Freeview problems

samsyerman

I bought a Digilogic freeview box from Tesco 2 months ago, and got it up and running quite quickly. I got all the channels I wanted even though the freeview website said that I could not get their service.

Over the past week the Channel 5 picture has become unwatchable. I have swityceh it off and on, and done new automatic installation, but nothing works.

I think I read on this site before that a gold scart connection would help, but before I buy one does anyone think this would help.

Many thanks

samsyerman

penrhyn

Fancy scart leads that you pay over the odds for are a complete waste of money for most people. If you think that your scart lead is faulty then replace it with a gold plated one by all means but do not pay more that £5.00 for it. Tesco do them.

Its much more likely that you have an Aerial problem, has your analog TV picture degraded as well? Check all your connections are sound.
I think the Digilogic has a signal strength indicator have a look at it for the various channels. Is your problem only with channel 5?

Fran

This Freeview help website has some useful info, including what to check for.

Sarahjovi

I also live in an area which is not supposed to be able to reeive freeview. Our signal is reasonable, but is greatly enhanced by a signal booster!

I get some problems with different channels, but this is often solved by fiddling with the aerial, which suggests I have a bad connection where the aerial goes into the box itself (mine is an old sony ondigital box). I too would welcome any advice on how I could improve this. I have changed the aerial lead to a gold plated one! Funnily the signal is improved when I touch the aerial socket with a pair of pliers!

Sarah

jon_r_2

should be noted that free view does require MUCH MORE signal than analogue,therefore the siting & direction is more important, also in a few areas, the aerial is actually a different 'group'.Summing up a high gain aerial is needed,a loft aerial is less likely to work.,go to https://www.dtg.org.uk/, there is a link to transmitters and their channel numbers for both analogue and free view,go in to the 'installers' link, hope that helps

jon_r_2

should read https://www.dtg.org.uk/

charlieheard

A good digital signal will display on TV as well as a good analogue signal. When the signal weakens, the analogue TV will gradually worsen, but may still be watchable until the signal is really quite poor. With digital, it can try to compensate with some some redundancy in the signal, but the cut-off is quite abrupt. If you remember back to analogue cellphones, they would gradually degrade, while the digital ones are nearly on or off.

If touching or wiggling the aerial lead improves the signal, it means that you need to get a better signal into your box. An improvement when touching it with a pair of pliars means that your body and the pliars are a better aerial than your current setup! A signal booster may help, depending on the quality if the original signal, but it can't work miracles. A better aerial and/or cables and/or connectors would be a more surefire solution.

The percieved wisdom now is that gold-plating will only show improvements when the signal, the cabling (£10+/metre), the receiver, the connectors and the TV are top-notch. For the other 99.9% of people, gold-plated connectors are what my granny would have desribed as "all frills and no knickers".

chinagirl

samsyerman wrote:

I bought a Digilogic freeview box from Tesco 2 months ago, and got it up and running quite quickly. I got all the channels I wanted even though the freeview website said that I could not get their service.

Over the past week the Channel 5 picture has become unwatchable. I have swityceh it off and on, and done new automatic installation, but nothing works.

I think I read on this site before that a gold scart connection would help, but before I buy one does anyone think this would help.

Many thanks

samsyerman

I too am in a Non-Freeview area. I bought a box, and started using it, cancelling my ntl cable TV. However, after a few weeks, some of the channels started disappearing or becoming unwatchable. I do think it is because we are not in a Freeview recommended area. I am reluctantly returning to Ntl cable.

I have managed to get a deal from them for 1mg Broadband, free evening and weekend calls to local landlines and basic cable TV for £32.99 a month. Does anyone think this is a good deal?

Joe_Bloggs

A gold scart connector will probably not improve your freeview reception. A better aerial and a masthead amplifier together with top quality aerial cable will more likely solve the problem. Suppressing local sources of interference will also help. Central heating systems, other electrical switching noise from heating systems of your neighbours may be an additional source of interferece in cold months.
keep your set top box cool. They are often placed in a hot environment (on top of everything else) and go nuts when everything else warms up and circulation of air is restricted in winter conditions.

Try adding new the channels there have been a few new ones added and a lot of channel number changes.
J_B.

albertross_2

I think Joe and I are on the same wavelength (hehe!), but he is a faster typer! His rescan is a good idea as well