menuMENU    UK Free TV logo Freeview

 

 

Click to see updates

Whole house digital TV

There are many ways to make all the TVs in your home digital.

There are many ways to make all the TVs in your home digital.
published on UK Free TV

Here are some examples of how to make your home fully digital.

Sky+ with multiroom



The device on the end of the "arm" of your satellite dish is an LNB. Because the digibox sends power to the LNB, you can not just split the cable onto two input. When you buy a Sky+ package from Sky, it comes with a "quad LNB", which has four outputs. The engineer runs two cables from the dish to the Sky+ box.

You can then run one each to a digibox by up to four televisions. You can either do this though "Sky multiroom" (as shown, with Sky+ in one room and another digibox elsewhere), or by doing it yourself.

Sky+ boxes require a constant authorisation signal from Sky over the satellite path. The moment you disconnect the box from the satellite inputs or you stop paying Sky the 10 per month the Sky+ box will stop working as a personal video recorder, and act like a normal digibox. You can't use the box to record, playback or pause without a Sky subscription.

Freesat multiroom - no Freeview



It's not possible to use it to receive Freeview, but you can get the Freesat service. All you need is either a new DVB-S (digital video broadcasting - satelite) box, or an old Sky Digibox. You can use a Quad LNB to supply digital satellite signals to digiboxes in each room.

Sky and Freeview



It will always be better to use a higher classification aerial alone, rather than a less able one with an amplifier. With digital signals, it is far more important to get good quality reception for the set-top box, rather than increase the signal's power as this will simply be ignored by the digital receiver.

For many people Freeview is used on the main and second TV, in addition to subscription Sky on the first.

Cable and Freeview



Or you might have NTL/Telewest cable on the main TV, with Freeview for the secondary televisions.

Sky with RF second TV



If you connect a second TV to a digibox by using the "RF output", this does not require a separate connection to the dish, but you can only watch the same channel from the digibox on both TVs. With Sky digiboxes, you can also use your remote control with a IR receiver by the second TV.

Freesat media center



The PC version of Sky+, such as Media Center:
  • you can buy as large a hard drive as you want
  • it's much better than Sky+
  • you've more chance of HD working
  • you can share the recorded channels to a local area network, play them on a Xbox360 and burn them to DVD
  • it records the digital signal, so the playback quality is perfect.


The specification for the Elonex Artisan LX, and it says it comes with the "Hauppauge WinTV Nova-T" cards. The "T" suffix denotes the DVB-T (digital terrestrial) version of the card. A satellite version of the card is available (Elonex may supply these instead of the "-T" cards)?

Wireless networks should be up to the job of sharing the recorded TV programmes to the local network, but it is my personal experience that they are not. You might find it works better by connecting your new Media Centre computer to the wireless router using a cat5 (twisted pair Ethernet) patch cable.

Freeview media center



The Freeview media center is easier to setup, as you can just use a simple splitter to provide the UHF Freeview signals to two receiver cards (or a dual-headed card).

Once again the recorded programmes can be watched by using a simple file share, or by using an XBox360.

Freeview everywhere



If the Freeview signal is strong, you can usually just split the aerial cable where convenient to supply a digital television signal to many digital televisions or set-top boxes.

Freeview and Sky everywhere



In good signal areas, it will be possible to feed the aerial signal first the the Sky digibox, and then on to integrated televisions or Freeview boxes, adding in the ability to watch one Sky channel around the home.

Freeview everywhere with masthead amplifier



Another possibility is that you are passing the incoming aerial signal though some other device (such as a VCR) that is either filtering or producing it's own signal. If this is the case, see if plugging the aerial directly into one Freeview box will allow you to see these channels. If this works, then you can use a masthead amplifier to boost the signal for each digital television or set-top box.

Help with Television sets?
Why are all TVs on sale not digital?1
Do I still have to pay for a TV licence?2
I had perfect channel 5 reception - until I got a digital TV box!3
I Have a Pocket Tv For taking out so I can keep up with news and sport. Will thi4
The pictures from my digital box are all green!5
In this section
Loft aerials1
Do I need to buy a booster?2
How to receive Freeview on your PC3
Indoor aerials4
Connecting it all up5
Now and Next6

Comments
Wednesday, 14 September 2011
I
ian gash
2:44 PM
Ashby-de-la-zouch

I have re installed all of my sets with success in two out of three,however on one set although installation is complete reception is poor on two channels ie. itv 4 and yesterday (freeview)my postcode is le651wh.sutton coldfield.Will this rectify itself on sept. 21

link to this comment
ian gash's 1 post GB flag
ian's: mapI's Freeview map terrainI's terrain plot wavesI's frequency data I's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Sunday, 25 September 2011
G
georgio
11:40 AM

Hi

I live in DY0 0SZ area and the switchover just was done..
My main digital TV(bilt in freeview) in the sitting area works fine..My other new digital Tv will not pick up any channels with any indoor aerials..I am looking at what is the best option to wire the house as I have 4 bedrooms and no tv sockets as the TVs use to work fine as analoge with portable areas..I am not intrested in any Sky or BT vision etc..Is it possible to have freesat in multirooms using 1 satellite dish or can I have freeview in multirooms with one aerial which is gona be the most economical and neat in the house..

link to this comment
georgio's 1 post GB flag
Monday, 26 September 2011
K
KEVIN GARDINER
6:29 PM

georgio: can't find out where you are situated from your postcode,but from what you say, it looks like you may be a distance from your nearest tv transmitter, as you say, you can pick up freeview on the main tv, but the upstairs tv using a indoor aerial can't pick up any signals.
Personally, i'm a strict advocate of having the tv earial on the roof to obtain the best signal.If the signal is too high, you can turn it down with an atteunator.If the signal is low after switchover, having an indoor earial will make it worse.The best thing to do is use a high gain earial on the roof, that way you can then join up two tv's ofF the one earial, with a little decrease in db gain from the earial. Hope this is of use to you.

link to this comment
KEVIN GARDINER's 3 posts GB flag
Sunday, 2 October 2011
S
sammy
9:17 PM

i have a freeview dvd recorder fed from a digital on the roof into my sitting room, i want to run the digital aerial into a 6 way splitter (powered) so i have free view in all the rooms. is this possible and will my t.vs all need freeview boxes as they are old

link to this comment
sammy's 1 post GB flag
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
H
Hawke
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

9:57 PM

Sammy: That should work fine, but you will require a Freeview box on each TV. The splitter only provides 6 correct aerial feeds, like having 6 aerials on your roof, nothing else.

link to this comment
Hawke's 25 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 18 October 2011
C
Catherine
8:34 PM

I have my main tv in the living room, with a sky box.I have tv's in 4 other rooms which are obviously fed with various ariel connections and magic eye in the loft to receive sky.I have decided to get rid of sky, have unplugged it and have lost my ariel signal to the other 4 tv's somehow.
As well as the normal satellite cable into the sky digi-box I have 2 RF cables, RF2 out is fitted with my ariel boster which I have to use. I have switched off the sky system and linked my RF cable into a splitter which I have put into the back of my dvd recorder. I had signals and working tvs throughout the house. Howver, when I reconnected the HDMI cable from my tv to my dvd recorder, reconnected the black video cable into my RF in on my tv, I lost the signal to the other 4 tvs in the house. This connection did initially work, I have no problem with my main tv and recorder. Why won't the other 4 tvs now work, I'm at a loss. With sky turned off, why won't it work with the normal RF cable with the booster still atached.

link to this comment
Catherine's 1 post GB flag
Friday, 21 October 2011
L
Len Davies
5:41 PM

i live at DN40-3AW with TV from Belmont Lincs. Since freeeview went 'full power' my modern loft aerial copes no better than on reduced power and some sets (MOdern flat screens) can't pick up MUX D channels

link to this comment
Len Davies's 2 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 25 October 2011
J
jgked
4:19 PM
Treharris

i live in cf46 6ht, why when a new digital ariel was installed did i get 66 channels with the coax connected intio the freeview readt hd tv and only 33 channels with it via a coax box fitted to the wall?

link to this comment
jgked's 1 post GB flag
jgked's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Select more comments

Your comment please
Please post a question, answer or commentUK Free TV is here to help people. If you are rude or disrespectful all of your posts will be deleted and you will be banned.







Privacy policy: UK Free Privacy policy.