Sky+ on a single LNB

hendo

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Hi,

Please forgive me if I'm about to ask obvious questions. I have searched for answers to this with no luck so far.

I live in a block of flats with a communal satellite dish, and I want to get Sky+ installed. We all have 1 satellite connection coming into each flat, and the way it stands at the moment, it is impossible to get a second. Now I know for Sky+ I need to cables.

An local installer has told me that he can install Sky+ on a single LNB with a multiplexer splitting the signal, and controlling the 2 incoming signals. Firstly, can anyone tell me about their experience/results with this kind of setup?

Secondly - I have been told this multiplexer will cost around 180 pounds. Is this right? Can anyone give me links to show me what kind of product this might be?

Thanks for any help / suggestions.

Hendo
 

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hendo said:
Hi,

Please forgive me if I'm about to ask obvious questions. I have searched for answers to this with no luck so far.

I live in a block of flats with a communal satellite dish, and I want to get Sky+ installed. We all have 1 satellite connection coming into each flat, and the way it stands at the moment, it is impossible to get a second. Now I know for Sky+ I need to cables.

An local installer has told me that he can install Sky+ on a single LNB with a multiplexer splitting the signal, and controlling the 2 incoming signals. Firstly, can anyone tell me about their experience/results with this kind of setup?

Secondly - I have been told this multiplexer will cost around 180 pounds. Is this right? Can anyone give me links to show me what kind of product this might be?

Thanks for any help / suggestions.

Hendo
sorry if this sounds stupid,but do you have a bulcony,you put a little dish up your self out of sight of course,i have seen a picture in wot sat magazine a fellow had a dish in his bathroom,pointing out the window and worked fine though the glass,i guees he was desperate for sly sports.


well i have already said sorry

stevo
 

rolfw

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Hi Hendo, the installer is either mistaken, or you have misunderstood him.

There is a unit called a stacker destacker, but you still require a second LNB feed to make it work, it combines the two signals onto one cable and then splits them at the other end.
 

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Would a communal dish not have two feeds anyway - one for Horizontal and Vertical?
 

rolfw

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No, a communal dish will have a quattro LNB, H-High, H-Low, V-High and V-Low, it will then feed a multiswitch or cascade of multiswitches, if they have no free ports the system needs expanding, but it is quite costly.
 

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Guess it's back to the dishes I know something about then...

...pass the Fairy liquid!
 

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you could always try and buy a splitter yourself with the one IN connection and two OUT connection,this worked for me.but unfortunately not with all the transponders.but at least its better than nothing and should only set you back a few quid rather than 180

TWAG
 

rolfw

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That solution doesn't really work TWAG, you have a one in four chance of the recording channel being on the same polarity/band as the one you are watching. Also, you will have conflicts of switching from the two inputs.
 

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yes i know rolf,but it does work on some frequencies if you get the right combination.most often you get recording failed though.

TWAG
 

hendo

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Thanks for your help guys.... I'm slowly beginning to understand the whole system.

Rolf - He did mention the stacker, so I assume this is what he's talking about... we must be able to send the 2 signals down the cable leading into my flat. Would this bit of kit be around 180? More importantly, how successful are they? I've heard mixed results after talking to a few people about it.

Cheers,

Hendo
 

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From what i understand it can be done.

I have been reading this PDF file http://www.johansson.be/instrumentarium/is-9639kit-eng-stacker-destacker for matv.pdf
and i am going to try it myself.
It takes the on Signal taken from the Communal Ditsribution sysiten into the Stacker, creates a dual LND duplicat emulation of the original signal, then sends it down to the destacker, which then connects to the Sky+ box.
The cheapest shop I have found with them at the moment is
_http://www.satcure.co.uk/accs/page1b.htm and its the Johansson stacker-destacker type 9639KIT that you need,

If anyone else can find somewhere cheaper to get it from please reply.
 

ecology0

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jjthorne said:
From what i understand it can be done.

I have been reading this PDF file http://www.johansson.be/instrumentarium/is-9639kit-eng-stacker-destacker for matv.pdf
and i am going to try it myself.
It takes the on Signal taken from the Communal Ditsribution sysiten into the Stacker, creates a dual LND duplicat emulation of the original signal, then sends it down to the destacker, which then connects to the Sky+ box.
The cheapest shop I have found with them at the moment is
http://www.satcure.co.uk/accs/page1b.htm and its the Johansson stacker-destacker type 9639KIT that you need,

If anyone else can find somewhere cheaper to get it from please reply.

I'd be really interested to hear how you got on. My Tivo has just died and although it is not possible to run an additional cable from my communal dish I know there are spare feeds available. If this works I would seriously consider moving to sky+ which is currently not an option.
 

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I forgot to mention, I spoke to Sky before I had read this thread and they put me on to their official installer for my area. He was of the opinion that these splitters were't altogether reliable with Sky+ so I would really like to hear from someone who is actually doing this with two feeds from a communal dish but only one cable.
 

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Attention Hendo, sorry I missed your question. The stacker/Destacker works fine, but requires a healthy signal level to start off with, you may also need to use an inline amp.
 

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Still hoping someone who has actually tried this will report back but I thought I'd pass on some useful information.

I wrote to Satcure as recommended by JJThorne above with a simple query and found the guy who runs it to be one of the rudest people I have ever had the misfortune of trying to buy something from. I get the feeling he gets pestered a lot with questions not pertaining to his business but my question was about the listed information on a product he was selling, (notice all the snippy little comments like his ‘spelling help’ throughout the site). Even when I apologised for wasting his time with a duplication of effort (he has a mailback service which Hotmail fouled up) he just sent me a really pissy auto reply. He may be the cheapest but I'd rather pay a little more then be treated so shabbily
 

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Have looked at the unit, but have yet to actually find a job where one was required, I've always found a way around the problems so far with a lower cost.
 

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Any further progress with this one as I am in the same situation with communal dish apartment block :(
 

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I live in a block and have just had Sky+ installed (and upgraded the HD)....

Although I was prepared to pay for a stacker/destacker, we found that the equipment installed in the block had no spare outputs so I am stuck with a single LNB...

What is Sky+ like with a single LNB?

Well you cannot watch one channel and record another.

Worse than this, you have to leave Sky+ on the channel that you want to record on - I'm sure there must be a way to get it to change channels but I haven't figured it out..

The only benefits, as far as I can tell, are:
1. doing away with tapes
2. being able to pause/rewind live TV

Although these are nice, not sure that they justify the £400 spent...

My next step is to build an IR channel switcher device, sell to everyone in flats and make my fortune!!

T.
 
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