap the cables at the dish to the unused sockets to test that the LNB works. The Sky box has a signal strength display in the Services > Signal sub menu. Use it for a before and after comparison. You're looking for 70% or more on the bar scale.

Once you know that all four outputs on the LNB are good, then go ahead and have a twin cable routed to the second room. Add a second Freesat HD recorder. Job done.

That sounds easy enough. I'll give it a go.

An alternative practical solution is to get the TV aerial system working. There are a few more hurdles here because line-of-sight to the transmitter is important. This means that if there are whacking great trees in the direction your neighbours aerials are pointing, and they complain about poor or intermittent signal, then I would stick with satellite reception..

My house is in a bit of a valley. The previous owner had a signal booster but it required a socket that looked like a hypodermic needle and I struggled to reliably fudge the connections together. The signal booster I then bought that fitted all the connections didn't actually help me get any signal at all. In the end I gave up and waited weeks for sky man to come and fit my dish. I was stuck on my contract with them anyway (that contract's now expired).

For you, IP-based solutions fall in to two camps. You're either restricted to catch-up services and the Web pages that stream TV live. Catch-up is okay but only covers a small portion of the broadcast output. "Web TV" is fairly ropey from what I have experienced.

The other option is hardware that catches the signal output from some or other tuner/receiver/recorder box and then IP-ises it for in-house transmission over a home network. The problem there is it is limited to showing what's on the main lounge box.

Personally, I would stick with Freesat in your case, or explore having the TV aerial sorted and get a signal to both the bedroom and lounge.

yeah, I think I'll borrow a freeview box just to see if I it works. Then probably do the dish to second freesat box thing.


Thank you everyone. I do have a clearer understanding of what I need to do now.

 

[Wayne666]

Without a power supply the masthead amp will not work. That doesn't just mean it won't amplify. It means it will block the signal completely..

That explains a lot. Now I know what that little grey box in the eaves is for. I think I still have the power supply kicking around somewhere.

Why are you planning to borrow a Freeview box when it sounds like the aerial system isn't working? It's pointless..

I thought I'd just give it another try. I know the difference between freeview and freesat (as of yesterday ). Now I know about this masthead amp thing Freeview is probably my better option as all the cables are already in place. Thanks

 

[Wayne666]

I checked the signal strength on the spare pair of dish outputs as suggested and it's better than the pair I had it on.