Got a second HD TV in your home? Here’s our guide to getting HD on another telly
This guide was triggered by one of our visitors, Darren. He asked: “I have just upgraded to Sky+HD. have cabling for multiroom and a second Sky box. I want to get HD upstairs, but don’t want to go to the expense of getting Sky HD Miultroom”
Sending HD wirelessly
Without getting a second Sky+ HD box, possibly the most elegant solution is to get a wireless video sender. These have been around for a while, and traditionally connect via SCART. You can now get a wireless video sender that supports High Definition wirelessly.
We’ve found a wireless sender that supports 1080p (the top HD format) over a distance of up to 25 metres, or 720p up to 50 metres, although real range is hindered by walls and floors. The model we’ve seen also allows infrared remote control commands to be sent over the wireless link, so you can switch channels from the other room.
HDMI Wireless Video Sender Kit
The HDMI wireless kit contains a transmitter and receiver, both of which are mains powered. Setup is easy, and as well as being handy for sending HD to a second TV, you can also use the kit to send to an overhead projector, or where having trailing wires isn’t an option.
You can find more details of this model, plus the cheaper standard definition video senders here: List of Wireless Video Senders.
Get a second HD receiver
This option gives you the greatest flexibility, as it would allow you to watch a different HD channel to the one being shown on the main Sky HD box. Here are several options:
- Get Sky Multiroom. We appreciate that the person asking the original question wasn’t looking to go down this route, but it does offer the widest choice for HD, as you can get up over 50 HD channels on a second TV set. To find out more, go to the Sky Multiroom site.
- If you don’t want to increase your Sky bill by going for Multiroom, consider getting a Freesat HD box for the other room. This uses your existing Sky satellite dish and will give you BBC One HD, BBC HD, ITV 1 HD and Channel 4 HD without a subscription
- You could also consider getting a Freeview HD box for the second room. Freeview uses a TV aerial, not a dish, so make sure you have an aerial point in the second room. As with Freesat, you get BBC One HD, BBC HD, ITV 1 HD and Channel 4 HD subscription-free
More HD Help
For answers to more HD questions, see our HD Advice category
