TV Package and Installation - help!

FrancisBegbie

Hi all,
I’ve just bought a house and I’m struggling to work out the best way to get Sky Sports and TNT Sports without ugly cabling everywhere.

The TV has to go on an internal living-room wall, roughly in the middle of the downstairs. That’s where the issue starts:

• Sky Q / satellite: The dish would need to be on the back external wall. I really can’t see Sky running a cable from the dish, through the kitchen wall, a downstairs cupboard, then into an internal wall and out behind the TV.
• Virgin: They’d need to come in through the front exterior wall, and again I don’t believe they’d route the cable internally to behind the TV.
• I don’t want cables running across the living room, tacked along skirting, boxed in, or going through multiple walls.
• Going through the floor isn’t an option either.

Because of that, I started looking at streaming options:

• I’ve had to take YouFibre (only full fibre available on my close).
• Sky Stream worries me due to consistently poor reviews.
• EE TV requires EE broadband.
• Virgin TV requires Virgin broadband, which I can’t get anyway.

That leaves me with NOW TV, probably via Apple TV, but it’s coming out at ~£70/month just for Sky Sports + TNT Sports, with no other channels, which feels awful value.

So my questions are:

• Has anyone solved a similar internal-wall TV setup without visible cabling?
• Are Sky/Virgin installers more flexible than I’m assuming?
• Is Sky Stream actually OK in real-world use?
• Any other ways of getting Sky Sports + TNT that I’ve missed?

Any advice or real-world experiences would be massively appreciated. Thanks!

jessmist

Hi,

I switched to Sky stream over a year ago and I have found it really good. You could always try it on the rolling 30 day contract instead of committing to a long contract.

I think you will find that Sky have stopped taking orders for Sky Q

Woodstok2000

We have this setup with sky. Cable goes round the outside of the house and then in and through the inside of an interior wall into the living room. We had an independent guy do it, we were redecorating anyway so the walls were OK to get messed up a bit.

FrancisBegbie

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81859049#Comment_81859049

What was the cost and what was the damage to the walls?

Peter999_2

I put my TV on the wall. It was a false wall and I punched a hole through the wall, fed the cables down. Created another hole behind our electric fire for the cables to come out. It then lays next the the gripper along to where the power socket is (which is hidden by a bookcase. It looks pretty good and people do comment when they come round to ask where the cables are.

I spent a long time looking into Sky Stream before I finally took the plunge. I personally think that they key is having at least 100Mbps internet and a good quality router (not the rubbish you get with your ISP). I personally use the GLI-net Flint 3 (Wifi 7) router and Stream works fine without any of the issues people report. It hiccups every now and then but no different to every other device I've ever had including satellite.

If I had the choice I would have gone for Sky Q (yu can still order it if you conatct them) as it is far superior for things like football as Stream is at least about 10-20 seconds behind satellite. I got a deal for £15 for the ultimate stream which doesn't include football (my friend very kindly lets me use his Sky Go for TNT and Sky via my Apple TV).

peteuk

If you have a smart TV, the you can get the apps downloaded to TV.

GO tv allows Sky entertaimet for £4.99 a month, you can add sports and movies if you wish.

Ayr_Rage

If you go for Sky Stream do be aware that the power supply is quite large and there are many instances of people building media walls or wall mounting TVs who find it will not fit behind their TV, the puck itself needs a line of sight to the remote.

Stream needs a decent WiFi connection for stable operation and works much better with an ethernet connection.

Sky Stream is self install, they do not offer any installation service for the product.

Where has your ISP installed the router?

FrancisBegbie

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81859120#Comment_81859120

The router will be in the other side of the room than my TV / stream box. I am not opting for Sky Stream the reviews are so terrible it's completely put me off. I can get sky sports and tnt sports through now tv and discovery apps I can download onto my TV. I just find it bizaree I won't have even basic freeview on my TV just apps.

Ayr_Rage

All modern TVs will have a Freeview tuner, you just need an external antenna.

You could always buy one of the many TVs that have Freely internet TV, then you'll have many of the channels that are also on Freeview.

Woodstok2000

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81859049#Comment_81859049

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81859060#Comment_81859060

I think we paid a few hundred pounds, including the wall bracket and having the tv mounted. Damage wasn't much, couple of holes cut to pull the cables along and also where they came out behind the tv. Was all patched back up and decorator did the rest.

Search for local tv installers, or ask around for recommendations.

Peter999_2

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81859120#Comment_81859120

The puck doesn't need to be in the line of sight of the remote as it uses bluetooth. Mine is hidden behind the TV and it works fine.

The only line of site the remote needs is to the TV to change the volume and turn the TV off.