Answered Freeview with a HD distribution system

eefadaly

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Hello,

I am looking for advice on how to set up a BT YouView box with my existing HD tv distribution system.

The system currently has a Sky+ box, but I have cancelled my Sky subscription and want to install a Youview box in it’s place. However I believe it may not be as simple as this! Here is my current set up:

The Sky+ box is in a cupboard on the landing and is connected to my wireless router. There is an HDMI cable from the sky box to a HD Anywhere 1x4 Splitter hub which is also in the cupboard. From here the sky HD signal is fed over Cat5 cabling to multiple TVs around the house.

There are also coax cables running from the normal freeview aerial and the Sky box (eg RF out) into a Remotelink A2120D box, which is also in the cupboard. From here this is fed over coax around the house to the various TVs. My (limited) understanding is that this distributes the freeview as well as the Sky IR signal - which allows us to use the sky remote at each of the TVs.

Behind each TV there is a little box receiving the Sky HD signal (over 2 cat5 cables). This converts to a single HDMI which is connected to the TV. Also behind each TV is the coax cable carrying the freeview signal (and sky IR?) which connects to a little antiference device. This device has a little ‘magic eye’ which is pinned under the tv and recognises the Sky remote.

This all works superbly with the Sky box at the moment, but my limited research suggests that I can’t simply plug in the youview box in place of the sky - the main issue being there is no RF Out on the youview box, so I would not be able to send the IR signal to each of the TVs.

Can anyone advise how I could amend this setup to make it work with a youview box? I want to use my existing cabling as this is all buried in the walls and I don’t want to have to run anything new. I don’t have any requirement to watch different channels in different rooms, I just want to be able to watch YouView in any room in full HD using the YouView remote.

Apologies in advance if my terminology is not very correct, I am very new to this and don’t yet trust what I have learned via google!

Thanks.
 
The HD cat 5 system should work as before.

You need to replace the Sky box internal modulator with a external one that also supports magic eyes.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/TRI-LINK-C...D=41t%2BqDmUluL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

This diagram shows the setup with a Youview box (The UHF channel numbers are based on Crystal Palace). If not on Crystal Palace yours will be different.

There is only a single remote TV shown in your case RF2 out connects to the magic eye compatible distribution amplifier,

TriLink.jpg
 
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Jolly handy diagram that GLT.:D
 
Jolly handy diagram that GLT.:D

Indeed - very common question from those ditching Sky. :)

All down to you asking :clap:
 
Hi grahamlthompson, thank you for your response and for the detailed diagram, this is a huge help.

For my particular setup, there will be some slight deviations from your diagram - is the following correct?

  1. The BT box HDMI out would connect to my HD Anywhere distribution box - this will distribute YouView to all TVs.
  2. I wouldn’t need to connect to anything from the BT box RF out (because the box is in a cupboard so I’m not connecting it directly to a TV).
  3. The Triax RF2 Out would connect to my Remotelink which will distribute the BT box IR over coax to all the TVs.
  4. Behind each TV the coax connects to an IR dongle and this will then capture the IR from my YouView remote. But the YouView signal itself will come into the TV from the HDMI (via cat5) from the HD Anywhere distribution box.
Have I understood?

Thanks.
 
Hi grahamlthompson, thank you for your response and for the detailed diagram, this is a huge help.

For my particular setup, there will be some slight deviations from your diagram - is the following correct?

  1. The BT box HDMI out would connect to my HD Anywhere distribution box - this will distribute YouView to all TVs.
  2. I wouldn’t need to connect to anything from the BT box RF out (because the box is in a cupboard so I’m not connecting it directly to a TV).
  3. The Triax RF2 Out would connect to my Remotelink which will distribute the BT box IR over coax to all the TVs.
  4. Behind each TV the coax connects to an IR dongle and this will then capture the IR from my YouView remote. But the YouView signal itself will come into the TV from the HDMI (via cat5) from the HD Anywhere distribution box.
Have I understood?

Thanks.

Seems fine to me. However if you don't need to use magic eyes for remote control a TV splitter and a standard modulator will send the BT box output as a UHF PAL analogue channel.

RF TV Modulator UHF Channel 21-69 Scart CCTV to Coaxial TV + Stereo RCA Audio | eBay
 
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