We have an aerial in the loft running through a booster. Freeview works ok
but the sound occasionally drops out for a second, which is annoying.

Firstly, is this likely to be caused by a weak signal or is it just a
'feature' of Freeview?

Secondly, we live in Ramsgate, at an altitude of 50m above sea level, and
our transmitter is in Dover. If I blu-tak an aerial to the outside of the
house does it really need to be on the chimney or would ten foot up the wall
work just as well? There's nothing massive in the way and I'm thinking if
the signal makes it all the way into the loft it can't mind a tree or two...

Si

In article , Mungo
"Two Sheds" Toadfoot scribeth thus
We have an aerial in the loft running through a booster. Freeview works ok
but the sound occasionally drops out for a second, which is annoying.

Firstly, is this likely to be caused by a weak signal or is it just a
'feature' of Freeview?


Its not a feature. It might be a signal problem, tested by either
swapping the box and/or the TV.

What happens if you remove the booster amplifier?..

Secondly, we live in Ramsgate, at an altitude of 50m above sea level, and
our transmitter is in Dover. If I blu-tak an aerial to the outside of the
house does it really need to be on the chimney or would ten foot up the wall
work just as well? There's nothing massive in the way and I'm thinking if
the signal makes it all the way into the loft it can't mind a tree or two...

As long as there're not that many trees and the aerial is the correct
group.. the best way is to fix it up temp fashion and see.

Tho I wouldn't use blu-tak myself;!..

Si



--
Tony Sayer

Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot wrote:
We have an aerial in the loft running through a booster. Freeview works ok
but the sound occasionally drops out for a second, which is annoying.

Firstly, is this likely to be caused by a weak signal or is it just a
'feature' of Freeview?

TV feature. If the signal goes, you get massive pixellation and pops
and squeaks. Not just a loss of audio.


Secondly, we live in Ramsgate, at an altitude of 50m above sea level, and
our transmitter is in Dover. If I blu-tak an aerial to the outside of the
house does it really need to be on the chimney or would ten foot up the wall
work just as well? There's nothing massive in the way and I'm thinking if
the signal makes it all the way into the loft it can't mind a tree or two...


What counts really is getting rid of obstacles in the near field,
particularly obstacles that MOVE. Digital tuners are quite good at fixed
multipath, but thy cant cope with e.g. waving trees. Or windmills.

You dont need as MUCH signal for perfect reception as analogue, but you
do need more for marginal reception. With digital, its either working,
or its effin unwatchable. With analogue is varying degrees of bad.




Si

On 10/05/2010 20:00, Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot wrote:
We have an aerial in the loft running through a booster. Freeview works ok
but the sound occasionally drops out for a second, which is annoying.


Which freeview box. Wharfedale?

--
Adrian C

Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot wrote:

Freeview works ok
but the sound occasionally drops out for a second, which is annoying.
Firstly, is this likely to be caused by a weak signal or is it just a
'feature' of Freeview?

If the video doesn't pause or break-up at the same time then more likely
some sort of faulty STB/TV I'd say.

Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot wrote:
We have an aerial in the loft running through a booster. Freeview works ok
but the sound occasionally drops out for a second, which is annoying.

Firstly, is this likely to be caused by a weak signal or is it just a
'feature' of Freeview?

Some advice here, still valid but ignore reference to the red dot (only
relevant to the old OnDigital boxes.
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/uk....n&dmode=source

When DSO comes to your area the problem will probably disappear because
of the increase in transmitter power and the change to 8K modulation.

--
Andy

"Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot" wrote in message
o.uk...
We have an aerial in the loft running through a booster. Freeview works ok
but the sound occasionally drops out for a second, which is annoying.

Firstly, is this likely to be caused by a weak signal or is it just a
'feature' of Freeview?

Secondly, we live in Ramsgate, at an altitude of 50m above sea level, and
our transmitter is in Dover. If I blu-tak an aerial to the outside of the
house does it really need to be on the chimney or would ten foot up the
wall work just as well? There's nothing massive in the way and I'm
thinking if the signal makes it all the way into the loft it can't mind a
tree or two...



if a reception problem, usually get pixilation long before sound is
affected.

"Adrian C" wrote in message
...
On 10/05/2010 20:00, Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot wrote:
We have an aerial in the loft running through a booster. Freeview works
ok
but the sound occasionally drops out for a second, which is annoying.


Which freeview box. Wharfedale?


Good point. We used to watch Sky downstairs but we got rid of that and I
threw a tiny ****e old Freeview box that we've had kicking around the spare
room for ages into the vacant hole. Having just examined its credentials it
says its name is Techwood. Sounds like a decent replacement is on the cards
before I go falling off the roof.

Si

"Andy Burns" wrote in message
...
Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot wrote:

Freeview works ok
but the sound occasionally drops out for a second, which is annoying.
Firstly, is this likely to be caused by a weak signal or is it just a
'feature' of Freeview?

If the video doesn't pause or break-up at the same time then more likely
some sort of faulty STB/TV I'd say.


Very rarely does the picture show any interference at all, so I believe
you're correct. The sound never played up at all when we used Sky so the
Freeview box, a tiny silver thing from who-knows-where will be upgraded.
Just to see, like.

Si

"John Rumm" wrote in message
news
On 10/05/2010 20:00, Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot wrote:
We have an aerial in the loft running through a booster. Freeview works
ok
but the sound occasionally drops out for a second, which is annoying.

Firstly, is this likely to be caused by a weak signal or is it just a
'feature' of Freeview?

Its not a feature of freeview. It suggests the boxes response to an
unrecoverable error in data stream. It could be due to low signal, or
(more likely in this case) due to interference combined with a low signal.

Different decoders handle errors in different ways. Some get pops, clicks,
and squeaks on the audio, better ones will just mute the audio in the
absence of having something sensible to produce.

Secondly, we live in Ramsgate, at an altitude of 50m above sea level, and
our transmitter is in Dover. If I blu-tak an aerial to the outside of the
house does it really need to be on the chimney or would ten foot up the
wall
work just as well? There's nothing massive in the way and I'm thinking if
the signal makes it all the way into the loft it can't mind a tree or
two...

In general, an outside aerial will outperform a loft one. However height
can also be significant. So its possible that a reduction in height
combined with a move outside could end up with no nett gain. However
chances are it will be better.

Using decent screened co-ax and connectors makes a big difference. Also go
for a group C/D aerial for Dover, rather than a wideband.

Some more info he

http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?title=TV_aerial


Many thanks, John, and to the others who replied. Now I've got a much better
idea of what goes wrong, what causes it, and how to rectumfry it.

What a spiffing bunch of chaps )

Si

On May 10, 8:00*pm, "Mungo \"Two Sheds\" Toadfoot"
wrote:
We have an aerial in the loft running through a booster. Freeview works ok
but the sound occasionally drops out for a second, which is annoying.

Firstly, is this likely to be caused by a weak signal or is it just a
'feature' of Freeview?



I'm surprised nobody has commented that the aerial is in the loft, not
outside on a pole. Surely this is not ideal.

Robert

"Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot" wrote in message
o.uk...
We have an aerial in the loft running through a booster. Freeview works ok
but the sound occasionally drops out for a second, which is annoying.

Firstly, is this likely to be caused by a weak signal or is it just a
'feature' of Freeview?

Secondly, we live in Ramsgate, at an altitude of 50m above sea level, and
our transmitter is in Dover. If I blu-tak an aerial to the outside of the
house does it really need to be on the chimney or would ten foot up the
wall work just as well? There's nothing massive in the way and I'm
thinking if the signal makes it all the way into the loft it can't mind a
tree or two...


Just for interess sake, make sure it does not coincide with anything else.
I say this because we have two IDTVs (built in Freeview box). The one in
the dining room a Toshiba, gets the same brief sound drop as you when the
boiler, which is the other side of the wall, kicks in and the one in the
front room, a Panasonic, does it when the room thermostat clicks which is
nearby. Our previous set did it as well and the thermostat and boiler
have both, coincidentally, been replaced in the last few years but it still
happens.
--
Tinkerer

RobertL wrote:

I'm surprised nobody has commented that the aerial is in the loft, not
outside on a pole. Surely this is not ideal.

Not ideal, but if the video barely ever breaks up it probably good
enough and likely to get better after 2012, presumably the O/P is
currently on Dover B, being NNE of Dover?

"Tinkerer" wrote in message
...

"Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot" wrote in message
o.uk...
We have an aerial in the loft running through a booster. Freeview works
ok but the sound occasionally drops out for a second, which is annoying.

Firstly, is this likely to be caused by a weak signal or is it just a
'feature' of Freeview?

Secondly, we live in Ramsgate, at an altitude of 50m above sea level, and
our transmitter is in Dover. If I blu-tak an aerial to the outside of the
house does it really need to be on the chimney or would ten foot up the
wall work just as well? There's nothing massive in the way and I'm
thinking if the signal makes it all the way into the loft it can't mind a
tree or two...


Just for interess sake, make sure it does not coincide with anything else.
I say this because we have two IDTVs (built in Freeview box). The one in
the dining room a Toshiba, gets the same brief sound drop as you when the
boiler, which is the other side of the wall, kicks in and the one in the
front room, a Panasonic, does it when the room thermostat clicks which is
nearby. Our previous set did it as well and the thermostat and boiler
have both, coincidentally, been replaced in the last few years but it
still happens.

That is interesting actually and I'll bear it in mind. I don't watch a lot
of telly but it does seem to drop out a lot all in one go, as it were, then
not do it for the rest of the evening.

Si

RobertL wrote:
On May 10, 8:00 pm, "Mungo \"Two Sheds\" Toadfoot"
wrote:
We have an aerial in the loft running through a booster. Freeview works ok
but the sound occasionally drops out for a second, which is annoying.

Firstly, is this likely to be caused by a weak signal or is it just a
'feature' of Freeview?



I'm surprised nobody has commented that the aerial is in the loft, not
outside on a pole. Surely this is not ideal.


its a couple of dB at most if it's reasonably sited.

Robert

Andy Burns wrote:
RobertL wrote:

I'm surprised nobody has commented that the aerial is in the loft, not
outside on a pole. Surely this is not ideal.

Not ideal, but if the video barely ever breaks up it probably good
enough and likely to get better after 2012, presumably the O/P is
currently on Dover B, being NNE of Dover?




My experience of loft aerials is that freeview reception varies between
perfect and bloody awful, and doesn't seem to follow any particular
pattern. Difficult to test without monitoring if for a full 24 hours I
would have thought.

stuart noble wrote:
Andy Burns wrote:
RobertL wrote:

I'm surprised nobody has commented that the aerial is in the loft, not
outside on a pole. Surely this is not ideal.

Not ideal, but if the video barely ever breaks up it probably good
enough and likely to get better after 2012, presumably the O/P is
currently on Dover B, being NNE of Dover?




My experience of loft aerials is that freeview reception varies between
perfect and bloody awful, and doesn't seem to follow any particular
pattern. Difficult to test without monitoring if for a full 24 hours I
would have thought.


Its less the loft, than what's in it, and what's outside it.


If there isn't TOO much metal around, the losses through the tiles or
slates is not too great.

But metal in the near field can do awkward and unpredictable (at least
by mere mortals) things to the bandwidth and polar distribution.

On May 11, 11:36*am, stuart noble wrote:
Andy Burns wrote:
RobertL wrote:

I'm surprised nobody has commented that the aerial is in the loft, not
outside on a pole. * Surely this is not ideal.

Not ideal, but if the video barely ever breaks up it probably good
enough and likely to get better after 2012, presumably the O/P is
currently on Dover B, being NNE of Dover?

My experience of loft aerials is that freeview reception varies between
perfect and bloody awful, and doesn't seem to follow any particular
pattern. Difficult to test without monitoring if for a full 24 hours I
would have thought.

When we first moved into our current house the bedroom TV point was
fed from an aerial strung up (literally) in the loft which gave
perfect freeview reception.

After replacing the outdoor aerial, mast, cabling and adding a
distribution amp to feed 3 sockets, Freeview reception is *worse*.

Unfortunately I dumped the old loft aerial.

MBQ

In article , The Natural Philosopher
scribeth thus
stuart noble wrote:
Andy Burns wrote:
RobertL wrote:

I'm surprised nobody has commented that the aerial is in the loft, not
outside on a pole. Surely this is not ideal.

Not ideal, but if the video barely ever breaks up it probably good
enough and likely to get better after 2012, presumably the O/P is
currently on Dover B, being NNE of Dover?




My experience of loft aerials is that freeview reception varies between
perfect and bloody awful, and doesn't seem to follow any particular
pattern. Difficult to test without monitoring if for a full 24 hours I
would have thought.


Its less the loft, than what's in it, and what's outside it.

And how many "lofts" you might be "looking through" as well..


If there isn't TOO much metal around, the losses through the tiles or
slates is not too great.

Beg to differ. A lot of tiles have Iron Oxide in them and that does
clobber the signals. Especially the higher frequencies.

Well thats what BBC research once said, but I can't find the paper at
the moment..


But metal in the near field can do awkward and unpredictable (at least
by mere mortals) things to the bandwidth and polar distribution.

Indeed..
--
Tony Sayer

In article , The Natural Philosopher
scribeth thus
RobertL wrote:
On May 10, 8:00 pm, "Mungo \"Two Sheds\" Toadfoot"
wrote:
We have an aerial in the loft running through a booster. Freeview works ok
but the sound occasionally drops out for a second, which is annoying.

Firstly, is this likely to be caused by a weak signal or is it just a
'feature' of Freeview?



I'm surprised nobody has commented that the aerial is in the loft, not
outside on a pole. Surely this is not ideal.


its a couple of dB at most if it's reasonably sited.

Robert

More like 10 to 15 depending on frequency for tiles. Slates aren't
"that" bad. But some roofing felt has a metal foil in it..

The higher frequencies are worse.
--
Tony Sayer

In article
s.com, Man at B&Q scribeth thus
On May 11, 11:36*am, stuart noble wrote:
Andy Burns wrote:
RobertL wrote:

I'm surprised nobody has commented that the aerial is in the loft, not
outside on a pole. * Surely this is not ideal.

Not ideal, but if the video barely ever breaks up it probably good
enough and likely to get better after 2012, presumably the O/P is
currently on Dover B, being NNE of Dover?

My experience of loft aerials is that freeview reception varies between
perfect and bloody awful, and doesn't seem to follow any particular
pattern. Difficult to test without monitoring if for a full 24 hours I
would have thought.

When we first moved into our current house the bedroom TV point was
fed from an aerial strung up (literally) in the loft which gave
perfect freeview reception.

After replacing the outdoor aerial, mast, cabling and adding a
distribution amp to feed 3 sockets, Freeview reception is *worse*.


There -might- be a reason for that and it concerns the amplifier which
if Andy Wade's around he'll tell you much the same.

Sometimes owing to the disparity of transmitted analogue and digital
signals the analogue ones are much more powerful and can in some
instances overload amplifiers and in doing so can generate spurious
signals up and down the TV bands and thus cause interfering signals that
can clobber other wanted signals..

If you want tell us appx where you are and the transmitter in use..

Unfortunately I dumped the old loft aerial.

MBQ

--
Tony Sayer

tony sayer wrote:
In article , The Natural Philosopher
scribeth thus
stuart noble wrote:
Andy Burns wrote:
RobertL wrote:

I'm surprised nobody has commented that the aerial is in the loft, not
outside on a pole. Surely this is not ideal.
Not ideal, but if the video barely ever breaks up it probably good
enough and likely to get better after 2012, presumably the O/P is
currently on Dover B, being NNE of Dover?



My experience of loft aerials is that freeview reception varies between
perfect and bloody awful, and doesn't seem to follow any particular
pattern. Difficult to test without monitoring if for a full 24 hours I
would have thought.

Its less the loft, than what's in it, and what's outside it.

And how many "lofts" you might be "looking through" as well..

If there isn't TOO much metal around, the losses through the tiles or
slates is not too great.

Beg to differ. A lot of tiles have Iron Oxide in them and that does
clobber the signals. Especially the higher frequencies.


Yes, theres a few DB loss, but the far worse effect is metal in the near
field that starts to behave like its part of the aerial and buggers its
response completely.


Well thats what BBC research once said, but I can't find the paper at
the moment..

But metal in the near field can do awkward and unpredictable (at least
by mere mortals) things to the bandwidth and polar distribution.

Indeed..

Yep. we can agree on that.

I am fortunate, its only my tiles and 10 miles between my aerial and the
transmitter. Its fine. Mind you after living below sea level for 20
years, and being a tad concerned about global warming, picking the
highest point in west suffolk to live on wasn't entirely accidental..

tony sayer wrote:
In article , The Natural Philosopher
scribeth thus
RobertL wrote:
On May 10, 8:00 pm, "Mungo \"Two Sheds\" Toadfoot"
wrote:
We have an aerial in the loft running through a booster. Freeview works ok
but the sound occasionally drops out for a second, which is annoying.

Firstly, is this likely to be caused by a weak signal or is it just a
'feature' of Freeview?


I'm surprised nobody has commented that the aerial is in the loft, not
outside on a pole. Surely this is not ideal.

its a couple of dB at most if it's reasonably sited.

Robert

More like 10 to 15 depending on frequency for tiles. Slates aren't
"that" bad. But some roofing felt has a metal foil in it..

The higher frequencies are worse.

Mmm. I wouldn't have said mine are that bad. anyway masses of signal is
far less important than te consistent quality of that signal, with digital.

"John Rumm" wrote in message
news
On 10/05/2010 20:00, Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot wrote:
We have an aerial in the loft running through a booster. Freeview works
ok
but the sound occasionally drops out for a second, which is annoying.

Firstly, is this likely to be caused by a weak signal or is it just a
'feature' of Freeview?

Its not a feature of freeview. It suggests the boxes response to an
unrecoverable error in data stream. It could be due to low signal, or
(more likely in this case) due to interference combined with a low signal.


Just discovered that we're getting a signal of 80-82%, according to the
telly which knows more than I do. I'm going to hazard a guess and say that
sounds ok to me, and I wonder if an extra 18% will make an awful lot of
difference?

Can anyone suggest a 'good' Freeview box? By 'good' I mean one which will do
wondrous things with a signal of, oh, around 80%. A decent Sky-like tv
planner would be good too.

Si

Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot wrote:
"John Rumm" wrote in message
news
On 10/05/2010 20:00, Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot wrote:
We have an aerial in the loft running through a booster. Freeview works
ok
but the sound occasionally drops out for a second, which is annoying.

Firstly, is this likely to be caused by a weak signal or is it just a
'feature' of Freeview?
Its not a feature of freeview. It suggests the boxes response to an
unrecoverable error in data stream. It could be due to low signal, or
(more likely in this case) due to interference combined with a low signal.


Just discovered that we're getting a signal of 80-82%, according to the
telly which knows more than I do. I'm going to hazard a guess and say that
sounds ok to me, and I wonder if an extra 18% will make an awful lot of
difference?

Can anyone suggest a 'good' Freeview box? By 'good' I mean one which will do
wondrous things with a signal of, oh, around 80%. A decent Sky-like tv
planner would be good too.

Si


I adore my sony freeview boxes. Streets ahead of what comes in the Sony
TV's.

"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
...

I adore my sony freeview boxes. Streets ahead of what comes in the Sony
TV's.


VTX-D800U? They look a bit saucy.

Si

Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot wrote:

Can anyone suggest a 'good' Freeview box? By 'good' I mean one which will do
wondrous things with a signal of, oh, around 80%. A decent Sky-like tv
planner would be good too.


Good luck mate. Most of them are absolute *****. Built to a price.
You might have more luck with a recorder.

I've just bought a Philips box (Tesco mail order £29 - or in the shop
£39) as someone told me it was Pace (which it is).

That seems to pull in a good signal even though our aerial is in the
loft, we're in a valley, and halfway between XP and Hannington. Better
than the analogue so far. OTOH it hasn't rained since I bought it.

Andy

Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot wrote:
"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
...

I adore my sony freeview boxes. Streets ahead of what comes in the Sony
TV's.


VTX-D800U? They look a bit saucy.

Si


Hang on I'll have a look see....

....
I think so. Its dark and dusty, but that seems to be wots on the back.

I got three off ebay a couple of years back. One is flakey. Two are perfect.


Nice user definable stuff, which is a bit of a chore to set up, but once
set, its dead easy to see what's on, and set timers to switch channels etc.

Andy Champ wrote:
Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot wrote:

Can anyone suggest a 'good' Freeview box? By 'good' I mean one which
will do wondrous things with a signal of, oh, around 80%. A decent
Sky-like tv planner would be good too.


Good luck mate. Most of them are absolute *****. Built to a price. You
might have more luck with a recorder.

I've just bought a Philips box (Tesco mail order £29 - or in the shop
£39) as someone told me it was Pace (which it is).


Ah! the Sony's are a lot more than that.


That seems to pull in a good signal even though our aerial is in the
loft, we're in a valley, and halfway between XP and Hannington. Better
than the analogue so far. OTOH it hasn't rained since I bought it.


I've seen most boxes work well enough, its the menu systems and features
that are so bloody useful One touch subtitles for the half deaf missus
for example, and loads of auto channel switching if you set it up.


Andy

In message , Tinkerer
wrote

Just for interess sake, make sure it does not coincide with anything else.
I say this because we have two IDTVs (built in Freeview box). The one in
the dining room a Toshiba, gets the same brief sound drop as you when the
boiler, which is the other side of the wall, kicks in and the one in the
front room, a Panasonic, does it when the room thermostat clicks which is
nearby. Our previous set did it as well and the thermostat and boiler
have both, coincidentally, been replaced in the last few years but it still
happens.

Try a decent fully screened cable
http://www.wrightsaerials.tv/article...-quality.shtml


--
Alan
news2009 {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
...
Andy Champ wrote:
Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot wrote:

Can anyone suggest a 'good' Freeview box? By 'good' I mean one which
will do wondrous things with a signal of, oh, around 80%. A decent
Sky-like tv planner would be good too.


Good luck mate. Most of them are absolute *****. Built to a price. You
might have more luck with a recorder.


I was considering one of those too but again there's a lot of old crap out
there. Humax are supposed to be good but when you start reading reviews
there's always dozens of "keeps locking up" type postings. Some technology
is a bit poo really.

Si

wrote:
On 11 May,
tony sayer wrote:

More like 10 to 15 depending on frequency for tiles. Slates aren't
"that" bad. But some roofing felt has a metal foil in it..

The higher frequencies are worse.

It's at least 30dB worse through the weatherboarded part of my gable than
through the bricks. It can only be the roofing felt underneath the weather
boarding. The sarking felt in the loft hasn't this effect, must be a
different type.

That's really odd. I'm timber frame and the bits that really upset thing
are foil backed plasterboard, and the chicken wire over the thatch :-)

the tile on te extension do not attenutate that much at all, as I said.

"John Rumm" wrote in message
o.uk...

I quite like my Topfield PVR - good guide / planner. Stick a copy of
MyStuff on it, and it pretty much does everything.


Topfield eh? Not a brand *name* I'd instantly go for but I've heard them
recommended before so it will be added to the very short list. Thanks again.

Si

On May 11, 10:06*pm, wrote:
On 11 May, *
* * *tony sayer wrote:



In article
s.com, Man at B&Q scribeth thus
When we first moved into our current house the bedroom TV point was
fed from an aerial strung up (literally) in the loft which gave
perfect freeview reception.

After replacing the outdoor aerial, mast, cabling and adding a
distribution amp to feed 3 sockets, Freeview reception is *worse*.

There -might- be a reason for that and it concerns the amplifier which
if Andy Wade's around he'll tell you much the same.

Sometimes owing to the disparity of transmitted analogue and digital
signals the analogue ones are much more powerful and can in some
instances overload amplifiers and in doing so can generate spurious
signals up and down the TV bands and thus cause interfering signals that
can clobber other wanted signals..

If you want tell us appx where you are and the transmitter in use..

I recently replaced my loft aerial wit an outside one. I had a distribution
amp in the loft. This was overloaded by the extra signal from the outside
aerial. I ditched the distribution amp and substituted a passive low
loss 4 way splitter. Even with that and a 2 way splitter behind the TV I can
attenuate the signals by 20dB+ and get a stable picture. * *

Unfortunately I dumped the old loft aerial.

Dump the distribution amp and see how it works with one set. If so it
probably doesn't need the distribution amplifier. Try a passive splitter in
its place.

So originally we had occasional momentary but total loss of picture
(not just pixellation) and turning the amp down seemed to fix that.
Now it's just momentary loss of sound. Signal strength is always
reported as very good.

Near Thame, Oxon, not sure which transmitter. Aerial points somewhere
South-ish.

MBQ

In message , John
Rumm wrote

I quite like my Topfield PVR - good guide / planner. Stick a copy of
MyStuff on it, and it pretty much does everything.


Hundreds of reports of failing power supplies on the Topfield 5800
Many reports of failing hard drives on the later 5810
Topfield haven't bothered with any bug fixes for 12 to 18 months to fix
the last lot of c**p they released as firmware/software.

Topfields reputation is/was based on the older 5800 model which is no
longer available and the use of third party software to improve its
capabilities. The new Topfield 5810 is not recommended especially as
Topfield seemed to have walked away from providing any firmware/software
support to make it work as advertised.

--
Alan
news2009 {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

In article
s.com, Man at B&Q scribeth thus
On May 11, 10:06*pm, wrote:
On 11 May, *
* * *tony sayer wrote:



In article
s.com, Man at B&Q scribeth thus
When we first moved into our current house the bedroom TV point was
fed from an aerial strung up (literally) in the loft which gave
perfect freeview reception.

After replacing the outdoor aerial, mast, cabling and adding a
distribution amp to feed 3 sockets, Freeview reception is *worse*.

There -might- be a reason for that and it concerns the amplifier which
if Andy Wade's around he'll tell you much the same.

Sometimes owing to the disparity of transmitted analogue and digital
signals the analogue ones are much more powerful and can in some
instances overload amplifiers and in doing so can generate spurious
signals up and down the TV bands and thus cause interfering signals that
can clobber other wanted signals..

If you want tell us appx where you are and the transmitter in use..

I recently replaced my loft aerial wit an outside one. I had a distribution
amp in the loft. This was overloaded by the extra signal from the outside
aerial. I ditched the distribution amp and substituted a passive low
loss 4 way splitter. Even with that and a 2 way splitter behind the TV I can
attenuate the signals by 20dB+ and get a stable picture. * *

Unfortunately I dumped the old loft aerial.

Dump the distribution amp and see how it works with one set. If so it
probably doesn't need the distribution amplifier. Try a passive splitter in
its place.

So originally we had occasional momentary but total loss of picture
(not just pixellation) and turning the amp down seemed to fix that.
Now it's just momentary loss of sound. Signal strength is always
reported as very good.

Near Thame, Oxon, not sure which transmitter. Aerial points somewhere
South-ish.

MBQ


Should be aimed at Beckley (Oxford) around 11 miles at 281 deg ETN...

This one 'ere...

http://tx.mb21.co.uk/gallery/oxford/index.php
--
Tony Sayer

In message , John
Rumm wrote


What other networkable PVRs are out there at the moment?

The Topfield has no network capabilities of its own unless you mean the
dumb USB port?

As I said at the start, its going to suit folks who are happy to
fiddle[1] more than those want something straight out the box.

[1] Ought too suit folks in this group.


The problem with the 5810 boxes seems to be how many times they have to
be replaced in the two year warranty period and how often you want lose
the contents of the hard disk.
--
Alan


news2009 {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

In article , Alan
scribeth thus
In message , John
Rumm wrote


What other networkable PVRs are out there at the moment?

The Topfield has no network capabilities of its own unless you mean the
dumb USB port?

As I said at the start, its going to suit folks who are happy to
fiddle[1] more than those want something straight out the box.

[1] Ought too suit folks in this group.


The problem with the 5810 boxes seems to be how many times they have to
be replaced in the two year warranty period and how often you want lose
the contents of the hard disk.

The real problems with most all set top boxen and PVR's is
insufficiently developed software..

And poor underrated power supply components...
--
Tony Sayer

In message , John
Rumm wrote


The dumb USB port can be hooked up to a cheap and simple NAS box like
the Linksys NSLU2 which will glue it to a network and make it
accessible via FTP.

I think it's misleading to call a Topfield PVR a "network" capable
product if you still have to add a £50 box (which in itself doesn't work
with the Topfield "straight out of the box").

BTW, been there and got the T shirt. NSLU box lasted around 18 months
and now is in landfill.

Do you know what percentage of boxes sold actually have problems though?


Judging by the number reports in Toppy.org.uk, the regular sales of
returned boxes (without hard disks) by the UK distributor, and from
personal experience of a friends 5810 Toppy, it's not a box that I would
recommend to anyone as being reliable.

As a long term user of the older model, with hard disk upgrades and
power supply capacitors changed, I'm not too impressed by Topfield as a
company nor in the quality of firmware/software it provides for its
boxes.

The boxes only still work because of the work by a few customers in the
very knowledgeable UK, European and Australian user forums. If left to
Topfield many of their boxes would be in landfill by now. Customers who
haven't found the correct UK web site dedicated to the UK PVR models
must be having a very difficult time with their unmodified boxes as
supplied by Topfield.

Have Topfield bothered to fix SplitNit problem yet or are people running
bug fixes provided by customers?


--
Alan
news2009 {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

On 14/05/2010 00:39, John Rumm wrote:
The problem with the 5810 boxes seems to be how many times they have to
be replaced in the two year warranty period and how often you want lose
the contents of the hard disk.

Not suggesting that reliability is not important, but if I were worried
about the liklihood of failure, I would just schedule a daily task to
copy off any new recordings etc.

Do you know what percentage of boxes sold actually have problems though?

I don't know how many others have problems but my 5810 was trouble right
from the off. The first was returned within a few days for repeated
freezing and also failing to record. The second was damaged in transit
and the third was someone elses reject (or even my own) but since that
didn't reach me until after Empire Direct had gone bust I suppose I was
lucky to get a box at all.

I have downloaded an upgrade from Toppy.org but it still freezes
occasionally and cannot be relied on either to record all the programs
set or not to record the endless repeats that some programs have.