How to watch TV in another room without paying an extra monthly fee?

12 June 2024

To watch TV in another room without paying extra, you can use several methods depending on your available equipment and preferences, or with a minimal investment. Here are some effective options:

1. Use a cable splitter

What is it:

A cable splitter splits the signal from your cable TV line to multiple outputs.

How to set it up:

Connect the input of the splitter to the cable coming from your wall.

Connect one output to your main TV and the other output to the TV in the other room.

You may need to run a coax cable from the splitter to the other room.

Cons:

Both TVs will display the same channel.

You will have to go to the other room to change the channel/volume/turn down the volume. We all know that commercials are louder.

If this option is yours, these are the things you will need:

coaxial cable, splitter, f connectors, possibly a muff, TV socket.

2. Decoder.

If your TV does not have a built-in DVB-T2 MPEG 4 decoder, you can purchase an over-the-air receiver.

Advantages: They are usually not expensive, they act as a multimedia player, and the better models have additional extras such as the ability to watch iptv.

Cons: An additional investment that equates to a child's toy digger that will be sitting in the cupboard from tomorrow.

If you prefer this option, you may want to check out our free-to-air digital receiver models.

If you don't have an over-the-air antenna, you can read the article on how to choose an over-the-air antenna for the best reception.

3. HDMI splitter

What it is: An HDMI splitter allows one HDMI source to be displayed on multiple TVs.

How to set it up:

Connect the HDMI splitter to your receiver or media player.

Connect HDMI cables from the splitter to each TV.

Use long HDMI cables or HDMI over Ethernet extenders if the second TV is far away.

Considerations: Both TVs will display the same content.

And here you will have to walk to the other room to change the channel/mute/turn down the volume.

3. Use a video sender

What it is: A video sender transmits audio and video signals from one room to another, via coaxial cable.

How to set it up:

Connect the transmitter to your source device (eg decoder, DVD player).

Connect the receiver to the TV in the other room.

Connect the devices with a coaxial cable.

Advantages:

Reliability: Coaxial cables are less susceptible to interference and signal degradation than wireless transmission, providing a more stable and reliable connection.

Use of existing infrastructure: Uses already installed coaxial cables, saving the cost and effort of installing new cables.

Convenience: You can control the device from the room you are in with a remote.

Cons: Less flexible than wireless systems in terms of moving the transmitter and receiver around because they are connected by coaxial cable.

Take a look at audio-video senders that you could use for this purpose.