Newbie help please - Sky + to several rooms through multiswitch?

[dazed&confused]

Hi Folks, i'm probably being totally stupid and overcomplicating things I may well answer my question myself but it's late!! I have looked around for the answer to this but still a tad confused!

I've gutted my new house, in the middle of rewiring, replacing floor joists etc, thought i had at least 3 weeks to wait for my plasterer mate, got a phonecall this afternoon, he's starting on Wednesday anyway..... I've ran top quality shotgun cable, a coax & 2x cat 5's from all main rms in house back to the attic (taking no chances!!) so what i need help with is..... I understand the principles, from sky dish to switch to living rm quadplex for sky+, into our room & kitchen with I/R for changing channel, what i don't quite get is the kids rm's (a 10 yr old with sky+ & another boy who'll be wanting it soon enough!) I want quadplex plates in their rooms also to keep it all neat but i'm unsure that if i connect both of the shotgun cables to the outlet plate into the multiswitch that it would be that easy for the sky + tv & fm to work.
I had a look at the triax website for their wiring diagram for the 333112 DDU but it only shows 1 cable going to the other sky boxes in the network, the sky + wouldn't work. Is it as simple as just plugging the second shotgun cable into the switch as well or would that send through the signal from the main tv in the living rm which would conflict with the other signal?
Any help & suggestions on which switch to buy greatly appreciated

 

[dazed&confused]

Ok to simplify it, can I use a 5/8 multiswitch to supply the same sky & freeview signal to the kitchen & master bedroom as the living rm & use ir magic eyes to change channels. i would then like the ability to have independant sky+ boxes in the other 2 bedrooms & the basement area or would a 5/12 be better?
I also need some advice re the location of the switch, the house is not your average layout, house was built in 1800's with a 1990's extension on the back, if the switch is in the attic above the living room the run to the upstairs bedrooms of the old part of house is around 30 metres, if the switch is in the basement of the old part of the house the run from the dish will be about 25m then only 5ish m to the bedrms but the run back to the living rm & master bedrm will be about 23m. We live in a very strong signal area for both sky & are only around 5miles with direct line of sight to our transmitter. Which way would be best?

 

[Robbo]

None of the runs you are talking about are particularly long. So you'd be best off minimising the number of the longer runs that you have to do.


Not sure if a multiswitch or wall plates will allow the IR to pass through, though.

 

[dazed&confused]

Is it not possible through quadplexed outlet plates with a return that sends the rf2 signal to other tvs?
What I need to know is can an independant sky signal be sent to 2/3 other rooms through a switch so I can use quad/triplex plates in the bedrms for neatness & have the ability to have 2signals for sky+ boxes?
Surely this can be done, I just don't know the equipment I'll need & best layout for it. Any help much appreciated.

 

[rolfw]

Multiswitches don't pass IR commands, so if you want to watch your main Sky source in the kitchen as well (and have ir control), then just run a cable direct from living room to kitchen. Then take two feeds from the multiswitch to each room where you want Sky plus, cabled into a triplexing plate with the second satellite feed.

Your alternative is to use the multiswitch for the rooms which require sky plus and then a conventional IR pass amp to feed the other rooms, you can always feed the other Sky boxes into the system using a 4 way Sky digibox combiner.

What outlet plates you can use will depend on whether you have double or single back boxes, connecting three coax cables to a single outlet plate is nigh on impossible, but you can get brush outlet plates, which allow the cable to pass straight through, using an "F" type diplexer to separate terrestrial and satellite on one feed, using the third cable for return from the digibox to the sky combiner.

 

[cauliflower]

Best bet is to keep cable runs to a minimum. Which is closer to the dish and aerial I presume the attic, so in there will be fine. go for a 5/12.

Just moved into a house and rewired the whole lot.

Have 1 x good quality Shotgun cable, 1 x co-ax cable for return feeds. 5/12 multiswitch then in each room is 2 x Cat 5 or HD Streaming, 1 x Cat5 for networking, 1 x tel line. All in to triplexed faceplate with return path on one side.

Edit: just been looking and can anybody shed some light on the below description of the faceplate ( I know what it means just never knew this could be done )

Global TV/FM/SAT + SAT2/Ret Outlet (SDO/03)

This outlet plate can be used either as Quad plate for a single tuner Digibox or for a Sky+ / Sky HD installation.
The Sat 2 connection can be also used as a combined Sat / Return provided suitable DC passing diplexers are used at both ends of the feed cable.

 

[UK Sat Online]

The Triax DDU

you can use the two single sky lines and plug them into the same location to provide 1 extra Sky+/Freesat+ location

and if you run a coaxal cable form the additional sky box two the first sky box you can loop the rf signal through so all tvs can see both sky box's. Not sure magic eye would work for the second box though with the DDU even with a spc4 combiner

 

[cauliflower]

_http://www.triax.co.uk/upload/ddu_installation.pdf


Had a look here, makes sense now thanks

 

[dazed&confused]

Multiswitches don't pass IR commands, so if you want to watch your main Sky source in the kitchen as well (and have ir control), then just run a cable direct from living room to kitchen. Then take two feeds from the multiswitch to each room where you want Sky plus, cabled into a triplexing plate with the second satellite feed.

Your alternative is to use the multiswitch for the rooms which require sky plus and then a conventional IR pass amp to feed the other rooms, you can always feed the other Sky boxes into the system using a 4 way Sky digibox combiner.

What outlet plates you can use will depend on whether you have double or single back boxes, connecting three coax cables to a single outlet plate is nigh on impossible, but you can get brush outlet plates, which allow the cable to pass straight through, using an "F" type diplexer to separate terrestrial and satellite on one feed, using the third cable for return from the digibox to the sky combiner.

Wish I'd though about that before I finished the job! (cables all hidden, Walls all plastered etc & I've moved in!!) I ended up fitted an Octo lnb to the sky dish, & ran shotgun from dish to each of the bedrooms I wanted sky + in along with a coax from multiswitch for dtv & radio. I used modular outlet plates for these rooms, don't look as good as the tri or quadplexed but are just as effective. I've probably used twice as much cable as was needed but it works & I suppose I can just put it down to a learning experience.
Cheers for all your input guys