freesat

Hi, im a bit of a technophobe,
i have a built-in freesat/freeview hd tv (sony)
also in the house is another tv connected to sky via a sattelite dish,
can i connect my sony tv to the existing dish, therefore using the freesat facility without dispruption to the other tv, im guessing i could connect my aerial into a connector along with the sky viewed tv aerial then connect to the dish, would this work??

Thanks

Freesat can work off your Sky dish. What you need is one extra cable direct from the dish to the Freesat socket on your TV. There's no other way to connect that will work without messing up what you already have. It's the extra cables or forget it.

The above assumes you have some spare connectors off the satellite dish. If you have Sky Plus or Sky HD installed and only have two wires from the dish then you will definitely have two extra connectors available for use. If you have an older Sky installation with just a single wire from the dish then you'll need to go look if there's any extra sockets. Some installs had an LNB (the thing that the wires connect to on the dish) with two sockets, some older Sky Digital instals had LNBs with only one socket. LNBs with extra sockets are available online and in stores. Google for more info.

The above is the cheapest way to get your freesat working. Yes, it's possible to buy splitters and fancy gadgets that will let one dish wire feed two displays but...
___A) they limit your channel choice because Satellite isn't the same as TV aerials so you can't just split a signal - It won't work the same,

___B) these splitters are designed for blocks of flats with communal satellite systems so they are more expensive than getting some extra wire put in.

Satellite cable and the appropriate connectors are available on-line, in shops (aerial suppliers, Screwfix, Maplin, B&Q, etc) and via your local aerial installers. If you haven't got the gear to drill walls and get up ladders, or you are just worried that you'll mess up when fiddling with the satellite dish then getting an aerial installer to do the job would be the safest bet.

Freesats channel coverage is very similar to Freeview. There are a few channel differences. Go online and check out the TV listings to see where the channel differences are and if they are important to you.

Thank you,

Your reply is much appreciated, i`ll check the dish for connection & go from there, its not sky hd but was only fitted last year, access isnt too bad as i can to it from on top of a flat roof without too much of a problem.

Thanks again.

I have a similar question. Currently I have a sky+ box and a sky HD box both running off a single dish supplied by sky about 4 years ago. I would now like to put a freesat twin tuner recorder in my kitchen. Can I run two extra cables from my dish or do I need an extra dish?

Cheers

Your existing dish will probablly have a quad LNB so won't have any spare outputs. Your best bet in that case will probablly be to replace the LNB on your dish

octo LNB for sky dish: http://www.satcure.co.uk/accs/octo_sky_lnb.htm

Another option is to use a multiswitch that can drive a quad LNB (most multiswitches need a QUATTRO LNB but some can work with a QUAD LNB) but this isn't a cheap or simple option (however it does let you get more than 8 outputs which may be helpful if you want to add more boxes in the future), it can also degrade signal quality (for this reason multiswitches are normally used with dishes a bit larger than a typical sky dish). With a multiswitch you take FOUR feeds from the LNB to the multiswitch (A lnb can be in four "modes" so with four cables it can get everything from the dish) and then wire your receivers from the multiswitch. Many (including the one linked below) can mix in terrestrial signals as well if you wish. Multiswitches will need mains power and protection from the elements (you often see grey cabinets used for this on blocks of flats, in a house i'd probablly put it in the loft)

16 output multiswitch that can drive a quad LNB http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/search/productdetail.jsp?sku=AP01883