Query about getting sky, ordinary existing aerial, old house....

twirlagig

Hi all,
Not sure of what way to word this, so bear with me

Have a friend who, at the moment, only has the standard few channels with her 'ordinary' aerial (Rte1, Rte2, Tv3, Tg4, BBC1, BBC2 and Utv)... She has a wonky dvd recorder that has never worked right from day one. I just mentioned to her would she not consider getting sky in, sky+ in fact... as the recording facility is so good on it etc, not to mention the variety of channels she'd have.
She said she asked someone about this before and was told because of wiring issues etc, it would be a nightmare. Her existing aerial is on the roof, ok, and the 'aerial point' on the wall where she has her tv connected to now is basically in the centre of the house... Next to the chimney breast.
What's the procedure then for getting sky installed? Do they have to run new cables from point a to point b? Or can they use her 'aerial point' on the wall now? I just ask this, because I got sky installed for my mam and I don't remember there being any hassle etc at the time.
Any thoughts folks?

Cantona's Collars

The Sky installer will run brand new cables from the dish to the box,no need to worry about the mess of existing cables.

twirlagig

zerks wrote: »

no need to worry about the mess of existing cables.

Thanks zerks, but I think it's the NEW cables mess she is worried about!

Cantona's Collars

twirlagig wrote: »

Thanks zerks, but I think it's the NEW cables mess she is worried about!

There won't be a mess-My living room is set up something the same and I simply have the cables through the wall at the back of the tv.She already has one cable there so another one beside it won't make any difference.:)
Some people get too obsessed about seeing cables everywhere.;)

watty

The cereal packs on the kitchen shelf hide the router, 2 x Gigabit switches, 20 cat5e cables, 8 coax cables and TV distribution amp. The UPS and router are a bit visible though (UPS keeps the Wireless Broadband, router, switches, DECT phone base (via Wireless BB VOIP) and server running during power cuts.

I just added 3 x Cat5e and USB from outdoor shed (PC with remote and HDMI, with 2x sat cards and dual USB TV, 3 more coax) to living room HDTV. You can't see the cables behind TV stand

twirlagig

watty wrote: »

The cereal packs on the kitchen shelf hide the router, 2 x Gigabit switches, 20 cat5e cables, 8 coax cables and TV distribution amp. The UPS and router are a bit visible though (UPS keeps the Wireless Broadband, router, switches, DECT phone base (via Wireless BB VOIP) and server running during power cuts.

I just added 3 x Cat5e and USB from outdoor shed (PC with remote and HDMI, with 2x sat cards and dual USB TV, 3 more coax) to living room HDTV. You can't see the cables behind TV stand

I said I didn't know exactly how to word it, remember?!? ha ha

drBill

If she has just the standard free Irish and UK channels, and her only requirement is to record them, then she might want to compromise by getting a Freesat system such as the Humax Foxsat HDR rather than Sky+.
It would work out miles cheaper than sky because it's a once off purchase with no monthly subscription fee thereafter.

The only real catch is that it will not pick up or record the Irish channels. For the moment her existing telly will continue to receive them as before, but without the ability to record. And in the next year or so as the analogue signals for the Irish channels are switched off, she may also lose these channels. At that point she would need another decoder or a different TV to receive the Irish channels via digital broadcast. There are numerous discussions on boards about this so I won't go into it here - just search for Saorview or Saorsat. Admittedly this might be hassle but again miles cheaper than paying €25+ to Sky every month for the rest of her days.

Cantona's Collars

Getting fta/saorview=more cables,that's all the op was worried about.As we stated the cables will be discreetly hidden behind the tv.

drBill

zerks wrote: »

Getting fta/saorview=more cables,that's all the op was worried about.As we stated the cables will be discreetly hidden behind the tv.

Actually the whole fta/saorview thing is a bit off topic - and was introduced by my bad self, so lets disregard that.

So sticking with the cabling issue: the telly is in the 'centre of the house' which I take to mean is away from an exterior wall. And from what I gather, it's currently connected to a coax plate or the like on the chimney breast. The pre-existing cabling may or may not be suitable for a satellite signal but (a) there is probably only a single coax cable and (b) it may not be up to spec. So, most installers will refuse to even touch it.

Personally I think the answer to the OP's original question is that the sky installer will probably not re-use the existing aerial point+cable in the chimney. More likely they will instead run a pair of cables from the dish through a hole in the exterior wall, along the skirting and into the sky box. There won't be an armload of extra wires behind the telly, but there will be visible wires along one wall of the room. If you don't object to the hole in the outside wall and the cables running along your skirting then all should be fine. (In fact the same thing applies whether you opt for Sky or Freesat.)