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General => Technical Help => Topic started by: jc26red on Monday 01 August 11 20:07 BST (UK)
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Hi folks...
sorry about the subject heading its a little misleading.
I have a problem which I need some advice on sorting please.
I have sky+ hd box in my living room and a second old Sky + box which up till recently was in the next room. Anyway, the second box went faulty and we upgraded it to a second HD box...
Now, we use the second box to stream tv (via a slingbox) to our apartment in the middle east. All was ok till the upgrade. Both boxes use the same remote and because of the close proximity of the boxes, the one in the living room is also turning over the second HD box!!! Its very disconcerting to see the tv changing channels on its own! We dismissed a hacker after realising the programs it changed to are the ones our daughter watches
We can't move the second box any further due to internet and sky connectivity cables.
We have "hidden" the second box behind a chair and facing the wall and its still responding to the other remote :(
Any ideas on how to shield the second box from being operated by box 1 remote
all suggestions much appreciated.... thanks
Jenny
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You`ll have to forgive me, I don`t use/own a Slingbox.
But from what I understand the Slingbox simply relays the Skybox signals onwards to another destination (Simplest and best description I can come up with).
You could try to shield the Skybox you want/need to use abroad with Aluminum foil?
I don`t know what the Sky HD box uses as its transmitted signals IR/Wireless/Bluetooth etc.
I think I`d seek advice from Sky....Using the simply question "We have two Sky HD boxes but the controllers are interfering? How do we fix this problem?" I would not mention the Slingbox though.. ;)
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thanks Steve....
Foil was our next move but haven't tried it yet, daughter has called back to say if she has done it yet.
Slingbox is legal.... we pay for our sky subs and tv license at our house, all we are doing is streaming one box over the internet to another location. It also works to other rooms in the house... no problem. It can only be watched at one location at a time and I think this gets round all the licensing stuff. Picture isn't perfect due to broadband width this end but better than watching prayer time for the whole of Rammadan :o
might try another specialist forum before sky though, if the foil doesn't work.
thanks again
Jenny
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Just checked, the sky remote is IR operated.
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If it is IR, then there should not be any interference.
Doors/walls should easily block the signals.
IR signals are pretty much "Line of sight".
Strange?
I`m minded to block the IR receiving eye of the HD box and slingbox, shouldn`t need much more that a piece of tape/card.
Steve
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Thats what we thought when we turned the box to the wall and put a heavy armchair in front of it!
We can't tape over the IR sensor on the sky box because the slingbox has two IR sensors placed in front of the sky box remote sensor. The slingbox software remote sends signals to the IR sensors to operate the skybox, so it needs to be clear.
Jenny
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Can you not place the Slingbox & Skybox so they are facing each other and shield the signals with card & tape.
I`m thinking of as an example two cars parked front on to each other with a shroud over their bonnets so when their light are on, they can only shine on each other and nowhere else, a bit like a tunnel effect. It`ll be a trial and error thing.
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Hi Steve, thanks for your efforts... still waiting for daughter to try the foil ::)
Creating a tunnel isn't really necessary, this is the IR setup... we have already thrown a towel over it all to see if thats enough to shield the sensor but it didn't work. Next, we are going to try putting the skybox in a box (with vent holes at the back) then covering it with foil....
Its so annoying as I was at home in the UK doing the setup last week and only came back on Saturday and OH didn't notice there was a problem, I did notice the skybox "on" led was lit rather alot and asked him about it but it didn't click that the channels were changing and not where he left off ::)
Jenny
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Hi
How have you connected it all to the satelllite dish?
Separate pairs of cables to each Sky box?
ie 4 (separately connected) cables from the satellite dish 4-way LNB, 2 to box1 and 2 to box2?
Or is it just a pair of cables which you have then split?
R
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Hi Ray... thanks for your thoughts
The boxes are set up correctly - we have a 4way LNB with a pair of cables for each box. The problem is only from the physical remote signals interferring with the second box due to both Sky boxes being in the same room...
Box 2 works fine until someone in the room switches channels on box 1... now while that is very annoying, I'm more concerned that they go into the planner and accidently delete some of my recordings in box 2... and yes it is possible!!! I watched my daughter's boyfriend go into the planner to watch one of his recordings on box 1 and box 2 responded identically!!!! :o
As mentioned, it was ok when one box was a +HD box and the other one was an old style sky+ as the remotes were different.
Jenny
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Sounds like you need a Sky Eye (http://www.skyeye.force9.co.uk/skyeye.htm)
Not cheap, though ! :o
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Sounds like you need a Sky Eye (http://www.skyeye.force9.co.uk/skyeye.htm)
Not cheap, though ! :o
Could try ebay!
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Hi
Unless your room is the size of one in Buck House SW1 and you have them positioned either end of the room then your two same model boxes, in the same room, the single remote is almost certainly always going to action both boxes.
You say that you are unable to separate them by dint of length of cables for T'internet and satdish?
You could extend the network by using network-over-mains "devolo-type" kit.
(works very well as a number of us will vouch)
£50?
You could also extend your satcables either by "similar" devices or "straight" cable extension
(http://cpc.farnell.com/ will have you reading for hours)
(works but signal loss may then be a factor)
£5 - £10 - £15 - £? dependant upon connectors and a length of a piece of string, I mean cable?
Ray
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Sounds like you need a Sky Eye (http://www.skyeye.force9.co.uk/skyeye.htm)
Not cheap, though ! :o
Could try ebay!
We got ours from a local shop for £5 - that was a few years ago and last time we checked they had gone up in price to £7 ;) - btw it was an independant shop as opposed to a chain
Pebs
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Even if it's now £15 still much cheaper than Sky.
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Sounds like you need a Sky Eye (http://www.skyeye.force9.co.uk/skyeye.htm)
Not cheap, though ! :o
Could try ebay!
We got ours from a local shop for £5 - that was a few years ago and last time we checked they had gone up in price to £7 ;) - btw it was an independant shop as opposed to a chain
Pebs
Are you sure that it was a Sky Eye, and not a Magic Eye ? If you Google Sky Eye, you'll find lots of cheap Magic Eyes, but they don't work the same way.
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thanks all.... foil didn't work!
I could move the sat box upstairs as we have another pair of cables running up to a bedroom which we left in place when we moved to second box downstairs but the slingbox needs to be hard wired into the router which sits in the corner of the living room. Slingbox do another device which can be attached to the router and wirelessly transmit the signals to the slingbox but it is quite expensive and I didn't want to go down that route.
Seems that after I googled SkyEye to find out exactly what it does, I'm far from the only one with this problem with multiple Sky HD boxes.... ended up back at my usual technical (av) forum. Even moving the second box into the dining room next door or even upstairs may not cure the problem :o
I was hoping to sort this out without throwing even more money at this setup but Nick29, I think you have found a solution with the SkyEye gadget... only problem I have now is I'm 6000 miles away from the UK and I don't totally trust two 22 year olds who are not very technical to sort it out. I'm also not totally convinced this device will stop a remote control in the room from operating the 2nd box, or even allow the slingbox "virtual" remote to work
I'm very tempted to throw one box out the window, cut my subs down and leave the kids to freeview ;D ;D ;D
thanks again for your input though
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Hi
You can test the separation of the 2 boxes (1 up, 1 down) by just moving the one and then seeing if you change channel (no skysat signal needed for that)
If that works (ie no cross-interference) then spend the £ on the "devolo"-type devices.
example ...........................
http://www.maplin.co.uk/devolo-high-speed-networking-over-the-mains-48539
Router to devolo-1 plugged into mains socket downstairs (and switched on) :)
Devolo-2 plugged in mains socket upstairs connected to slingbox to ................
(and all switched on) :) :) :)
Ray
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Ray, next time I'm back "home" I'll play with moving box 2 around. I'm well aware of mains networking but decided years ago not to go down that route.
thanks again
ps I usually say something I shouldn't when I see Maplins prices, personally I shop at a few other reputable places that do not rip customers off ;)
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Well, how about moving the Sky box to another room, and use long audio and video cables to connect to the Slingbox ? I've successfully run audio and video over a 10 metre length of cables (the ones with phono plugs on).
Incidentally, I don't think the Sky Eye is too hard to set up :)
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Just waiting to hear back from my daughter to see if they have moved the boxes yet? If they have, then it didn't work and we now have spurious recordings they did last night on our planner ???
Moving the box into another room was cleared the remote problem but set up a chain of events with sky ::)
Moving it seems to have triggered a check, and it appears you have to have 2 HD subscriptions for both boxes even if you have multiroom and they no longer supply ordinary Sky + boxes any more.... so we have lost the HD channels from the 2nd box. Good news is, Sky is supposedly changing their policy at the end of August so one HD subscription will cover all multiroom subscribers. This only took 3 phone calls to sky with cards being swapped etc., 3 hours later its all done till daughter realises she no longer has a password for her box cos of the card swapping ;D
oh well.... lets see if Sky does the upgrade at the end of the month automatically. I won't be holding my breath
thanks again for all your input
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completed with thanks :D
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I've heard that Sky are dropping the HD sub in September, but multi-room ? Hmmm..... :)
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perhaps thats what they meant Nick. It was my daughter that was talking to them, I heard a long time ago they were thinking of dropping the HD sub but didn't hear anything more till now. Don't think they will drop the multiroom sub
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Hi
A letter I had from Sky last week said:
"Since you already enjoy stunning HD, the price that you currently pay for HD will now cover your whole home. From 1st Sept any Sky+HD box that has a multiroom subscription will now show stunning HD."
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Many thanks Groom,
Yes that confirms exactly what the customer services man said. We haven't received that particular letter from Sky yet ;D
Jenny