adding to existing set-up

[Anne-Sophie]

Hello there ...my first posting, so please excuse my ignorance!!!

We have had a satellite dish with a Pace Prima analogue decoder here in S.Wales since 2001. It was professionally set up to receive French TV. We get TF1 Fr2 Fr3 Arte and M6 with no problems.

This installation is downstairs and we would now like to add the same setup in an upstairs room. I know we have to buy a Pal/Secam TV and I suppose a splitter forthe cable from the Sat dish into the adjacent bedroom will be no problem. However how do we get round the connection between the Pace box and the new TV? It's a long way from the existing installation in the back dining room to the front bedroom!!!! so would it be better to buy a 2nd box---but then do we try to procure a second-hand analogue one, or a new digital one? and could we have a digital and an analogue system from the same dish??

Sorry if all this sounds a bit naive, but I want to know for myself what is possible and what not, so I don't get fobbed off by an installer.

Thanks in advance

Anne-Sophie.

[BGonaSTICK]

Hello Anne-Sophie, welcome to the forum

If you want to replicate your current setup in another room, and have both operate independently, then yes - you need to buy another receiver. You don't have to buy an identical receiver - any analogue receiver will do.

The good news is that there are plenty of old analogue receivers knocking around, as there is so little demand for them now in the UK. £10 will probably get you a good working example.

The cabling issue isn't a simple case of splitting the current cable from the dish, but again it's not really bad news.

You will have to replace the single LNB on the satellite dish with a 'twin' output version. These sell for anything from £10 - £20 roughly. You will then need to run a second cable from the dish to the new receiver in the second room.

You do have an alternative available to you though. If you don't mind if the viewing in the second room is not independent of the first room - i.e. you have to watch the same channel as the one selected in room 1, then you could split the RF cable going from the existing PACE receiver (and into the TV) into a booster, and then via a new cable run to the new TV in room 2.

In other words, you save buying a new receiver, changing the LNB and running a second cable from the dish, but you still have to buy a booster and run a new cable from the booster to room 2, and you end up with a compromised system. You could possibly use a 'magic eye' type device, but it's not ideal.

There is also the possibility of a wireless extension, but again there is no independent viewing.

The other alternative you have (as you say) is to buy an additional digital receiver instead of another analogue one. The same changes will need to be made as those for an extra analogue box, but you will get a modern receiver, and greater choice of (new) receivers, as opposed to a very limited choice of new analogue boxes or many second-hand ones.

With digital, you will also get a different selection of channels. The latter may be a good or bad thing, depending on which channels you like to watch.

To make this last decision, you should study the list of channels available in both analogue and digital at 5W here:

http://www.lyngsat.com/ab3.html

There is a key to the different colours shown at the bottom of the page.

5W is where your dish is currently pointing.

Finally, with a new twin LNB in place, you can have two analogue receivers, two digital, or one of each. It matters not.

Hope this helps, and hasn't confused you with too many options

Feel free to read this post a few times and ask any other questions you may have.

STICK

[Anne-Sophie]

[quote=BGonaSTICK ]

[You do have an alternative available to you though. If you don't mind if the viewing in the second room is not independent of the first room - i.e. you have to watch the same channel as the one selected in room 1, then you could split the RF c@ble going from the existing PACE receiver (and into the TV) into a booster, and then via a new c@ble run to the new TV in room 2 ]

Thanks for your prompt and really helpful reply

As we are not likely to want to watch French TV in 2 rooms simultaneously, the above solution is the one that appeals to me.

It's the simplest, and as things will certainly change in the next few years with the change over to digital, it's the most logical.

Anyway the digital solution doesn't seem to offer exactly the channels we want to watch.

My only worry now is having a cable running from Pace receiver in room 1 to TV in room 2.......quite a distance as well as the stairs. Still I suppose professional installers are used to this sort of problem.

Thanks again

Anne-Sophie.

[Anne-Sophie]

Sorry about last posting; I only meant the first paragraph to be a QUOTE !!!!

Regards

Ann-Sophie.

[BGonaSTICK]

No problem.

As I said, if the cable run is problematical, or would be unsightly, then you could try a wireless video-sender. About £35 - £80, they are very easy to set up.

The only problem with them is that sometimes the range is hampered by too many walls and ceilings between sender and receiver. Most of them work on SCART connectors, so you might have to get a cheap SCART to RF converter if your PACE doesn't have a SCART socket.

Often, tricky cable runs are handled by taking the cable out through an external wall, up the outside of the house (maybe via the loft) and down to the second room. Messier on the outside, but tidier on the inside

[Anne-Sophie]

Hi BGonaSTICK

Here's an update on my situation.

Have had an installer in; he posed the LCD TV on the bedroom wall, and took the cable from downstairs to upstairs by going back over the roof......a really neat job.

However I misunderstood your comments on having to view upstairs what was on downstairs. I thought that would only apply if someone else was using tv1. Naturally, if we are watching tv upstairs, it's not practical to have to run downstairs every time we want to change channels. ( even if it would be a good slimming technique)
The installer has ordered an apparatus to enable us to control the tv from either room. I am not sure if he meant a sort of Magic Eye, or a wireless gadget. Anyway it's going to cost £80, so I hope it works.

All well and good so far, picture us all upstairs with the engineer admiring the perfect picture , both UK tele from aerial and French tele from satellite!!! After the Ohs and Ahs, the engineer left, leaving downstairs tv1 tuned in to BBC. Imagine my disappointment on tuning in to satellite on tv1 the picture is full of flashing colours....it's just about watchable in the daytime, but impossible in the evening.

You did tell us we would need a booster, and we used a very old one I had found hanging around in my late parent's house. Maybe it is defective, if so a new booster can be bought fairly cheaply. Do you think it could be that, and are there different types of boosters more relevent to tv from satellite?

Anyway the engineer is returning on Friday to bring this new gadget, but I would appreciate your opinion regarding the flashing colours. I hope it is not a case of a second feed weakening the signal too much, or we will be back to square one, but with a much lighter wallet.

Regards,

Anne-Sophie.

[Mickha]

Hi Anne-Sophie,
your satellite receiver probably has a scart connection going into your TV, downstairs, and it sounds as if it has become loose, check if the connections are pushed in all the way.
If it isn't connected by a scart lead then it's a case of removing everything and connecting direct to your TV, has you had it before, if the picture is fine then link in the booster and check the picture.
If the booster is also acting as a splitter, sending the signal upstairs, try removing this cable and check the picture.
It is a case of adding and removing connections until you discover what is causing the problem, if you are using an RF output, for your picture, then you might have to alter the frquency.
Please post back with the results.