How can i watch ntl in another room?

[keep it simple]

OK, here's an update,

altis, my stb is a Pace DI4001NC, Part No. 541 4807735. The front looks like this , and the rear looks like this. The splitter i mentioned looks like this - apologies for the writing not being too clear - my flash kept reflecting off it.

I tried the cable i bought today, connecting it from the tv out socket on the stb to either my vcr or to my booster. I was surprised to find that neither worked - i could not receive any sound or picture on the tv anymore. Even when i connected the cable directly to the tv, it picked up NO signal. Did i get the wrong sort of cable? it was from maplins, GW61R - VCR/TV Aerial lead (Coax [IEC 169-2] plug to coax socket). Or do i need to re-tune the tv to find the signal? When i connected the cable to the vcr i tried re-tuning that, but it could not find a signal.

In answer to your other question, as mentioned in an earlier post, I do not have a terrestrial aerial any longer - just my ntl cable.

A recap on what i have and what i want:

Currently, on the main set in the lounge I can watch channels 1 to 5 even with the stb switched off, and can video any of those whilst watching a different cable channel via the stb. Likewise i can video a cable channel by setting the video to record the av channel, whilst watching any channel from 1 to 5. Switching the tv to av receives either the signal from the stb, or, if a video is playing, from the vcr. dvd is built into the tv, rather than being separate (thank goodness, that's one less complication!)

Upstairs i can also view channels 1 to 5, or switching to av gives me whatever channel the stb is set to downstairs, or, if playing, the video signal from downstairs.

All i want to achieve is to be able to watch a cable channel upstairs whilst someone else watches a video downstairs. If anyone is new to this thread, see the diagram i posted earlier that shows how everything is currently connected.

What do i need to change? Starting to think i should just leave it be, lol.

[zoombini]

Keep it simpler & non technical & without any wiring at all.

Obtain a few large mirrors & arrange them so that they all reflect the picture out of the front room, up the stairs & into the bedroom.
You shold then have a suitable video picture to watch, just turn the volume up & your away.

Note: you may have to sit upside down to watch this.

There, no wiring needed.

[keep it simple]

Thanks, zoom. u gotta laugh!

[altis]

That's brilliant KIS. It tells me a lot about what's going on.

The lead you bought from Maplin is fine.

I think we need to determine first whether you box is faulty - it should be providing an RF output signal. Your new lead could be faulty but I think that's unlikely.

I suggest that you lug your other TV downstairs and connect it directly to the RF output of the STB. Switch on the STB and make sure you can see some channel on the main TV. Now do a tuning search on the other TV. There should be just one channel (probably number sixty-something) showing the same as the main TV. If there isn't try another lead if you can.

From your photos I can se that your box doesn't have an aerial input. This causes a little problem but we'll come to that later when we've determined if your box is faulty.

[altis]

Just had a thought...

Before you move anything you could check out your new lead. Conveniently, it has a plug at one end and a socket at the other. Just slip it into the RF lead somewhere between your splitter and your remote TV and make sure you can still see a picture as before - then you'll know if it's definately working.

[keep it simple]

OK, making progress (sort of).

Turns out the cable i bought does work, and there IS a signal from the rf output on the stb I was in a rush last night because i had to go out, so was careless in my tests. I still had the tv tuned to channel 1 , instead of av, and of course with it taking the signal from the stb rather than the incoming cable it was not receiving the analogue terrestrial channels!

I have now modified my set-up to give a short-term solution. Instead of connecting the output from the vcr to my booster (which was causing me to get the video signal upstairs instead of ntl when a video was played downstairs) I have now connected the vcr output to the tv, and the output from the stb to the booster.

Everything downstairs still works . Because the video is being fed by the incoming cable, and the tv is being fed by the video, I can still get channels 1-5 and can still video one of them whilst watching a cable channel, or vice versa.

Upstairs, because my booster signal is now coming from the stb, I ONLY get whatever channel is viewing on the stb. As long as no-one changes the channel, I can watch my football undisturbed , and those downstairs will be free to watch any channel from 1 to 5 or a video or a dvd, without affecting my signal. The downside is I no longer get any terrestrial channels upstairs, but I think I will try getting one of those powered electronic set-top aerials with a built-in signal booster. Then if i want to watch 1 to 5 upstairs i just need to unplug the feed from downstairs and plug in the set-top aerial. Better still, is there a simple adapter that will allow me to have both 'aerials' plugged in at once?

Thanks again to all who helped me try to sort this out.

[altis]

That's good news - everything works - well sort of.

All you need now is a combiner such as one of these. If you ring up NTL customer services they should be able to supply you with one - although the may insist that an engineer fits it. It allows you to combine together the RF output of your STB and the 'spare' leg of the splitter so you have a single feed to your booster.

You could achieve the same effect with another splitter wired in reverse. It would work but I wouldn't recommend it since part of the STB's RF output will pass back up the cable. NTL won't be happy and your neighbours will be able to see what you are watching late at night

Best of luck with customer services. If they won't play ball then there are other, more long winded, ways of achieving the same effect. Let us know what happens.

[keep it simple]

All you need now is a combiner such as one of these. If you ring up NTL customer services they should be able to supply you with one - although the may insist that an engineer fits it. It allows you to combine together the RF output of your STB and the 'spare' leg of the splitter so you have a single feed to your booster.

Thanks, altis. I'm not really confident about being able to explain to customer services exactly what i need. In any case, I don't actually have a 'spare' leg of the splitter (It's ok, I'm not surprised you've forgotten what my configuration looks like, it's so long since I posted the drawing and so many possible variations have been discussed/tried, lol)

The incoming cable splits, with one leg going into the stb, and the other into the vcr (which it needs to do to allow me to be able to video one of the terrestrial channels while watching cable, or vice versa).

I think I will stick to my plan - the latest one; about 'plan z' i think. I've looked at the maplin site again and they do a nifty little gadget for plugging 2 signal sources into one aerial socket - intended for people with a playstation or such like - which has a switch on it for switching between sources. It looks like this: and it's only £3.99.


That, together with a set-top indoor aerial should be all i need for upstairs - i can just plug in the set-top aerial and the cable signal from downstairs and be able to easily switch between them.

[altis]

Just ask for a combiner. They will know what you mean - well they should do. If they don't just say your box doesn't have an aerial input and you need to arrange one.

The 'spare' leg I was on about is the one you referred to earlier in post #27. Look at my diagram above. Imagine the small box, top left, is your splitter. One output leg goes to the cable input of your STB (as now) the other output connects to the aerial input of your combiner. The second input of the combiner comes from the RF output of your STB. The output of the combiner goes to the aerial input of your VCR.

[White Tiger]

My first post!

Took a while to read through this thread, & confirmed to me how involved it can get trying to pipe signals around the house.

I have a Pace DI4001N STB & decided to go for the DG400 Digisender. It's not cheap (about £120 from Argos), but it does seem to cover all eventualities. I have a video recorder & DVD player also plugged into it, & all 3 remotes work fine in the 2nd room. You can also watch any combination of them in both rooms, although you need to watch standard terrestrial through the video recorder in the 2nd room.

Must admit though, I wasn't sure it was going to work at first!

[iadom]

Originally Posted by altis

Here is a picture of the back of my STB

Sorry to go a little I have 2 STB's one a 1000 series for the main TV and one 2000 that is used for separate TV and BB. Apart from the older 1000 box having a crossover ethernet socket they are both like the one in your picture, however that does not show the other two sockets at the opposite end of the STB labelled RS232 DCE and IEEE 1284, what are these sockets intended for if anything, possibly an unused function

[altis]

My manual says:

RS232 DCE connector - For service use only
(I guess it could be used as a debug port or to download software)

IEEE 1284 connector (sometimes known as a parallel port) - To connect a printer (for future use)

These together with the Mondex bank-card slot on the front suggest that someone had an idea that, one day, the STB should be a user-friendly computer so they tried to cover all angles.