Sky+ in Two rooms, but different..

[wiles9]

I see this question getting asked all the time as i've googled the question, and ended up joining these forums :-)

I have heard so far about getting some cable from the sky+ box to the tv, and fitting a magic eye in between. Thats where im at right now.

My set up is strange. Its a new build house that had sky cables already fitted. One cable running from outside to a output in the living room, and another to a bedroom.

Mr. Sky man came out and didn't like the cable quality they used, well so he told me, so just drilled through my wall and fitted a new cable, hence rendering my nice outputs useless as they are totally bypassed.

I want to make use of these outlets now by somehow connecting my sky+ to the downstairs outlet, and the tv to the upstairs outlet.

I just need to know what sort of cables and what not i need to buy, going to search on amazon/ebay for it all after if i get some replies.

Would all the breaks in the connections cause bad signal or should it be ok if i buy good quality cable ???

Cheers ,
wiles9

[Smithy99]

Personally, I think it is betterto keep the cables whole and not to use the outlets at all.

You can get some issues with magic eye pass through if you don't use the correct faceplates. What I tend to do is to remove the faceplate, take the inside off it and then to drill through the wall and just pass the cable through the hole.

Not quite as nice but a good compromise.

You should use a screened coax cable which you can buy by the meter at B&Q or similar for your cable runs and as it is really just the RF, you don't need to spend a fortune. If you are also running a freeview TV or box from the aerial, you need to use digital ready coax.

[wiles9]

Cheers,

I would appreciate any other comments on the joining of cables to form the link from others. I agree with smithy99 at the minute. My past work I have done in telecoms tells me not to break the cable wherever possible!

[Smithy99]

Are the cables ran up into the loft?

If so, here's what you could do although, remember you may need to buy better faceplates for the sockets to allow the magic eyes to work.

First, you need the feeds from the Sky dish to the receiver, I would imagine these just run outside and come in through the wall, thats fine, you can get specific satellite sockets but I wouldn't bother. (link - Low Loss Twin Satellite F Socket - Double F Outlet PCB on eBay, also, Aerials, TV Accessories, Consumer Electronics (end time 14-May-09 16:22:47 BST)) to give you an idea..

Second, you need an aerial feed directly into the back of the Sky receiver, again, you can just run this in directly or if you wanted could use a socket and faceplate (make sure it is a good one so you don't compromise the digital signal). (link- Single Flush TV Aerial (or VCR) Co-axial Socket on eBay, also, Aerials, TV Accessories, Consumer Electronics (end time 08-May-09 11:10:25 BST))

Third, run a feed from the RF2 output on the receiver up into the loft (you could use the existing socket in the wall for this to save on cables etc).

Fourth, fit a global four way amplifier in the loft. (link - GLOBAL 4 WAY AMPLIFIER F140 on eBay, also, Remote Controls, Satellite Cable Freeview, Consumer Electronics (end time 12-May-09 00:36:04 BST)) I prefer to power them rather than rely on the satellite receiver to do it.

Fifth, connect the other sockets to this amplifier in the loft and any other rooms you may want to as well.

[wiles9]

Cheers, that was useful. You are right, i didn't think about where the cables ran to!

I have the sky+ cables ran directly from the dish to the sky box. On my wall i have two sockets (of good enough quality i think), they are for the sky+, and have a normal tv socket to the left of them.

Like in pairs [ TV SKY], [TV SKY] , if that makes sense. In my bedroom I have the socket for [TV]

I plan to run from RF2 from the sky to the TV socket in living room. and from the tv socket in the bedroom to that tv.

I will use that link for the amplifier to connect the cables in the roof space. I just now need to google how to run a power source into my roof space as there is no power up there!!!!!

I know all the breaks might cause problems, but I want to try use the existing faceplates, as I paid for them when buying the house. It also would look tidier than my DIY attempts of running cables through the house.

Let me know if you see any problems with the plan! I will let you know how i get on in due course! Might take a week or two!

[Smithy99]

That sounds fine, it's a bit of suck it and see.

You can se the Sky receiver to power the amp if you want, it is designed for it and there is no real reason why it won't do it, it is just powered by the RF2 outlet.

I would tend to do that first and if it is a problem deal with it then.

[wiles9]

Alright, ebay here I come.. save a bit of £ not having to buy powered amp.

Cables/Wee metal heads for cables/Splitter = £20 at most i hopes ^^

[wiles9]

Got it all for £17 total delivered. Just need a code now for the HD remote i bought by accident. Once i have the code for HD to Sky+ its all working, already got the picture + magic eye working.

cheers

[wiles9]

Pah ! I phoned sky to ask them how to tune a HD remote for Sky+, and they kept asking me why i would need such a controller. I told them I was lazy ass and didn't want to steal my original from my Gf.

They told me it was impossible to tune a HD remote to a sky+ box. Liers. I have it tuned now! Simples!