Viewing Virgin Tivo in another room?

[Akshay]

Hi, my parents bought a wireless extender to view TV in the kitchen from a Tivo box in the lounge. It worked ok for about a year but now there is constant hissing on the screen. The picture seems fine the noise makes it impossible to view.

Is there an alternative, more reliable wireless extender available? The current one is called "digisender".

If not wireless can it be extended physically? If so what output do these Tivo boxes have?

 

[Lucid]

First things first... Have you checked to make sure the TV's sound works okay with a normal aerial or DVD feed? Second; most of the basic video senders have a selection switch for two or three different frequencies. Check the rear panel on each device. It may be that changing the frequency helps move the signal away from whatever the source of the interference is.

Products such as that Digisender are the cheap and cheerful solution to distributing TV around the house. The tick the average Joe's boxes....

1) simple to install

2) allows remote control of the source box

3) doesn't cost much


There's a step-up range of products along the same lines: Still wireless, but use a higher frequency (5GHz as opposed to 2.4GHz). This means they have a little more immunity to wireless interference.

The thing is though that these are still just a medium term solution. Wireless is used by a lot of equipment. The 5Ghz wireless is now pretty standard for a lot of product. So the crowding problems that forced the change from 2.4 to 5 will also affect 5Ghz sometime in the not too distant future. However, unless you're prepared to run cable then a wireless sender - even a 5Ghz one - is still going to be the cheapest/easiest solution.


If you're happy to run TV coax to the two other sets then there's a clever little box called a Tri-Link http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/trilink.htm that hooks up to the SCART socket on the TiVo and then sends picture and sound to the other TVs. It also does the remote relay thing. That's done by adding some Sky Eyes. These are little infra-red receivers for each remote TV location. They have a plug and socket arrangment so they connect inline with the aerial cable to each TV. That's how the IR signals get back to the TiVo box; back down the aerial cable.

Before going any further you do need to check that the two remote TVs have an analogue tuner each. i.e. they could pick up the old BBC1/BBC2/ITV/Ch4 etc before the move to digital. The simple way to do this is from the tuning menu. If you have options for both digital and analogue then you're set.

The Tri-link kit plus a suitable splitter/amplifier to distribute to more than 1 TV and a couple of Sky Eyes will set you back about £100. The cost might be lower if you have a suitable existing TV aerial splitter/amp.

Beyond this the costs rise considerably, but so does the quality. It is possible to distribute HD quality to all the TVs.

 

[Akshay]

Hi Lucid thanks for your comprehensive reply.

The DVD feed is fine. There is no aerial connection anymore as the roof aerial feed was damaged somewhere up the roof so getting a remote feed from the TiVo box is crucial. There is only the one remote tv I want to connect to.

The tv is high up on on a wall in the kitchen so running a coaxial cable will be messy as it will be seen so was ideally trying to avoid that solution.

 

[Sam Gangee]

Typical life of unprotected coaxial cable outdoors is 10 years. It doesn't last forever and should really be replaced at a convenient time BEFORE the "typical" life is reached - otherwise you'll end up having to replace it at an inconvenient time. Currently, the ideal cable to use is WF100. Every telly addict should have a working aerial, if only as a backup.

Indoor cables can be hidden by routing behind plasterboard or in square channel with a cover that unclips (to facilitate easy replacement). Alternatively, it can be hidden behind a "feature" such as a painting, venetian blind, or simply painted.

Wireless solutions can work but, because their signal is so weak, often suffer from interference. If they don't suffer right away, you can be sure they will do so in the future when you (or a neighbour) buy some new gadget, low-energy bulb or similar.

Since the strength of the signal is limited by law, whatever you buy will produce the same, weak signal.

BTW I didn't understand your description "hissing on the screen" followed by the suggestion that the picture is OK. The picture on the screen is either OK or it isn't, so which is it?

How is everything connected? Scart plugs are notorious for coming loose so make sure all plugs are tight and, if that doesn't help, try replacing the associated cable(s).

 

[Akshay]

Guys this is really beep ginning to annoy me now! Spent the best of of this morning routing a coaxial cable thought from the lounge TiVo box, through the kitchen out into the garden on a short run then up to the tv location on the wall.

I bought one of these based on a piston anoth forum.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mercury-Universal-Scart-Modulator-ILS102/dp/B004HTFDBQ

Once connected up I get a perfect picture but the sound is of interference/hissing. This is the exact issue I had before with the wireless digisender.

I connected up a DVD player via a scart connection and it played fine, no hissing so unsure what's going on here!

The only thing I can think is that perhaps the coaxial socket on the tv is faulty but without a coaxial to scart adaptor I can't really check that possibility.

Any other advice guys? Only got tonight and tomorrow morning to sort this before I return home. Only at my parents about once a month.

For information the TV is an old Samsung LE26R74BD

 

[Sam Gangee]

I might have the answer - PAL - but please answer my questions.

 

[Akshay]

I might have the answer - PAL - but please answer my questions.

Hi the picture is perfect. The sound can only be described as hissing. TV sound and picture works perfect from a DVD player connected via scart.

The modulator linked to above is connected to the back of my TiVo box via a scart lead. The tv then connects via a scart using the output side of the modulator because the main tv in the lounge is a rear projection so only scart or RCA inputs.

Don't even have a spare tv anyway to eliminate a faulty coaxial input on the kitchen tv!

 

[Sam Gangee]

I don't understand your description. The RF modulator has a Scart input and an RF output, which uses coaxial cable. Please try describing your connections again. I'm almost certain this is a PAL setting problem.

 

[Akshay]

Hi sorry I'm pretty rubbish at explaining myself in this heat.

If you can spare the time to read this link you'll see how the modulator is meant to link up.

https://www.chsinteractive.co.uk/pdf_data/S350111.pdf

If I can get this working tonight I'd be grateful but seeing as incoherent sound problem was there before with the digisender I'm thinking there is a problem with the tv.

 

[Sam Gangee]

I know how an RF modulator is supposed to connect up. What I'm trying to ascertain is how YOU have connected it. How have you connected the RF output to the TV and how have you tuned it in?

 

[Akshay]

I know how an RF modulator is supposed to connect up. What I'm trying to ascertain is how YOU have connected it. How have you connected the RF output to the TV and how have you tuned it in?

Hi yes I have connected up as per the guide. The RF output from the modulator has been connected via a newly run coaxial cable which ends at the aerial input of the tv.

I then tuned the tv using the auto tune option and it picked up the various channels from the modulator which I could see in the channel manager of the tv (21 through to 69).

I set the channel on the modulator to 46 which corresponded on the tv to channel 15.

I hope that helps.

 

[Sam Gangee]

There aren't "various channels"; just one, which you have set to 46.

Make sure the TV audio mode is set to PAL-I.

 

[Sam Gangee]

Also make sure the TIVO audio mode is set to PAL-I.

 

[Sam Gangee]

Also make sure your TIVO audio is not set for Dolby Digital.

 

[Akshay]

Thanks i will try your suggestions now.