# Is this possible



## jimdunleavy (Mar 15, 2005)

At the moment I have a Tivo in the living room with a standard digibox attached to a Plasma screen with an AV amp, upstairs there is a SKY+ box driving a LCD display, would it be possible to also have the sky+ available downstairs in the living room, i.e. program recoreded on sky+ visible on the downstairs plasma, could I use the RF output of the + into the RF in on the plasma, I realise that the quality would not be the best, is there a device that can use CAT5 as this is installed all over the house, I would also need to control the sky+ from downstairs as well.


Regards

Jim


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## andyjenkins (Jul 29, 2001)

Sky's TV Link should do what you want. It will use RF as you quote, and give you the remote control of your + box upstairs.

I guess you could also feed this into TiVo, then out to the Plasma, permitting TiVo to control the plaback (not sure though).


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## jimdunleavy (Mar 15, 2005)

Thanks for the advice, I'll try the TV link, I'm just concerned about the quality of the picture and sound.


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## andyjenkins (Jul 29, 2001)

My folks have a TV Link - and pretty average coax going between the Sky box and the TV upstairs. On a normal SD CRT TV - the picture is certainly acceptable with little difference from that downstairs.

Not sure how a Plasma might affect that though. Is it a big plasma?


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## jimdunleavy (Mar 15, 2005)

Not massive, a 42" Hitachi, I was also looking at this "Televes Digidom "Wireless Remote Sender", has anyone had experience of this?


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## andyjenkins (Jul 29, 2001)

Jim, just picked up the latest T3 mag which turned up today and found an ad from Keene Electronics (good rep apparently).

Take a look at their Cat5 distribution units - http://www.keene.co.uk/pages/cat/05dup/05F.html

Designed for distribution of high quality audio and video. Bit pricey some of them - but you pay for what you get. Units start at £100.


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## jimdunleavy (Mar 15, 2005)

Thanks for that, had a quick look at their site, I like the wireless devices that also transmit IR signals as well.


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## LampyDave (Sep 4, 2003)

Over the last week I have installed a system to do this from the Tivos in the front room to the LCD in the kitchen. I've used Kat5 units from Lets Automate

http://www.letsautomate.com/11950.cfm

http://www.kat5.tv/modules.html

and I have been absolutely stunned with the picture. It's been transmitted over RF for the last few months which was fuzzy and getting on my nerves - and it's now absolutely crystal clear. Astoundingly good.
I took a bit of a risk on it as I'd not seen it in action but am really very pleased with it. If you have the cabling in then there you go as that was by far the hardest bit. By the way - it's not IP so can't go through switches or hubs - but if the cabling goes to a patch bay you're away.

Cheers,

Dave


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## ndunlavey (Jun 4, 2002)

Does this kit need dedicated point-to-point Cat5 cabling, or is it packetised and routable?


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## Rob Nespor Bellis (Feb 17, 2001)

Dedicated point to point.

There is also a cheaper alternative to the Kat5 units - available at Maplin ( and other stores, ) do a search there under Milestone - the manufacturer homepage is here. From personal experience I can say that it works well.

Rgds,

R.


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## Sneals2000 (Aug 25, 2002)

ndunlavey said:


> Does this kit need dedicated point-to-point Cat5 cabling, or is it packetised and routable?


It is analogue video carried over Cat5 cabling - just like analogue telephony carried over Cat5 in many modern offices. It doesn't use any digits, packets etc. AIUI.


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## ndunlavey (Jun 4, 2002)

Ta, both. I guess one could pass the cabling through a patch cabinet for flexibility.


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## jimdunleavy (Mar 15, 2005)

Thanks to all, I've temporarily rigged it up with the RF, not impressed at all with the quality, so I've ordered the Milestone sender and receiver, they look the same as the Kat5 devices but considerablt cheaper, will let you know the results (if interested) when its all installed.


Regards


Jim


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## LampyDave (Sep 4, 2003)

Would certainly be interested. I guess they both work in the same way - converting the unbalanced video signal to a balanced one to use the Cat5 cable as it is intended. Let us know how it goes.

Cheers,

Dave


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## katman (Jun 4, 2002)

KAT5 can carry an S-Video signal so by using an RGB to S-Video converter you can feed your other TV with an S-Video signal. 

Take a look at JS-Technology for the best RGB toS-Video converter you will find. Has RGB passthrough so it just connects inline between Tivo and Main TV and then a SCART lead from there to KAT5.

Regards

Keith


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## jimdunleavy (Mar 15, 2005)

Milestone master and slave arrived today and were duly installed, I removed the RF feed and once the TV was set to the correct AV input, up came SKY+ on the downstairs plasma, a quick twiddle of the "balancing" screw and the picture is excellent. It's even got a power save function so that when no signal is present the Milestne will go into power save with only the infrared channel alive to allow the remote to work.

Thanks to all the advice.

Regards


Jim


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