TV in room other than aerial connection

Thread Starter

Dave

Joined Nov 17, 2003
6,969
Ok, simple one here (I hope).

I have an aerial wall connection in my front bedroom which connects direct to the roof-top aerial. I would like to TV from the roof-top aerial on my laptop in my study, however there is no aerial connection in there. Other than chasing-out the wall to run the aerial into my study, what are my options for using the aerial wall connection in my front room to watch TV in my study?

Thanks.

Dave
 

Thread Starter

Dave

Joined Nov 17, 2003
6,969
You can always install an extension in parallel with the other you have. Or simply add an extension cable.
Running an extension cable is not really an option I wish to look at since the cable length would need to be of the region of 15 metres and I would need to raise the floorboards in order to run it into the back room.

I am probably looking at a relay device which I could connect to the aerial point in the front room and relay the TV signal to another device in the rear room - this is the device I would connect to my PC. Does such a set of devices exist?

Dave
 

SgtWookie

Joined Jul 17, 2007
22,230
Even running an extension cable would not likely give you good results, particularly in the higher channels. The signal from a standard TV antenna is pretty low, and losses in coax cable will gobble up the signal strength quickly. Also, if you try to use a 2-way signal splitter where the TV is currently located, you will automatically reduce your signal strength by about 3.5dBm for each output. Using a signal booster might help, but the booster will add it's own noise in the mix, resulting in picture/sound distortion.

Are you using 300-Ohm twinlead, or 75-Ohm coax such as RG-11, RG-6, or (heaven forbid) RG-59? (RG-59 is cheap, but lousy, RG-11 is tough to work with, but great for long runs, RG-6 is standard for runs < 150 feet for cable co's)

I don't know offhand of an available TV-band repeater. BUT ... you COULD do something like use a VCR as a "tuner" at the point closest to your antenna lead's entry into the house. Select the desired station on your VCR. VCR's generally have both RF output, channel 3/4 selectable, along with A/V outputs. A very low-power transmitter with a very directional antenna MIGHT work as a repeater.

However, you will lose video and audio quality. The item you use as a tuner will add it's own noise to the signal, as will whatever kind of mini-transmitter you can find - then your receiving TV tuner will also add it's own noise. If you have stations nearby that are on channel 3 or 4, you will have significant "ghosting" effects.

Your best bet would be to use a VCR (or similar) as a tuner to keep your antenna leads as short as possible, and run low-loss audiovisual cables to your A/V inputs on your TV monitor. That way, the RF signals are only demodulated once. But then we're back into running cables again.
 

Thread Starter

Dave

Joined Nov 17, 2003
6,969
Even running an extension cable would not likely give you good results, particularly in the higher channels. The signal from a standard TV antenna is pretty low, and losses in coax cable will gobble up the signal strength quickly. Also, if you try to use a 2-way signal splitter where the TV is currently located, you will automatically reduce your signal strength by about 3.5dBm for each output. Using a signal booster might help, but the booster will add it's own noise in the mix, resulting in picture/sound distortion.
This was an issue I did have regarding running an extension cable, but was precluded by the practicality of running the cable around the house.

Are you using 300-Ohm twinlead, or 75-Ohm coax such as RG-11, RG-6, or (heaven forbid) RG-59? (RG-59 is cheap, but lousy, RG-11 is tough to work with, but great for long runs, RG-6 is standard for runs < 150 feet for cable co's)
I haven't dug too deeply at this point, but it is definitely a co-ax run from the roof-top to the connection point in the front room. I will have a look behind the wall later to confirm.

I don't know offhand of an available TV-band repeater. BUT ... you COULD do something like use a VCR as a "tuner" at the point closest to your antenna lead's entry into the house. Select the desired station on your VCR. VCR's generally have both RF output, channel 3/4 selectable, along with A/V outputs. A very low-power transmitter with a very directional antenna MIGHT work as a repeater.

However, you will lose video and audio quality. The item you use as a tuner will add it's own noise to the signal, as will whatever kind of mini-transmitter you can find - then your receiving TV tuner will also add it's own noise. If you have stations nearby that are on channel 3 or 4, you will have significant "ghosting" effects.

Your best bet would be to use a VCR (or similar) as a tuner to keep your antenna leads as short as possible, and run low-loss audiovisual cables to your A/V inputs on your TV monitor. That way, the RF signals are only demodulated once. But then we're back into running cables again.
I'm not familiar with using a VCR in this way. The TV tuner is integrated into my PC so there is no stand-alone STB for DVB-T transmissions, therefore I am restricted to the connections on the PC which include USB, a line-in jack, a IEE 1394 port, S-Video, and a port replicator interface. At the moment I looked at the feasibility (manyly due to costs and ease of use) of a USB DVB-T stick which acts as an aerial to receive transmissions, however I am concerned about the ability to receive digital transmission which is poor on internal aerials - hence my idea to look at relaying the signal from the roof-top connection.

I will have a look at the links you suggested and may pass a few thoughts past you. Any further suggestions are welcome in the meantime. Thanks.

Dave
 

Thread Starter

Dave

Joined Nov 17, 2003
6,969
I have it!

Hook the antenna to a VCR and connect it to the PC via a TV card. Network the PC to one in the other room and run VLC on both and stream video to the other room.

Now to change channels GET UP AND WALK TO THE OTHER ROOM!
;)

You can just run a coax from the antenna connection to the other room or use something like the VCR Rabbit.

http://cgi.ebay.com/VCR-TV-Rabbit-M...3693778QQihZ005QQcategoryZ73383QQcmdZViewItem
Aside from the inconvenience of changing channels, I'm not sure my missus would be happy having a PC in the bedroom (where the aerial point is!!)

I have thought about hijacking the TV signal on the wireless network in our house...however, we get back to the need for a PC at the aerial point.

Dave
 

thingmaker3

Joined May 16, 2005
5,083
I'm darn good at chasing walls if I do say so myself. I'll be happy to route the cable for you, if you can spring for the air fare for my wife and I.:)

Optionally, find a lightweight ferrous metal chain and a powerful magnet.
 

Thread Starter

Dave

Joined Nov 17, 2003
6,969
Have you thought of a sledgehammer? Just eliminate intervening walls and turn up the sound.
It is an option that has been considered! The *only* problem I see is that the bed will then overhang the staircase, and I'm clumsy enough without introducing such bed-time hazards! :D

I'm darn good at chasing walls if I do say so myself. I'll be happy to route the cable for you, if you can spring for the air fare for my wife and I.:)

Optionally, find a lightweight ferrous metal chain and a powerful magnet.
Ok, but my house is small so I don't know where you'd stay :p

The chase-out option is a potential goer because I will be taking the skirts off in the next week, however as has been mentioned in my discussion with SgtWookie there is a problem with losses when using lengthy cables to route the aerial connection into the rear room. it I were to provide an estimate of the length of the cable required it would be in the region of 15m+

Dave
 

beenthere

Joined Apr 20, 2004
15,819
It may get down to the quality of your signal. Using RG-6 is pretty well suited to lengthy runs, though. I recall snaking RG-6 down through 5 stories inside a building and having an acceptable signal at the set. We were running off a VHF whip with a really good coupler.
 

Thread Starter

Dave

Joined Nov 17, 2003
6,969
It may get down to the quality of your signal. Using RG-6 is pretty well suited to lengthy runs, though. I recall snaking RG-6 down through 5 stories inside a building and having an acceptable signal at the set. We were running off a VHF whip with a really good coupler.
The signal quality to my roof-top aerial is pretty good - I receive all 6 of the multiplexes for UK DTT transmissions without problems. SgtWookie recommended RG-11 cable as well as RG-6. I really don't like the idea of running cables around the house, but it does look as though this may be the only option. I am really surprised there is not a terrestrial signal relay device - perhaps there is a market niche here.

Dave
 

thingmaker3

Joined May 16, 2005
5,083
Splitter amplifier boxes are available here in most hardware stores. They can be had in different frequency ranges. They run $20 to $50 US. I don't know if such animals dwell in the UK or not.

15 meters is not so long. I've run up to 90m in schools and hospitals. We ran well more than 90m to some of the "pods" in the Washington County Jail, but used an amp on the head end.
 

Gadget

Joined Jan 10, 2006
614
If you had a tuner with a remote control and AV output (I.E and old VCR) at the antenna jack, and use one of the commonly available AV senders that also send the remote signal back to the source.... then the AV receiver will plug into your monitor, and also relay the channel change signal back the the VCR (tuner) so you can change channel with the VCR remote at the monitor.
 
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