What cable for tv point from outside

[cider]

Im sure its been done to death …….but what cable/s should I install from one side of living room to other for a tv ? I have ceilings down etc so now is the right time. Will be cable or satellite tv. Maybe free view.

Thanks

 

[Lucid]

Freeview is easy. It's just a single good-quality coax: Webro WF100, Triax TX100, Labgear PF100; an all copper 75 Ohm RG6-sized coax. The other end will link up with your TV aerial.

Sky satellite, Freesat, Virgin Media cable TV are all slightly trickier in that each service uses a recorder box which generally lives somewhere near the TV. They're close to the TV for a couple of reasons.

First, it's so that the IR control beam can hit the box. That's not essential though because there are ways to relay IR commands picked up by an IR receiver and then transported (usually via a piece of cable) to a box which then repeats the signal. Sky Q went with what amounts to a Bluetooth/wireless remote so that the box can live in a cupboard out of sight.

The other very good reason for keeping the box relatively close to the TV is 4K streaming. It's built in to so many devices now. Both Sky and Virgin package 4K streaming as part of their services, so there's a good chance you'll be sending 4K signals over a HDMI cable. That's where you'll hit a snag. Short 4K-compatible HDMI cables are relatively cheap. The ones that need to cross a whole room though.... yeah, they're a hell of a lot of money, and especially so if you want to make use of the fab and groovy extra colour and higher dynamic range that's available in streaming content from Netflix, Amazon, Disney+ and Apple TV.

So... what's your plan. How much cable to you envisage will be needed from any box location to the TV? Let's go from there.

 

[cider]

Thanks for your comprehensive reply! See photos. Basically the indoor shots are opposite corners. Room is around 4/5 mtrs square. The outside shot is just outside where there are 2 sockets. Tv going above where there are 3 sockets. One being a cable outlet for tv etc

 

[Lucid]

It looks like your property is wired for cable TV already, so that's a start point. VM used to be fussy about what cable can be used. I would still recommend a triple-shielded coax - Webro HD100 / HD100 Ultra - which is now better than the triple-shielded coax that VM are using. Theirs uses an aluminium & Mylar shield whereas Webro HD100 is all copper. The triple shielding is important to VM because their signal is more sensitive to noise. Also, if/when you come to have VM installed then they can't quibble about cable quality.

HD100 / HD100 Ultra is available in cut lengths from eBay.

If you take VM's broadband then the incoming coax is split two ways. One leg feeds the VM TV box, the other feeds the VM cable modem (which is likely to include router and wireless features, so that's how you get Ethernet and Wi-Fi. If you want the router somewhere other than under the TV then now is the time to plan that. Put in the extra cable to accommodate this. You will also need an Ethernet cable from the router position to the VM box. This is used for some streaming features and also for comms from the box back to Virgin.

For Freeview it's just a single WF100 or equivalent. You could use a run of the HD100. The single run will support a multi-tuner recorder and the TV. You'd need to run an RF cable as a link from the recorder position to the TV position if you wanted to have the TV receive its own Freeview signal.

SkyQ needs two feeds of WF100 from wherever the dish will be located. Look at your neighbours properties to see where Sky's installers have mounted the dishes. Freesat is the same if you want a recorder (two cables) rather than just a TV/receiver which only requires a single cable. You'll also need a HDMI cable between the box and the TV

Cable list at the TV point:
Virgin Media - HD100/HD100 Ultra x 1
Virgin Media - Ethernet cable (Cat5e / Cat6) x 1
(VM box to TV) - 4K-capable HDMI cable if you want to show 4K content from the box on to the TV

Freeview - WF100 or equivalent
(Freeview recorder to TV) - RF loop-through cable made from WF100 or eqiv + 1x HDMI cable to view the recorder content (go 4K for future-proofing)
Ethernet or Wi-Fi network connection

Sky Q/Freesat - 2 x WF100 or equivalent
(Sky box to TV) - 4K-capable HDMI cable if you want to show 4K content from the box on to the TV
Ethernet or Wi-Fi network connection

TV's own streaming apps - Ethernet or Wi-Fi
TV with Freesat built-in - this will use a legacy LNB or Quad LNB. Each TV with its own Freesat receiver needs a direct feed from the LNB on the end of the dish. Before you ask, no, the signal can't be split. LNBs work differently to TV aerials. If you're having Sky Q installed then request a hybrid LNB. This has the twin wideband output feed for Sky Q and 4x legacy outputs suitable for Freesat TVs and basic Freesat receiver boxes.


That looks like a lot of cables, but several overlap in function: SkyQ/Freesat for example. Much depends too on how you approach the connections outside the house. You could have any combination of cables coming to an adaptable box mounted on the outside wall in which say 3 x HD100 coax feeds terminate from the TV point. As your services change you could simply swap over, so last week say you had VM, but your new service is Freesat so you have the two wideband LNB feeds connected instead.