Distributing the Sky signal around the house

[Boxview]

My system consists of an 88cm dish with 1 LNB for Astra and 1 LNB for Astra 2.
A Dreambox and a Skybox run simultaneously in the test setup in one room.
The plan is to distribute the FTA channels around the new house using a multiswitch with 8 cables from the LNBs in and 9 video cables out to the different rooms.
Besides that, there is the Sky box.
Question: How do I distribute the Sky box output signal (from the SCART sockets) around the house? Cable lengths of up to up to 30 m may be involved.
I fear the signal attenuation over such length may be prohibitive.
Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[pgh13]

Question: How do I distribute the Sky box output signal (from the SCART sockets) around the house? Cable lengths of up to up to 30 m may be involved.
I fear the signal attenuation over such length may be prohibitive.
Any advice is greatly appreciated.

RF out into distribution amplifier?

 

[pgh13]

Reading your plan again has me a little confused. the LNB is the bit stuck out front of the dish that collects the signal and makes it suitable for transmission down the cable to the receiver. You don't have 8 LNBs on the dish do you? Also, you'd only be able to view the channel that the sky box and DB were tuned to in all the other rooms. Or have I misunderstood?

 

[rolfw]

Depends how much you want to spend, not really sure what you want to do though, as your first paragraph is confusing.

See this thread, there is a CAT5 solution in there.


Do you plan on having several FTA receivers from a multiswitch, as well as the Sky and Dreambox?

 

[spiney]

Boxview has clearly got different type distribution methods a bit mixed up, and pgh has mentioned the "usual solution", but i'm a bit puzzled at Rolf's remarks.

A multiswitch is only needed if you want to distribute a single sat antenna output to multiple sat receivers. The lnb must then have 4 outputs (quatro), and yes, 2 sats would need 2 quatros and a 8 input multiswitch. But that would only be needed if you had a sat receiver in each room!

Otherwise, the easiest solution is two standard lnbs, with a single cable to each sat receiver lnb input (as you usually do), then distribute their video/audio outputs with (Sky) tv link.

tvLink The Complete Home Distribution Solution totally Compatible with the Sky Digibox .

A Sky digibox rf 2 output can feed a tv set some distance away via coax cable - 30m is ok - and using an "eye" will allow using the remote control.

For feeding several rooms, use the distribution amplifier, 4 or 8 outputs, with an "eye" on each output.

You can include the Dreambox! If it doesn't have a built in UHF modulator (I don't know offhand), you'll have to buy one, maybe £30.

tvLink The Complete Home Distribution Solution totally Compatible with the Sky Digibox .

For remote controlling the Dreambox, you'll also need a tv link plus:

tvLink The Complete Home Distribution Solution totally Compatible with the Sky Digibox .

SLX also manufacture identical items, but cheaper! They're stocked at Maplin, but cheapest from tlc direct.

www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Technical/DataSheets/Philex/SLxGUserGuide.pdf .
Aerial Amplifiers - Boosters Slx tvlink amp .

The eye link seems cheapest from here:

SLX-link Magic Eye SLX replacement remote control * £5.98 only - tv television video vcr dvd UK europe .

Note that:

1) Use only sat cable, which has a solid screen to reject interference, the cheapest rgu6 is fine.

2) Make sure the distirbution amp has link bypass, which means either the above Global ones, or SLX Gold, otherwise the remote controls won't work.

3) This distributes only mono sound, not stereo!


Instead, if you prefer the CAT5 solution, here it is:

http://www.globalcom.co.uk/prod_blank.php?ProductsID=65

 

[Boxview]

Thanks Spiney, Rolf and pgh for your quick replies.
First of all sorry for the confusion. I'll try again:
I have one dish of 88 cm diameter, two lnbs at its center on an arm that ends in an adjustable transversal mount (Triax).
So there is one lnb aiming at 28.2 East and one lnb aiming at 19.2 East (i. e. Astra 2 and Astra 1). Both lnb's have two coaxial cables connecting to them.
At the moment, my test setup connects via a disecq switch all 4 coaxial cables to one Sky box and one Dreambox.

For the new house, I'll have to supply many receivers (6 to 7) at the same time with the free to air signals. Each receiver must be able to select the FTA channel independently. Therefore I would need this multiswitch and 2 lnb's with 4 outputs each, correct?
In this way the free to air channels reach the receivers in the different rooms.
This what Spiney described.
That is the easy part.
The Sky box I also have to connect to one outputs of the multiswitch, right?
At the SCART socket of the Sky box my problem starts.
Now if I get you guys right, there is a way to amplify the signal from that socket and get it across to the other end of the house (30 m) to 3 different spots, where all see the same Sky channel obviously.
Like the Distribution amplifier in the link provided by Spiney.
This distribution amplifier is then plugged into the SCART socket of the Sky box. At the other end, do I have to connect normal RG8U or the like to the far away tv sets?

Please bear with me, I'm no expert, but doing things right while the house is still being built is my great aim.

Thanks for your patience
Boxview

 

[rolfw]

Boxview has clearly got different type distribution methods a bit mixed up, and pgh has mentioned the "usual solution", but i'm a bit puzzled at Rolf's remarks.

A multiswitch is only needed if you want to distribute a single sat antenna output to multiple sat receivers. The lnb must then have 4 outputs (quatro), and yes, 2 sats would need 2 quatros and a 8 input multiswitch. But that would only be needed if you had a sat receiver in each room!

Don't know why you were puzzled spiney, that was what I guessed perhaps Boxview wanted, which was in fact the case.

Boxview

The LNBs need to be quattro and then running into a 9 in 8 out multiswitch, which other satellite are you looking at?

The solution to the secondary problem, could be a bog standard multipoint amp with return path for the magic eyes, a CAT5 solution, both as linked above by spiney, or perhaps replacing the FTA receivers with Dreamboxes and running a CAT5 cable to each from a router, to utilize card sharing on a LAN, this would not use a Sky digibox, but your official card in a Dreambox. (see Dreambox section for more info).

 

[spiney]

Nope, I think things are getting more confused!

1) the new lnbs must be quattros (some multiswitches can't use quads).

2) in fact, it's an 8 input (dual sat) multiswitch. The 9th input - if present - would be terrestrial. Unused? Terrestrial wasn't mentioned. There's some with only 8 inputs.

3) A receiver powered multiswitch doesn't need ac mains.

4) The link system connects to rf2 on a Sky box, which I said, not the scart socket.

5) CAT 5 is - as anyone can see - at least 4 times more expensive!

6) Each receiver "selecting independently" means that many sat receivers, 6 or 7 stated, ie one per room, so why is there any need at all for further re-distribution?

 

[Boxview]

Again thanks Rolf and Spiney,
1 Rolfw: the 9th input to the multiswitch is for a DVBT digital terrestrial input.
2 Rolfw: I'm aiming at Astra 1 19.2 and at Astra 2 28.2 East.
3. Spiney: I understand it's the rf2 socket I have to think of, not the SCART socket.
4. Spiney: I always thought that the Sky box output is not suitable to be fed back into an input of the multiswitch. So I have to find a separate way to get it to the tv sets at the other end of the house. Or do I have a misconception here?

I'll be off the net until Monday week. The need to solve this continues to loom afterwards, however.
So I am really grateful that you guys do your best to suggest the opimum solution to me (as newbie).
Boxview

 

[rolfw]

Yes you can feed the rf output from the digibox into a multiswitch, but there will be no return path for the remote commands, if you don't require remote channel changing, then that'll be fine. You can combine this with the terrestrial feed at the head end using a group combiner, or run the terrestrial feed to the digibox and then return to the head end after looping through the digibox.

PS. You will need to amplify the signal from the rf out on the digibox prior to the multiswitch insertion.

PPS. if using the rf output from the digibox, then you also need to make sure that the TVs at the other end can switch to PAL I, if not (most newer ones probably will be able to) then you will have to modulate from the scart output, but using a modulator with the local audio output.

 

[spiney]

I'm more puzzled than ever .....

Granted that you CAN feed any receiver's UHF rf output into a multiswitch (terr section), why would you ever want to?

As Rolf rightly says, you'd have no remote control, so seems pointless!

(You don't necessarily need to amplify the rf, even with insertion loss!).

To me, Boxview still seems completely muddled, not understanding the main differences between the different distribution devices, and their "normal" uses.

Anyway, let's see what he says on next login ......

 

[Boxview]

Sorry for keeping you waiting.
Thanks again RolfW and Spiney for your advice.
And yes, I'm not very clear with the technical background. Sorry!

The remote control is no problem for my project, as I have a little receiver/transmitter set which solves the distance question.

In the meantime I talked with a professional installer. He also says I can feed the Skybox rf output back into the multiswitch (together with the terrestrial dvbt input via the group combiner).
What I did not understand before is the fact that the rf from the lnb's and the signal processed by the Skybox, although they are different frequency ranges, can travel through the multiswitch and down to the different rooms along the same physical cables. The installing person said that the signals are separated again at the wall socket, where 1 socket is for the lnb signal to the receiver in that room and the other is for the Skybox output signal that goes directly into the local tv set.

Now he says that I will only be able to have mono sound in this way. He also thinks an amplifier is not required before feeding the signal back into the multiswitch. This seems to deviate from RolfW's advice.

Would it help if I attached a simple drawing of what I have in mind?
I'm really most grateful for your patience.
Boxview