Sky HD box output split

[Booster]

I currently have Sky in our bedroom via the co-ax secondary output from our HD box. If I use a HD signal splitter and run a cable from the living room to the bedroom will the signal be strong enough to carry about 4-5 metres?

[mikemod]

Yes, should be no problem, I have four feeds running from a splitter, one of them is 20m. I use THESE at the ends of the run to stabilise the signal.

[Booster]

Excellent! Cheers fella!

[hotdog]

I currently have Sky in our bedroom via the co-ax secondary output from our HD box. If I use a HD signal splitter and run a cable from the living room to the bedroom will the signal be strong enough to carry about 4-5 metres?

No wonder you were so keen to get your hands on my "special interest" HD DVD's!!

Let me know if you want more info. I know a man in the trade

[Booster]

Who's that then??

[sidicks]

I know a man in the trade

I have Sky+ and Sky HD in my lounge with the signal distributed to the rest of the house via Coaxial cable. Whilst this is fine for most rooms, where the picture is only being displayed on relatively small TVs, it is sent to another Plasma and a Projector screen which really empahsizes the picture deficiencies:

I think there are 2 issues here:

1) Clearly the quality of any signal going through a Coax cable over a relatively long cable run is going to reduce quality

2) I think the actual quality of coaxial cable used is probably pretty poor, and I wouldn't be surprised if there were some defects in the cable which causes interference and hence further worsens the signal.

I'm tempted to get someone in to look at re-running some better quality cable to most of the rooms - presumably this should be a relatively straightforward job for someone who knows what they are doing?!

Also I'm wondering about getting the projector connected by HDMI rather than coaxial, the two main problems being the distance between the source and the projector (possibly 20m) and the fact that due to the house set-up the cable would likely have to be routed around the outside of the house.

Any recommendations and any indications as to what the sort of cost might be? The house is fairly large (3 stories and 3,000+ sq ft) so you'd need a fair amount of cable, but HDMI cable aside, presumably the bulk of the work is in the labour rather than the parts!!

Cheers

Sidicks

[Chav]

hi sidicks. forget coax for a big screen/projector. expensive coax is a waste of time.

you need a digital signal to keep picture quality A1, so hdmi is best.

long runs fine. outside fine. have hdmi cables going outside, upstairs and all over the place here with no issues with long runs/interference.

for projectors, hdmi will carry a wider range of colours than other connections for superwhite/black support if your projector has it.

[sidicks]

Chav - thanks for your post.

I'm happy that HDMI is the only way to go for the projector.

Do you not think that re-doing the coaxial cable runs in the rest of the house will slightly improve the picture in other rooms (or simply not worth the cost?).

Previous experience has found cables with nails through them etc which is probably why certain rooms have a very poor signal!!

Any idea of cost for this?

Sidicks

[hotdog]

Chav - thanks for your post.

I'm happy that HDMI is the only way to go for the projector.

Do you not think that re-doing the coaxial cable runs in the rest of the house will slightly improve the picture in other rooms (or simply not worth the cost?).

Previous experience has found cables with nails through them etc which is probably why certain rooms have a very poor signal!!

Any idea of cost for this?

Sidicks

You'll probably not gain a lot putting new co-ax in unless the old stuff has loads of joints, cable damage or nails in!

The less joins you have the better it will be.

Boosters can be used but don't forget, if put put a crap signal in, you'll only end up with an even bigger load of junk out!

If some rooms are worse than others, have you got a small TV you can move around to see how each room compares? You might only have to sort one room then+++

[Waylander]

Got my "you can complete your order" for Sky+HD

If I choose not to opt for multiroom but plan to use my old Sky box as a freeview box, does anyone know if I can do that and what else I will need?

Presumably having it connected to the dish? or just to the ariel? [rooftop ariel connection currently goes downstairs but past the bedroom I would want freeview in]

What about the card - for even some free channels to work it needs a card in the sky box doesn't it but this would be downstairs in the Sky+HD box??

Thanks for any insight.

[Tipex]

Got my "you can complete your order" for Sky+HD

If I choose not to opt for multiroom but plan to use my old Sky box as a freeview box, does anyone know if I can do that and what else I will need?

Presumably having it connected to the dish? or just to the ariel? [rooftop ariel connection currently goes downstairs but past the bedroom I would want freeview in]

What about the card - for even some free channels to work it needs a card in the sky box doesn't it but this would be downstairs in the Sky+HD box??

Thanks for any insight.

Your old sky box will need to be connected to the dish still, it wont work as a freeview box through your aerial, it behaves as a freesat box, if you don't have a sky card in it, it wont work at all, but sky will send you a card to allow you to view free channels for a small fee.

You will need to have at least one cable run from the dish to your bedroom (2 if its a sky+ box, but not sure if PVR functions work without a subscribed card), so you will need a new LNB on the dish with min 3 outputs or 4 if sky+ in bedroom, as sky+HD uses 2 of the outputs in the lounge.

[Waylander]

I got Sky to replace my dish about a year ago and it is a quad LNB so will be an output spare.