Sky install queries...

shaank

shaank

shaank

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In the process of moving into a new flat - it has a communal dish on the roof so I can't install any new connections it seems.

There is a connection point in the livingroom that has 2 connections on it.

Sky came out to install today, with the view to install in the livingroom and multiroom in the main bedroom. However they told me that with only 2 connections available that I'd not be able to record one channel and watch another in the livingroom anymore, which sounds pretty pants.

So they have just installed the livingroom for now with full functionality.

What is the best way to get some kind of setup in the main bedroom now?

As far as I see it -

1) go back to sky and get them to wire the second box up, but the engineers were convinced I'd lose the recording / watch another channel which if true I am not keen on paying all the money and losing that.

2) some kind of wireless setup to send the signal from the main sky box through to the bedroom also, any recommendations?


thoughts / advice?
 
to watch one channel whilst recording another requires 2 completely separate feeds into 1 box so yes they are right.

your options are either just get freeview in the bedroom (through an aerial), or use a long HDMI cable and a splitter from the sky box or use a splitter on the coaxial cable and then have 2 feeds run off each wire (but you can only use 1 at a time) and then lug the sky box from the living room to the bedroom and back.

there is no way for you to have 2 feeds live in each room at the same time using 2 boxes with the ability to record another channel only one box can use one feed at a time and you only have 2 feeds which are required by one box so therefore only 1 box can use your feeds.

that is why i have 4 feeds in my setup, 2 into the living room and 2 completely seperate ones into the bedroom all from the same satellite.
 
Provision Wireless HD Sender

We use it so as to not have to 'maintain' sets of recordings on 2 boxes if we had multiroom. Works great, just buy an additional Sky Remote.
 
The reason you can't have two boxes off the two feeds in to the flat is because of how LNBs work. They're not wideband like an aerial. They are a switched tuning device.

The Sky satellite channels are split across four modes - Horizontal and Vertical polarisations, and High and Low band. So if you're watching a channel that's in the Lo-band Horizontal group, but then change channel to one in a different group, the LNB has to change mode. IOW, one feed from your LNB can be in only one mode at a time. That's why a Plus box needs two LNB feeds.

With two dish feeds you can run one box as normal, or you can run two boxes in "single LNB mode". This means you can record two channels at once from the same channel group. But as soon as you ask the single LNB feed to be in two different states at the same time then you get a failed recording. You can still watch a previous recording while recording something else.

Whichever way forward for you its going to involve running cable.

Either you'll run two boxes in single LNB mode, in which case it's some satellite coax. Or you'll run a HDMI splitter + long HDMI cable + an RF coax (RF2 out) with a Sky Eye and an extra Sky remote so you can watch the main box in bed. This second method will also give you Freeview on to the bedroom TV if it's available in the lounge. That's achieved simply by adding the TV aerial feed from the wall to the Sky box RF in.

Thinks about the costs, the labour to run a single coax will be the same as running a HDMI and a coax. Material costs are higher with the HDMI splitter, cables etc, but there's no ongoing cost for the multiroom package that you can only use half of. To me though it would come down to convenience. I'd get fed up of having to swap rooms to watch something that was recorded on one box or the other.
 
lucid said:
The reason you can't have two boxes off the two feeds in to the flat is because of how LNBs work. They're not wideband like an aerial. They are a switched tuning device.

The Sky satellite channels are split across four modes - Horizontal and Vertical polarisations, and High and Low band. So if you're watching a channel that's in the Lo-band Horizontal group, but then change channel to one in a different group, the LNB has to change mode. IOW, one feed from your LNB can be in only one mode at a time. That's why a Plus box needs two LNB feeds.

With two dish feeds you can run one box as normal, or you can run two boxes in "single LNB mode". This means you can record two channels at once from the same channel group. But as soon as you ask the single LNB feed to be in two different states at the same time then you get a failed recording. You can still watch a previous recording while recording something else.

Whichever way forward for you its going to involve running cable.

Either you'll run two boxes in single LNB mode, in which case it's some satellite coax. Or you'll run a HDMI splitter + long HDMI cable + an RF coax (RF2 out) with a Sky Eye and an extra Sky remote so you can watch the main box in bed. This second method will also give you Freeview on to the bedroom TV if it's available in the lounge. That's achieved simply by adding the TV aerial feed from the wall to the Sky box RF in.

Thinks about the costs, the labour to run a single coax will be the same as running a HDMI and a coax. Material costs are higher with the HDMI splitter, cables etc, but there's no ongoing cost for the multiroom package that you can only use half of. To me though it would come down to convenience. I'd get fed up of having to swap rooms to watch something that was recorded on one box or the other.
Click to expand...

Is it a new sky+ box in the livingroom as the latest models no longer have RF out. Might need to look at other options to change channels from an other room. Could be achieved with a wireless ir extender or if you didnt mind not using the sky remote then it can be controlled via the sky android or IOS apps.
 
tbh that provision wireless HD sender thing sounds like the best thing:

no wires
one off cost of a couple of hundred quid
can record one channel whilst watching another
all recordings on one box

all other options sound like an inferior and more hassle setup, if you were willing to pay £11 a month for multi room then the wireless sender will pay itself off within 2 years and from then on in it's pure savings your making.
 
^^ Exactly

And if you're like us, and I assume lucid. As I said not having to 'maintain' 2 Sky+ boxes of recordings is brillient.
 
Kappa said:
^^ Exactly

And if you're like us, and I assume lucid. As I said not having to 'maintain' 2 Sky+ boxes of recordings is brillient.
Click to expand...

the initial cost is high and personally I would upgrade the box to 2TB manually as well so that there's plenty of space on there for everyones recordings.

I guess the only problem is that you cannot watch something different in the bedroom from the living room, it would be the same in both rooms, that is the only downside, so if I wanted to watch the football, the mrs couldn't watch eastenders or whatever in the other room.

So maybe worth getting freeview in the bedroom as well, an indoor aerial will only set you back £10-£15.
 
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