Next week, I am having one of my secondary TV watching stations switched to digital under the Government/BBC Switchover Help Scheme.
The main telly in the drawing room is already digital. I am having the 'option 2' Freesat digital box and satellite dish installed to replace an old analogue TV in one of the other rooms at Duncan Towers.
Anything I should watch out for; or even ask the engineer to do while he is here?
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The Freesat box will put itself into "standby" mode after 3 hours if you don't change channels or press any other buttons - a friend discovered this as she likes to keep the TV on low all day for background noise.
The auto-standby feature can be disabled in the menus, ask the engineer to do it for you.
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Buy a Freesat box.
DIgital through an arial is crap.
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"DIgital through an arial is crap."
What a totally unsubstantiated, uninformed, and misleading statement
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...What a totally unsubstantiated, uninformed, and misleading statement...
And Duncan is getting a Freesat box.
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>> "DIgital through an arial is crap."
>>
>> What a totally unsubstantiated, uninformed, and misleading statement
>>
Unsubstantiated?
Hig winds, heavy rain or snow and out Freeview is virtually unwatchable with the picture freezing and blocking.
Meanwhile the Sky on the main set churns away uneffected.
(Missed the bit about Duncan getting a dish).
Last edited by: Robin Regal on Fri 9 Dec 11 at 10:52
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>> >> "DIgital through an arial is crap."
>> >>
>> >> What a totally unsubstantiated, uninformed, and misleading statement
>> >>
>> Unsubstantiated?
>>
>> Hig winds, heavy rain or snow and out Freeview is virtually unwatchable with the picture
>> freezing and blocking.
>>
>> Meanwhile the Sky on the main set churns away uneffected.
>>
>> (Missed the bit about Duncan getting a dish).
Funnily enough its heavy rain that causes Sky to block out, due to the much weaker signal. Honestly RR, that was a crap statement. I have rock solid Freeview (and rock solid freesat as it happens but thats because I chose a larger dish)
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I've got sat n' view (Free) if I had to choose just one, i'd gofer sat but, only b'cos I'm inner weak area (F/view signal wise)
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Our cheapy freeview box works fine and the picture is remarkably good - as good as my eyes need - all through the usual French indoor aerial with integral 40db booster.
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If there's any chance of ever wanting to record in the new freesat location see if you can negociate to get an additional feeder (or twin cable) and twin (or quad) lnb fitted.
Regarding freeview, some derogatory opinions are formed by being in the sticks and only getting the reduced choice of "freeview lite".
www.ukfree.tv/fullstory.php?storyid=1107051678
www.ukfree.tv/fullstory.php?storyid=1107051024
Last edited by: AnotherJohnH on Fri 9 Dec 11 at 12:04
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Whatever appears on the screen, from whatever source, take note that Saturday nights in the past wasn't all The Ascent of Man and Civilisation, as I fondly remembered, but instead consisted of things like this.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmyiDes-ICw
Maybe today's tv isn't quite so bad after all.
Mind you, to my amazement, the comments on that video are largely very positive.
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If thatwas too good for you, and I mean this most sincerely folks, we had this
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOOYVCjCdv0&feature=related
Last edited by: Zero on Fri 9 Dec 11 at 12:35
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The Dixon of Dock Green wasn't a proper one - colour and the title music all seventiesied up. But good fun nonetheless.
But the Opportunity Knocks promised so much and delivered so little, as the ending wasn't matched with the beginning, so now I'll never know how Tammy St John got on. It also boasts the most unhummable and least memorable theme tune in history to my mind.
And 58 my Aunt Fanny.
Thank you Zero.
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>> If there's any chance of ever wanting to record in the new freesat location see
>> if you can negociate to get an additional feeder (or twin cable) and twin (or
>> quad) lnb fitted.
>>
Thank you John H for that advice.
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>>
>> Funnily enough its heavy rain that causes Sky to block out, due to the much
>> weaker signal. Honestly RR, that was a crap statement. I have rock solid Freeview (and
>> rock solid freesat as it happens but thats because I chose a larger dish)
>>
Round my way Sky/Freesat (same signal at the end of the day) craps out due to heavy rain here or at the uplink maybe 2-3 times a year, Freeview maybe once a month for a few seconds. Should be even better once the power is turned up after DSO.
Sounds like a good plan to get Freesat as an alternative, especially if you can get a twin feed as suggested.
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"Unsubstantiated?"
Your original statement was completely unsubstantiated. Stating something is crap without any reason given is totally pointless
Freeview via an arial is actually no more affected by weather conditions than satellite. It is true that in parts of the country digital signals are weak. They are boosted ten fold when the analogue is switched off. Most people in the UK will get a first class signal form freeview. The signal is so strong in Norwich that I can use an aerial in the loft. Picture quality on all channels is maximum 10
At one time I did have a sky satellite dish but the oak tree at the side of my garden grew and blocked out the southern sky so I dispensed with it when Freeview was introduced. Satellite can have its problems.
For most people Freeview via an aerial is the cheapest and most satisfactory way of receiving digital TV.
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>>
>> Your original statement was completely unsubstantiated. Stating something is crap without any reason given is
>> totally pointless
>>
>>
>> Freeview via an arial is actually no more affected by weather conditions than satellite. It
>> is true that in parts of the country digital signals are weak. They are boosted
>> ten fold when the analogue is switched off.
>>
My analogue was switched off two years ago and the Freeview signal in poor weather is awful, as is that of all the neighbours despite many of us having all singing all dancing digital arials plus boosters. Sky is never a problem even in the worst weather.
We can only relay our own experiences and those are mine.
Last edited by: Robin Regal on Fri 9 Dec 11 at 17:09
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>>
>> We can only relay our own experiences and those are mine.
>>
As a matter of interest, what antenna suggestion do you get if you stick your postcode in here:-
www.wolfbane.com/cgi-bin/tvd.exe?MAP=661,936
That site tends to be a bit pessimistic by and large.
For sure if there are local issues - like trees in just the wrong place - reception can be poor in any area. There's nothing more annoying than a borderline digital TV signal that goes all Norman Collier every few minutes. Had that on an upstairs TV until I realised the cable was disconnected in the socket and it was only the flylead to the back of the TV providing the aerial.
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>> For most people Freeview via an aerial is the cheapest and most satisfactory way of
>> receiving digital TV.
>>
Agreed - we haven't been switched over to digital yet so presumably the digital transmissions are 'low power', and our aerial is in the loft, but we still receive all of the digital channels just fine. I can't recall any loss of reception at all since we moved in, unlike the early days of digital in our previous house where passing motorbikes would interrupt reception!
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>> Had that on an upstairs TV until I realised the cable was disconnected in the socket and it was only the flylead
>> to the back of the TV providing the aerial.
Blimey, my Freeview signal is only just acceptable with a whopping great aerial and a booster. At least it's consistent though, it only freezes occasionally and only on the "minor" channels such as ITV4. As soon as I switch the booster off, signal strength drops to below 20% - unfortunately my most obvious transmitter (Waltham) is directly blocked out by Bardon Hill, so my signal comes from Sutton Coldfield and I have to watch local news and weather about somewhere I don't live. It doesn't help that there's an old colliery slagheap slap bang in the way of that one, either :/
This has probably been posted before, but if you visit www.digitaluk.co.uk/ , enter your postcode and house number in the boxes on the right, and tick the box marked "I am in the aerial installation trade", it returns precise signal strengths for your location from every possible transmitter in range.
Last edited by: Dave_TDCi on Fri 9 Dec 11 at 18:14
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>>
>> Blimey, my Freeview signal is only just acceptable with a whopping great aerial and a
>> booster.
>>
I'm the wrong side of a wooded ridge, but other than that there's not many obstructions between me and Rowridge 20 ish miles away; I guess one advantage of being near the coast is lack of other transmitters to cause issues - other than the Frenchies, hence Rowridge's unusual mix of HP and VP muxes post DSO. Hopefully my cheapo Screwfix wideband aerial and low gain amp. will be sufficient.
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Very lucky here, we get a full hit of channels with an indoor aerial - giant mast just south of us - about 10 miles away as the crow flies.
www.nantlle.com/history-nebo-nasareth-nebo-mast.htm
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Thats a nice mast wish it was in my back garden with my antennas on. :-)
A few years back i had two tv antennas for Yorkshire which is Emley Moor, and one for Tyne Tees which was in the loft on a rotator it also could pick up around the Birmingham area on stormy days with nice propergation to the south.
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>> A few years back i had two tv antennas for Yorkshire which is Emley Moor,
>> and one for Tyne Tees which was in the loft on a rotator it also
>> could pick up around the Birmingham area on stormy days with nice propergation to the
>> south.
Whereabouts was that Bigtee?
When I was kid a friend who lived in Menston had a better pic on Tyne Tees from Bilsdale then on Yorkshire from EM. IBA put in a relay for Wharfedale at Clifton but for some reason used the same fx set as Belmont. Once you were out of the valley aerials would pick up both but the TV would resolve neither; bars on the screen and a heterodyne whistle on the sound.
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heterodyne - now that is a word that have not used for many years :)
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>> Superheterodyne
>>
No - use of the word heterodyne ! (as a verb)
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Leeds this house is on top of a hill so a nice take off for antennas.
Couldn't get into Manchester there's a bigger hill in the way.
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Question for anyone with a poor digital signal - is your area still running a parallel analogue service?
Until the analogue service is switched off, then the digital service will be running at reduced power to prevent bleed over and wiping out the analogue service. At least that was what was happening in Oxfordshire. Once the analogue transmission was switched off, the digital service was boosted and we've had no problems since.
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>> Once the analogue transmission was switched off, the digital
>> service was boosted and we've had no problems since.
>>
Same here, our digital transmitter was increased power output from 1Kw to 20Kw at switchover. I removed our masthead amplifier at switchover and have perfect reception on three TVs with a loft aerial.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sat 10 Dec 11 at 20:37
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>> Question for anyone with a poor digital signal - is your area still running a parallel analogue service?
Nope, once the switchover takes place the analogue signal is switched off permanently. Nothing on 1,2,3,4 or 5 here - I checked when my Freeview box died a couple of weeks ago.
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>> "DIgital through an arial is crap." >>
What a totally unsubstantiated, uninformed, and misleading statement >>
Absolutely agree. What's more, because I need a new TV aerial after some 12 or 13 years (originally acquired for use with ONDigital) I'm temporarily using a £10 portable TV aerial for the Freeview side of my 42in Panasonic TV.
Incredibly it's bringing in 10 out of 10 for both signal quality and quantity in both SD and HD...:-))) It is a very good portable TV aerial though.
PS
Why the strange Triple Your Network Traffic ad at the bottom of the page, which includes a spelling error...
Last edited by: Stuartli on Sun 11 Dec 11 at 21:40
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>>
>> Incredibly it's bringing in 10 out of 10 for both signal quality and quantity in
>> both SD and HD...:-))) It is a very good portable TV aerial though.
>>
I wonder how many people have spent money on new aerial installs over the last few years which in the post DSO world are unnecessary, or even worse pulling in far off transmitters and confusing the Freeview boxes with multiple regions in the channel listings. Quite a few I should think - I don't recall the 'we're turning the wellie up after DSO' part being heavily advertised.
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>> >>
>> >> Incredibly it's bringing in 10 out of 10 for both signal quality and quantity
>> in
>> >> both SD and HD...:-))) It is a very good portable TV aerial though.
>> >>
>> I wonder how many people have spent money on new aerial installs over the last
>> few years which in the post DSO world are unnecessary
But during the pre DSO low digital power world were required.
, or even worse pulling in
>> far off transmitters and confusing the Freeview boxes with multiple regions in the channel listings.
>> Quite a few I should think
Including me, I had an hours work to sort out the channels on the Humax during one of the pre positioning channel moves, despite the fact I had put up a very directional and not very wide band aerial.
Last edited by: Zero on Sun 11 Dec 11 at 21:52
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Actually the Panasonic is clever enough to sort out the required channels - quite a change from the earlier DVB upgrade to full digital in our area two or three years ago when Channel 54 whilst re-tuning was the key "insert" the aerial plug into the TV benchmark...:-)
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All the tuning information is transmitted in the Network Information Table which is part of the SI stream in every multiplex, but the documentation (going back to 1997) says "could be used during set up of receiver". Rather than must be used.
Section 4.1.1 of ETSI TR 101 211 (DVB BlueBook) covers it:
tinyurl.com/yav3ssf
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>> All the tuning information is transmitted in the Network Information Table which is part of
>> the SI stream in every multiplex, but the documentation (going back to 1997) says "could
>> be used during set up of receiver". Rather than must be used.
>>
Sort of glad to see ETSI* DVB documents are as vague as the 3GPP ones I'm used to. That section also states "The NIT also could be used to signal changes of tuning information".
So it looks like the facility has always been there to allow automatic retunes rather than our real world option of multiple manual retunes.
*Commonly known as the European Touring and Sightseeing Institute, due to the endless meetings, often in reasonably exotic locations.
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>> >> >>
>> >> >> Incredibly it's bringing in 10 out of 10 for both signal quality and
>> quantity
>> >> in
>> >> >> both SD and HD...:-))) It is a very good portable TV aerial though.
>> >> >>
>> >> I wonder how many people have spent money on new aerial installs over the
>> last
>> >> few years which in the post DSO world are unnecessary
>>
>> But during the pre DSO low digital power world were required.
>>
>>
True, but I don't recall the Digital UK info. making much mention of the possibility of hanging on until after DSO, or indeed that in most, if not all, areas the 'Freeview Lite' muxes are in the same transmit band as the original analogue transmitters, so another reason to change aerials disappears.
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>> I wonder how many people have spent money on new aerial installs over the last
>> few years which in the post DSO world are unnecessary, or even worse pulling in
>> far off transmitters and confusing the Freeview boxes with multiple regions in the channel listings.
>> Quite a few I should think - I don't recall the 'we're turning the wellie
>> up after DSO' part being heavily advertised.
Twigged the 'turning up the wick' message but not fact that post DSO the MUX for the main BBC/ITV/C4 and radio would be on old BBC1/2 etc channels obviating need for wideband aerial unless wanting Dave etc. Kids bedrooms now get the 'lite' service off the old grouped aerial while the full range is offered in the lounge.
Still needed a pretty large w/b aerial and the shortest possible run of ultra low loss cable to get all stations.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Mon 12 Dec 11 at 22:05
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>> Absolutely agree. What's more, because I need a new TV aerial after some 12 or
>> 13 years (originally acquired for use with ONDigital) I'm temporarily using a £10 portable TV
>> aerial for the Freeview side of my 42in Panasonic TV.
>>
>> Incredibly it's bringing in 10 out of 10 for both signal quality and quantity in
>> both SD and HD...:-))) It is a very good portable TV aerial though.
Fair enough for your location Stu but IIRC you're in Southport with near on line of sight to Winter Hill. Here we might just theoretically 'see' the top few feet of Sandy Heath's mast but trees, houses etc are in the way. Digital is either on, off or 'blocky'; none of that snowy pic & OK sound we got in adverse conditions on analogue
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Getting a fair bit of wind and rain down here at the moment, just for once analogue has gone a bit wavy, digital is blocky, just about watchable but Satellite is holding up fine - that's usually the first to go.
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We ought to pick up from Winter Hill and probably do. Before digital switchover the old aerial was pretty useless. Never 'fixed' because we had Virgin Media anyway.
In our current house, post switchover, a cheap (Very cheap) aerial in the 'office' picks up all the channels. If I move it from the window it doesn't. So tried a few better aerials and they are worse.
The main aerial provides excellent signal to the downstairs room. And we mostly watch TV via the Sky+ HD box (not that we pay for HD!).
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Switching the TV to Digital - Dave_
