Can I have 2 cables from Sky dish if I have Sky Q?

Idiot_Savant

We have our main Sky Q box in the living room, and a mini box in the conservatory.

We are finding that we're spending more time in our conservatory (95%) since we changed the roof to a slate one. 

Were having a problem with sound dropout on the mini box. A second, or split-second every half hour or so. It's really annoying. Doesn't happen in the lounge or the kitchen (mini box in the kitchen also)

Is it possible to run another cable from the dish to the conservatory and move the main box there - but keeping the existing cable to the lounge in case we decide to spend more time there in the future?

I had heard that you could only have (more like we're only allowed to have) one cable to a main Q box.

TIA

gefnew

Most likely to need quad LNB on the dish so you could use it like the old multi room system. could you not  extend the existing cables with an f connect coupler and then into the  conservatory

Neil_Jones

The mini boxes are wireless.  They don't have a connection to a satellite dish, they feed off the main box.

You might want to swap the mini boxes over and see if the problem carries on.  If the issue with the conservatory box fixes itself when its in the kitchen then its not a box issue.  If the problem continues with the box once you've moved it into the conservatory then that suggests there may be a wireless connectivity issue.

shiraz99

As above, the likely culprit would be a wifi issue so worth swapping the mini boxes over to confirm. You'll need to look at the satellite LNB to see how many outputs it has. If it only has two then they will be taken up by the main box so you'll need to replace it with a quad wideband LNB, if one exists for Sky Q (not sure if one does though).

If it is a wifi issue then you can a try and improve the wifi signal to the conservatory, or try connecting the mini box to the main box directly via ethernet.

400ixl

Have you tried swapping the HDMI cable on the mini box having the sound issues? This has been the cause for many people reporting this fault. Also, it is a longer HDMI cable as this has also been an issue for some.

You could disconnect the cables from the dish and replace them with alternatives going to the new location. You would want to find a way to make the seal on the detached cables waterproof thought. That way if you wanted to switch back you would just change them again at the dish.

Sebi_895

Seems to be a lot of extra unecessary hassle getting a cable into the conservatory from the dish just to sort out the sound drop issue? Mind the mini box does more or less the same thing as the main Sky Q box. Check the mini box has the latest software, compare the two. Swap over as suggested above and see how it performs. Who is your broadband with? If its Sky it should all be mesh-ed up reasonably well.

shiraz99

Sebi_895 said:

Seems to be a lot of extra unecessary hassle getting a cable into the conservatory from the dish just to sort out the sound drop issue? Mind the mini box does more or less the same thing as the main Sky Q box. Check the mini box has the latest software, compare the two. Swap over as suggested above and see how it performs. Who is your broadband with? If its Sky it should all be mesh-ed up reasonably well.

Well not really. The mini box simply streams content from the main Sky Q box, it's the main box that has all the tuners and does all the heavy lifting. Also, I stand to be corrected but not sure the choice of broadband makes any difference. The wifi mesh comes directly from the boxes not your broadband router, surely?

Sebi_895

Doubt they are doing anything else apart from watching Sky TV on the minibox though in the conservatory...

Carrot007

AFAIK there are no multi capable "Q" lnb's. there was one that allowed also a connection of a old style box so would work for freesat.

Sky certainly will not let you have 2 Q boxes without 2 subscriptions and even then you may havea  hard tiem convinciing them unless you install one elsewhere first and move it yourself.

Is it worth it? Can the mini box not be wired if wifi is the issue? I do not know I don't want one! Possibly using ethernet over power solution.

basill

My Mini box is out of WIFI range from the main .box I have a Mesh setup and have main and mini boxes wired to mesh nodes.  Sky Q normally uses its own private WIFI network. I could not get it to work using my own WIFI and I found will only work over a the wired network if both boxes have ethernet connected.

googler

I'd be inclined to try a different HDMI lead, and/or a different TV with the Minibox first, unless that has been done already.

Make sure it is definitely the minibox at fault before rejigging cables. If it IS the minibox, surely first course of action is to request a replacement from Sky, surely?