sky + in front room - what do i need for upstairs and dining

as title really - ive got sky plus in the front room - i want it in the dining room and main bedroom - or just bedroom if it cant be done.

what do i need? there is a double cable already in dining room attached to nothing - theres nothing up stairs in bedroom - i dont want to view different channels i just want to be able to watch it in each room, as an when we're in there.

ive heard of magic eyes - co axil cables all that sort of thing - but i havent a clue on how to go about it - im a heating engineed so know about electrics and how to generally run cables etc so would be looking to do it myself.

1. sky's answer would be their multiroom service, an extra £10 a month (possible installation fee) and you'll get a seperate box for another room, with 2 co ax runs to your dish. (depending on the age of your dish, it might need upgrading to a quad lnb, but sky would do that as part of their installation).

2. if you've connected your sky box to your tv using composite on co-ax cable, then you can use the second output on the sky box to run to another tv in a different room. you can buy a magic eye, which basically plugs into the end of this second run, and then into your tv aerial input. it is an IR receiver, and you buy a second sky remote. Using the 2nd sky remote in this room, the IR signals are received by the magic eye, sent back down the co-ax to your sky box, which will then change channel accordingly.

This is how it used to work, not sure whether the latest sky+ boxes still support this capability though. I used this approach for a while, but on changing TVs to a different bedroom, I found the magic eye stopped working, so they are a bit choosey, and I believe it depends on the length of cable run back to the sky box.

3. if you have good quality, modern tvs in your other rooms, and picture quality is important to you, then depending on the outputs available on your sky box, another approach is to run a second HDMI cable/component cable from the back of your sky box to another room. the sky boxes do output pictures on all their interfaces at the same time.
A 15 m HDMI or component cable should only be about £60, if you shop around.
To change channel etc, you then buy a second sky remote and a wireless IR repeater. you position one in the bedroom, and the other in front of your sky box in the lounge. they will repeat the IR from the bedroom, and as long as it is lined up properly, it will signal the box to change channel.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Marmitek-Po...XH42/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1290857645&sr=8-2

this kind of thing should do it, but you'd better research a bit more, I might have got the specs wrong.

personally, I pay sky £10 a month for a bedroom box. I plan to add a tv in the kitchen soon, and will then use option 3 above.

hope this helps.

StretchArmstrong got the gist of it, though the relevant info you are interested in is a bit buried in the reply. Here it is in a bit simpler form...

For Sky+ on a second TV you want a long TV coax cable and a magic eye, and possibly a spare Sky remote so you don't have to keep nicking the one from the living room.

Step 1) in your main lounge put the TV on to Sky and then press 'Services' on the Sky remote, then type 4 0 1 and press 'Select'
# Select the "RF outlets" option and switch on the option for RF2 power.
IMPORTANT BIT NOW: make sure your confirm and save the settings before exiting these menus.

Your Sky box should now be able to power the magic eye. If your eye has a red power LED then you can test this by connecting the eye to the RF2 output. Switch off the box first!!

Note: some Sky eyes will short out and die if connected to the RF2 supply when the box is on. Some are less fussy.

Step 2) Switch off box. Run coax to the second TV point. Add the eye. Switch on box. check LED is on. Tune TV (analogue channel). Job done.

Tip: you can make life easier for yourself by putting the Sky box on the TV guide page so you can spot the RF channel for Sky when tuning.


Hooking up more than one TV to RF2.
You need an extra eye, some more coax, and you need a powered amplifier/splitter that has the ability to pass the voltage required to power the Sky Eyes. Some manufacturers call it "Sky Pass".

Connect the amp near the back of the Sky box.

Start off with just one connection to the bedroom TV as above. Add the amp and check the bedroom TV still works. Then add the second TV connection.


Troubleshooting: My Sky Eye doesn't work.

No red LED illuminated - it's usually a stray copper shielding wire touching the centre conductor and shorting the connection for power. Recheck your RF plugs. You can always test the Eye by connectiong direct to RF2 on the Sky box. If it doesn't light up here then either you haven't enabled RF2 in the Sky menus, or you've blown the eye by connecting it when the power was live.