How to distribute Sky/Sky+ around the house

As mentioned previously, I have Sky+ distributed around the house. So on each TV, in addition to the choice of analogue or Freeview channels, I have one channel dedicated to Sky. This is achieved by the use of a Global LoftBox (see below) and a bit of extra cabling.

I have a Sky+ box so I needed 4 coax cables to the Sky+ box:

  • Two of the cables come from the dish itself. If you have Sky and not Sky+ then you obviously only have the one cable coming from the dish.
  • One cable from the “RF Out” of the Sky+ box into the LoftBox
  • One cable from the LoftBox into the “Aerial In” on the Sky+ box.

Each additional room requires only one coax cable from the LoftBox. Into the LoftBox I also have a terrestrial aerial feed.

Things are probably clearer via the use of a good old diagram:

Loftbox Wiring example
My feeds from the dish do not go into the LoftBox but instead go straight to the Sky+ box. If you’re using Sky and not Sky+ then you can run your dish feed into the LoftBox itself if you want.

With this setup each room can watch any terrestrial channel (analogue/Freeview) independent of what channel any other room is watching. Plus any room can watch the Sky channel. Obviously you get the same Sky channel on every TV.

If you require full control of the Sky+ box from any of those rooms you can achieve this using a TV Link in those rooms. This will give you full Sky+ functionality, meaning you can change the channel, access the Sky Planner and pause and rewind “Live TV” etc. Just as if you were sitting in front of the Sky+ box itself.

To turn on the RF2 Voltage to enable you to use the TV Link requires a change in the Sky set-top box menus. So, using your Sky Remote Control in front of your Sky set-top box:

  • Press the SERVICES button
  • Press the NUMBER 4 button, then the NUMBER 0 then the NUMBER 1 button
  • Press SELECT button
  • Press the NUMBER 4 again
  • Press the DOWN ARROW button once
  • Press the SIDE ARROW button once
  • Press the DOWN ARROW button once again [save new settings]
  • Press SELECT
  • Press the BACK button until you’re back out of the menus

Please note that step 2 (Pressing buttons 4, 0 and 1) are not reflected on the Sky menus. ie. you’re choosing options that are not visible on the menu so don’t worry if it doesn’t appear to be doing anything.

For the Wall Plate you need a Triplexed Wall Plate for Sky. For Sky+ you need a Quadruplexed Wall Plate

Also, when you combine the terrestrial aerial feed with the Sky feed you need to ensure the two signals do not interfere with each other. This may require you attenuating/amplifying the terrestrial feed or indeed the Sky feed (less likely). I used a variable attenuator on the aerial feed and adjusted it until I got a good picture on both feeds. You could of course use a signal strength meter if you want to be scientific!