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Foxtel on 2 TV's from 1 STB


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Hi, I understand that you can use an AV sender or similar device to be able to watch foxtel (same channel of course) on a second TV. Can someone let me know what I need to do this.

Also, what is the picture quality like. The TV I want to send it to is a HDTV. So will Foxtel be digital quality on both TV's? Can I use the remote from either room? Does the greater distance apart of the TVs effect the setup? Also can Dolby digital sound be transmitted to the other TV as well?

I would appreciate your thoughts or ideas?

Thanks

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It's called a Wireless AV Sender IR repeater and you can pick them up on Ebay for under $100. Dick Smith sell them but i think they're around $150.

Some models you can't use a remote with but there are a few that you can.

Other than that, I don't know much else. I was going to buy one myself but It didn't come with a remote so you had to take the original remote to the other TV if you wanted to change channel on Foxtel..

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what is the picture quality like. The TV I want to send it to is a HDTV. So will Foxtel be digital quality on both TV's? Can I use the remote from either room? Does the greater distance apart of the TVs effect the setup? Also can Dolby digital sound be transmitted to the other TV as well?

AV Senders use composite video, don't expect your HDTV to be used to it's full potential.

Most AV Sender have a IR extender built in.

The more distance or more walls, ceiling, electrical cables etc, will have an effect on the transmission.

If the Dolby Digital sound is via the optical, the answer is no.

Gadget

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I am using an AV sender and it works well considering the signal goes through my tiled bathroom and a storeroom full of boxes and treadmills and other useless sporting equipment to get to the TV. Sometimes a person having a shower might cause some interference.

I use the following setup.

Foxtel STB -> Sony Receiver -> AV sender -> AV reciever -> Stereo -> TV.

Sometimes I could change the channel on the STB and sometimes I couldn't when in the other room. I found that the IR thingy (??) on the AV Sender would sometimes cause interference with the remote on my other systems (expecially my HDTV STB) so I gave up on using it. I could not be bothered moving stuff around to stop this problem.

My other TV is not used for my home theatre so I don't care about great picture quality and the stereo sound is pretty good just to watch MTV or whatever else is broadcast in 4x3 format.

The AV sender is quite good as I have one CD with hours and hours of (my favourite) MP3 tunes on it and I entertain in the other (or any) room. So one CD on my DVD player goes to the Stereo via the receiver, etc.

Much better than running cables and only takes a moment to setup assuming you can get audio out of whatever you are using.

Stephen

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If you are not concerned about Quality and Stereo on the other TV or TV's in my case I use an Uplink from the RF out of the STU. Basically I have an uplink of coax cable that links the RF output of the STU into the House's antenena system. This gives me the ability to watch Foxtel on any TV in the house. I have then added a IR redirector system that sends the IR signals from the other rooms to an emiter attached to the FOxtel box to change the chanels. Works well for me but can be costly for the IR option.

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My Uplink is just a Coax cable that injects the RF signal from the RF output on the FOxtel STU into the main Antena distribution box as another input. In other words I have run a second coax line from the room with the Foxtel Stu up to the House Antena Distribution box and plugged the new coax in as a second Input. This merges the RF output from the STU with the RF signal from the Antena and sends it to the rest of the house.

Quite a few years back I use to run the antenna direct into the Foxtel Box then daisy chain through the VCR the Optus box and then back out to a Distribution box that went to the rest of the house but I just do not have the need to run such complex cabling anymore. Plus when I sold the house the new owner really could not understand all the wiring I had done and could not get a signal in other room than the Cinema. Heee Heee.

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My Uplink is just a Coax cable that injects the RF signal from the RF output on the FOxtel STU into the main Antena distribution box as another input. In other words I have run a second coax line from the room with the Foxtel Stu up to the House Antena Distribution box and plugged the new coax in as a second Input. This merges the RF output from the STU with the RF signal from the Antena and sends it to the rest of the house.

Quite a few years back I use to run the antenna direct into the Foxtel Box then daisy chain through the VCR the Optus box and then back out to a Distribution box that went to the rest of the house but I just do not have the need to run such complex cabling anymore. Plus when I sold the house the new owner really could not understand all the wiring I had done and could not get a signal in other room than the Cinema. Heee Heee.

Thanks for your help. Sorry to sound a little dumb but so I am clear, I assume the main Antena distribution box is up in the roof near where the antena comes in? Does this setup effect watching normal tv on other tv's in the house? I assume once I have set it up all I will need to do is tune the other TVs to the Foxtel frequency.

You said before if I was not bothered with PQ. How does it compare with normal analogue cable on an old TV? Does this setup effect the PQ on the TV with the Foxtel STB?

Many thanks again.

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Given that you have at least 2 outlets coming from presumbly one antenna then the single cable coming from the antenna should be either going through a Splitter box or an Antenna Distribution box or maybe even an amplifier.

The uplink wires in as an input to that splitter box. You may have to change the splitter box to one that accepts 2 inputs.

If you wire it correctly there should be no change in siginal to any of the outlets and should not effect the signal to of your current TV's.

The RF out signal from the STU should be attached to the Uplink. There is no need to plug the RF in to the STU because the siginal for STU comes from either the Cable or Satelite which ever you use.

It should just be a matter of tuning the TV in all other parts of the house into the RF output of the STU.

Keep in mind most of the RF outputs provided by Set Top boxes and add on devices do not transmit stereo so if your requirment is for stereo on the other TV's this will not be your best option

Currently I transmit my Foxtel a Topfield PVR and a Toshiba STB through the uplink. The Topfield is the only unit that struggles on siginal but it offers me other nice options via the RF. Keep in mind you possibly will still get frustrated by not being able to use the Remote control in the other rooms use this method. Thats why I added an IR redirecter system in the house.

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Thanks again Brightestspark,

Your suggestion is the most appealing to me. The other TVs around the house are not stereo so stereo sound on the other TVs is not a concern. I also intend to buy an IR remote extender so I am not frustrated with the remote on the other main TV.

This seems a better approch then using an AV sender as I have a kitchen in between the two main TVs and so I may get interferance from Microwaves and cordless phone (as others have suggested).

Your latest reply suggests I could run both the foxtel STB and say a DVD player into the main antena and that way I could also watch a DVD in another room. If so could I run a coax cable from both the DVd and Foxtel STB into say a 2 to 1 splitter and then run 1 coax cable up to the antena main?

I also assume that there is no electricity circuits involved so it it quite safe for me to rig up.

Cheers

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It is unlikely that the DVD will work via the uplink due to the macromedia piracy prevention. Normally the DVD's do not have an RF option only A/V connections. And if you try plugging the DVD into a A/V connection on a VCR then use the RF connection out of the VCR into the uplink then you get the colour fading in and out which was meant to stop the copying of DVD's.

You should look closely at the costs for example you only need cat5 cable to be able to run Composite Video and Left Right signal from one room to the other may be just as cost effective and this would offer you the option of adding a A/V switch that could select between inputs such as the DVD.STU,PVR and STB. The a/v switches you can get these days are quite good and even come with a Remote.

Or you could run an A/V uplink that connects to an RF converter that injects signal into the Antenea system at the Antenna distribution box. Pleanty of options. Look I started installing the Uplink option in my house in 1979 when I bought my first VCR and relised the benifits. In those days all my friends use to marvel at how I could watch the VCR in any room and could not work out how did it. The only problem was there were no IR extenders in those days. So you had to run into the other room to start the VCR. And yes the advantage with the above option is no power involved and reasonably easy to setup. Use good quality connections and cable and you will not loose signal or quality.

Now days I use a R/F uplink to the antenna I take the RF out from a PVR and the STU. I also convert the house security camera into RF and inject it into the Uplink.

In addition I have A-Bus cabling throughout the house for sound running off the second zone of the amplifier. I have 2 lan connections from the office to the home cinema. I plan to use one of the lan connections to use the PC in the office as a music server for the Amplifier the a-bus provides all the i/r connections from each room and for good measure I have run a full a/v connection to the bedroom so I can watch DVD's in bed using the Second zone option on the amplifier as the switching device. Ohh yes and just to confuse matters I have 2 Foxtel STU's in the house so each has to have a different RF channel or the interfere with each other.

I must admit I am keen to try RF as an option instead of IR but as yet I am still a little concerned with price and flexability.

Anyway one question I do have what city do you live in and do you think your antenna has a Mast head amplifier and also how many Antenna outlets do you have running off the same antenna

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Just a quick note on these  av senders.

On the old foxtel sat boxes the av sender worked brillantly at changing channels as well, but with the new digital boxes it will not let you change channels any more.

Angelo

I thought you could use a remote through an IR extender with the new foxtel digital STB. If not I will have to retink my whole setup! The kids will be pretty pissed off.

Is anyone out there tried or using an av sender or IR extender with a digital foxtel remote? Does it work? I am on cable.

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There is a little bit of an issue with the IR codes on some IR extenders. For example it works fine through my Zantech system but does not work through my A-Bus IR. I thought it was just the Universal but after checking by using the Foxtel remote I found it to be the IR sensor. On the A-bus that was at fault. It certainly is not the emiters because the A-bus system is using the same emiters as the Zantech. Before you buy the extender check that it can redirect the Foxtel remote.

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Hi people, I have had the digitor giga-air 20/20 for a while and are using the ir extender for the foxtel box (digital). the ir extender works fine, it just took a while to fine tune. make sure your receivers ir port is getting the signal from the remote, flush-on. hope this helps. cheers Paul, in fat cat city.

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Sorry guys I am still a little bit confused.

If I go the Av sender option, I am wondering how does it connect up. I want to use scart to s video to my HDTV (to get good PQ). Do I use the phono jack or RF lead from the foxtel stu to the av sender? Will 2 connection on the STU output similtaneously?

Again with the uplink method what are my connections at the back of the foxtel stu and what leads will I need? My antena main box splits the antenia feed into 3 others (3 TVs). There is not 2 inputs so I will need to get a box with 2 inputs and 3 outputs. I have not been able to find one.

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Most of the Mastehead splitters allow 2 inputs with about 4 outputs. This is so you can merge the signals from 2 antenna's. Reasonably common where I live becasue they merge the signal from a Woolongong antenna with the signal from a Sydney TV antenna to output the signal to the mutiple house outlets.

I was looking at a Display home the other week that had a Antenna Distribution box setup in the Linen cupboard that had 3 Inputs with 5 outputs feeding the rest of the house.

But anyway if all else fails you could do the following.

Run a Single coax cable direct from the Antenna to the room with the Foxtel box in.

Then plug the cable that currently provides the signal to that room into the input side of the splitter box in the roof that used to contain the antenna connection.

This will become your uplink. At this point you will have strong Antenna signal into the room with the foxtel box and no signal at all in the rest of the house.

Next you plug the Coax that is coming from the Antenna connection into the RF in connector on the HD box and connect the RF out to the RF in on Foxtel box. Then you connect the RF out from the Foxtel box to the coax connector that has become the Uplink. So what you should end up with is.

Antenna to HD -RF in

HD RD out to Foxtel RF in.

Foxtel RF out to Uplink -

Uplink to Splitter box

Splitter box to rest of the house.

Dependent on the lengths and your signal strength you should end up with the desired result. Becuause the RF option to the rest of the house it leaves the connection on the STU to be your choice S/Video etc

With the foxtel box if you change the output to S-Video then svideo is output from both Scarts on the back as S-Video. I am not sure but I do not think you can get an A/V sender with S-Video inputs.

I hope this is a bit clearer but I am sure you may get a bit confused. Have you thought of calling your local antenna installers to ask advice. It may not cost as you think to get it done properly. Or at least they caould give you some ideas or even sell you the parts you need.

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I took the plunge and bought a Digitor AV Sender from Dick Smith Electronics for $148 .... it wirelessly sends the Foxtel broadcast to another TV in the house. It can only send a composite signal though (not S-video or RGB) but it is still a cheap way of viewing Foxtel on a second TV.

Composite (yellow, red & white) leads run between the Transmitter and the source TV or VCR, and between the Receiver and the second TV or VCR. A tiny satellite dish-style antenna sends the AV signal from the Transmitter to the Receiver.

It is all very easy to connect, and it works.

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