morvanman

morvanman

Now got my Humax FoxSat HDR working here in France. Realising I have lost a bunch of Sky channels (News/Sky3/Fiver Channels and many more), plus the Sky Gnome - a great piece of kit- I am wondering if I can have the two boxes connected and switch from one to another.
The Sky box is an ancient Amstrad DigiBox but works fine.
Is this a no-no or could a technically challenged dope like me "have a go" without investing the next 3months of my life and several hundred of your english pounds in additional kit ????

Tivù

An A/B Switch will do the job for no more than a very few €.

Scroll about a quarter of the way down _http://www.satellitesuperstore.com/accessories.htm

Insert it in one of your Feeds and you can switch that Feed from the Humax to the Sky Box at the push of a clunky button.

morvanman

This is great news, Tivu
Once again, thanks for your advice - but knowing my track record
Queue Music
"............, there will be troble ahead, but while there's......." etc!
Top chap, you are
And this is the best website for advice.

Tivù

Well now you know what to buy, do some research of your own on price - I suspect the carriage to France from a UK Supplier will ramp it up a fair bit. I should think you can get them from Suppliers in France, though. Somewhere!

rolfw

Also worth considering putting up a quad LNB and running a second cable, bear in mind that if you are using an old Yellow house Freesat from Sky card (more than two years old), or expired subscription card, it is likely to become obsolete in the next couple of months, so may need to look at getting a new Freesat from Sky card.

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Tivù

I assumed he already had two feeds, as the primary Rx is a Foxsat HDR (Twin Tuner, naturellement).

If so, he can still record from the Foxy whilst viewing ................ Sky 3 on the other Box.

morvanman

Thanks again for futher advice
Have ordered the double LNB and cabling online and awaiting arrival. Cannot find an A/B switch at our local "electro-goodies" supermarket Planet Saturn so may have to resort to online also.
Here's a thing: If I run one cable to the SkyBox and one to the Humax and use differing feeds to the TV (Scart and HDMI for example), will I need the switch or can I just change channels ???

Tivù

You should just be able to select either Box using the TV Source menu.

The point of the A/B switch was so you could retain full functionality of the HDR just at the push of a button. Running the Humax on a single feed is going to be defeat the point of it having twin-tuners, but I suppose you could argue that your "second Tuner" would now be the Sky Box!

But, as rolf suggested, if you get a Quad Output LNB, you will then have two feeds for the Humax, one for the Sky Box and one spare: No need for an A/B switch at all in that case. Just source select at the TV for what you wish to watch.

Tivù

Just reviewing the Thread from the start: Although Sky News is not on the Freesat EPG, you can access it on your Foxsat by using the non-Freesat mode. That knackers your HDR functionality, though!

I wonder why Mr.Murdoch hasn't expressed an interest in a Freesat EPG slot ..........

morvanman

All good stuff , this great advice
Here's the thing
Have contected up both boxes with a single LNB feed from the dish
One gives all the channels I expected on each box. The other gives a strange mix of "no signal" or "scrambled" on some of the free channels but not all of them, some are fine. When I swap them over - the same thing.
If there was a bad connection then none of the channels would work ???
So, is this a devious techie thing that the uninitiated fall foul of ???
We want to end up with using the SkyBox to watch live TV as it has many more free channels than FreeSat, and use the Humax to record stuff on the more limited selection of FreeSat channels
The HD is great - and I have just invested £200 in glasses I no longer need !!!

Tivù

The thing is, the cable doesn't just send signals along from the LNB to the Receiver(s), but it also has to send Band and Polarity switching signals from the Receiver to the LNB.

So, if you have more than one Receiver on a single feed, they fight for control of the LNB and conflicts occur.

By using an IF Loop Through (ie LNB Out from the first Box to LNB In on the next), you can physically connect two Receivers BUT only one can be allowed to control the LNB. The other Box can then only receive signals of the same Band and Polarity as the master Box ie About one quarter of the total.

NB: You CANNOT split a single feed eg using a Y-piece. 'tis a No-No.

This is exactly why we advised you to either use an A/B switch so that the single feed is diverted only to one or other of the Boxes, or to upgrade your LNB to provide a separate feed to each Box.

Tivù

If you get to grips with non-Freesat Mode on your Humax, you'll find you have access to all possible FTA Channels - including Sky News. The downside is that the PVR function doesn't really cut it in this mode. But live viewing is fine.

You also have access to other Satellites, should you wish to upgrade your Dish in the future.

morvanman

Hi and thanks again for the info
Re the last but one post . I have a seperate LNB cable from a twin LNB to each box - no splitter.I also have a loop in the Humax box as recommended by the manufacturer if using only one feed. Still have this problem of limited channels with one feed. Is this not the set-up that is being recommended ??

Tivù

No.

You will always have the problem of limited Channels with one feed, for the reason stated (It doesn't matter whether the you are looping through to feed one tuner in each of two boxes or two tuners in one box).

The set-up I recommended right back at the beginning was based on the assumption that at that time you already had two feeds (which is the normal position for someone with a PVR) and suggested a simple means of switching one of those feeds between the Humax and the Sky Box.

Only later did it become apparent you actually only had a single feed initially!

Disregarding the Sky Box, you will only ever have limited functionality on the Humax using one feed and the loop-through. Full functionality always requires one feed per tuner, so your Humax will only work in the limited fashion you've discovered.

rolf suggested instead that you upgrade to a Quad LNB. This would enable you to use two feeds for the Humax and another for the Sky Box. Then, there would be no need for an A/B switch and you simply switch between boxes using the TV Source feature.

What you appear to have actually done is neither of those things! Not much has been gained and some confusion has occurred.

Anyway - onwards!

As you now have two feeds, you can either put up with the limited PVR functionality, or you can now get an A/B switch and do as I suggested earlier on (ie one feed permanently to the Humax and the second feed switched between the Humax and the Sky Box, meaning full PVR function when the A/B switch connects the second feed to the Humax or giving you limited Humax functionality but with the extra Channels you want available via your Sky Box ), or you can get a Quad LNB and permanently feed all three tuners.

rolfw

As Tivu says, whether it be two receivers, or two tuners on the same receiver, conflicts will arise if you select channels on different polarities or bands, the only satisfactory way of cabling this in my opinion (to get everything working properly), is the way we have suggested earlier, run an extra feed from a new quad LNB.

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morvanman

Oh, I think I understand!
What I still cannot get my brain around is this.
I have two feeds. When I just use one on one box - no probs and full channel availability. If I connect both boxes with an individual feed and no connection between the boxes, then lots of channel disappear off one of the boxes. At this stage, I am not concerned about loss of PVR facility on the Humax, just getting full channel functionality on both boxes.
Wonder if I should ask this question thus:
I have a SkyBox and one dish which receives all the Sky free to air channels. How do I connect a Humax box into this system which allows both boxes to receive all channels available?
Back to beginning or what !

Tivù

Provide three feeds (Quad LNB).

rolfw

If you connect both feeds to the Humax and don't connect the Sky digibox, do you get any channel loss? The answer will almost certainly be no.

The Humax is designed to work with two feeds, connecting only one feed or using the loop through is likely to cause channel loss.

Rolf If you enjoy our site, you can help support it by wearing our unique branded merchandise, you can do this by clicking on my baseball cap, making a direct donation with Paypal by clicking on the Donation button below, or using our site supporting advertisers, to do this, click on the central image below. Follow us on Twitter, click on the twitter image.

morvanman

Though all of the contributors to this thread might be interested in the outcome.
Some very technically advanced theory put out on what was causing the loss of channels on one of the two feeds.
The actual problem was the LNB twin receiver. There was about 3mm play in the housing and when the LNB was moved ever so slightly........all the channels returned!
Moral: don't go looking for complicated solutions for a problem caused by an idiot who, by his own admission, know zip about this stuff!
Alls well that ends well....
Thanks to everyone

Tivù

Good one!

Thanks for letting us know - I guess we assume people have wiggled, twiddled, poked and prodded first, 'cos we certainly can't do that sat behind our keyboards

morvanman

Like Arnold said
".........I'll be back......"