Sky+HD in 3 rooms

[gregch]

I'd like to be able to watch Sky+HD in 3 rooms, but with the same box, and I'm not sure how to do this.

Right now, we have Sky+HD box in the living rm, connected to the TV via HDMI, and then coax cable from the RF out on the SkyHD box to a TV in the bedroom (with magic eye). We've wanted to get HD into the bedroom for a while but the coax cable was already in the wall and works OK so never got around to changing it.

We're now about to move to a new house and would like to get HD from the SkyHD box to TVs in the Living Rm, Kitchen and Bedroom. I don't want additional SkyHD boxes because

1) there's only my wife and I and we usually watch the same thing at the same time, and

2) it would be a nightmare trying to record stuff on the right box for where you might want to watch it (if you see what I mean).

I guess I could use an HDMI splitter to take the HDMI output of the SkyHD box to 3 different TVs? But I can see two problems:

1) it would mean quite long runs of expensive HDMI cable to the bedroom and kitchen

2) presumably would also need to run coax to these rooms for the magic eye, to be able to control the box

Can anyone think of a better solution??

 

[chudleighpaul]

The only practical way you can do this is with an coax connection from RF2 out on the Sky Box with a SKY splitter and then 2 magic eyes on the remote Tvs. You will need to use the special Sky splitter, no other splitter will work.. You will not get HD on the remote TV's As you say if you want HD you will have to have an HDMI splitter and long runs of HDMI cable.

In the states they have HD widgets that transmit HD around the house but they are very very expensive at the moment

 

[daveh75]

I would go with CPs suggestion... If you want to disrtibute HDMI its going to be very very costly....

As an example look at something like the VisionHD SP0108-U01 1x8 HDMI CAT5 splitter which can distribute HDMI over cat5 and allow for IR return, note that the receivers for connection to the remote TVs are not included and are an additional £140 each

A cheaper solution (but more cumbersome solution) would be to use a HDMI splitter with seperate HDMI over cat5 baluns that allow for IR return like THESE

 

[gregch]

That's really useful, thanks. I guess the Sky coax splitter would be simplest for sure, but I kind of think if I'm going to be running coax cabling through the house I might as well run HDMI... or I guess more sensibly Cat6 with a HDMI box on each end.

One thing I don't quite get is the IR return, ie how to control the Sky box if I'm not using coax/magic eye solution but using an HDMI splitter and running HD??

I guess where I'm at so far is like this:

SkyHD---->HDMI Splitter------->TV (Living Rm)

HDMI Splitter------->HDMI>CAT6----------------->CAT6>HDMI-------->TV (Bedroom)

HDMI Splitter------->HDMI>CAT6----------------->CAT6>HDMI-------->TV (Kitchen)

But how does the IR work to control the Sky box from the Bedroom and Kitchen TVs ?

 

[daveh75]

gregch:
I guess where I'm at so far is like this:

SkyHD---->HDMI Splitter------->TV (Living Rm)

HDMI Splitter------->HDMI>CAT6----------------->CAT6>HDMI-------->TV (Bedroom)

HDMI Splitter------->HDMI>CAT6----------------->CAT6>HDMI-------->TV (Kitchen)

But how does the IR work to control the Sky box from the Bedroom and Kitchen TVs ?

The cat5 baluns i linked to above come with a pair of eyes, one connects to the cat5 receiver at the remote TV, the other connects to the cat 5 transmitter at your Skybox/spliiter.

The eye that connects to the cat5 balun at the remote location(s) sends the converted IR signals down the cat5 cable and the eye (which needs to be placed near to the Sky boxes remote sensor) that connects to the cat5 transmitter connected to the Skybox/splitter emits these IR signals to the Skybox

 

[gregch]

I see, so the 'eye' at the sky box end works like the remote control, gets picked up by the box's IR sensor. That sounds ideal. So no need to run coax or use Sky's own magic eyes? Just those boxes and their associated IR eyes.

Only issue I guess is how to make it appear neat, what with two IR eyes needing to be positioned near the front of the Sky box, and the HDMI splitter and 2 x baluns to tidy away. A bit of a faff, but sounds like this is the best answer to what I want to achieve. Thanks for your help!

What's really annoying is that it's a new build house, they make a big deal about having a TV aerial point in each room. Unfortunately, I'll need to get a Sky dish installed and run cabling for that, then this separate wiring to get HD to the other rooms, leaving the existing (newly fitted but old fashioned) aerial sockets pretty much unused. Although might be useful for freeview if the Sky box breaks!

 

[daveh75]

gregch:
I see, so the 'eye' at the sky box end works like the remote control, gets picked up by the box's IR sensor. That sounds ideal. So no need to run coax or use Sky's own magic eyes? Just those boxes and their associated IR eyes.Yep, you got it.No need for coax/Sky's magic eyes.

Only issue I guess is how to make it appear neat, what with two IR eyes needing to be positioned near the front of the Sky box, and the HDMI splitter and 2 x baluns to tidy away. A bit of a faff, but sounds like this is the best answer to what I want to achieve. Thanks for your help!Indeed, hence my 'more cumbersome solution' remark.

What's really annoying is that it's a new build house, they make a big deal about having a TV aerial point in each room. Unfortunately, I'll need to get a Sky dish installed and run cabling for that, then this separate wiring to get HD to the other rooms, leaving the existing (newly fitted but old fashioned) aerial sockets pretty much unused. Although might be useful for freeview if the Sky box breaks!

I agree, and in this day 'n' age i can't understand why developers dont run several coax feeds and cat5 feeds from every room to a central point ( say the loft,garage or even a cupboard) to allow flexibility for TV, satellite, video,data and voice distribution which is becoming more common, and afterall coax and cat5/6 cabling is dirt cheap and very easy to include as part of the building process.

 

[gregch]

That's great, as ever a very helpful and patient bit of help, thanks!

 

[harveymt]

What do you know, I actually came on to ask a question about this. I was more interested in using this for connecting a projector to an amp. How does quality compare to running a HDMI cable? Is it more cost effective to use the CAT5 or HDMI?

 

[daveh75]

harveymt:What do you know, I actually came on to ask a question about this. I was more interested in using this for connecting a projector to an amp. How does quality compare to running a HDMI cable? Is it more cost effective to use the CAT5 or HDMI?
No loss in quality, and you can send a 1080p video over much greater lengths, than you can with HDMI.

As for cost effectiveness, cat5/6 cabling is dirt cheap and a pair of cat5 baluns can be had for around £40 if you dont need IR return.

How that compares to HDMI cabling price wise, depends on your views of HDMI cabling i guess.