another tv/digital related question. ...

[Lesley Jones]

We recently called someone in to check out one of our tv's as the reception on it is poor with some ghosting occasionally. He tried fitting a signal boosting box to the set which made the situation worse. It was then suggested that we would need our aerial replaced anyway in due course with the coming of digital tv to this area?. I didn't think that a new aerial was necessary to receive digital tv, just a set top box of some sort. Anyway this chap seemed to think that the only way to improve the reception of this tv was to place the aerial with a digital aerial and some gizmo to boost the signal to all tv's in the house. £220.00 or so.

I would appreciate your comments.

 

[breezer]

an amp will amplifiy the signal, if its a bad signal (as yours is) it will amplify the junk.

a digital aerial is a con by aerial people, you dont need one, we havent and so havent 1000s of others, but i would say you need a higher aerial.

is your about the same height / direction as all your neighbours?

 

[Lesley Jones]

Thank you for the response, I did get the impression that I might be being 'had'.
Our tv aerial does seem to be the same height as our neighbours but the tv in question does share the aerial with another set in our lounge, the set in lounge has a perfect picture.

 

[streetlighter]

that sounds like a fair price to me when you consider all the work involved.

 

[breezer]

what just to change the aerial, cos i bet thats all they will do

 

[phawley]

Thank you for the response, I did get the impression that I might be being 'had'.
Our tv aerial does seem to be the same height as our neighbours but the tv in question does share the aerial with another set in our lounge, the set in lounge has a perfect picture.

If one TV has a perfect picture then the aerial is definately fine, have you tried retuning the other set as you may be picking up signals from another transmitter

 

[electronicsuk]

I suspect that at some point in the past there has been a bodged DIY joint to your second set. You say the TV in the lounge is fine, chances are that this runs on the original downlead from the aerial hence why the picture is fine. The cable to your other set is probably an addition.

As others have said, if you're certain you only have one aerial then it cannot be that at fault. If the guy you had round was aware of this and still recommended a new antenna and signal booster then I probably wouldn't bother calling him back.