connect sky+ hd box to my home hifi

[shd1970]

Hi there

can anyone tell me if its possible to route the sound out of my TV or sky+ HD box out to my HiFi please ?
Ultimately I want to have MTV on the TV but use my HiFi for the sounds

My HiFi is about 18ft away from the TV and sky box and preferably I don't want to run any cables if I can help it so am particularly interested in any Bluetooth options
I could move the HiFi nearer to the sky box but it will then give me issues as to where I put the speakers

My HiFi is a denon with only old style red/black phonos....no optical

But the HiFi has some nice big mission speakers hence why I want to make use of them as the wife hates them

TV is a Panasonic tx-p42gt30b

Just a guess but presumably its best to go from skybox to HiFi and not from the TV ?

 

[Lucid]

Bluetooth can be really flaky over distance. 18ft isn't a lot, but if there are things in the way it can drop out so be prepared for that.

There are two other issues with Bluetooth. The first is compression. Part of the process of sending the signal is to lose some info to make the data stream eaiser to transmit. The effect can be a bit like heavy-handed MP3 compression. The second issue is latency. This is the audio lag because it takes time to convert the sound from analogue (from the Sky box) to a compressed digital format, send it, and then convert it back again at the receiver end. If you plan to have the TV on with its volume turned down and using the Bluetooth linked stereo instead then there will be a mismatch between music and picture. The best description is that the sound is 'half a word behind', if that makes sense.

None of the above are an issue if you can run a cable.

Is the issue with a cable simply hiding it, or would it have to go across boundaries such as a doorway where a room has a wooden floor?

 

[shd1970]

Thanks for the reply lucid...makes sense and I understand the possible flaws of Bluetooth
Reasons for not running cables are aesthetic...the wife will go mad, a wood floor so can't sneak any cables under the carpet, and a log burner sitting on a huge piece of slate too.
Wish I had though ahead when we had our extension built and had some ducting in place even if not used

So if I could cable, is it just using the standard phono connections from the sky+HD box ?
What length can you get on those cables ?

 

[Lucid]

You can get standard phono cable in lots of different preterminated lengths. 20m is readily available. A couple of observations though...

First, all the off-the-shelf product whether sources from a local store or online all share the same design; it's called 'figure of eight' and it describes two cables joined down their length. This makes the cable relatively bulky.

Second, the longer the lead the more likely it is to pick up interference. To stop this happening the cable needs to be shielded. The problem is that the cheap phono cables have shielding that's only just about adequate in short runs (<3m) in environments where there's not much interference to start with, but on longer lengths it just isn't up to the job. This is the kind of cable I mean...

Those cables that make claim to better shielding are often (a) much thicker and so harder to conceal, and (b) the shielding is a foil wrap because it's much much cheaper than providing a proper copper braid shield but then makes the cable stiff and difficult to route around corners; stuff like this...

Question: What if you could have a cable almost as thin as just one side of the red and black phono lead but with the sort of copper braid shielding that means it's still as supple as them and yet provides better shielding than the thick cables. Would you consider installing a cable then?

 

[shd1970]

Hi lucid....answer to your question is possibly yes

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Your Sky box probably has optical out (if not you can get a converter)- could you could sneak a 2mm diameter fibre optic line round your floor (just need to be wary of sharp corners) and hang another converter on at the hifi end?

Or use any of the video sender things as seen on Ebay (just use the audio bits at hifi end)- again you might have latency and compression issues but life is a compromise

 

[shd1970]

Hi oldbutnotdead......
Indeed my sky+ has an optical out...great call as I can nab one from work too
....so just need to buy a fibre-phono converter
Might be able to sneak it under the skirting board
Thanks in advance

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Cool. CPC used to do really cheap ones. Depending on what you do for work, if you have any old Minidisc recorders kicking around (that you could filch with no-one noticing) they tended to have optical inputs, so if set to REC and PAUSE you'll get conversion that way. There is a bit of an issue with pay per view stuff- sometimes my Virgin box sends SCMS signals out on the fibre so you lose signal, not sure if Sky+ does the same.

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Ah, they've gone up a bit but still there. http://cpc.farnell.com/pro-signal/p...ptical-coax-to/dp/AV19975?MER=e-bb45-00001001, £17 of your English pounds

 

[winston1]

Has your hi-fi got an FM tuner on it? If so you could use one of the low power FM transmitters usually sold for in car use.