Changeover to Digital

[ernieg]

I have a Sky Sports subscription and a flat screen digital TV downstairs with a Sky HD Box.

Upstairs I have a analogue TV with a Magic eye connection (To allow me to watch same Sky TV as on Downstairs TV) connected to RF IN socket of my Video recorder to TV aerial with scart connections to the TV and a DVD Player to a multi Scart connector.

On changeover to digital I am contemplating The purchase of either a new Freeview TV, a new Freeview PVR or new Freesat HD Box.

Which of the above is the best alternative to be able to connect the Magic eye to continue to receive Sky progames on my upstairs TV and do all the alternatives have a RF In socket to allow this.

 

[pgh13]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Well, if you want to keep watching your Sky box from upstairs you'd need to make sure that any new TV could still receive analogue. This is probably easier now than it will be in the future when the digital switch has completed. Freeview PVR - not sure how common these are with RF loopthrough so you may need to split your cable coming from downstairs to get a signal into it while still being able to connect to the TV. Freesat - you'd need to run cable (or 2 cables) from the dish to that location. There isn't really a 'best' It's all about how much you are prepared to modify what you have

 

[rolfw]

As far as I know, all Freeview PVRs have an RF loopthrough and most TVs still have an analogue tuner, probably will for a few years yet, as there are still a lot of countries with analogue services, so you should be OK.

 

[ernieg]

Many thanks to you both for your kind welcome and for coming to my assistance.

I am an OAP with little tech experience but i do understand most of what you say.

My wife, who is disabled has the second TV in her bedroom and relies a great deal on the television for her entertainment so i want to make sure it's all sorted before the changeover at the end of the month for BBC 2 and mid April for all the other channela (Anglia Area)

I'm thinking of purchasing a New Freeview TV from Amazon at a very reasonable price
but looking at the spec unsure if it has an Analogue Tuner to match my requirements.
This is the link:

_http://www.amazon.co.uk/Toshiba-22BV500B-22-inch-Widescreen-Freeview/dp/B004FPH81K/ref=br_lf_m_1000494993_1_7_ttl?ie=UTF8&m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&s=electronics&pf_rd_p=233671847&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_t=1401&pf_rd_i=1000494993&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=1KSD6B41KV987KW65J40"

Grateful if you could have a look and maybe confirm one way or the other if it will satisfy our needs.

Since obtaining the Sky HD Box, a brilliant piece of equipment, i still have the spare
Amstrad Digi Box and wondered if that would be of any use in obtaining a digital signal
but don't have a spare card so perhaps it is of little use???

I was unaware there had been any replies to my posting as i failed to get an email notification - is there anything i can do to to rectify this?

Once again i am grateful for you help, thankyou!

Unparsed URl [Admin]

 

[Analoguesat]

Since obtaining the Sky HD Box, a brilliant piece of equipment, i still have the spare
Amstrad Digi Box and wondered if that would be of any use in obtaining a digital signal
but don't have a spare card so perhaps it is of little use???

The old box will work just fine for the free channels if you connect it to the dish.

 

[ernieg]

I already have the Sky Magic Eye cable connected through the outside wall directly from the Sky Dish to the RF In Socket of the VCR connected to the TV upstairs as previously stated In my original posting.

Can a further cable be attached from the Dish to the old Sky Digi Box to obtain the free Sky channels and will we still be able to continue to watch the subscribed Sky TV channels on this upstairs TV using the Sky Magic Eye.

If this is the case can you please explain what cables I will require and what fits where in the set up
To allow both subscribed and free channels taking the VCR out of the loop as it no longer works but left there so as not to disrupt the set up.

 

[rolfw]

I can find no mention of an analogue tuner on the information on the TV you are looking at, but would be very surprised if it doesn't have one, also it is now shown as not available.

Even if the vcr doesn't work, the TV tuner in it probably still will, so nothing to stop you watch the Sky HD box through it. To take the VCR out of the loop, you just pull the rf leads out of the back and connect them together, or plug the magic eye direct into the TV.

Your cable to the vcr does not come from the dish, it comes from the Sky HD box, so if you wanted to use your spare Sky digibox in that room, you'd need to run a new cable from the dish, if you have working Freeview, you don't really need to use the spare digibox.

The simplest solution is to keep your existing TV, replace the VCR with a Freeview box, perhaps a PVR so that your wife can record things and then she can still watch the Sky HD box through the existing TV on the same channel she is using now.

 

[ernieg]

Yes you are absolutely right the cable although appearing to go through the wall to the Dish deviates down the outside wall and re-enters the house lower down to eventually join the HD Box.

The Toshiba TV link I gave you was not very good and you must have viewed the wrong TV ( Toshiba 22BV500B 22-inch Widescreen HD Ready LCD TV with Freeview) because it is still available. I had a more thorough look at the tech and going into "see more technical details" (under Technical details) it clearly does have a Analogue Tuner.

The Analogue TV upstairs is quite old and although still showing an acceptable picture my
Wife would now very much like a new Flat Screen TV like the Toshiba, so we may well go down that route. Having the Sky HD Box for recordings the VCR is now obsolete.

Grateful if you will explain the best set up taking the VCR out of the loop and still having Sky TV and
Freeview to view upstairs on the new TV.

 

[rolfw]

Taking the vcr out of the loop is easy, pull the two aerial plugs out of the back and connect them together. Otherwise, take the output lead off the VCR and disconnect from the TV, replacing it with the aerial input lead with the magic eye from the VCR.

 

[ernieg]

Many Thanks; this is an excellent Forum and i appreciate all the help given, hopefully others popping in to the postings may also have gained from
your very expert technical experience.

 

[Analoguesat]

Its worth making a note or a sketch of where everything goes as you disconnect it. Then if you cant get a new configuration to work at least you can put the original system back together.

 

[ernieg]

I have just realised that my set up appears to have no connection to my outside digital aerial, the aerial lead going from the TV to
the RF Out socket of the Video Recorder. Grateful if someone could explain why this is?

 

[Channel Hopper]

Is there anything connected to the incoming RF in of the vcr ?

If not, do you have a SCART lead from the Sky box to the VCR ?

 

[ernieg]

As previously explained there is a Sky Magic Eye connection to the RF In Socket of the VCR coming from the back of Downstairs Sky HD Box. There is a Scart Socket from the TV to a Scart Extention Lead and a Scart Lead from a DVD Player to the Scart Extention lead but no Scart Sockets from the VCR

 

[pgh13]

You will probably have your terrestrial aerial plugged into your S_Y box downstairs. This will be combined with the S_y box output which then loops through your upstairs VCR before going into the TV. That may give you a good enough signal for a digi PVR upstairs

 

[ernieg]

So what you are actually saying is as long as i retain my Sky equiptment once i change my TV for a Freeview model with a Analogue Tuner and get rid of my useless PVR from my present set up i can continue to watch both Sky and Digital TV in the upstairs as outlined in a previous post by rolfw. Thanks for your help, very much apprecaited.

 

[ernieg]

Purchased a Technika 32-2000 Digital Freeview TV this morning, Tuned in all the digital and analogue channels and every thing working fine. Attached the Sky Digi Magic Eye lead from the Sky HD Box downstairs to the RF/IN (Aerail) socket of the new Technika 32-2000 upstairs but unable to obtain any Sky channels?? Sky HD Box was swiched on downstairs! Grateful for some assistance in how to tune in the Sky channels to a a pre-set number (6) on the remote.