.....is it just me or is it shite?

 

To put it bluntly, I rarely have time (or inclination) for most TV so I won't pay for cable, sky etc etc. Instead I have Freeview which came built in with both TVs in the house.

 

But it seems the reception has gotten a lot worse over recent months; watching (or recording) on digital sometimes brings up lots of interferrance, almost like pixellating the picture. This happens on all channels, including One to Five if watched in digital as opposed to good, old fashioned, reliable analogue.....

 

Any ideas please folks - could it be the aerial or is digital TV just rubbish? If it's the latter, heaven help us all once analogue disappears for good:cursing:

 

Richard:helpsmilie:

Get an all singing Aerial mate, Should be around £180 Fitted, I just did and made a hell of a difference mate.:detective:

We get a really clear picture, could be a number of things, the aerial, the cable, the ends on the cable, the socket in the TV, the position of the aerial, etc.

get a second hand sky box with viewing card and dish, you dont have to subscribe and you still get a lot of decent channels with out the picture break up. i have a spare sky + box if you can get hold of a dish matey, all you will need then is the direction to point the dish and angle, which should be avalible on the web.

You can get sky to fit you a freesat system. On off cost of £150 all fitted.

 

Or buy this, I have fitted 9 now.

 

http://www.screwfix.com/p/labgear-tv-aerial-high-gain-digital/60215

The mans right you may need a new aerial.

When I moved to my new house it was just crudely plonked in the loft, I had freezing and no signal on some weaker channels.

I bought something like this

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5352069/Trail/searchtext%3EAERIAL.htm

and bolted it on the wall out the back.

It then feeds a 8 way room splitter in the loft and then through a plug in booster, no problems anymore :wink:

I'd just try a booster initially if I was you.

Thanks for the advice fellas!!

 

So it looks like the aerial is the weak link; even though it has been working fine with both Freeview and regular TV until the last couple of months.

 

Vods - I have a Sky dish bolted to the front of the house mate; although it's not connected (I was thinking of removing it as, even though it's the small see-through dish, it's still damned ugly:whistling:). I just don't fancy the extra box. But thanks for the offer matey!!

 

My neighbour's son fits TV aerials etc - next time he's about I'll ask him to take a look for me.

 

Cheers all - this place is just great for advice on just about everything!!

 

Richard:cool3:

Thanks for the advice fellas!!

 

So it looks like the aerial is the weak link; even though it has been working fine with both Freeview and regular TV until the last couple of months.

 

Vods - I have a Sky dish bolted to the front of the house mate; although it's not connected (I was thinking of removing it as, even though it's the small see-through dish, it's still damned ugly:whistling:). I just don't fancy the extra box. But thanks for the offer matey!!

 

My neighbour's son fits TV aerials etc - next time he's about I'll ask him to take a look for me.

 

Cheers all - this place is just great for advice on just about everything!!

 

Richard:cool3:

 

iff you were nearer ide jump up for you Richard and throw a new one on...had the same problem and changed my ariel and bought better quality coax and hey presto..fixed with more channels too.

iff you were nearer ide jump up for you Richard and throw a new one on...had the same problem and changed my ariel and bought better quality coax and hey presto..fixed with more channels too.

 

Cheers Bri......:wink:

 

Luckily it is inside the loft and not out on the roof - so not too bad to get to!!

 

Richard:cool2:

get a second hand sky box with viewing card and dish, you dont have to subscribe and you still get a lot of decent channels with out the picture break up. i have a spare sky + box if you can get hold of a dish matey, all you will need then is the direction to point the dish and angle, which should be avalible on the web.

 

I did this, got one off someone at work, Sky+ box, hooked up to the existing dish, cost me £20, I get the free to air channels (altho Tash is the only one who watches it so it was £20 for CBeebies lol)

Cheers Bri......:wink:

 

Luckily it is inside the loft and not out on the roof - so not too bad to get to!!

 

Richard:cool2:

 

ahhh stick it on the roof Richard it will make a world of difference mate...

Don't suppose anyone previously in the house has had cable? If so, you could buy my Virgin+ box to get the free to air channels down the fibre and it lets you record and stuff too :D

Richard, are you still in the place where I picked up those wheels from you? I'll check out signal levels and aerial group for your area.

A Freeview aerial inside the loft will usually struggle to get a good signal unless you're lucky and have a mega gain aerial. Your Freeview tuner will usually have a diagnostics or info section that displays signal strength and quality too.

Richard, are you still in the place where I picked up those wheels from you? I'll check out signal levels and aerial group for your area.

 

Cheers Mike - I have moved since then........ and replied to your PM!!

 

A Freeview aerial inside the loft will usually struggle to get a good signal unless you're lucky and have a mega gain aerial. Your Freeview tuner will usually have a diagnostics or info section that displays signal strength and quality too.

 

I'll look into the the diagnostics bit; although I don't have a separate tuner for Freeview as it's built into the TV.....

 

ahhh stick it on the roof Richard it will make a world of difference mate...

 

I reckon that might be the way forward Bri.....:surrender:

 

Thanks everyone!!

 

Richard:thumbup1:

AndyP's right. What TV model have you got and I'll see if I can find the menu the diags he mentions are.