My current set up is a sky plus box , dvd recorder, and standard sky box located at main TV. I can view all services on 3 other tv's,both sky boxes controlled by magic eye. Unfortunately I am going to have to cancel sky in the new year and have ordered a humax pvr.

My question is can anyone explain what to do to have the humax controlled at the other locations. I believe you need an item called an rf modulator and maybe a tvlink plus? I am not sure what way you would connect them though and am confused by terms such as blasters.

Additional Info:
FTA Sky box works via the magic eyes by cable being fed into the amplifier from the RF2 so I can leave this as is.

The sky plus box works through the magic eyes by being connected to an item called an SPC Combiner and then into the Amp.

I am assuming I will replace this combiner with possibly the RF modulator and then connect the TV Link plus after that before feeding into the Amp?


any help appreciated, thanks

You need a suitable remote control in the "other" room(s). Or just carry the same one around with you.

You need a magic eye in each "other" room, connected to the RF cable (you already have the magic eye(s) and cable for Sky).

You need a magic-eye compatible distribution system (e.g. loft box) to split the signal between multiple TVs (if you have multiple "other" TVs, then you'll already have it for Sky).

You need a TV link Plus to take the remote control signals off the RF cable in the main room, and fire them at the remote control sensor on the Freesat STB so that it receive them. An IR blaster is the little thing that connects to the TV link Plus, sits next to the remote control sensor on the STB, and sends the IR (infra red, remote control) commands to it.

The TV link Plus comes with some IR blasters, but usually not with a power supply. You'll need one!

An RF modulator takes the video signal (e.g. SCART) from the STB, and modulates it into a form that can be sent down the aerial-type cable that's feeding the other TVs. Some are crap. Some are good. Vision V40-104 modulator is the dog's (it's a professional unit - turn the power to minimum or you'll have your own mini TV transmitter!), but costs £40-£50. You can find consumer ones for £20, but many are poor. If the one you choose has an input for your TV aerial, you don't need the SPC combiner. If it doesn't, you'll use your existing combiner to combiner the feed from the aerial with the feed from the modulator, so that your "other" TVs receive normal TV and the output of the STB.

TV Link Plus goes between the combiner (or modulator if no combiner) and distribution amplifier.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
David.

P.S. IR blaster positioning on the Humax STB is a bit critical. Had more success with an relative's Echostar box, but the Humax can be made to work fine with the IR blaster stuck on the top, facing down - especially if you leave the flap open.

Thanks for that. Seems complicated enough however, I will give it a lash. I'll pick up the TV Link Plus and the rf modulator over the next few weeks as I intend to cancel sky in Jan and switch to this system. I received the humax the other day btw -superb item.

My amp is behind main tv btw and feeds all other tvs.

If possible could anyone post links as to confirm the items i need to buy, ie tv link plus, rf modulator and the power supply which would suit tvlink plus.

many thanks

If not powering eyes from Sky rf2 dc out, you'l need a power injector instead. And a UHF modulator, of some sort, for the CVBS out of Hummy scart socket.

http://www.tvlink.co.uk/power-pack.htm

Or get the complete kit

http://www.satelliteandaerialsupplie...-link-digi-eye

SLX link is the same as original Global system.

Modulator: uhf channel selectable on front.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/programmable...odulator-33050

Note, the tv link system has only MONO sound!

If it's just for remote operation what about powermid?

They come powered or dual power, you can buy single extenders for multiple rooms.


http://www.keene.co.uk/electronics/w...FeMhtAodd1mNog

Thanks for responses but I am a bit more confused now!

Just to clarify- I have an SLX amp behind main tv which already powers the magic eye signals from my ftv sky box on which the RF2 feature is broken. The sky plus box which I will be ditching uses its rf2 power along with an SPC combiner to work the eyes. Therefore, its not the full kit I need and I think the power to work the eyes is provided by the amp I already have.

I think I need to connect the humax to some kind of rf modulator then to tvlinkplus then into the amp? And then I can control it via eyes.

Can anyone verify this or am I wrong here?

many thanks

TVlinkplus + power its supply

RF modulator

cables:
red/white/yellow phono-phono from Humax to modulator
aerial-type cables from modulator to TVlinkplus, TVlinkplus to distribution amplifier. I can't remember which ends need to be male and which ends need to be female - check the instructions. Or wait until you've got the kit they buy what fits!

That's it. You already have all the rest.

Cheers,
David.

Many thanks for that! I may not have this completed until I finish with sky in Jan/Feb(waiting for cheap skysports deal to expire)but I will post back outcome as it may be useful for other people. cheers

Actually just one more thing-can you possibly post a link indicating the type of rf modulator to buy and possibly the tvlink plus/power supply thanks

http://www.tvaerials.com/product.aspx?productid=3666
http://www.maplin.co.uk/programmable...odulator-33050

These aren't recommendations (I have no idea if the Maplins modulator is any good, or if you can get TVlinkplus cheaper) - but they show you what you need.

Cheers,
David.

Appreciate that, thanks!

The Maplin modulator is a "good deal", since, currently on special offer!

The important thing is to get one with selectable tv channels, rather than the cheapest type with just one fixed output channel (often 36) !

I have never seen such an animal The cheaper ones use mini dip switches to set the rf output channel.

Any such item would have been rendered useless since the analogue channel 5 service was launched. Remember the requirement to retune vcr modulators.

Hi, I was trying to order the tv link plus kit as described below so as to control my humax box in other rooms.However,the guy selling the item says I need to make sure the humax box has a IR Data rate of between 30-40kz or the kit will not work. Can anyone advise on this please, I am unable to clarify from the user manual either. thanks.

"Control your VCR, DVD or Freeview set top box I R data rate 30 to 40 KHz only, through your tvLINK, using the tvLINKplus (controls up to 2 units). Comes with a power supply, coaxial interconnect cable and 2 Infrared blasters."

It works fine on my Humax.

it wont work with a cable tv remote, ie Virgin.

I've not heard of any problems with freeview/satelllite. All use much the same ir system (but with different proprietry codes for the various functions).

Tried setting this up at weekend without success. I got it so that I could view the humax picture perfectly on all Tv's but could not get magic eye working. I connected the modulator to the humax with yelow, red and white cables, but may have gone wrong after that with my cabling when connecting the tv link plus. I had a cable from the dvd going into the aerial in socket on the modulator then cable from TV socket on modulator into the TV socket on the tvlink plus and then a cable from the ( to 2nd Tv point socket) on the tv link plus into dist amp.

does anyone think that if I ditched the cable from the dvd and just had a cable going from modulator to tv link plus and othe cabling as described that it might work or can anyone offer other suggestion.. thanks

The Magic Eyes require an entirely differently solution to simply transmitting the pictures which your modulator is providing.

Basically all magic eyes do is transmit a VHF control signal back down the cable direct to a Sky box. Only a Sky box can decode this signal to provide remote control.

You can buy a gadget that understands these signals and at the box end re-transmits these as infra red signals that effectively work as if you pressed the remote in the same room as the freesat box.

Alternatively you can use a different wireless system to do the same job.

A lot depends on your existing system, if you only have one remote TV the latter is likely to be the cheaper option. If you have several remote locations then the system which duplicates the Sky link system may be best.

Yes - a TVlinkPlus - he's got one!

Cabling sounds fine (if I'm following it correctly).

Do you have power to the TV link plus? Is the light on?

Have you connected the IR blasters to the IR output socket on the TV link plus, and put one where it can see the Humax? The positioning is quite tricky. As a test, try it with the front flap down. It can work with the flap up, but it's easier to hit the right location with it down because you can see the little round IR window on the Humax to aim at; it's to the left of the clock/channel display.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
David.

I had power to the TV Link plus through its plug in power supply. I didnt realise there was a flap on the humax as I still have the original film in place which covers the front panel, so maybe that didn't help?

My current food chain all based at one location is sky plus box which takes in the terrestrial aerial, dvd recorder, std sky box for ftv/fta stuff. all linked together and all viewable and controllable on 3 other tv's through magic eye. As i want to change the std sky box for the humax I am trying to terminate the link up of boxes at the dvd recorder instead of the std sky box. So perhaps this means that the cable from the dvd now just goes straight into the dist. amp instead of the sky box ? On the humax then when I have the yellow,red,white cables connected to the modulator the question I have is how do I link in the tv link plus between the modulator and dist amp, ie which socket from the modulator connects with which socket on the tvlink plus and which socket on the tvlink plus goes directly into the dist amp? Hope this is clear enough ... thanks

No, probably not. That's the first thing to try.


All controllable? As in, you can play+stop DVDs from a remote control in the other rooms?

Is this daisy chain SCART, RF, or something else?

Not that this really matters...


If this is an RF chain, aerial > DVD recorder > modulator > TV link plus > distribution amplifier is fine - which is what I understood you'd done already.


Your previous description was correct:
Modulator output ("TV"?) to TV link plus input ("TV IN")
TV link plus output ("2nd TV") to distribution amplifier (don't know what it will say - "input"? It's what you previously connected your Sky Plus RF?2? output into)

Leave the other RF connections until you've got it working - though it should all work just fine (including aerial > DVD recorder > modulator input).

Cheers,
David.

P.S. your Sky remotes won't control the Humax - you need your Humax remote control in the other room, set to "PVR" mode (not TV, DVD or AUDIO).

thanks for all the input re this. will be giving it another try as soon as poss and will post feedback. cheers

Just to advise, that I have got this working now. Basically, have my humax and sky box both working via magic eye throughout the house( 4 tvs).

Only hiccup is that when someone is using the sky box at main location, it seems to effect the remote operation of the humax. ie it will not work at all, then may work for a few seconds etc., so not sure what the reason for that is?

Also anyone know of a good splitter which I could use to feed the 2 separate cables from the two satellite boxes into the distribution amp which of course has only one input socket, thanks?

You'd usually daisy chain them, not split/join them - but put a DC blocker on the output of the Sky STB to prevent it interfering with the TVlink magic eye signals. Then put the TV link IR blaster in front of the Sky STB so it still got the magic eye signals that way. I think! Never done this.

Cheers,
David.