digital terrestrial ariel into sky box

[slicer]

hello all,
i have just moved into a new flat which has a digital terrestrial "package" piped throughout the block.
now when i fit a lead from the ariel output into my sky digibox, the picture is blank, although the sound comes through.

plus..

we had the flat tested for sky+, and although the cable length was below 45m, the signal was intermittent.
running another cable isnt an option, but i heard of a "cable booster" which draws power from the sat.

any help on the above would be greatfully recieved,
cheers,
jim.

 

[PaulR]

I have just moved into a new flat which has a digital terrestrial "package" piped throughout the block.
now when i fit a lead from the ariel output into my sky digibox, the picture is blank, although the sound comes through.

Need to get a few things straight here. Is the aerial feed supplied to you from a socket on the wall? Is there just one socket for a TV type connection, or are there 2 - a TV type and a satellite type (F type)?

When you say a terrestrial package do you mean that the building owners have spent some money on making sure that the aerial, distribution amplifier and coaxial cable are all up to scratch? All this means is that the digital signals have a better chance of reaching you for your terrestrial digital receiver (Freeview box, the old OnDigital/ITV Digital boxes and some integrated Digital TVs). I take it that you have one of these and not just a $ly digibox.

If so then it points towards a poor signal, even with all that your building owner has done. Try connecting the terrestrial digital receiver directly to the aerial socket and not through the digibox.

we had the flat tested for sky+, and although the cable length was below 45m, the signal was intermittent.
running another cable isnt an option, but i heard of a "cable booster" which draws power from the sat.

Again, which cable are we talking about. If it's already installed and only comes out at an outlet on the wall there's not a lot you can do. An amplifier certainly won't help as it will only amplify the noise. Amplifiers need to be used with extreme discretion as it is all too easy to turn a reasonable signal bad with them. They should alway be fitted as close to the dish as possible, which is probably not feasible as it will be the landlord's dish set-up.

If we are talking about your own dish on a outside wall then you are in control. To get $ly+ the dish needs to have the LNB replaced with a dual or quad output type. You also need an extra cable, or replacement for them both, to take advantage of the dual satellite input on the back so if replacement isn't an option then you're stuffed anyway.

Hope some of this is a help.

PaulR

 

[slicer]

thanks for the reply paul,
yes, i have 2 outlets on wall
i plug the sat outlet in the skybox, and a short lead from the aerial outlet to the aerial in on the skybox, but doing so, gives me a black screen.

regarding sky+, ive read about this "stacker...unstacker" thingy which just uses my one sky cable.
the access to the communal hall cupboard is about 10m from my skybox, so maybe this would work?
pity the missus didnt ask the engineer to try to pull a cable through the existing conduit.

ps. the flat i moved into is in a brand new block, and regarding the terrestrial "package", im afraid i dont have much info, but im told its digital.

cheers,
jim.

 

[PaulR]

thanks for the reply paul,
yes, i have 2 outlets on wall
i plug the sat outlet in the skybox, and a short lead from the aerial outlet to the aerial in on the skybox, but doing so, gives me a black screen.

I presume that you are then taking a terrestrial TV aerial lead from one of the aerial sockets to the TV.

The black screen, is this when you are viewing the digibox on your TV or when you are viewing your normal TV programmes? If normal TV, is this analogue or digital terrestrial? If it is the digibox and you are using a scart lead check that it is pushed in correctly at both ends as sometimes not all the pins make proper contact. On my system at home I often lose audio after the curtains have been pulled to!

A further thought if it's a digibox. If the box is set to give an RGB output and your TV doesn't understand it then this will give exactly what you describe. Try plugging the scart lead into a different socket if you have more than one on the back of the TV. Alternatively try using the Video output on the box as this always a composite video signal. You may have to choose the scart input manually on your TV.

regarding sky+, ive read about this "stacker...unstacker" thingy which just uses my one sky cable.
the access to the communal hall cupboard is about 10m from my skybox, so maybe this would work?
pity the missus didnt ask the engineer to try to pull a cable through the existing conduit.

ps. the flat i moved into is in a brand new block, and regarding the terrestrial "package", im afraid i dont have much info, but im told its digital.

I've heard of the stacker/unstacker things and it's just possible this might work if there is a spare satellite signal output in the distribution cupboard and mains socket. I have no personal experience unfortunately as I just put another cable in if I want it. You should hear the grief I get from my wife about all the cables at the back of TV...

I think that this digital terrestrial malarkey just means that you should have good clean signal from the aerial on the roof being delivered to all the flats. The easiest way to find out if it works properly is to connect up a Freeview type box and see if it works.

PaulR

 

[slicer]

thanks again for helping,

when i moved to this flat, i only brought with me the skybox, left the dish.

sky works perfect.
but...if i plug in the aerial lead (from outlet) to the SKYBOX, i get the black screen.
is this because the aerial signal is digital?
the reason i want the aerial in the sky box is so that "she" can tape from sky and the terrestrials.

sky+ communal cupboard
yes, there are 3 spare connections, so maybe..

the sky+ engineer who inspected our flat said this stacker thing needs no external power supply, but woudnt commit himself to say if it would definatly work.

sorry to be a pain, but im a bit lost with all these cables and scarts everywhere.

tv= 2 scart plugs
vid=2 scart plugs
dvd= 1 scart plug
cheers,
jim.

 

[PaulR]

sky works perfect.
but...if i plug in the aerial lead (from outlet) to the SKYBOX, i get the black screen.
is this because the aerial signal is digital?
the reason i want the aerial in the sky box is so that "she" can tape from sky and the terrestrials.

Jim

Still not quite sure what the black screen is from. Firstly, I'm assuming that there is an aerial lead from the digibox TV aerial outlet to the TV, I am correct on that - yes? Next the black screen. Is this when trying to watch a terrestrial TV programme or does the Sky picture go when you connect up the TV aerial?

tv= 2 scart plugs
vid=2 scart plugs
dvd= 1 scart plug

Well this is how I would connect it all up.

DVD scart to one of the TV scart inputs

Video output scart to VCR scart on Digibox, then Digibox TV output scart to other scart socket on the TV.

You won't be able to record from your DVD to the VCR this way but most DVDs are macrovision protected anyway. If you have phono outputs on the DVD for Vision and the 2 audio channels I would connect that to the other scatr socket on the VCR so you can record non copy protected DVDs.

Next you need to know whether your TV can understand RGB signals on either or both of the scart sockets (look in the handbook). RGB delivers a better quality picture than the normal composite video signal. If either, or both sockets, understand RGB then you can set the output to RGB in the picture menu on the Digibox. The DVD should also have a similar setting in its menu somewhere to do the same thing. Again, check the handbook.

Finally, I would connect the TV aerial lead from the wall plate to the VCR aerial in socket, a patch lead from the VCR out socket to the TV aerial in on the Digibox and then take an aerial patch lead from one of the TV outputs (No 1 is the usual one) to the TV itself.

Make sure that the aerial patch leads are decent quality as you can lose a lot of signal there. Also try to make sure that the scart leads are not the ultra cheap types. Some are not fully wired and don't support RGB signals, others are not properly screened and you get ghostly pictures floating on the TV screen. What you want are the type called individually screened.

Hope all this helps and that we haven't got too far away from the original fault.

PaulR

 

[slicer]

once again, thanks for your time paul
ill have a go at your config in the morning, getting near boozer time now
and yes, the picture goes black as soon as i plug the aerial lead into the skybox.
scart lead wise, im sure we have gooduns, think "she" paid £25 per lead or something.

tv, vid and dvd are only a month or 2 old, ill have to study the manuals (

cheers,
jim.

 

[PaulR]

Ok. I'll think about this over the weekend myself as I don't understand it either.

PaulR

 

[rolfw]

Sounds very odd, just read the thread and can't understand what may be happening.

If you plug the aerial outut directly into the TV, does it give you a picture? If it does, then ignore the digibox, it doesn't need the connection, leave it out of the loop as far as RF is concerned.

With regard to Sky+ using the stacker/destacker, haven't actually tried one yet, but apparently they work well, providing that there is a good strong signal to begin with.

You will need to speak to the people who installed the system, as no sensible installer will touch someone else's new installation, as they don't want to run the risk of unbalancing the system and being blamed for any problems.

 

[rolfw]

Here is the link for Stacker/destacker http://www.johansson.be/htmen/stackerdestacker.php?ref=9639KIT

 

[slicer]

hi chaps,
wired up to pauls config and alls well apart from i cant record from sky

and rolf, yes, if i plug the aerial into the tv its ok, but it blanks out tv if i plug the aerial into the skybox.

that stacker looks interesting, i take it its not mains powered?

thanks for your help,
jim.

scarts on vid :
av1 tv
av2 decoder

scarts on tv:
ext1
ext2

 

[rolfw]

The home unit (the one in your flat) is mains powered, the head end unit is line powered from the home unit. The only thing is that you may need to replace the socket in the flat with a single ultra wideband "F" type socket.

PS. If the TV input is cutting out the satellite picture, it is either a fault with the digibox, or a fault with the distribution system, if you can borrow a different digibox to try, you can rule out one of the options.

 

[PaulR]

wired up to pauls config and alls well apart from i cant record from sky

You should be able to record from the digibox by setting the input of the VCR to AV1 or maybe AV2. This will also enable you to record in stereo sound, assuming the VCR is a stereo unit.

and rolf, yes, if i plug the aerial into the tv its ok, but it blanks out tv if i plug the aerial into the skybox.

RolfW is quite right about leaving the Digibox out of the aerial connection route. I was thinking about my system here at home where I pipe the Digibox signal around the house, you don't need to and so I would take the aerial cable from the VCR out straight to the TV in your case.

Hopefully this should get around your problem even if it doesn't solve it!

PaulR

 

[slicer]

oh dear, piping around the flat was gonna be my next question lol
"setting the input to av1" erm..could this be made a touch clearer please?

sorry for all this but im a bit of a fish outa water here

cheers,
jim

 

[PaulR]

When you set your VCR you normally chose a channel number that corresponds with what you want to watch. Normally 1 = BBC1, 2 = BBC2, etc. You can also set the VCR to record off one or both of the scart sockets.

The way to do this varies from model to model. Some have a separate button on the remote that says something along the lines of "input select" (on my Sony) or maybe just "input". Some use channel 0 for this. Some get to this by going down the channel numbers past 1 using the channel down button. You really will have to look and see. Again, it might be worth looking at the instruction book(!) for some help if nothing above helps.

Piping around the flat. I should've kept my mouth shut shouldn't I!

PaulR

 

[slicer]

cheers paul,
selecting "E1" on vid remote, lets me tape sky
jim.

 

[PaulR]

Glad we got there in the end.

PaulR