Wiring room for multiple Sky+ locations

[wisdenb]

I am getting the lounge decorated and I have the skirting boards off. The wife (bless her) hates seeing wires and would also like a choice as to where the TV is placed, so I was intending to put two wall plates with all the stuff needed for Sky+ plus on each (two f-sockets, one aerial, and one phone) and hide the cables. However I have been told that it is not advisable to put any splitters in the satellite cable - and I will need to do this to have the two f-sockets on each of the wall plates. I was just going to use a couple of T-pieces to do this, one on each cable. Can somone tell me if this will be OK? If not, how should I do this properly?
Thanks.

 

[Topper]

I am getting the lounge decorated and I have the skirting boards off. The wife (bless her) hates seeing wires and would also like a choice as to where the TV is placed, so I was intending to put two wall plates with all the stuff needed for Sky+ plus on each (two f-sockets, one aerial, and one phone) and hide the cables. However I have been told that it is not advisable to put any splitters in the satellite cable - and I will need to do this to have the two f-sockets on each of the wall plates. I was just going to use a couple of T-pieces to do this, one on each cable. Can somone tell me if this will be OK? If not, how should I do this properly?
Thanks.

Will totally not work, the only way is to use an octo lnb which will give you 8 feeds sufficient for 4 sky + boxes. Or if you only need 2 stb's then a quad lnb which has 4 outputs. You cannot use splitters to achieve this


BTW welcome to the forum

 

[Robbo]

One way to do it would be to run the cables anyway, but leave the ones you are not going to connect up colied up somewhere. Then just swap the wires over when you want to use them.

I just got a quad LNB myself for my minidish, it was only £8 delivered from ebay.

 

[wisdenb]

Will totally not work, the only way is to use an octo lnb which will give you 8 feeds sufficient for 4 sky + boxes. Or if you only need 2 stb's then a quad lnb which has 4 outputs. You cannot use splitters to achieve this


BTW welcome to the forum

Thanks for the advice - I am a bit confused as to why though - when my original sky box was installed, the fitter made a mess of it and the cable was too short. Instead of replacing it, he put a join in it. This worked OK and this cable was re-used when I had the LNB changed for Sky+ and a second cable run. Sky+ works OK too. So all I will be doing is the equivalent of putting a join in. Only one of the wired sockets will be used at any one time - I am not attempting to run more than one Sky+ box off the same feeds.

 

[wisdenb]

One way to do it would be to run the cables anyway, but leave the ones you are not going to connect up colied up somewhere. Then just swap the wires over when you want to use them.

I just got a quad LNB myself for my minidish, it was only £8 delivered from ebay.

I like your idea of leaving cables and changing them when needed - could I do this with join pieces and just have f-plugs on the wires coming into the house? And join the relevant pair when required?

 

[rolfw]

Yes you could, ideally terminate them in a weatherproof box.

PS. Octo LNBs are not particularly expensive for the monidish.

 

[wisdenb]

What about using one of these?

_http://www.labgear.co.uk/products.php?action=showprod&cid=5&cname=IF%20Distribution%20Products&plid=37&sc1name=Multiswitches%20&sc2name=&pid=56&pname=MS512E[/url]

 

[wisdenb]

Will totally not work, the only way is to use an octo lnb which will give you 8 feeds sufficient for 4 sky + boxes. Or if you only need 2 stb's then a quad lnb which has 4 outputs. You cannot use splitters to achieve this


BTW welcome to the forum

What about one of these (or similar, two inputs to multiple outs):

_http://www.labgear.co.uk/products.php?action=showprod&cid=5&cname=IF%20Distribution%20Products&plid=37&sc1name=Multiswitches%20&sc2name=&pid=56&pname=MS512E

Although seems like overkill on the off chance she wants to move the furniture around...

 

[Topper]

I am not an installer and you therefore need advice from someone with experience of these fancy assemblies but to me you seem to be wanting to overcomplicate unnecessarily as I believe that unit is normally used in apartment block distribution and is not normally used in isolation but in combination with other equipment. However this is a specialist installation item not for the faint hearted even with sophisticated spectrum analysers to set it all up

The simplest and most bullet proof method which provides the flexibility of being able to set up in any one of the four locations and the ability to have more than one sky + unit operating at any one time is to use as I previously suggested a quad or octo lnb and cable the outputs to your sockets
One single lnb can only supply one polarity at one frequency and hence receive one channel at any one time, by sticking with one lnb you will have to record the channel you are watching which defeats the object completely. Sky plus needs a dual lnb ie two outputs so that you can record and watch two separate channels, thus two cables into the house. If you are never ever going to have more than one sky+ box in the house then what I have proposed will allow you to move the STB to any one of four locations and be able to record and watch different channels, it will even allow you to have more than one stb so that each can watch and record different channels to the other.

 

[rolfw]

The multiswitch requires a quattro LNB (which isn't suitable for a Sky minidish), so is a more expensive route than going for an Octo LNB.

 

[Robbo]

There was/is a multiswitch that could be used with a QUAD LNB, can anyone remember, out of interest the make?


Although, agreed, the multiswitch would be a more expensive option, but a little tidier I think, if it was put in the loft.

 

[rolfw]

Yes, the EMP Centauri I believe _http://www.emp-centauri.cz/products.php?id_kateg=5&id_pkateg=36&id=17

Just that it seems to be overkill.