Options
Sky Installation to a wall mounted TV
[Deleted User]
Posts: 9,286
Forum Member
✭
I'm moving to a new flat and the seller is leaving the TV which is great. The problem is, it's wall mounted and the cables are all hidden in the walls. I've arranged to have Sky installed and it's only just occurred to me that the Sky Engineer will presumably have to drill through the wall to get to the cables, but I don't know whether they would do that or it would be up to me to 'expose' the cables for them.
I've called Sky to ask and spoke to a completely unhelpful person I seemed to have no idea what I was talking about and said "I don't see why they wouldn't be able to that" while also admitting she didn't understand the question.
So my question is, has anyone with an existing wall mounted TV had sky installed with no problems or will I have to take the TV off the wall to get it installed?
I've called Sky to ask and spoke to a completely unhelpful person I seemed to have no idea what I was talking about and said "I don't see why they wouldn't be able to that" while also admitting she didn't understand the question.
So my question is, has anyone with an existing wall mounted TV had sky installed with no problems or will I have to take the TV off the wall to get it installed?
0
Comments
What cables were run to the TV and where do they emerge from the wall?
At the very least it will have mains and aerial. If the previous owner had a PVR or similar then there may be a HDMI or SCART lead run in as well. If so then the free end of that lead should be around somewhere. Which means you simply plug that lead into the Sky box.
If there are no SCART/HDMI leads used then you will have to run them yourself. And no need to bury any cables in the wall. You can just buy a length of plastic trunking to fix to the wall to hide the cables if necessary. And using surface mount trunking makes it way easier to add extra cables should you need to.
Unless the cables can be readilty identified and are suitable then your installation will just be surface wired, with a hole or holes drilled through the wall if deemed necessary to complete it.
If you want cables run through walls, under floorboards or anything like that then you will need to do that part of the work yourself or, alternatively, get someone else in to do it. The Sky engineer won't carry out this sort of work.
Worst case scenario is that you'll have a set up like the rest of us!
But Sky arent going to make sure any cabelling in a new install is all hidden!
All you will need is one HDMI cable.
When I moved house I paid a TV installer to relocate the dish from the side of the house to tuck it behind the chimney, run the cables down through the loft, then chase the cable down into the lounge with a proper socket box.
If you want a clean, tidy hidden cable don't expect Sky to do it.
The Skybox will be in a unit underneath the TV.
Anything in the slightest but technical goes way over my head, but to my knowledge there are no wires or cables currently accessible.
Would my best bet be getting someone to take the TV down from the wall so Sky can connect it all and then get the wires put back neatly professionally or will I be able to leave the TV on on the wall and just get a handyman/professional to tidy up the cables after Sky have set everything up?
To be fair, the job you described is far beyond what most private installers would undertake, chasing wires in walls would be a very rare installer.
Do you have any wires at all that you can see?, is there an aerial lead for example that you can see where it goes into the wall?,
If there is an aerial lead, and the hole looks big enough you could try the following.
Take the aerial out of the TV, tie some (long) string around it. Then pull it back through where it goes into the wall (presumably from the aerial point). then attach the string to both the aerial cable plus the HDMI you want to add and pull it back through the hole at the TV end.
Hope this makes sense.
If the telly currently works, then there WILL be cables accessible, somewhere in the room depending on how the current owner has set up his Sky/PVR/VCR/DVD location in relation to the telly.
He would have to be a vindictive b****d of the highest order to leave you the telly but pull all the cables.
You just need to find out where they exit the wall when you are in the flat, and get teh sky installer to run his LNB cables to near that point.
The aerial and mains leads could have been run in the wall and no other cables put in at all. If there were other cables you'd think they would emerge somewhere below the telly as that would be the obvious place for an equipment cabinet.
Why would you assume it's mounted too high? - obviously it's down to the person who had it fitted, but as someone who installs TV's on walls we always advise then about correct height.
and the advice is often ignored i suspect.
Sometimes, not 'often'
But it's their set, and them who have to watch it
One 'famous' example we did a good many years ago, and despite our best efforts he wanted it fitting FAR too high - so we did as he wished.
A year or two later we went back to deliver something else, and his wife whispered "you know that TV, he never watches it, it gives him a stiff neck"
A couple more years down the line we went to fit a set in another room, and he asked us to sort out a Sky problem he was having, which required us going through the original room - where we noticed the set had 'magically' moved lower down the wall