You have recently moved into the new house you wanted so much and, once the move is complete, here is the bitter surprise: the room where you wanted to place one of your televisions does not have an antenna socket, so you find yourself having to spend hours watching in rather uncomfortable positions, very different from the armchair or sofa you dreamed of sitting on. Well, in this case you could use a pair of TV repeaters , i.e. devices capable of “repeating” the audio/video signal emitted and transmitting it to a second distant device.
How do you say? Are you already interested in this topic? Perfect, then you’ve come to the right guide: below, in fact, I will explain to you in detail how a TV signal repeater works , illustrating its characteristics and giving you some examples to better understand the various usage scenarios. Pay close attention to what I am going to tell you, as a wrong choice could turn into a practically useless purchase!
Therefore, without waiting a moment longer, spend a few minutes of your time reading this guide of mine and I am sure that, at the end, you will be able to choose and adopt the solution that best suits your needs. Having said that, there’s nothing left for me to do but wish you a good read and, above all, a good vision!
How does a TV signal booster work
Before explaining in detail how to connect a repeater, it is good to clarify the devices that make up a complete “kit” and their specific characteristics: I will provide you with all the necessary information below.
Technical features
The transmission of the audio/video signal from one television to another is not set up by a single repeater but by a complete kit, made up of at least 3 devices: a transmitting, input or TX device , which is the one that takes care of “acquire” the signal and retransmit it remotely; a receiving , output or RX device , which takes care of “capturing” the transmitted signal and replicating it on the second television, and an infrared device , useful for using the remote control from a distance (without jumping from one room to another to change the channel ).
Repeaters of this type work using electromagnetic waves, operating at 5.8 GHz : this frequency is difficult to find interference, since it is not used by a wide range of devices; among other things, the coverage offered by a pair of repeaters is quite limited (most indoor repeaters, for example, offer a maximum coverage of 20 meters ).
Keep in mind that these devices do not have an internal tuner : this means that, in practice, they cannot be connected “directly” to the antenna, but must necessarily acquire the signal from a device capable of tuning the channels and retransmit them in turn to a video destination. Therefore, a transmitting repeater could easily be connected to a decoder , but not to a Smart TV, as the latter does not provide signal output functions.
How to use
To better understand the concrete functioning of a repeater kit, it’s time to illustrate everything with a practical example: in principle, what you have to do is connect the TX repeater to the device that receives the signal directly from the antenna ( for example the decoder), insert the infrared receiver connector into the TX (taking care to position it in front of the sensor of the same name on the decoder) and connect the RX repeater to the television on which to retransmit the signal (basically, the one placed in the absence of ‘TV aerial). For devices of this type, the most common connection method is the so-called SCART socketbut, as I will explain later, there are also repeaters compatible with the HDMI connection.
Having completed this operation, you must connect both repeaters to the socket, turn them on and choose the transmission channel by acting on the levers attached to both devices, or carry out the pairing by pressing the appropriate buttons. The bulk is practically done: turn on the decoder, do the same thing with the TV without an antenna, position it on the right video source (in this case, SCART ) and control the decoder remotely by directing its remote control towards the RX repeater (which will take care of sending the infrared signal to the other receiver, and consequently to the decoder). The TV connected to the TX repeater will continue to work as usual.
However, keep in mind that, in this way, both TVs will necessarily be tuned to the same channel: in practice, what is reproduced by the TV equipped with a decoder (and therefore positioned in the room where the antenna is present), is replicated on the TV not equipped with an independent antenna, without the possibility of choice.
If you want to solve this problem, you can act as follows: first of all, you have to “double” the signal coming from the wall antenna socket, using a special Y adapter and a second antenna cable (which you can buy for a few dollar in shops specializing in electronics or television items, or online).
At this point, connect the Y adapter to the wall socket and the antenna cable coming from the decoder (or Smart TV) already present to one of the two free connectors: you can use this TV in the usual way. As I already explained to you at the beginning, you cannot directly connect the repeater to the second available antenna, as it is not equipped with a tuner: this means that, in this case, you will necessarily have to equip yourself with a second decoder, to be connected to the TX repeater and to the antenna. If you don’t have one and you need help choosing, you can consult my guide dedicated to buying a new digital terrestrial decoder .
The game is practically done: connect the second output of the Y-splitter to the new antenna cable, connect the second end of the latter to the decoder and, on the decoder, connect the TX repeater and the small IR receiver using the link mode most suitable (e.g. SCART). Subsequently, feed and turn on both devices, take the remote control of the decoder with you and move to the television without an antenna: connect the RX receiver to the latter, connect the necessary power plugs, turn on both devices and , from the TV, switch to the correct video source (e.g. SCART ).
Using the remote control, you can “remotely” tune the channels on the decoder (thanks to the small integrated infrared system) and then watch TV completely independently of each other, using the channels picked up by the new decoder. If you need help tuning channels, I invite you to take a look at my guide on how to tune your decoder .
Note : If you have noisy signals on both TVs, the problem could be that the antenna is in the wrong orientation. If this is exactly your case, you can follow the advice I gave you in my in-depth analysis dedicated to antenna orientation to find a valid solution.
Types of TV signal repeaters
There are currently two types of TV signal boosters available, based on the type of connection supported: SCART and HDMI .
SCART repeaters
Repeaters based on SCART connectivity are the simplest and cheapest and, despite the “old” SCART technology, they are still perfectly compatible with current television standards. Therefore, if you use the digital terrestrial decoder, you should already have the SCART cable with which to connect these types of repeaters; if, on the other hand, you need to connect the transmitter to a new generation decoder (SkyHD, Sky Q), you will need to use an HDMI to SCART adapter, like the one I propose below.
Although these converters are apparently the same, you have to pay close attention to the “direction” in which the signal travels: as regards the TX decoder-repeater pair, you need to use a converter that accepts HDMI inputs and transmits it in SCART, while for it concerns the TV-repeater RX couple instead you have to use a converter that accepts SCART input and retransmits it in HDMI. Keep in mind that these converters require mains power.
HDMI repeaters
If you don’t have televisions/set top boxes equipped with a SCART socket and you don’t want to get lost in buying too many additional adapters, you should instead focus on repeaters compatible with HDMI inputs and outputs, which can be easily connected to the most modern devices.
But I warn you: these models are extremely more expensive than repeaters with SCART sockets, so analyze the situation carefully and evaluate whether it is appropriate to spend a higher amount to avoid the use of some converters (as you saw a moment ago , these have significantly lower prices).
Where to buy a TV signal booster
Now that you know how a TV signal repeater (or rather, a repeater kit) works and how to connect them, you will be pleased to know that these devices can be easily found in electronics, computer , television shops and in online. Below I propose some TV repeater kits, equipped with SCART connectivity, available online.