Watching Sky Digital in Other Rooms

If you're signed up to Sky's digital TV service, you may be considering connecting Sky to other rooms in your house. We explain the options.

 

Watching Sky in multiple rooms...

If you're considering getting Sky in different rooms of your house, there are basically three ways you can do this:

1. Connect your Sky box to a second TV with high-quality co-ax aerial cable, or
2. Connect your Sky box to a second TV with a wireless video sender, or
3. Get an extra Sky box for the second TV set

Next, we'll explain all of the options:

 

Option 1: Connect your Sky Digibox to a second TV set with aerial cable

• Upside: With this option, you won't need to get an extra set-top box, or get an extra subscription to Sky.
• Downside: You have to run an aerial lead through your house to the other TV.
• Downside: A Sky box can only display one thing at a time. You will only be able to watch whatever the main Sky box is showing (i.e. you can't watch one Sky channel in one room, and a different Sky channel in another).

For this option, you will need to run co-ax aerial cable from the back of your Sky box to the back of the second TV set. Ideally, you should try to use high-quality double-screen co-ax aerial cable to reduce interference.

You can buy extension kits in different lengths at Maplin and Argos. See below for an example of an extension kit.

Pictured: TV aerial extension kits (15 or 25 metres) under £20 from Maplin.co.uk

If you don't want to use an aerial extension kit, you will need to use a suitable length of co-ax aerial cable, a bag of cleats to nail the aerial cable to your skirting board and a co-ax aerial plug for each end.

Once you have the aerial lead in place, on the back of the Sky box, you will find two aerial output sockets, labeled RF1 and RF2. Connect one end of your aerial extension lead to the RF2 socket, and the other end to the second TV set.

The RF2 socket at the back of a Sky+HD box

 

With the connection in place, the last step is to tune the second TV into the output of the Sky box. By default, your Sky box should be broadcasting on Channel 68, so tune a spare preset on your telly to that channel, and you should be in business.

More than one TV? If you want to connect to more than one TV, consider a splitter or booster:

Aerial Splitter. Handy for splitting a single aerial to feed two TVs. Available from Maplin

Aerial Booster with multiple outputs, handy if you get signal loss over a long cable run. Available from Maplin

 

Problems? If you can't tune your TV in, or you need to change the default channel number that the Sky box uses, you can check the RF output settings from a hidden menu option on your Sky box: Press 'Services' on the Sky remote, then type 4 0 1 and press 'Select' (HD boxes: 'Services' , 0 0 1 then 'Select') Select the "RF outlets" option Change the RF channel number to a number of your choosing (between 21 and 68). It's important not to clash with a TV service on the same number. If you find that one of your TV channels goes fuzzy, change the RF channel number again. The RF Outlets setting on a Sky+HD box   Also note that if you're feeding to lots of TV sets, or have a very long cable run, you may need either a splitter or booster to allow you to split and amplify the aerial co-ax output, without too much quality loss.

 

Changing Channels with a Sky TV Link... If you've made an aerial connection from your Sky box to a second TV, the next thing you may want to do, is be able to change channels on your Sky box remotely from the second room. To do this, get a Sky TV Link/Eye. This plugs in between the aerial cable and your second TV set, and has a little infrared eye that you position near your TV. When you point a Sky remote at the eye, the signal shoots down the aerial wire to the Sky box, and changes channel. Sky TV Links are available from Maplin or Argos (as are spare Sky remote controls). Full details on how to use one of these on our Sky TV Link FAQ

 

Option 2: Connect your Sky Digibox to a second TV wirelessly

• Upside: With this option, you won't need to get an extra set-top box, or get an extra subscription to Sky.
• Downside: A Sky box can only display one thing at a time. You will only be able to watch whatever the main Sky box is showing (i.e. you can't watch one Sky channel in one room, and a different Sky channel in another).

With this option, you don't need to run cables. Get a Wireless Video Sender kit, which has a transmitter and receiver. These connect to a spare SCART socket on your Sky box, and a SCART socket on your second TV set.

Wireless AV senders are available from Maplin.co.uk.

See our Video Senders page for more on AV senders.

 

Option 3: Get a second Sky Box

Getting a second Sky box for the other room is normally the more expensive option, but it does give you the flexibility to watch a different digital TV channel in each room.

• Upside: You can watch one Sky channel in one room, and a different Sky channel in the other room.
• Upside: Sky will come and hook it all up for you - no effort on your part.
• Downside: You will have to take out a Multiroom subscription for each extra box.

To get a second Sky box, you'll need to order Sky Multiroom. There will be an installation fee and a monthly Multiroom subscription - For current prices, or to order Sky Multiroom, go to sky.com/shop/boxes/sky-multiroom

With Sky Multiroom, you will have a separate Sky box for each room. Each box will be cabled to your satellite dish. You won't need a second dish - it's possible to have up to eight boxes running from each dish (the dish has to be fitted with an Octo LNB. Sky+ and Sky+HD boxes need two feeds from the dish, which means that one dish can't support more than four Sky+ boxes, or eight standard Sky boxes. More on LNBs.

More details at sky.com/shop/boxes/sky-multiroom

PODCAST FEATURE: We featured how to get TV in other rooms in Show 44 of our podcast, FrequencyCast. Listen to the show online, or download it to your MP3 player. Listen to Show 44 | What is FrequencyCast? | Add us to iTunes

 

Your questions answered

Q. How do I get HD from my Sky+HD box into a second room?

The RF output is not capable of sending HD, neither is SCART, so a video sender is out of the question. Your two options are

1. Run an HDMI cable to the second TV (a long cable run will be very expensive) - as the Sky+HD box only has one HDMI out, you will need an HDMI splitter, or
2. Go for Sky Multiroom and get a second HD box installed.

Q. Can I change channels if my Sky box is in another room?

Yes. You have two options - use a Sky TV Link (connected via a co-ax cable between the TV and Sky box), or get a wireless remote control extender.

Q. My Magic Eye TV link is not working!

Here are some things to check:

• Socket: Make sure that you have connected the TV Link to the RF2 socket on your Sky box, as the RF1 socket is not powered.
• Power: You must ensure that the RF2 socket has the power turned on to it. This is a setting in the secret engineers menu. To get to this, press 'Services' on the Sky remote control, then type 4 0 1 and press 'Select'. (Sky+HD boxes, it's 'Services' > 0 0 1 > 'Select'). Go to RF Outlets, and tun on the power to RF2
  
  
• Booster? Some users may have problems if using a signal booster and a Magic Eye TV link, as these can block commands from the Sky RF2 socket. Look for a booster with a Digital Bypass
• Last resort: If you still have no luck, check that the cables are connected correctly, power off the Sky box and try again

HELP? - Got a question on getting Sky in another room? Ask in our satellite TV forum

 

On our other pages:

• Satellite TV in the UK - General information on services in the UK
• Free Satellite TV - A summary of what's available for free
• Subscription-free TV - What can you get for free
• Sky Digital - Details on what Sky's pay-TV service has to offer
• UK Satellite TV forum - Talk about satellite TV in the UK