Communal dishes

My parents have just moved into a flat in sheltered accommodation, which has
a communal dish. They have a single inlet in their flat from the dish. Is
it possible for them to have Skyplus? I wondered if there was a way of
sending the two signals down the one wire using multiplexing (if that's the
correct terminology).

I know that Sky customer services should be able to answer this, but judging
by the usual people thee, I though I may get a better answer from the
experts on here!

--
Keith Porter

"Keith Porter" wrote in message
.co.uk...
My parents have just moved into a flat in sheltered accommodation, which
has
a communal dish. They have a single inlet in their flat from the dish.
Is
it possible for them to have Skyplus?

yes but no.....they can have Sky+ but only on one input, they couldnt record
one channel and watch another at the same time. There are also some
complications to do with recordings , which can mean its v difficult to know
if they will work. There are ways round this such as, IIRC it has to be set
up on the same channel in advance before a recording can be guaranteed to be
successful. Consensus on digitalspy is that its too complex for the
'technically challenged'.

I wondered if there was a way of
sending the two signals down the one wire using multiplexing (if that's
the
correct terminology).


Not in their situation where they dont control the dish/LNB, cabling etc.
Sky are rumoured to be bringing out an update which is 'single feed
friendly' to remove these complications but that will only fix the
complexity and cant allow the record one/watch another feature.

--
Tumbleweed

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tumbleweednews at hotmail dot com

"Keith Porter" wrote in message
.co.uk...
My parents have just moved into a flat in sheltered accommodation, which
has
a communal dish. They have a single inlet in their flat from the dish.
Is
it possible for them to have Skyplus? I wondered if there was a way of
sending the two signals down the one wire using multiplexing (if that's
the
correct terminology).

I know that Sky customer services should be able to answer this, but
judging
by the usual people thee, I though I may get a better answer from the
experts on here!

--
Keith Porter

The cable is also used to control the LNB by the digibox. The LNB has to be
switched to particular settings to receive each channel. Each tuner needs to
control it's own LNB so SKY+ requires two cables.

"John Russell" wrote in message
...

"Keith Porter" wrote in message
.co.uk...
My parents have just moved into a flat in sheltered accommodation, which
has
a communal dish. They have a single inlet in their flat from the dish.
Is
it possible for them to have Skyplus? I wondered if there was a way of
sending the two signals down the one wire using multiplexing (if that's
the
correct terminology).

I know that Sky customer services should be able to answer this, but
judging
by the usual people thee, I though I may get a better answer from the
experts on here!

--
Keith Porter

The cable is also used to control the LNB by the digibox. The LNB has to
be switched to particular settings to receive each channel. Each tuner
needs to control it's own LNB so SKY+ requires two cables.

In this situation each digibox is fooled into seeing it's own LNB. You
actually have a distributor which receives all 4 possible LNB settings
simultaneously, and routes a copy of the appropriate one to each digibox as
required.

"John Russell" wrote:


"John Russell" wrote in message
...

"Keith Porter" wrote in message
.co.uk...
My parents have just moved into a flat in sheltered accommodation,
which has a communal dish. They have a single inlet in their flat
from the dish. Is it possible for them to have Skyplus? I wondered if
there was a way of sending the two signals down the one wire using
multiplexing (if that's the correct terminology).

I know that Sky customer services should be able to answer this, but
judging by the usual people thee, I though I may get a better answer
from the experts on here!

-- Keith Porter

The cable is also used to control the LNB by the digibox. The LNB has to
be switched to particular settings to receive each channel. Each tuner
needs to control it's own LNB so SKY+ requires two cables.

In this situation each digibox is fooled into seeing it's own LNB. You
actually have a distributor which receives all 4 possible LNB settings
simultaneously, and routes a copy of the appropriate one to each digibox
as required.


Thanks for the replies - pretty much as I expected. I knew that Skyplus
would work with one input as I took mine to my daughters when I stopped
between house moving. Definitely not to be recommended, especially for me
eldery parents.

Looking at John's mention of the distributor, if there is any spare capacity
in the distributor, I presume it would technically be possible to take an
extra line from it round the outside of the flat and in as they would do in
a normal installation? Would Sky charge the earth for it? I guess it also
depends on whether it would be allowed under the tenancy agreement as well.
--
Keith Porter