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

Idiot_Savant

gefnew said:

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

Thanks for the reply.  The conservatory box is quite a way away from the living room box - almost as far as it is possible to go in the house. It would mean running another cable from front to back outside the house. The dish is almost above the conservatory, so running a cable from dish to conservatory would be 20 feet, tops. 

Idiot_Savant

Neil_Jones said:

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.

Thanks for the reply. I personally think it is a wireless issue of sorts. Makes sense. We’ve swapped kitchen and conservatory boxes and it continues. It just seems strange that it is so predictable. Never buffers with picture, but almost religiously fails with sound on every show we watch. 

Appreciate that the mini box is meant to be wireless, I had just thought if we moved the main box completely then we’d benefit from 4k on the “good” tv in the conservatory. 

Idiot_Savant

shiraz99 said:

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.

Agreed about the signal, but as stated above it seems strange that it is so clockwork-like in its appearance. I will have to check the feeds. 

We’ve got a mesh system set up in the house, along with a couple of sky boosters too.

 That would be a long Ethernet cable….

Idiot_Savant

400ixl said:

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.

I haven’t, and that is a very good idea. When you say longer cable, do you mean the original one may be too long?

Idiot_Savant

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.

The dish is almost above the conservatory roof, so cable wouldn’t be that long and unsightly - although I can be a little paranoid about unsightly cables running everywhere!

The mini box doesn’t stream in 4k, and we got a new 4k tv a couple of years ago. Would like to put it to good use. 

BB is with plusnet, but I have a Decco mesh system installed. 

Idiot_Savant

Sebi_895 said:

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

Pretty much. That and Prime. 

Idiot_Savant

Carrot007 said:

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.

That might be the case, I’ll have to check the dish. 

Wasn’t thinking about 2 boxes, just 2 cables with only one ever used at one time. 

I tried plugging in an Ethernet cable to a power line adapter, but couldn’t get the 2 boxes to see each other. 

Idiot_Savant

basill said:

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.

This is interesting, and where my knowledge lets me down.

 I didn’t know you could connect them to a mesh point. I have 2 sky boosters also on the network. Do they broadcast only for the Q network, or would they also work as Wi-Fi boosters along with the Decco nodes?

400ixl

Idiot_Savant said:

400ixl said:

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.

I haven’t, and that is a very good idea. When you say longer cable, do you mean the original one may be too long?

The problem you described has been known on the original hdmi cables, but more often on longer replacement ones. If you have another mini box that works without nthe same fault, then swap the hdmi cables, if possible using a different hdmi port on the TV in the conservatory as it could be the port on the TV as well.

It does make sense though if you mainly use the conservatory TV and want 4K to move the main box there, especially if the dish is nearby to that location.

basill

Idiot_Savant said:

basill said:

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.

This is interesting, and where my knowledge lets me down.

 I didn’t know you could connect them to a mesh point. I have 2 sky boosters also on the network. Do they broadcast only for the Q network, or would they also work as Wi-Fi boosters along with the Decco nodes?

My mesh nodes are Deco M5 and have 2 ethernet ports each that can be used to connect devices such as the Sky Q boxes or to connect two decos together ( I had to do this to connect my distant Mini and give WIFI coverage to the garden).
If you have Sky broadband it seems the Sky router, Q box and mini all connect together as a mesh and as well as streaming pictures to the mini box extend WIFI around the house.  The Booster acts an extra node and if you install it somewhere between the Q and mini boxes might help the WIFI signal reach the conservatory.

A write up on the various sky boxes  here