Sky TV to Cinema Room
Discussion
Evening,
I have sky being fitted this week in my living room. However I also want to be able to control and send the picture to my Home Cinema (I want the F1 in HD on the 120' screen!!)
Is not going to be possible to use a wireless piece of kit because of the distance, but I can easily run a cable on the outside of the house.
I have read about people using a coax from the rf2 out on the sky box, however I am not sure how this will connect up to my projector. Will my AV receiver take a coax cable and process the signal as I know I can't hook the cable directly to the PJ.
Also what the quality like doing it this way?
Suggestions welcome.
I have sky being fitted this week in my living room. However I also want to be able to control and send the picture to my Home Cinema (I want the F1 in HD on the 120' screen!!)
Is not going to be possible to use a wireless piece of kit because of the distance, but I can easily run a cable on the outside of the house.
I have read about people using a coax from the rf2 out on the sky box, however I am not sure how this will connect up to my projector. Will my AV receiver take a coax cable and process the signal as I know I can't hook the cable directly to the PJ.
Also what the quality like doing it this way?
Suggestions welcome.
RF2 does not carry the HD signal.
So you cant use that, best to run a couple of Cat5/6 cables then you can use the usual HD Balun/Converts to get the signal across from the Sky Box.
You may need to factor in an HDMI Splitter to share the signal between the local TV and the Cinema Room.
V.
So you cant use that, best to run a couple of Cat5/6 cables then you can use the usual HD Balun/Converts to get the signal across from the Sky Box.
You may need to factor in an HDMI Splitter to share the signal between the local TV and the Cinema Room.
V.
OK,
Basically, the cat5 cable is just a conduit to get the signals from the Sky box across to the cinema room.
The HDMI Adapters just convert the HDMI connector into a RJ45 (Data) connection at the Sky box end and then back again at the cinema room.
Actually there is another problem as well. Sky does not transmit 5.1 sound over its HDMI cable, so you either need an Adapter that can add the 5.1 sound back in or a coax cable as well to carry the Digital Coax output from the Sky box across to the surround sound amp.
So I would run the Cat5 and Coax from the Sky box across to the surround sound amp and then convert it back to HDMI. Then the Amp can do the HDMI switching and routing up to the projector.
Does that help?
V.
Basically, the cat5 cable is just a conduit to get the signals from the Sky box across to the cinema room.
The HDMI Adapters just convert the HDMI connector into a RJ45 (Data) connection at the Sky box end and then back again at the cinema room.
Actually there is another problem as well. Sky does not transmit 5.1 sound over its HDMI cable, so you either need an Adapter that can add the 5.1 sound back in or a coax cable as well to carry the Digital Coax output from the Sky box across to the surround sound amp.
So I would run the Cat5 and Coax from the Sky box across to the surround sound amp and then convert it back to HDMI. Then the Amp can do the HDMI switching and routing up to the projector.
Does that help?
V.
We've just done a similar exercise - getting SkyHD into the bedroom.
HD Signal
In order to get the HD signall to your cinema room, you need to get the HDMI output from the Sky box to your projector.
As has already been suggested, this can be done by running Cat 5/6 cable between the locations, and using a convertor/balun at each end to then plug into the Sky boc HDMI port, and your projector HDMI port.
An alternative (which is what we've done) is to simply run a long HDMI cable direct from Sky box to TV/projector in the other room. Whilst I believe HDMI is not certified to work over long distances, shortish distances of 10-15M are achievable. We are using a 10metre HDMI cable with no issues. It is also HDMI 1.4 and supports/works well with 3D signals too. If the run is longer, I believe you can get amplifiers.
Splitter
You will need an HDMI splitter plugged into the back of the Sky box to split the HDMI signal into 2 - 1 to go off to your cinema room, the other to supply the TV currently connected to the Sky box.
After looking at a few of these, we got a Neet splitter which can operate as a passive device, but also has a power supply to amplify the signal - useful potentially if the HDMI run to the cinema room is a reasonable distance.
Sound
As has been mentioned, Sky only puts out stereo sound on the HDMI port. If you want the 5.1 surround sound you will also need to run an audio cable - either co-ax copper or TOSLink fibre.
Remote Control
Obviously once in the Cinema room you'll want to be able to remote control the Sky box.
The 2 options we explored were:
1. Use a smartphone/tablet with the Sky+ app. We've tried it with an iPad and it works very well. All you need is for your Sky box and iPad to be connected to your home wireless network.
2. Rather than hogging the iPad when watching, your other alternative is to run a 3rd cable - standard TV aerial co-ax from the RF-2 output of the Sky box to the cinema room. On the end of this, plug in a magic eye remote control extender and just use your Sky remote as normal. This also works very well indeed and is a lot cheaper than an iPad! Magic eye is around £4 from Amazon. You will need to configure the RF2 output to provide power - simple command sequence on Sky box.
Above solution or Second Sky box (Multiroom)
As has also been mentioned, the other option is to get another box and use multiroom.
2nd Sky box:
You will be able to watch different stuff on the TV and Cinema room at the same time.
Less cabling - just need satellite cable from your dish to the cinema room
Connecting to existing box:
No cost for 2nd box
No monthly £10 subscription for multiroom
Stuff that you've recorded on your main Sky box, you can watch in either location (this was a big factor for us as we'll often watch something in the evening, and Mrs C&C wants to go to bed and watch the end of the programme/film upstairs)
Either of the above solutions would work well depending on your requirements. Whatever you do, don't bother looking at wireless TV extenders as they don't work well at all.
Cheers,
Conrad
HD Signal
In order to get the HD signall to your cinema room, you need to get the HDMI output from the Sky box to your projector.
As has already been suggested, this can be done by running Cat 5/6 cable between the locations, and using a convertor/balun at each end to then plug into the Sky boc HDMI port, and your projector HDMI port.
An alternative (which is what we've done) is to simply run a long HDMI cable direct from Sky box to TV/projector in the other room. Whilst I believe HDMI is not certified to work over long distances, shortish distances of 10-15M are achievable. We are using a 10metre HDMI cable with no issues. It is also HDMI 1.4 and supports/works well with 3D signals too. If the run is longer, I believe you can get amplifiers.
Splitter
You will need an HDMI splitter plugged into the back of the Sky box to split the HDMI signal into 2 - 1 to go off to your cinema room, the other to supply the TV currently connected to the Sky box.
After looking at a few of these, we got a Neet splitter which can operate as a passive device, but also has a power supply to amplify the signal - useful potentially if the HDMI run to the cinema room is a reasonable distance.
Sound
As has been mentioned, Sky only puts out stereo sound on the HDMI port. If you want the 5.1 surround sound you will also need to run an audio cable - either co-ax copper or TOSLink fibre.
Remote Control
Obviously once in the Cinema room you'll want to be able to remote control the Sky box.
The 2 options we explored were:
1. Use a smartphone/tablet with the Sky+ app. We've tried it with an iPad and it works very well. All you need is for your Sky box and iPad to be connected to your home wireless network.
2. Rather than hogging the iPad when watching, your other alternative is to run a 3rd cable - standard TV aerial co-ax from the RF-2 output of the Sky box to the cinema room. On the end of this, plug in a magic eye remote control extender and just use your Sky remote as normal. This also works very well indeed and is a lot cheaper than an iPad! Magic eye is around £4 from Amazon. You will need to configure the RF2 output to provide power - simple command sequence on Sky box.
Above solution or Second Sky box (Multiroom)
As has also been mentioned, the other option is to get another box and use multiroom.
2nd Sky box:
You will be able to watch different stuff on the TV and Cinema room at the same time.
Less cabling - just need satellite cable from your dish to the cinema room
Connecting to existing box:
No cost for 2nd box
No monthly £10 subscription for multiroom
Stuff that you've recorded on your main Sky box, you can watch in either location (this was a big factor for us as we'll often watch something in the evening, and Mrs C&C wants to go to bed and watch the end of the programme/film upstairs)
Either of the above solutions would work well depending on your requirements. Whatever you do, don't bother looking at wireless TV extenders as they don't work well at all.
Cheers,
Conrad
Thanks a lot for your help.
I will play about with cabling, I have some long Ethernet cables hangin about so I'll have a go. I'll research these balun converter jobs.
I also have a feeling my old man may have a spare sky box, if that's the case I'll be well on my way.
As for controlling the box I have various iPods, iPhones and iPads so I'm sure I can sort something out.
Thanks again its a really informative post, much appreciated.
I will play about with cabling, I have some long Ethernet cables hangin about so I'll have a go. I'll research these balun converter jobs.
I also have a feeling my old man may have a spare sky box, if that's the case I'll be well on my way.
As for controlling the box I have various iPods, iPhones and iPads so I'm sure I can sort something out.
Thanks again its a really informative post, much appreciated.
russy01 said:
Thanks a lot for your help.
I will play about with cabling, I have some long Ethernet cables hangin about so I'll have a go. I'll research these balun converter jobs.
I also have a feeling my old man may have a spare sky box, if that's the case I'll be well on my way.
As for controlling the box I have various iPods, iPhones and iPads so I'm sure I can sort something out.
Thanks again its a really informative post, much appreciated.
The majority of sky channels require the card and box to be paired together and I have no doubt the F1 channel is the same. Sky WON'T pair your card every time you want to swap boxes over, even if they are both HD boxes. Your dads box will also flag up as being tied to another Sky account as well.I will play about with cabling, I have some long Ethernet cables hangin about so I'll have a go. I'll research these balun converter jobs.
I also have a feeling my old man may have a spare sky box, if that's the case I'll be well on my way.
As for controlling the box I have various iPods, iPhones and iPads so I'm sure I can sort something out.
Thanks again its a really informative post, much appreciated.
VEX said:
On Friday a friend in the same industry as me said Sky are about to add 5.1 to their HDMI signal soon.
I hope they do. My amp deals with it, but I'd like to free up the audio input for something else.Earlier up the topic you mentioned in passing recombining them into the HDMI - do devices to do this exist?
gtidriver said:
About sky multi room, i think if you have a second card and hd its £20.
HD is now included in a multiroom package so its only £10.25 per month. Sky often have free box and free install offers for multiroom every few months but its a non recording HD box. Sky are apparently testing a system to allow the sharing of the +HD planner between boxes too.Digger said:
VEX said:
On Friday a friend in the same industry as me said Sky are about to add 5.1 to their HDMI signal soon.
Now I have heard that before, so don't hold your breath, but it could be changing.
V.
About bleeding time!Now I have heard that before, so don't hold your breath, but it could be changing.
V.
Sky Person said:
At the moment there is an EPG upgrade in process that will allow you to activate DD5.1 over HDMI, this software update, for the DRX890 & DRX895, will be completed over the next few months.
Later this was corroborated by this official thread from Sky themselves: (look halfway down the page)http://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Sky-Programming-Channe...
So it looks like this *is* happening
although dependent on the source of the quotes its only certain box models getting the upgrade at present, and no finite timescale/deadline has been quoted. R.
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