Combining Austar with FTA.

[viewer]

Gee, they are not cheap are they....I must get out more often!!!!

[Wimma]

OP, did you have any ethernet to your rooms?
I've been looking at RF distribution options also, and some of it seems very pricey
I also started looking at a HD box (or something with HDMI out) and then a HDMI matrix or similar.
Looks to be comparable dollars, but for a HD digital version.
Just a thought.

[admin]

Multi room is only another $15-$20 a month......you would have to work out whether its worth it.

[gordon_s1942]

I did this more than 15 years ago long before I knew of Austech and what I was doing (and still dont) by running cables everywhere with amplified splitters and amazingly it mostly worked.
The FTA (analog) was hit and miss due to my deep fringe location so I was more interested in the PayTV signal.

Eventually I found out about AV room senders with their IR pass through option and now the PayTV is connected to a sender to cover two locations.
The FTA (now Digital) still uses the originally installed cables/amped splitters etc and again works mostly by good luck rather than knowledge.
When I bought the majority of the splitters etc, the word 'Digital' meant the Index finger raised in a rude gesture !!
Knowing what I do today (not a lot still) I would be very reluctant to start from scratch as I did then so in my case, Ignorance paid off which doesnt often happen.
***********
As a cheap option for multi room, I have the PayTV STB in the lounge ('Titan'), the RCA jacks run to an AV sender (5.8Ghz) with the receiver in the Bedroom and and we can watch Pay TV in bed and change channels.
I also have a 2nd AV receiver in the kitchen so one cost is the last cost.

[mtv]

Thanks mtv. So the tri-link is the basic low quality method I assume?
Could you suggest some locally available (as in sold in Aus) digital modulator and combiners please?
Google says some have the remote IR feeds too, which would be ideal.
One channel shared is fine - not worth investing in another room yet.

Wimma,

This is a typical single HDMI input digital modulator with IR return path capability.



There are cheaper versions which have composite AV inputs, but the picture quality is inferior.

Personally, I think the cost of distributing a single Foxtel box is not worth it.

In my opinion, distributing the satellite signal and having separate decoders is not only cheaper, but gives you the flexibility of watching different Foxtel channels in each room with a decoder.

Keep in mind too, that eventually, TV's will no longer have analogue tuners, so all those analogue distribution systems in homes, hospitals, clubs, apartment complexes etc, will all have to be upgraded to digital modulation.

[under-]

Ok. After a bit of fiddling I've got both TVs working the best since the RF run was done. I found that ch 32 - 555.25mhz seems to produce the sharpest picture on both TVs. I checked out my channel frequencies as per MTV. Here they are -

585.50
592.50
599.50
690.50
711.50

My garage tv would pick up all rf outs from channel 21-69. The kitchen wouldn't pick up anything under channel 27. And became fuzzy over 45. So I can say the kitchen tv (toshiba) is fitted with a shitty tuner compared to the garage (Panasonic).

Signal wise - The garage is as good as running directly from the rf out of decoder. The kitchen is better than before, a little less sharp than the garage, but I'm putting it down to the kitchen being a LCD and having a weaker tuner over the plasma in the garage. The only thing I can notice every now and then is little white dots (artifacts) being produced in both garage and kitchen TVs. I would like to know what it is, but this doesn't faze me.

I'll see how it goes for now instead of purchasing an amplifiers. It's good enough and am happy to leave as it.

I really appreciate the time spent from all the contributors to this discussion. Your input has been invaluable. Many thanks.

[under-]

OP, did you have any ethernet to your rooms?
I've been looking at RF distribution options also, and some of it seems very pricey
I also started looking at a HD box (or something with HDMI out) and then a HDMI matrix or similar.
Looks to be comparable dollars, but for a HD digital version.
Just a thought.

No Ethernet here mate. That's why I went the rf option.

[mtv]

... The only thing I can notice every now and then is little white dots (artifacts) being produced in both garage and kitchen TVs. I would like to know what it is, but this doesn't faze me.

When viewing an analogue signal (as per the RF out of an analogue modulator) the little white dots, especially if they appear in bands across the screen, are the result of impulse noise interference.

This can be from power lines, electric motors, etc.

This type of interference can be picked up from the TV antenna and/or antenna cabling, or via the mains power.

Amplifiers will also amplify noise.

As your FTA channels are all UHF, you should only use a UHF amp, as impulse noise is greatest at VHF (and lower) frequencies.

Even though your channels are UHF, once impulse noise is in the system, it's extremely difficult to remove, so prevention is the best policy.

Impulse noise interference can cause pixelation and in bad cases, complete loss of digital reception as it causes corruption of the digital data stream. (eg: increased BER).

Good to hear you made an acceptable improvement though, under-.

[Wimma]

Thanks gents. Think I may end up getting foxtel on T-Box.
Edit: no multiroom with that either apparently - need to pay the $15 to use on another device (service locked to one only). Bah!
Bit easier to add on if you have tv & ethernet points already, but still costs.

Think it would otherwise be best to do an analog RF system really cheap (like the triax tri-link), or invest in a proper digital one.
Be interesting to see what comes of the HDbaseT standard, and distribution options.
Thanks for the feedback gents.