magic eye tvlink

mickcoulson · 18 Aug 2014

hi.... a few days ago I bought a tvlink to change channels on my sky in another room. It worked fine when I first installed it, I could use the remote to changed channels etc. I turned off the second tv at night, and come morning when I turned it on the tvlink wouldn't work. I have tried all the " fixes " on the internet.
1 plugged the tvlink directly into the back of the sky+ box led light comes on.
2 checked the two coaxial connectors ok
3 turned off the rf2 channel and turned on again
when I connect the tvlink to the end of the cable on my second tv no light comes on. The run of cable is 12mtrs long and it is new sky aerial cable. What I did not do when I first connected was check the led light, but it must have been li for the remote to work.
help please
mickcoulson

alan333 · 18 Aug 2014

If the magic eye lights up when connected to the sky box, but doesn't at the other end of your new extension cable, then logic suggests the new cable or connectors are at fault.

mickcoulson · 18 Aug 2014

alan333 said:
If the magic eye lights up when connected to the sky box, but doesn't at the other end of your new extension cable, then logic suggests the new cable or connectors are at fault.

the cable must be ok, I am getting a perfect picture...so connections ??

Sam Gangee · 18 Aug 2014

Cut right through the cable. Hold a piece of paper over the end and gently push the cable ends together against the paper. There's no connection but you'll see a perfect picture, thus disproving your logic that "the cable must be OK".

mickcoulson said:
I have tried all the " fixes " on the internet.

See http://www.The-Cool-Book-shop.co.uk/satellite_freeview.htm#magic

plugwash · 18 Aug 2014

As sam Gangee alludes the behaviour of a cable at DC (used to power the magic eye) can be very different to the behaviour at hundreds of megahertz (used for TV signals). A small gap will totally block DC but will pass at least some signal at UHF TV frequencies and UHF TV being designed as a broadcast signal is very tolerant of signal loss.

On the other side a single strand of wire shorting out the connection will kill the DC magic eye power and while it will cause substantial loss at UHF it probablly won't kill the TV signal (see above comment about being very tolerant of loss)

If it's brand new cable i'd think it's far more likely the terminations than the cable itself. You need to carefully check to make sure there are low resistance connctions on both core and shield and there are no shorts. Ideally you want to be using plugs that have a grub screw to ensure a solid DC connection to the center core rather than just relying on it touching the inside of a tube.

mickcoulson · 18 Aug 2014

plugwash said:
As sam Gangee alludes the behaviour of a cable at DC (used to power the magic eye) can be very different to the behaviour at hundreds of megahertz (used for TV signals). A small gap will totally block DC but will pass at least some signal at UHF TV frequencies and UHF TV being designed as a broadcast signal is very tolerant of signal loss.

On the other side a single strand of wire shorting out the connection will kill the DC magic eye power and while it will cause substantial loss at UHF it probablly won't kill the TV signal (see above comment about being very tolerant of loss)

If it's brand new cable i'd think it's far more likely the terminations than the cable itself. You need to carefully check to make sure there are low resistance connctions on both core and shield and there are no shorts. Ideally you want to be using plugs that have a grub screw to ensure a solid DC connection to the center core rather than just relying on it touching the inside of a tube.

thanks...can I buy special low resistance connectors ?

Sam Gangee · 18 Aug 2014

All electrical connectors are inherently "low resistance" unless the connection is faulty.
See http://www.The-Cool-Book-shop.co.uk/satellite_freeview.htm#magic

.

Lucid · 19 Aug 2014

mickcoulson said:
thanks...can I buy special low resistance connectors ?

Make your connections properly and everything will be fine.

mickcoulson · 20 Aug 2014

Lucid said:
mickcoulson said:

thanks...can I buy special low resistance connectors ?

Click to expand...

Make your connections properly and everything will be fine.

don't believe it...I made the connections again exactly as before and it is now working...thanks guys

TheVictorian · 20 Aug 2014

If you have a smart phone then the Sky+ app renders magic eyes useless. I have taken them all out of the house now and just use the phone to control the box.

Sam Gangee · 20 Aug 2014

How does the phone ring the Sky Digibox?

Lucid · 20 Aug 2014

Sam Gangee said:
How does the phone ring the Sky Digibox?

lol

Lucid · 20 Aug 2014

TheVictorian said:
If you have a smart phone then the Sky+ app renders magic eyes useless. I have taken them all out of the house now and just use the phone to control the box.

The smart app is quite neat. The caveats though are the speed of the first connection and the fact that not everyone has a smartphone or has their Sky box hooked up to their router.

The smart app is a good alternative control method. But do I want to dump out of reading emails or chatting on social media just to pause the Sky box? Each to their own of course, but I find that the eyes are a direct, low tech solution that works through the existing wiring infrastructure; and there's a lot to be said for keeping it simple.

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magic eye tvlink

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