Getting Sky signal to bedroom TV using a Global I/O Link Box
Discussion
OK folks,
I need some help!
I have been trying to figure out the best way to send a Sky signal from the Sky box downstairs to the TV upstairs. I tired the wireless option - it is rubbish so I went looking for a wired solution.
After lots of research and after taking advice on here I decided to try the Global I/O Link box. See here:-
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Global-Link-Output-Sky-Box...
I bought this "Global I/O Link RF Output for Sky HD Box" from Amazon. This thing is designed to allow the Sky signal to be outputted in analogue via coax to another TV. Excellent, just what I'm after I thought.
I plugged it in to the I/O socket of the Sky HD box as instructed.
I then plugged a the existing coax aerial cable in to the back of the I/O Link Output box. This coax cable runs to the attic. There is another coax cable that runs from the attic to the TV in the bedroom. Both these cables were connected to the aerial in the attic. I simply disconnected them from the aerial and joined them together.
So in theory I now have a direct coax cable connection between the Sky box downstairs (via the I/O output box) and the TV in the bedroom. I also have the Magic Eye controller thingy connected to teh upstairs TV that is supposed to allows me to control the Sky box when upstairs - I gather it sends the remote signal to the Sky box via the coax.
At this point I should mention that I have used F type connectors to join the coax cables and that the coax cables are RG59, not RG6. However they all seem to fit together nicely so I'm assuming there is a good electrical connection. I may be wrong but these are the only connectors I have at the moment. Can obviously buy some others if need be.
I have set up the Sky box to so that the I/O output is active. It is set to channel 68.
Now to my simple mind this means that when I turn on the TV in the bedroom and select the same input as I previously used when it was connected to the coax cable I should get a direct feed from the Sky box downstairs.
Guess what........No. TV says there is no signal detected. I have checked the connections and it all seems OK, bit I will obviously keep checking.
What am I missing guys? Is there something obvious that I have forgotten to do?
Weeks of planing, holes cut in walls to allow cable re-routing and bugger all happening. The wife thinks I'm an idiot. She may be right.
Help v much appreciated.
Cheers
TD
I need some help!
I have been trying to figure out the best way to send a Sky signal from the Sky box downstairs to the TV upstairs. I tired the wireless option - it is rubbish so I went looking for a wired solution.
After lots of research and after taking advice on here I decided to try the Global I/O Link box. See here:-
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Global-Link-Output-Sky-Box...
I bought this "Global I/O Link RF Output for Sky HD Box" from Amazon. This thing is designed to allow the Sky signal to be outputted in analogue via coax to another TV. Excellent, just what I'm after I thought.
I plugged it in to the I/O socket of the Sky HD box as instructed.
I then plugged a the existing coax aerial cable in to the back of the I/O Link Output box. This coax cable runs to the attic. There is another coax cable that runs from the attic to the TV in the bedroom. Both these cables were connected to the aerial in the attic. I simply disconnected them from the aerial and joined them together.
So in theory I now have a direct coax cable connection between the Sky box downstairs (via the I/O output box) and the TV in the bedroom. I also have the Magic Eye controller thingy connected to teh upstairs TV that is supposed to allows me to control the Sky box when upstairs - I gather it sends the remote signal to the Sky box via the coax.
At this point I should mention that I have used F type connectors to join the coax cables and that the coax cables are RG59, not RG6. However they all seem to fit together nicely so I'm assuming there is a good electrical connection. I may be wrong but these are the only connectors I have at the moment. Can obviously buy some others if need be.
I have set up the Sky box to so that the I/O output is active. It is set to channel 68.
Now to my simple mind this means that when I turn on the TV in the bedroom and select the same input as I previously used when it was connected to the coax cable I should get a direct feed from the Sky box downstairs.
Guess what........No. TV says there is no signal detected. I have checked the connections and it all seems OK, bit I will obviously keep checking.
What am I missing guys? Is there something obvious that I have forgotten to do?
Weeks of planing, holes cut in walls to allow cable re-routing and bugger all happening. The wife thinks I'm an idiot. She may be right.
Help v much appreciated.
Cheers
TD
LaurasOtherHalf said:
You have selected the RF Output from the sky sub menu haven't you?
I think so!Services, followed by 0,0,1 then Select.
That brings up the menu with the RF Output section. Went in to that and selected RF output ON, then saved settings by pressing the green button (missed that the first time!).
Still nothing.
There are other cables coming up to the attic and it is possible that the one that comes up from above the sitting room is actually not the right cable. I will connect all of the 8 cables in turn to make sure, but my gut tells me it is something else.
Will keep you posted if I make any discoveries i.e. discover what I have cocked up!
TD
I had a problem setting up my Magic Eye. Not sure if this will help but mine was simply a case that I hadn't prepared the coax connectors properly. There is the inner core of the wire which goes in to the central part of the connector and then the fibrous wires/metallic shield which need to be bent back over the outer core of the wire so it makes contact with outer part of the connector.
I appreciate the above is really basic and maybe I haven't explained it properly. But just doing this meant I went from having no reception and the Magic Eye not working to everything functioning fine.
I appreciate the above is really basic and maybe I haven't explained it properly. But just doing this meant I went from having no reception and the Magic Eye not working to everything functioning fine.
Is the LED lit on the magic eye? This will tell you if you have the 9V current running through. Have you checked the bedroom TV is tuned to C68? Try testing on the downstairs TV, tune to C68.
Also C68 is not the best as it sits very close to 4G mobile, better off below C60, if you get interference you may need to change it.
Also C68 is not the best as it sits very close to 4G mobile, better off below C60, if you get interference you may need to change it.
I used to use a Global RF2 Magic Eye setup to push Sky to 3 other TVs in the house, until recently (new solution below). I have found that Global units are a bit hit & miss, so you could just have a faulty unit. Basic checks I'd do are:
1. Confirm your Sky box has the RF output enabled (it sounds like you've done this)
2. Test with your downstairs TV & a pre-made RF cable, rather than one you've made
3. Connect the IO link to the Sky box, then connect it straight to your TV with the pre-made cable
4. At this point, check you get signal on the TV. If not, change the output frequency on the Sky box and re-test. If still no signal: either your cable is duff (swap it & try again), the IO Link is duff (send it back) or the Sky box isn't outputting via the IO port properly
Assuming the above works and you get signal, put the Magic Eye in place (connected to the back of the TV & the RF lead from the IO Link into it). Check the red light comes on (signalling voltage) and try controlling the box. If all this works, then re-do your cabling to the upstairs TV & try again.
I'm not fan of the RF setup, as the picture & sound quality is crap. Grainy picture and mono sound is so 1990s, LOL! As such, I recently junked my similar setup and now have HD quality pushed to all the TVs.
Using a HDMI splitter, my Sky box feeds one output direct to the lounge TV and the new second output goes into this: http://www.freetv.ie/hdmi-modulator.html The Edison then has a coax output, which feeds the other TVs (via a 9v friendly loft distributor) and has a return link to the Sky box, to allow Magic Eye remote control from all the other TVs. Now I have Sky in all the rooms, in HD quality, with stereo sound.... I can't believe I lived with the degraded quality from the Sky RF port for so long!
I hope this helps you troubleshoot, but I'd strongly recommend the Edison (assuming you have 1080p TVs elsewhere) as a far nicer solution.
1. Confirm your Sky box has the RF output enabled (it sounds like you've done this)
2. Test with your downstairs TV & a pre-made RF cable, rather than one you've made
3. Connect the IO link to the Sky box, then connect it straight to your TV with the pre-made cable
4. At this point, check you get signal on the TV. If not, change the output frequency on the Sky box and re-test. If still no signal: either your cable is duff (swap it & try again), the IO Link is duff (send it back) or the Sky box isn't outputting via the IO port properly
Assuming the above works and you get signal, put the Magic Eye in place (connected to the back of the TV & the RF lead from the IO Link into it). Check the red light comes on (signalling voltage) and try controlling the box. If all this works, then re-do your cabling to the upstairs TV & try again.
I'm not fan of the RF setup, as the picture & sound quality is crap. Grainy picture and mono sound is so 1990s, LOL! As such, I recently junked my similar setup and now have HD quality pushed to all the TVs.
Using a HDMI splitter, my Sky box feeds one output direct to the lounge TV and the new second output goes into this: http://www.freetv.ie/hdmi-modulator.html The Edison then has a coax output, which feeds the other TVs (via a 9v friendly loft distributor) and has a return link to the Sky box, to allow Magic Eye remote control from all the other TVs. Now I have Sky in all the rooms, in HD quality, with stereo sound.... I can't believe I lived with the degraded quality from the Sky RF port for so long!
I hope this helps you troubleshoot, but I'd strongly recommend the Edison (assuming you have 1080p TVs elsewhere) as a far nicer solution.
The new Sky boxes with the i/o connection are extremely poor.
You could try the additional power supply global do, however, even then, the picture is very sub standard and no amount of kit will help it.
They will not work well with joins and/or over a long distance.
If you can run a direct link from the Skyi/o link to the other tv this may help a bit but its nowhere ner as good as the 'old' boxes with dedicated outputs etc.
Sky have purposely done this to force you to pay for multi room, which is why they bought Amstrad out a few years ago.
This then gave Sky the facility to keep design etc in house and steer the boxes in their favoured direction.
You could try the additional power supply global do, however, even then, the picture is very sub standard and no amount of kit will help it.
They will not work well with joins and/or over a long distance.
If you can run a direct link from the Skyi/o link to the other tv this may help a bit but its nowhere ner as good as the 'old' boxes with dedicated outputs etc.
Sky have purposely done this to force you to pay for multi room, which is why they bought Amstrad out a few years ago.
This then gave Sky the facility to keep design etc in house and steer the boxes in their favoured direction.
Ok, this might sound odd, but I had this issue a few years back. It was a simple issue to do with the TV socket - it was insulated (had plastic bits in it) so didn't allow the nominal voltage to flow. A quick change of socket and I was sorted. So, if you're not getting the red light on the magic eye as has been mentioned above, check whether your socket has any plastic in it!
356Speedster said:
I used to use a Global RF2 Magic Eye setup to push Sky to 3 other TVs in the house, until recently (new solution below). I have found that Global units are a bit hit & miss, so you could just have a faulty unit. Basic checks I'd do are:
1. Confirm your Sky box has the RF output enabled (it sounds like you've done this)
2. Test with your downstairs TV & a pre-made RF cable, rather than one you've made
3. Connect the IO link to the Sky box, then connect it straight to your TV with the pre-made cable
4. At this point, check you get signal on the TV. If not, change the output frequency on the Sky box and re-test. If still no signal: either your cable is duff (swap it & try again), the IO Link is duff (send it back) or the Sky box isn't outputting via the IO port properly
Assuming the above works and you get signal, put the Magic Eye in place (connected to the back of the TV & the RF lead from the IO Link into it). Check the red light comes on (signalling voltage) and try controlling the box. If all this works, then re-do your cabling to the upstairs TV & try again.
I'm not fan of the RF setup, as the picture & sound quality is crap. Grainy picture and mono sound is so 1990s, LOL! As such, I recently junked my similar setup and now have HD quality pushed to all the TVs.
Using a HDMI splitter, my Sky box feeds one output direct to the lounge TV and the new second output goes into this: http://www.freetv.ie/hdmi-modulator.html The Edison then has a coax output, which feeds the other TVs (via a 9v friendly loft distributor) and has a return link to the Sky box, to allow Magic Eye remote control from all the other TVs. Now I have Sky in all the rooms, in HD quality, with stereo sound.... I can't believe I lived with the degraded quality from the Sky RF port for so long!
I hope this helps you troubleshoot, but I'd strongly recommend the Edison (assuming you have 1080p TVs elsewhere) as a far nicer solution.
Thanks Guys, all excellent advice. I'll go through these one by one and hopefully we shall prevail - or at least determine which piece of kit is duff.1. Confirm your Sky box has the RF output enabled (it sounds like you've done this)
2. Test with your downstairs TV & a pre-made RF cable, rather than one you've made
3. Connect the IO link to the Sky box, then connect it straight to your TV with the pre-made cable
4. At this point, check you get signal on the TV. If not, change the output frequency on the Sky box and re-test. If still no signal: either your cable is duff (swap it & try again), the IO Link is duff (send it back) or the Sky box isn't outputting via the IO port properly
Assuming the above works and you get signal, put the Magic Eye in place (connected to the back of the TV & the RF lead from the IO Link into it). Check the red light comes on (signalling voltage) and try controlling the box. If all this works, then re-do your cabling to the upstairs TV & try again.
I'm not fan of the RF setup, as the picture & sound quality is crap. Grainy picture and mono sound is so 1990s, LOL! As such, I recently junked my similar setup and now have HD quality pushed to all the TVs.
Using a HDMI splitter, my Sky box feeds one output direct to the lounge TV and the new second output goes into this: http://www.freetv.ie/hdmi-modulator.html The Edison then has a coax output, which feeds the other TVs (via a 9v friendly loft distributor) and has a return link to the Sky box, to allow Magic Eye remote control from all the other TVs. Now I have Sky in all the rooms, in HD quality, with stereo sound.... I can't believe I lived with the degraded quality from the Sky RF port for so long!
I hope this helps you troubleshoot, but I'd strongly recommend the Edison (assuming you have 1080p TVs elsewhere) as a far nicer solution.
Speedster - any chance you can explain your 4th point a bit more?
"4. At this point, check you get signal on the TV. If not, change the output frequency on the Sky box and re-test. If still no signal: either your cable is duff (swap it & try again), the IO Link is duff (send it back) or the Sky box isn't outputting via the IO port properly"
When you say change the output frequency of the Sky box do you simply mean the channel that is selected for the I/O output?
Thanks
TD
TorqueDirty said:
OK folks,
I need some help!
I have been trying to figure out the best way to send a Sky signal from the Sky box downstairs to the TV upstairs. I tired the wireless option - it is rubbish so I went looking for a wired solution.
After lots of research and after taking advice on here I decided to try the Global I/O Link box. See here:-
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Global-Link-Output-Sky-Box...
I bought this "Global I/O Link RF Output for Sky HD Box" from Amazon. This thing is designed to allow the Sky signal to be outputted in analogue via coax to another TV. Excellent, just what I'm after I thought.
I plugged it in to the I/O socket of the Sky HD box as instructed.
I then plugged a the existing coax aerial cable in to the back of the I/O Link Output box. This coax cable runs to the attic. There is another coax cable that runs from the attic to the TV in the bedroom. Both these cables were connected to the aerial in the attic. I simply disconnected them from the aerial and joined them together.
So in theory I now have a direct coax cable connection between the Sky box downstairs (via the I/O output box) and the TV in the bedroom. I also have the Magic Eye controller thingy connected to teh upstairs TV that is supposed to allows me to control the Sky box when upstairs - I gather it sends the remote signal to the Sky box via the coax.
At this point I should mention that I have used F type connectors to join the coax cables and that the coax cables are RG59, not RG6. However they all seem to fit together nicely so I'm assuming there is a good electrical connection. I may be wrong but these are the only connectors I have at the moment. Can obviously buy some others if need be.
I have set up the Sky box to so that the I/O output is active. It is set to channel 68.
Now to my simple mind this means that when I turn on the TV in the bedroom and select the same input as I previously used when it was connected to the coax cable I should get a direct feed from the Sky box downstairs.
Guess what........No. TV says there is no signal detected. I have checked the connections and it all seems OK, bit I will obviously keep checking.
What am I missing guys? Is there something obvious that I have forgotten to do?
Weeks of planing, holes cut in walls to allow cable re-routing and bugger all happening. The wife thinks I'm an idiot. She may be right.
Help v much appreciated.
Cheers
TD
Is the light on the eye lit?I need some help!
I have been trying to figure out the best way to send a Sky signal from the Sky box downstairs to the TV upstairs. I tired the wireless option - it is rubbish so I went looking for a wired solution.
After lots of research and after taking advice on here I decided to try the Global I/O Link box. See here:-
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Global-Link-Output-Sky-Box...
I bought this "Global I/O Link RF Output for Sky HD Box" from Amazon. This thing is designed to allow the Sky signal to be outputted in analogue via coax to another TV. Excellent, just what I'm after I thought.
I plugged it in to the I/O socket of the Sky HD box as instructed.
I then plugged a the existing coax aerial cable in to the back of the I/O Link Output box. This coax cable runs to the attic. There is another coax cable that runs from the attic to the TV in the bedroom. Both these cables were connected to the aerial in the attic. I simply disconnected them from the aerial and joined them together.
So in theory I now have a direct coax cable connection between the Sky box downstairs (via the I/O output box) and the TV in the bedroom. I also have the Magic Eye controller thingy connected to teh upstairs TV that is supposed to allows me to control the Sky box when upstairs - I gather it sends the remote signal to the Sky box via the coax.
At this point I should mention that I have used F type connectors to join the coax cables and that the coax cables are RG59, not RG6. However they all seem to fit together nicely so I'm assuming there is a good electrical connection. I may be wrong but these are the only connectors I have at the moment. Can obviously buy some others if need be.
I have set up the Sky box to so that the I/O output is active. It is set to channel 68.
Now to my simple mind this means that when I turn on the TV in the bedroom and select the same input as I previously used when it was connected to the coax cable I should get a direct feed from the Sky box downstairs.
Guess what........No. TV says there is no signal detected. I have checked the connections and it all seems OK, bit I will obviously keep checking.
What am I missing guys? Is there something obvious that I have forgotten to do?
Weeks of planing, holes cut in walls to allow cable re-routing and bugger all happening. The wife thinks I'm an idiot. She may be right.
Help v much appreciated.
Cheers
TD
Ans, since you were probably watching digital TV via coax in the bedroom previously are you sure you are tuning analogue now since the sky box outputs an analogue signal.
TorqueDirty said:
Speedster - any chance you can explain your 4th point a bit more?
"4. At this point, check you get signal on the TV. If not, change the output frequency on the Sky box and re-test. If still no signal: either your cable is duff (swap it & try again), the IO Link is duff (send it back) or the Sky box isn't outputting via the IO port properly"
When you say change the output frequency of the Sky box do you simply mean the channel that is selected for the I/O output?
Thanks
TD
Yes that's right."4. At this point, check you get signal on the TV. If not, change the output frequency on the Sky box and re-test. If still no signal: either your cable is duff (swap it & try again), the IO Link is duff (send it back) or the Sky box isn't outputting via the IO port properly"
When you say change the output frequency of the Sky box do you simply mean the channel that is selected for the I/O output?
Thanks
TD
As others have said for the Magic Eye to work, you need the red light to be on, however, I still suggest you verify with a single piece of coax between the link and your living room TV that you can at least get picture first. Once you get picture, then you can check Magic Eye functions: firstly in direct line with your living room TV, then upstairs via the longer cable runs.
Good luck! (But do consider the Edison box.. 1980 CRT picture quality & mono sound vs HD & stereo is a no-brainer
)Well folks - success.
It was small matter of actually connecting the right coax cables together!
Good tip on the red LED on the Magic Eye. I ended up using this to confirm there was a signal all the way through the circuit.
Then it was just a matter of tuning the upstairs TV so that it picked up the signal. Not quite sure how I managed this but clearly some combination of the digital, analogue, cable and terrestrial tuning options seemed to work.
Left it to tune whilst I had some lunch and then heard voices from upstairs! Lo and behold the system is working - but the picture is not great.
Wife takes one look and says - that's rubbish, can we have the free-view channels with the good picture back please? Now the whole fu**ing point of doing all of this was because she was constantly complaining about the free-view channels breaking up, and the fact that there were no channels worth watching.
I give up honestly.
In fairness the picture is crap. Rather than run this through the long cable can I wire in some sort of amplifier in the attic to boost the quality, or is the quality deliberately rubbish as mentioned earlier so that I end up having to get another box.
TD
It was small matter of actually connecting the right coax cables together!
Good tip on the red LED on the Magic Eye. I ended up using this to confirm there was a signal all the way through the circuit.
Then it was just a matter of tuning the upstairs TV so that it picked up the signal. Not quite sure how I managed this but clearly some combination of the digital, analogue, cable and terrestrial tuning options seemed to work.
Left it to tune whilst I had some lunch and then heard voices from upstairs! Lo and behold the system is working - but the picture is not great.
Wife takes one look and says - that's rubbish, can we have the free-view channels with the good picture back please? Now the whole fu**ing point of doing all of this was because she was constantly complaining about the free-view channels breaking up, and the fact that there were no channels worth watching.
I give up honestly.
In fairness the picture is crap. Rather than run this through the long cable can I wire in some sort of amplifier in the attic to boost the quality, or is the quality deliberately rubbish as mentioned earlier so that I end up having to get another box.
TD
356Speedster said:
Using a HDMI splitter, my Sky box feeds one output direct to the lounge TV and the new second output goes into this: http://www.freetv.ie/hdmi-modulator.html The Edison then has a coax output, which feeds the other TVs (via a 9v friendly loft distributor) and has a return link to the Sky box, to allow Magic Eye remote control from all the other TVs. Now I have Sky in all the rooms, in HD quality, with stereo sound.... I can't believe I lived with the degraded quality from the Sky RF port for so long!
I hope this helps you troubleshoot, but I'd strongly recommend the Edison (assuming you have 1080p TVs elsewhere) as a far nicer solution.
Speedster - does this set up require two coax cables to be run between the two TVs? One for the TV feed and the other for the magic eye signal - or does the one cable carry both of these signals?I hope this helps you troubleshoot, but I'd strongly recommend the Edison (assuming you have 1080p TVs elsewhere) as a far nicer solution.
If it is a one cable solution than this might be worth a look. If it is 2 cables then I'm screwed because there is only one cable running to each room.
TD
TorqueDirty said:
Left it to tune whilst I had some lunch and then heard voices from upstairs! Lo and behold the system is working - but the picture is not great.
Wife takes one look and says - that's rubbish, can we have the free-view channels with the good picture back please? Now the whole fu**ing point of doing all of this was because she was constantly complaining about the free-view channels breaking up, and the fact that there were no channels worth watching.
I'm pleased you've got connectivity and as for the quality, it's hard for us to comment on what you're seeing. You could still have an issue with your cabling, causing you further poor reception upstairs.Wife takes one look and says - that's rubbish, can we have the free-view channels with the good picture back please? Now the whole fu**ing point of doing all of this was because she was constantly complaining about the free-view channels breaking up, and the fact that there were no channels worth watching.
As I noted in my earlier post, the Sky RF output signal is pretty poor. It's purposely degraded so that Sky can sell you multi-room. The best way I can describe it is: 1980s/90s TV signal quality on a CRT TV, with mono sound. You can watch it (we did for yrs on the bedroom & kitchen TVs), but in a modern HD world, it's 3/10 quality. This you can't change, with the IO output - it is, what it is. To truly test if you've got a cable problem, test it with your downstairs TV and just run an RF cable between the IO link, direct to your main TV. The quality should be the same as you get upstairs, if it isn't, I'd say your cabling is at fault and that'll need to be resolved before you can hope to get any decent signal!
TorqueDirty said:
Speedster - does this set up require two coax cables to be run between the two TVs? One for the TV feed and the other for the magic eye signal - or does the one cable carry both of these signals?
If it is a one cable solution than this might be worth a look. If it is 2 cables then I'm screwed because there is only one cable running to each room.
Yes, this solution uses the same coax and it'll allow your Freeview signal to pass to your other TV(s) too. Key connections are:If it is a one cable solution than this might be worth a look. If it is 2 cables then I'm screwed because there is only one cable running to each room.
- Roof top aerial connected into the back of your Sky box as normal
- Sky HDMI output connected to the HDMI splitter
- From the splitter, one feed goes into our lounge TV and the other one goes into the Edison
- The Edison's output goes into your coax cable that's running upstairs and feeding the other TVs, with Magic Eyes on them
- The Edison has another RF connection, which goes to your IO link, purely to allow the Magic Eye control
With this setup, the Edison is receiving the full quality HDMI signal and is converting it into a 1080p HD signal. This is the "injected" into the coax cable and pushed around the house, together with the Freeview signal that's passed-through the Sky box from the roof aerial. On your upstairs TV(s), you simply tell them to retune and you'll find the new Sky signal is sitting in among your Freeview digital TV channels. My TVs put it at the end of the channel spectrum (probably because they don't find the Guide information), but you can then re-assign it wherever you like.
I wholly recommend this solution as you get perfect HD TV to your other TVs, with stereo sound. The only downside is there's about a 0.5sec delay on the Magic Eye response, but that's really no issue!
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