One dish - many TVs

[dzomba]

I read somewhere that it is possible to convert satellite channels to RF signals kind of like cable so the channels can be distributed to many TVs without receviers for each TV.

Can someone please help? I want to distribute channels to 9 TVs without purchasing receviers for each. Each TV should be able to search auto setup all channels that are available on the cable coming into TV. Only TV remote is to be used to switch channels independently for each TV.

What equipment would I need to do this besides a dish?

I am thinking it must be possible since cable channels are available without digital receiver requirement.

This would also solve everyones issue of multiple TVs in the house and only one dish antenna and one receiver.
Thanks in advance.

 

[ralphmagno]

well here is the problem.
each satellite receiver like a free box has a mini tv transmitter inside called a modulator.
these modularor output can be programed to send a analog signal from channel 21 to channel 68.
if you has 3 free to view satellite receivers one on bbc1 one on bbc2 and one on itv and each modulator was on a different frequency like channel 21 channel 23 and channel 25 then you could loop these 3 receivers to all 9 tv sets in the house.
but you could never change the channel on the receiver because if you were to channel the channel on the bbc1 receiver to lets say sky news then all the tv sets would pick up the sky news and not bbc 1 untill you switch back.
you could set up 3 sky boxes as well using this idea .
you would have to pay for 3 subscriptions and all 9 tv sets could watch what ever channel the 3 boxes were siting on.
this would be in affect a mini head end.
for 9 tv sets to watch whatever they want without many boxes is not possible.
head ends are set up like this as well.
10 satellite receivers were set up in hotels of 175 rooms using amplifiers and all 170 tv sets would watch just those 10 tv channels.
also in biger smatv systems 20 satellite receivers could sent 21 tv channels to 500 flats as well.
ralph

 

[dzomba]

Ralph,

thanks for quick and prof answer. I broke my head researching the subject and now it is slowly sinking in that technology is not there yet for the setup I thought of.

So if i bought 10 receivers for 10 channels you mentioned, I would take RF output of each recevier (is it possible to set different RF frequency for each channel?) and combine these 10 signals into one and send it to 9 TV sets I have? What equipment would I need?

Thanks again.

P.S. Do you think this is the cheapest way to do this? Or SMATV is cheaper?

well here is the problem.
each satellite receiver like a free box has a mini tv transmitter inside called a modulator.
these modularor output can be programed to send a analog signal from channel 21 to channel 68.
if you has 3 free to view satellite receivers one on bbc1 one on bbc2 and one on itv and each modulator was on a different frequency like channel 21 channel 23 and channel 25 then you could loop these 3 receivers to all 9 tv sets in the house.
but you could never change the channel on the receiver because if you were to channel the channel on the bbc1 receiver to lets say sky news then all the tv sets would pick up the sky news and not bbc 1 untill you switch back.
you could set up 3 sky boxes as well using this idea .
you would have to pay for 3 subscriptions and all 9 tv sets could watch what ever channel the 3 boxes were siting on.
this would be in affect a mini head end.
for 9 tv sets to watch whatever they want without many boxes is not possible.
head ends are set up like this as well.
10 satellite receivers were set up in hotels of 175 rooms using amplifiers and all 170 tv sets would watch just those 10 tv channels.
also in biger smatv systems 20 satellite receivers could sent 21 tv channels to 500 flats as well.
ralph

 

[satelliteman]

You'll need to consider channel planning also.

 

[Lazarus]

each satellite receiver like a free box has a mini tv transmitter inside called a modulator.

An increasing number of Satellite Receivers no longer include an RF Modulator, particularly at the cheaper end of the Market, so it is advisable to specifically include "RF Modulator" as a "must have" when shopping for kit.

 

[Analoguesat]

This project is outside the scope of a hobby forum - you may have to think about using vsb modulators if the rf spectrum is particularly crowded / if you need to distribute the terrestrial channels as well.

You need to talk to someone with experiance of doing something like a hotel tv system as you will need a decent distribution board.

 

[dzomba]

OK Ralph I got it..you already said that receivers could be set up on different channels so just loop them together.

Also, I presume my back end would be one dish, LNB with two holes, and 2X10 multiswitch? correct? would this be sufficient for our example of 10 receviers?

I am doing this for hobby 10 receviers is just an example for home setup.

 

[Robbo]

No, you need a quattro LNB feeding to a 5x 10 multiswitch.

(the extra line in is for a TV aerial)

 

[ralphmagno]

well yes,
you would need a 10 output multiswitch ands a quatro lnb as well
4 lines from the dish hor low, hor high, vert low and vert high.
do not make a mistake with the lines.
then you could take all 10 receives and each will be on a different channel.
the modularors in the receivers are programible from ch 21 uhf to ch 68.
since the modulators have side bands you need to keep 1 channel spacing.
example: modulator channel 21 another 23 another 25 another 27 another channel 29 another 31 another 33 another 35 another 37 another 39 another and you have space for more all the way to channel 68.
you may loose some signal when you combine all 10 so a uhf 20 bd amp .
after that all 9 tv sets will have to be programed to receive all 10 channels.
using more profesional modularors the side bands are filteres so you can place the frequency one next to the other without skipping and space.

i set up systems using 21 channels in the vhf band and s band and there was no space from 55 mhz to 245 mhz and this was set up for 500 flatts.
the flatts were torn down in 1998.

good old days

if you are using free to air like bbc and itv and sky news cnn etc then this would work no problem.

in a turkish comples here there are 45 flatts and they have 20 tv channels off of 42 east and everyone can watch what they want.
hope this helps

ralph

 

[PaulR]

If you are going to use Digiboxes then the RF modulator will only output PAL I. I would think that you use PAL B/G so, unless you are using multi-standard TVs, you would lose the sound and only get vision.

As a matter of interest, is there any plan to go digital for terrestrial TV in Bosnia soon? If so, in the not too distant future the TVs won't have an analogue tuner at all, never mind whether it's multi-standard!