digital set top box

[wambangers]

hi, after much head scratching im a bit confused with the aforementioned.
itv1, ch4 itv2,ch4+1 there is no signal at all but bBc1 + 2 and a few others are nearly full strength?? this may sound numpty but why is this???
ive done a retune to no avail and even taken one back to asda thinking it was faulty but this one is the same( the model is ONN).
the scart connections seem ok but i cant get my head around this?? could somebody help me please??

 

[Adam_151]

What transmitter are you pointing your aerial at? (if you don't know, give us your town and postcode)

Chances are you don't have a wideband aerial and most of the digital multiplexes are outside of the original aerial band for your area (you might find you can't get channel 5 on analogue tv either)

 

[TicklyT]

There are a selection of multiplexers at the television transmitter. Each multiplexer transmits signals for about half a dozen digital TV channels on one analogue channel. Your missing group of channels may be down to things like:-

1. The channels are not currently available from the transmitter.

2. The channels are transmitted at reduced power to prevent interference with other transmitters.

3. Your aerial/amplifier/downlead is not capable of picking up the missing analogue channel cleanly.

Things like indifferent quality coax, aerial amplifiers and connectors, or leads simply teed to different outlets can cause unwanted signal reflections in the cable, meaning that although the signal strength is good, the digital signal quality is too poor to be recognised by the box.

The postcode search on http://www.freeview.co.uk/home should give you an idea of which channels are available.

Faced with similar, I carted the set top box and a portable TV up into the loft and connected it straight onto the aeral downlead, where all was fine.
Tracing the leads through the loft I found two cables teed together in an electrical junction box under the loft insulation

 

[wambangers]

hi we are pointing towards emily moor huddersfield.we also upgraded the ariel so we could view digital

 

[wambangers]

thankyou for replying chaps

 

[ColJack]

did you upgrade the aerial yourself or get a proper company in?

there are different types of aerial for different areas..

not every aerial will work in every area since the transmitter works on different frequencies from it's neighbour to stop the signals from interfering with each other..

that's the reason that radio 1 is on frequencies from 97-99 fm around the country..

 

[wambangers]

hi again chaps..we did get a local bloke in who also did our neighbours aerial..he contracts for the local electrical shop

whilst ive been offline ive been inthe loft and traced the cable and its joined with leccy tape to the brown cable that chases to aerial socket in living room.maybe this is the problem.do i need a proper connector??ive also put a new coax cable on and its made a bit of difference so maybe it could be cable interfering with dig signal??

 

[streetlighter]

The standard brown or white coax is not much use for digital you need a high quality copper foil screened cable like CT100. Joints should be avoided especially wall plates if you must have them use good quality ones and make joins with screw on F connectors.
The installer should have checked the signal quality after the installation.

 

[RF Lighting]

I can get digital telly from emley moor transmitter using a high gain wideband aerial and masthead amplifier on a tall pole, and it is a good signal.

However, we can't even get terrestrial TV through a standard aerial from emley moor, as I live out in t'sticks. A few of the local villages have to rely on a local 4 channel non digital sub transmitter if they only have a standard aerial.

 

[tryingnottobeafool]

you need a group B aerial mounted horizontally

some channels are very low

as advised get good cable with no joins

you can get Freesat from sky for £150 with better picture

you can get a proper aerial install for £150

please note freeview boxes will be superceded about time off analogue shutdown with freeview mark 2

 

[gman76]

"please note freeview boxes will be superceded about time off analogue shutdown with freeview mark 2"

This is news to me.....

Can you elaborate please?

 

[wambangers]

evening chaps ,after fiddling with the cable join in the loft and trying a new coax it has made the signal strength better somewhat and we now get itv ch4 etc.the aerial cost us 135 squid supply and fit. i will post a picture asap to see what you think.

regarding the join i will get a connector or should i have the ct100 type cable chased in so its done proper. ....or maybe leave it now the signal is sorted in case i bugger it up

thanks

ps whats this freeview 2 all about????

 

[barclay55]

Well I too was about to ask tryingnottobeafool to backup his comment re freeview mark 2, but it turns out their ARE vague proposals in the air (literally) to have HD freeview for the London Olympics/end of digital switchover:

Under Ofcom's proposals, three HD channels will be able to be launched by late 2009 at the earliest. A fourth will become possible by 2012 and a capacity for a possible fifth channel after 2015.

However, consumers will need to buy a new set-top box compatible with two new technology standards - Mpeg4 and DVB-T2 - to watch the new HDTV channels.

(Full report at)[code:1]http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/nov/21/digitaltvradio.television?gusrc=rss&feed=media[/code:1]

This does seem to be at a very early consultation stage, so it may not happen. In any case there seems to be no suggestion that current set top boxes will be rendered obsolete by the move, although clearly some people may be tempted to upgrade for the Olympics

You'll still be able to watch the Olympics in good old digital !!

 

[plugwash]

I'm pretty sure HDTV over terrestrial is already standardised (DVB is a set of standards and I doubt they would include HDTV in the cable and satalite standardings without also including it in the terrestrial standing) though I doubt many boxes support it given that noone is broadcasting it.

Ultimately it comes down to whether the british government decides to use the bandwith freed up by the analog switchoff for TV or sells it for other uses. The BBC obviously want the former, the governement are obviously somewhat more reluctant.

you can get Freesat from sky for £150 with better picture.
you can get a proper aerial install for £150

The problem with SAT is that as tuner counts grow you start to need kit like multiswitches and lots and lots of sat grade coax. Sat may seem competitive if you are only converting oneTV but what you will be left with is something that is no help towards converting the other TVs and recording equipment too.

With terrestrial you just add more splitters or distribution amplifiers where you need more tuners (and a lot of kit has passthroughs anyway). With sattalite to add another tuner you need to run a new cable all the way to the dish or multiswitch for every new tuner and when you move from four to five tuners you need to rearrange all the wiring so everything goes via a multiswitch.