Loft Box Help Please read this entire page before clicking on an Order Form link, otherwise you'll miss something important! How does a Loft Box work? | The purpose of a loft box is to combine TV aerial, dish LNB and radio aerial signals into one coaxial cable to feed the main room. A "decombiner" wall plate separates the signals to feed the individual equipment units. A second cable acts as a "return" to feed any outputs from that equipment (Sky, VCR etc.) to the Loft Box for further distribution to other rooms. Diagram shows the typical internal signal paths -> | 
|
How the various frequencies fit into the spectrum Q. Will the Loft Box affect my picture quality? A. All Digiboxes produce the same analogue "RF Output" quality picture with MONO audio. It's designed to feed a small bedroom TV set. The picture/sound quality has nothing whatsoever to do with the choice of Loft Box (but it can obviously be affected by the choice and length of coaxial cables and the choice of UHF channels in use if they conflict with each other or with terrestrial channels. See our eBook "Piping TV Around the House"). If the "RF Output" quality is not good enough on your chosen TV without a Loft Box, it certainly won't be any better with a Loft Box, so don't order one. A loft box is unable to distinguish between analogue and digital signals. A Loft Box passes all aerial signals virtually unaltered so the Freeview picture should be perfect on all TV sets. Which Loft Box is right for me? Do I even need one or would a simple distribution amplifier do? It's unlikely that we can answer this question without carrying out a house survey and we can't undertake that. Please read the information on this page and click on the links (below) to each of the Loft Boxes that we offer. Also look at the information about amplifiers in the Technical Library. Before you attempt to install a Loft Box, distribution amplifier or similar you should make your own sketch* of the entire layout that you propose to use. Keep as near as possible to the suggested layouts on our web pages and in our "Piping TV Around the House" eBook. (If you have to ask a question, we will need to see your diagram). The purpose of the diagram is to clarify in your mind what you need to put and where and to let you estimate what cable and connectors are required. Please note that all our Loft Box systems can be expanded to feed even more TV sets by using a Global "amp adder" and a Global "T" or "F" series amplifier - available with up to 16 outputs. Remote extender "magic eyes" and masthead amplifiers* need to be powered via the coaxial cable. If the "TV" plugs aren't fitted correctly, the connection will be intermittent and you'll have problems. See a short movie of how to fit a plug correctly by clicking HERE. * Since a Loft Box incorporates a masthead amplifier, you will not usually need to install a separate one unless you have a very long run of cable from aerial to Loft Box. * Mark on your sketch the stock code of each item (such as wall plates). Remember that we can also supply modular wall plates. Mark on it the approximate length of each cable run. Mark on it the UHF channel number (21 - 69) that each piece of equipment will use (Digibox, VCR etc.) Based on a figure of 0.18 dB per metre, write down the attenuation for each length of cable, where it's significant. Remember that 3dB represents a loss of 50% of the signal. Most equipment can cope with this but an amplifier might be required if the loss exceeds, say, 6dB. To determine the channel numbers you might need to read the eBook "Piping TV Around the House". "I don't need a Loft Box. I just want to split the RF signal to more than one TV set".
OK, click HERE for amplified splitters. TIPS As the RF signal from equipment does not provide "Scart quality" pictures or stereo audio, you need to make the best of what's available. A decent RF signal will provide an acceptable picture on a bedroom TV of up to at least 24". Ensure that ALL the cables carrying the signal are high quality fully-shielded type. That includes all "fly leads" between equipment and between equipment and wall sockets. These are especially prone to problems because they are close to sources of interference (e.g. the TV set!) People write to us to complain that the picture quality is absolutely abysmal on the secondary TV sets. This is invariably because they did not complete the "downlink-uplink" return connection. The signal coming out of the Loft Box "living room feed" must be returned to the Loft Box, otherwise the secondary TV sets will not receive it. | 
