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UK diy (uk.d-i-y) For the discussion of all topics related to diy (do-it-yourself) in the UK. All levels of experience and proficency are welcome to join in to ask questions or offer solutions. |
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#1
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Aerial Signal Strength
After tolerating a poor signal for a few years - which became intolerable
when Channel 5 started, I signed up to cable TV. Reception problems over and more channels as well. I am now hoping to save some money - and tried someone's Freeview Set top box. All I got was a blue screen message saying no signal - so clearly it is bad. Previous attempts to improve the signal got me a 12 foot mast - which looked so hideous as was badly fitted that I had it taken down - and the installer had to pay for repairs to my brickwork which he had shattered with a Hilti Gun. A later attempt got me a mast head amplifier - better, but then along came NTL. My roof is virtually a pyramid shape so height is a problem. Question - will a decent installer be able to measure the signal strength before fitting anything? I don't want to get more hardware fitted if it isn't going to get me a Freeview signal. Nearby homes have high gain aerials and presumably Freeview - but they have gable ends or chimneys. I am at the bottom of a hill. -- -- John |
#2
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Aerial Signal Strength
On Wed, 21 Dec 2005 16:40:57 GMT, "john"
wrote: After tolerating a poor signal for a few years - which became intolerable when Channel 5 started, I signed up to cable TV. Reception problems over and more channels as well. I am now hoping to save some money - and tried someone's Freeview Set top box. All I got was a blue screen message saying no signal - so clearly it is bad. Previous attempts to improve the signal got me a 12 foot mast - which looked so hideous as was badly fitted that I had it taken down - and the installer had to pay for repairs to my brickwork which he had shattered with a Hilti Gun. A later attempt got me a mast head amplifier - better, but then along came NTL. My roof is virtually a pyramid shape so height is a problem. Question - will a decent installer be able to measure the signal strength before fitting anything? He would need to go up onto the roof with an antenna on a pole as though he was fitting it and to measure not only signal strength but quality as well. For example, if there are a lot of reflections (ghosting) on your analogue picture, you may not be able to get an usable DVB-T signal - it is a combination of signal strength and quality that is important. A good installer should have a suitable test instrument. I don't want to get more hardware fitted if it isn't going to get me a Freeview signal. Nearby homes have high gain aerials and presumably Freeview - but they have gable ends or chimneys. I am at the bottom of a hill. High gain aerials increase signal strength and may also improve reflection issues. Generally what your neighbours have should be a clue. Another option would be to get an old Sky receiver, a dish and a free to air card (if you don't want to give Rupert any money). That is likely to be more successful. -- ..andy |
#3
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Aerial Signal Strength
Did you use the menu on the Freeview box to scan for stations? You may
be on a different transmitter to the one your freind is using. IME, Freeview gets a picture even when you have a crap signal so I am suprised you dont get anything. |
#4
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Aerial Signal Strength
On Wed, 21 Dec 2005 16:40:57 GMT, "john"
wrote: | After tolerating a poor signal for a few years - which became intolerable | when Channel 5 started, I signed up to cable TV. Reception problems over and | more channels as well. | | I am now hoping to save some money - and tried someone's Freeview Set top | box. All I got was a blue screen message saying no signal - so clearly it is | bad. Previous attempts to improve the signal got me a 12 foot mast - which | looked so hideous as was badly fitted that I had it taken down - and the | installer had to pay for repairs to my brickwork which he had shatteredwith | a Hilti Gun. | A later attempt got me a mast head amplifier - better, but then along came | NTL. | | My roof is virtually a pyramid shape so height is a problem. | | Question - will a decent installer be able to measure the signal strength | before fitting anything? I don't want to get more hardware fitted if it | isn't going to get me a Freeview signal. Nearby homes have high gain aerials | and presumably Freeview - but they have gable ends or chimneys. I am atthe | bottom of a hill. Have you considered waiting till Freesat is up and running sometime next year? Only BBC, ITV programs plus a lot of minor things are up and running ATM Ch4 and Ch5 are still encrypted by $ky :-( See sig for details. -- Dave Fawthrop dave hyphenologist co uk Sat Ch4, Ch5, only GBP20 http://www.freesatfromsky.com - "what is freesat?" - "view T&C" - What will I receive "£20 ... one Viewing Card". You will also need $ky box and dish. List of Channels at http://www.wickonline.com/fta.htm All BBC & ITV Channels are now FTA and do not need this card. |
#5
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Aerial Signal Strength
"David P" wrote in message oups.com... Did you use the menu on the Freeview box to scan for stations? You may be on a different transmitter to the one your freind is using. IME, Freeview gets a picture even when you have a crap signal so I am suprised you dont get anything. I think you have something there - I realise I am aimed at Waltham - the owner of the Freeview Box is aimed at Sutton Coldfield - She didn't bring the remote control so we were a bit limited as to what we could do. I guess it is a menu driven thing. John |
#6
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Aerial Signal Strength
Yeah it is a menu thing. Consider getting a box from Argos, play with
it, because you can always take it back. |
#7
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Aerial Signal Strength
On 21 Dec 2005 09:18:42 -0800, "David P"
wrote: Yeah it is a menu thing. Consider getting a box from Argos, play with it, because you can always take it back. oh no you can't, Argos have thought of this freeview boxes are excluded "This item is excluded from the 16 day money back guarantee. See the Additional Information panel for full details. Please note that this product is excluded from our 16-Day Money Back Guarantee. This does not affect your statutory rights." |
#8
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Aerial Signal Strength
Ask in uk.tech.digital-tv where you will find knowledgeable and helpful
people like Bill Wright -- Peter Crosland |
#9
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Aerial Signal Strength
"Peter Crosland" wrote in message ... Ask in uk.tech.digital-tv where you will find knowledgeable and helpful people like Bill Wright -- Peter Crosland Thanks to the group - I obtained the remote and went through the set up menu - it worked fine - no picture problems at all. I now need to call NTL and cancel my cable TV. However, I want to still get their Broadband (for now...!) Any recommendations on Set Top Boxes? What should I look out for? Is there much to chose between them? Thanks |
#11
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Aerial Signal Strength
They are all much the same, go for one you like the look of! I think
most have a 7 day TV guide which allows you to select stuff to record. I have a Sony one, one niggle is that the first time you switch over to channel 19 it wont display anything - chose another channel, then back to 19 and its fine! |
#12
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Aerial Signal Strength
"john" wrote in
: Any recommendations on Set Top Boxes? What should I look out for? Is there much to chose between them? Look for 2 scarts out so you can record and watch something different. They all have coax loop through, a very few have a modulator so you can run a TV without a scart off them - a few people might require this. There are other considerations like sensitivity to impulsive interference, which I haven't been able to quantify wxcept the Goodmans GDB4 doesnt have it :-(( mike |
#13
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Aerial Signal Strength
Chris wrote:
On 21 Dec 2005 09:18:42 -0800, "David P" wrote: Yeah it is a menu thing. Consider getting a box from Argos, play with it, because you can always take it back. oh no you can't, Argos have thought of this freeview boxes are excluded "This item is excluded from the 16 day money back guarantee. See the Additional Information panel for full details. Please note that this product is excluded from our 16-Day Money Back Guarantee. This does not affect your statutory rights." Yes Chris that is very correct, you "can't" take a box back if there is nothing actually wrong with it. So you (TINY) have to be a bit creative when taking the unit back say there is something wrong with it, the person on the tills (usually) hasn't got the skills to test for "broken" electronics and they certainly won't have any equipment so they will take you (TINY) at your word and give you (TINY) a refund, they may offer to swap the box but you (TINY) can just say you have no faith anymore in that manufacturer or Argos (something at the back of my mind tells me that you (TINY) decide if you want the item replaced or a refund). Have a story ready (you (TINY) could get a signal with a friends) in case they want some background . -- This post contains no hidden meanings, no implications and certainly no hidden agendas so it should be taken at face value. The wrong words may be used this is due to my limitations with the English language . |
#14
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Aerial Signal Strength
On Wed, 21 Dec 2005 19:44:57 GMT, soup wrote:
Chris wrote: On 21 Dec 2005 09:18:42 -0800, "David P" wrote: Yeah it is a menu thing. Consider getting a box from Argos, play with it, because you can always take it back. oh no you can't, Argos have thought of this freeview boxes are excluded "This item is excluded from the 16 day money back guarantee. See the Additional Information panel for full details. Please note that this product is excluded from our 16-Day Money Back Guarantee. This does not affect your statutory rights." Yes Chris that is very correct, you "can't" take a box back if there is nothing actually wrong with it. So you (TINY) have to be a bit creative when taking the unit back say there is something wrong with it, the person on the tills (usually) hasn't got the skills to test for "broken" electronics and they certainly won't have any equipment so they will take you (TINY) at your word and give you (TINY) a refund, they may offer to swap the box but you (TINY) can just say you have no faith anymore in that manufacturer or Argos (something at the back of my mind tells me that you (TINY) decide if you want the item replaced or a refund). Have a story ready (you (TINY) could get a signal with a friends) in case they want some background . By a decent STB on ebay - sony is as good as it gets, and you can always sell it for very little loss of cash. Try it and see. Ghosting and multipath is one thing that is much less of a problem on digital than analogue, but very low signal means not just a noisy picture - it means NO picture at all. I am not sure if there is antything to be gained with bossters - I have te feeling that quality STB';s are prerty sensitive already. OTOH hefting a big multielement up high will always win over a smaller one lower down. |
#15
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Aerial Signal Strength
On Wed, 21 Dec 2005 18:17:04 GMT, john wrote:
"Peter Crosland" wrote in message ... Ask in uk.tech.digital-tv where you will find knowledgeable and helpful people like Bill Wright -- Peter Crosland Thanks to the group - I obtained the remote and went through the set up menu - it worked fine - no picture problems at all. I now need to call NTL and cancel my cable TV. However, I want to still get their Broadband (for now...!) Any recommendations on Set Top Boxes? What should I look out for? Is there much to chose between them? Thanks SONY. works like a charm, and has the best menu systems . Expect to pay 60 quid on ebay tho :-( |
#16
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Aerial Signal Strength
David P wrote:
Did you use the menu on the Freeview box to scan for stations? You may be on a different transmitter to the one your freind is using. Agreed. IME, Freeview gets a picture even when you have a crap signal so I am suprised you dont get anything. I totally disagree here. At our location, we are in a bit of a dip from a good clear view of the Winter Hill TV mast. TV reception had been getting worse for several years, so I decided to get a new aerial installed. Aerial rigger came and measured the signal strength and advised us that a good quality, high gain one would give us digital signal strength. He mentioned some trees that he had said that he had avoided the aerial from looking through. At first, everything was fine, until autumn came along. The trees got the leaves wet and out went digital TV. Due to the good aerial, analogue TV was still watchable. So, a poor signal will not give you digital TV. Dave |
#17
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Aerial Signal Strength
Chris wrote:
On 21 Dec 2005 09:18:42 -0800, "David P" wrote: Yeah it is a menu thing. Consider getting a box from Argos, play with it, because you can always take it back. oh no you can't, Argos have thought of this freeview boxes are excluded "This item is excluded from the 16 day money back guarantee. See the Additional Information panel for full details. Please note that this product is excluded from our 16-Day Money Back Guarantee. This does not affect your statutory rights." Doesn't statutory rights include that it is fit for use then? Low signal strength at the OP location would infer that it is not fit for use. Dave |
#18
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Aerial Signal Strength
Dave wrote:
Low signal strength at the OP location would infer that it is not fit for use. Nope, having a low signal strength has NOTHING to do with the "box" [c.f. tyres may be capable of a gazzilion miles an hour but fitting those tyres does not make your engine powerfull enough to power the car at a gazzilion miles an hour], it should never have been bought in the first place. -- This post contains no hidden meanings, no implications and certainly no hidden agendas so it should be taken at face value. The wrong words may be used this is due to my limitations with the English language . |
#19
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Aerial Signal Strength
On Wed, 21 Dec 2005 21:36:51 +0000 (UTC), Dave
wrote: Chris wrote: On 21 Dec 2005 09:18:42 -0800, "David P" wrote: Yeah it is a menu thing. Consider getting a box from Argos, play with it, because you can always take it back. oh no you can't, Argos have thought of this freeview boxes are excluded "This item is excluded from the 16 day money back guarantee. See the Additional Information panel for full details. Please note that this product is excluded from our 16-Day Money Back Guarantee. This does not affect your statutory rights." Doesn't statutory rights include that it is fit for use then? Low signal strength at the OP location would infer that it is not fit for use. Dave That could be a tricky one in the sense that the product purchased would be the receiver only. If the receiver is actually functional with a signal that the spec of the receiver and/or broadcaster gives but this is not achievable because of the location or antenna, it is not the manufacturer's or the supplier's fault - the product was still fit for purpose. Following that argument would suggest that if I bought a gas cooker but didn't have a gas supply to which to connect it, then the cooker is not fit for purpose. However...... Having said all of that, I would still return it and simply say it doesn't work. If you return goods within 6 months, the onus is on the supplier to prove that the product worked. However, they can offer a replacement or repair rather than a refund. -- ..andy |
#20
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Aerial Signal Strength
mike ring wrote:
"john" wrote in : Any recommendations on Set Top Boxes? What should I look out for? Is there much to chose between them? Look for 2 scarts out so you can record and watch something different. How does this work? I was under the impression that it was a single signal receiver. Dave |
#21
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Aerial Signal Strength
In article , john
writes After tolerating a poor signal for a few years - which became intolerable when Channel 5 started, I signed up to cable TV. Reception problems over and more channels as well. I am now hoping to save some money - and tried someone's Freeview Set top box. All I got was a blue screen message saying no signal - so clearly it is bad. Previous attempts to improve the signal got me a 12 foot mast - which looked so hideous as was badly fitted that I had it taken down - and the installer had to pay for repairs to my brickwork which he had shattered with a Hilti Gun. A later attempt got me a mast head amplifier - better, but then along came NTL. My roof is virtually a pyramid shape so height is a problem. Question - will a decent installer be able to measure the signal strength before fitting anything? I don't want to get more hardware fitted if it isn't going to get me a Freeview signal. Nearby homes have high gain aerials and presumably Freeview - but they have gable ends or chimneys. I am at the bottom of a hill. -- You might be better off getting a second hand sky box and a 20 quid viewing card. Yes good riggers do exist but are few and far between and they are on a roll charging the earth for a "Digital" aerial. Around here Cambridge they asking £199-99 and getting the bu**er!. A new Freeview from Sky no further subs costs £150 all installed!.... -- Tony Sayer |
#22
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Aerial Signal Strength
On Wed, 21 Dec 2005 22:17:43 +0000, tony sayer
wrote: You might be better off getting a second hand sky box and a 20 quid viewing card. Yes good riggers do exist but are few and far between and they are on a roll charging the earth for a "Digital" aerial. Around here Cambridge they asking £199-99 and getting the bu**er!. Which should be money for old rope considering that the relatively flat terrain should be providing quite good conditions and the only reflections being from the poles on the punts. A new Freeview from Sky no further subs costs £150 all installed!.... -- ..andy |
#23
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Aerial Signal Strength
Dave wrote in
: Look for 2 scarts out so you can record and watch something different. How does this work? I was under the impression that it was a single signal receiver. The usual configuration is one scart lead from Set Top Box to TV - watch prog one scart lead from Set Top Box to Recorder - record freeview one scart lead from Recorder to TV - watch replay. If you have/will get a hard disc recorder that can record something, and play back something else at the same time, or let you catch up on a prog while it's still being recorded, you need the extra output. It's also easier operationally - freeview is AV1, recorder is AV2 mike |
#24
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Aerial Signal Strength
In message , Chris
writes On 21 Dec 2005 09:18:42 -0800, "David P" wrote: Yeah it is a menu thing. Consider getting a box from Argos, play with it, because you can always take it back. oh no you can't, Argos have thought of this freeview boxes are excluded "This item is excluded from the 16 day money back guarantee. See the Additional Information panel for full details. Please note that this product is excluded from our 16-Day Money Back Guarantee. This does not affect your statutory rights." When you can get one for under 40 quid from e.g. richer sounds, just go and buy one -- geoff |
#25
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Aerial Signal Strength
On Wed, 21 Dec 2005 23:01:49 UTC, raden wrote:
In message , Chris writes On 21 Dec 2005 09:18:42 -0800, "David P" wrote: Yeah it is a menu thing. Consider getting a box from Argos, play with it, because you can always take it back. oh no you can't, Argos have thought of this freeview boxes are excluded "This item is excluded from the 16 day money back guarantee. See the Additional Information panel for full details. Please note that this product is excluded from our 16-Day Money Back Guarantee. This does not affect your statutory rights." When you can get one for under 40 quid from e.g. richer sounds, just go and buy one Or save shoe leather and a tenner and just get the Argos one! -- The information contained in this post is copyright the poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by Avenue Supplies, http://avenuesupplies.co.uk |
#26
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Aerial Signal Strength
In message , Bob Eager
wrote On Wed, 21 Dec 2005 23:01:49 UTC, raden wrote: In message , Chris writes On 21 Dec 2005 09:18:42 -0800, "David P" wrote: Yeah it is a menu thing. Consider getting a box from Argos, play with it, because you can always take it back. oh no you can't, Argos have thought of this freeview boxes are excluded "This item is excluded from the 16 day money back guarantee. See the Additional Information panel for full details. Please note that this product is excluded from our 16-Day Money Back Guarantee. This does not affect your statutory rights." When you can get one for under 40 quid from e.g. richer sounds, just go and buy one Or save shoe leather and a tenner and just get the Argos one! Most supermarkets have a range of £30/40 boxes which is probably better than buying end of range items from Richer Sounds for similar prices. -- Alan news2005 {at} amac {dot} f2s {dot} com |
#27
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Aerial Signal Strength
In message , Bob Eager
writes On Wed, 21 Dec 2005 23:01:49 UTC, raden wrote: In message , Chris writes On 21 Dec 2005 09:18:42 -0800, "David P" wrote: Yeah it is a menu thing. Consider getting a box from Argos, play with it, because you can always take it back. oh no you can't, Argos have thought of this freeview boxes are excluded "This item is excluded from the 16 day money back guarantee. See the Additional Information panel for full details. Please note that this product is excluded from our 16-Day Money Back Guarantee. This does not affect your statutory rights." When you can get one for under 40 quid from e.g. richer sounds, just go and buy one Or save shoe leather and a tenner and just get the Argos one! I prefer to be able to walk in and out of a shop within half an hour with goods in hand Argos do one which remodulates for 30 quid then ? all the more reason to just go and buy one and try it out -- geoff |
#28
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Aerial Signal Strength
In article , Andy Hall
writes On Wed, 21 Dec 2005 22:17:43 +0000, tony sayer wrote: You might be better off getting a second hand sky box and a 20 quid viewing card. Yes good riggers do exist but are few and far between and they are on a roll charging the earth for a "Digital" aerial. Around here Cambridge they asking £199-99 and getting the bu**er!. Which should be money for old rope considering that the relatively flat terrain should be providing quite good conditions and the only reflections being from the poles on the punts. Yes quite.. except that there some areas which are quite built up... A new Freeview from Sky no further subs costs £150 all installed!.... -- Tony Sayer |
#29
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Aerial Signal Strength
In article , mike ring
writes Dave wrote in : Look for 2 scarts out so you can record and watch something different. How does this work? I was under the impression that it was a single signal receiver. The usual configuration is one scart lead from Set Top Box to TV - watch prog one scart lead from Set Top Box to Recorder - record freeview one scart lead from Recorder to TV - watch replay. If you have/will get a hard disc recorder that can record something, and play back something else at the same time, or let you catch up on a prog while it's still being recorded, you need the extra output. It's also easier operationally - freeview is AV1, recorder is AV2 mike But doesn't the Freeview box output the same signal to both scart sockets, so you can't watch and record different Freeview channels at the same time? -- Phil Hughes |
#30
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Hi Mike
mike ring wrote: [...] There are other considerations like sensitivity to impulsive interference, which I haven't been able to quantify wxcept the Goodmans GDB4 doesnt have it :-(( Is there supposed to be much difference between STBs/tuners in this area? I thought that sensitivity to imulse interference was a characteristic of the DAB modulation scheme (COFDM). I also have a GDB4 and the effect of the cooker igniter is very obvious. Mind you, the last run of cable (from the loft to the socket) is old cable, not the nice new stuff (FR100?) the guy fitted with the new aerial. A asked to coil up an extra few meters in the loft and 'one day soon' I plan to complete the run to the socket. I worked on developing DAB Set Top boxes in the early (OnDigital) days and have noticed that the modern tuners are a hell of a lot better (as in: more sensitive) than they used to be. No idea if rejection of impulse interference is better though... Jon N |
#31
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Aerial Signal Strength
But doesn't the Freeview box output the same signal to both scart
sockets, so you can't watch and record different Freeview channels at the same time? Just make sure your hard disc recorder has a built in tuner. Much better that way, as the timed recording doesn't depend on you remembering to set the channel before going out/to bed. Christian. |
#32
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On Thu, 22 Dec 2005 09:54:55 +0000, tony sayer
wrote: In article , Andy Hall writes On Wed, 21 Dec 2005 22:17:43 +0000, tony sayer wrote: You might be better off getting a second hand sky box and a 20 quid viewing card. Yes good riggers do exist but are few and far between and they are on a roll charging the earth for a "Digital" aerial. Around here Cambridge they asking £199-99 and getting the bu**er!. Which should be money for old rope considering that the relatively flat terrain should be providing quite good conditions and the only reflections being from the poles on the punts. Yes quite.. except that there some areas which are quite built up... Oh yes. Ely Cathedral. I forgot ;-) The price point probably has more to do with perception in comparison with a complete Sky package and what the market will stand. A local installer who I used some time ago (does commercial work and fully equipped with test gear), does a basic supply and install (contract grade antenna, TV coax, job done fastest way) for around £70 or a higher quality job with decent antenna, CT100 routed carefully and as much as possible invisibly for about £120-130. -- ..andy |
#33
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Christian McArdle wrote:
Someone else wrote, but the attributions were munged: But doesn't the Freeview box output the same signal to both scart sockets, so you can't watch and record different Freeview channels at the same time? Just make sure your hard disc recorder has a built in tuner. Much better that way, as the timed recording doesn't depend on you remembering to set the channel before going out/to bed. Buy a thing called a Thomson DHD4000 which does the job very well, this machine was pointed out to me on uk.tech.digital-tv, which is ------- over there. |
#34
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On Wed, 21 Dec 2005 17:32:23 +0000, Chris
wrote: On 21 Dec 2005 09:18:42 -0800, "David P" wrote: Yeah it is a menu thing. Consider getting a box from Argos, play with it, because you can always take it back. oh no you can't, Argos have thought of this freeview boxes are excluded "This item is excluded from the 16 day money back guarantee. See the Additional Information panel for full details. Please note that this product is excluded from our 16-Day Money Back Guarantee. This does not affect your statutory rights." Don't buy from them if they won't refund if they don't work. Around where I live a few people can get freeview. We bought a IDTV which kept crashing so we took it back for a refund. I'm not going to bother with freeview until they sort out the signal here. Mark. |
#35
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Aerial Signal Strength
Yeah it is a menu thing. Consider getting a box from Argos, play with
it, because you can always take it back. oh no you can't, Argos have thought of this freeview boxes are excluded "This item is excluded from the 16 day money back guarantee. See the Additional Information panel for full details. Please note that this product is excluded from our 16-Day Money Back Guarantee. This does not affect your statutory rights." Doesn't statutory rights include that it is fit for use then? Low signal strength at the OP location would infer that it is not fit for use. Complete and utter twaddle! A low signal level is nothing whatsoever to do with the box. Peter Crosland |
#36
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In article , Andy Hall
writes On Thu, 22 Dec 2005 09:54:55 +0000, tony sayer wrote: In article , Andy Hall writes On Wed, 21 Dec 2005 22:17:43 +0000, tony sayer wrote: You might be better off getting a second hand sky box and a 20 quid viewing card. Yes good riggers do exist but are few and far between and they are on a roll charging the earth for a "Digital" aerial. Around here Cambridge they asking £199-99 and getting the bu**er!. Which should be money for old rope considering that the relatively flat terrain should be providing quite good conditions and the only reflections being from the poles on the punts. Yes quite.. except that there some areas which are quite built up... Oh yes. Ely Cathedral. I forgot ;-) Ah yes!, now as it 'appens I could tell you quite a bit about the absorptive effects of olithic limestone on VHF/FM signals There are parts of central Cambridge where reception is rather difficult!.. The price point probably has more to do with perception in comparison with a complete Sky package and what the market will stand. A local installer who I used some time ago (does commercial work and fully equipped with test gear), does a basic supply and install (contract grade antenna, TV coax, job done fastest way) for around £70 or a higher quality job with decent antenna, CT100 routed carefully and as much as possible invisibly for about £120-130. Who's that, Mike Lane?, regency aerials were the ones quoting silly money FWIW... -- Tony Sayer .. |
#37
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Aerial Signal Strength
Peter Crosland wrote:
Yeah it is a menu thing. Consider getting a box from Argos, play with it, because you can always take it back. oh no you can't, Argos have thought of this freeview boxes are excluded "This item is excluded from the 16 day money back guarantee. See the Additional Information panel for full details. Please note that this product is excluded from our 16-Day Money Back Guarantee. This does not affect your statutory rights." Doesn't statutory rights include that it is fit for use then? Low signal strength at the OP location would infer that it is not fit for use. Complete and utter twaddle! A low signal level is nothing whatsoever to do with the box. Thanks for wrapping that up, before you sent it Peter :-) Dave |
#38
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Aerial Signal Strength
"jkn" wrote in
oups.com: Hi Mike mike ring wrote: [...] There are other considerations like sensitivity to impulsive interference, which I haven't been able to quantify wxcept the Goodmans GDB4 doesnt have it :-(( Is there supposed to be much difference between STBs/tuners in this area? I thought that sensitivity to imulse interference was a characteristic of the DAB modulation scheme (COFDM). I don't know - I've asked around on alt.tech.digital-tv and not get much in the line of an answer; If I thought for sure it would not droput sound and occasionally pixelate (interference is far worse on sound), I'd buy a Sony tomorrow, but I just can't find out I also have a GDB4 and the effect of the cooker igniter is very obvious. Mind you, the last run of cable (from the loft to the socket) is old cable, not the nice new stuff (FR100?) the guy fitted with the new aerial. A asked to coil up an extra few meters in the loft and 'one day soon' I plan to complete the run to the socket. I've got all good cable to my box. It's not clear if the interference is aerial or mains-borne, so I put an aerial filter in and a ferrite on the power lead - no improvement. I worked on developing DAB Set Top boxes in the early (OnDigital) days and have noticed that the modern tuners are a hell of a lot better (as in: more sensitive) than they used to be. They certainly are, my philips O/D was pretty useless No idea if rejection of impulse interference is better though... Could never watch a prog long enough to find out... mike |
#39
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Aerial Signal Strength
Phil Hughes wrote in
: But doesn't the Freeview box output the same signal to both scart sockets, so you can't watch and record different Freeview channels at the same time? I was sort of thinking that when I wrote it, but it _is_ the standard configuration. It's certainly easier to work; we're also near the end of analogue, when you won't be able to flick over to your tuner to watch something different. I actually useter use a one scart setup on my spare set (mainly used to record) and found it confusing to know what was going on, partly because my philips DVD recorder is such a POS it says "BBC" for BBC1 _and_ 2 HTH - it's certainly cofused me! mike |
#40
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Aerial Signal Strength
In message , Chris Bacon
writes Christian McArdle wrote: Someone else wrote, but the attributions were munged: But doesn't the Freeview box output the same signal to both scart sockets, so you can't watch and record different Freeview channels at the same time? Just make sure your hard disc recorder has a built in tuner. Much better that way, as the timed recording doesn't depend on you remembering to set the channel before going out/to bed. Buy a thing called a Thomson DHD4000 which does the job very well, this machine was pointed out to me on uk.tech.digital-tv, which is ------- over there. 40 gig ? maybe not -- geoff |
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