Digital TV Ariels (inc "One For All")

fifo_2

Hi Guys,

Bad reception in our area.

The analog picture has always been terrible (ghosts shadows) etc, and even there were channels unwatchable.

I bought my mum a freeivew box, and once we got over the fabulous picture quality, of course, the bad reception means you just can't watch freeview.

I've seen these "OneFor All" indoor and outdoor digital arieals.

Do they actually work !

irnbru_2

fifo wrote:

Bad reception in our area.

You'ld be better off getting an aerial installer to look at your situation.

You may benefit from a different type of aerial (gain wise), better cabling or better alignment.

fifo wrote:

I've seen these "OneFor All" indoor and outdoor digital arieals.

Do they actually work !

Indoor aerials do work but the reception has to be adequate in the first place which doesn't fit with your description.

rchddap1

We had our aerial fitted by an 'expert' with all the relevant gadgets to ensure that it was pointing the right way. As an added note it is inside our roof. The guy fitted a booster and told us that as the aerial is pointed straight at a brick wall he didn't think we'd be able to get freeview.

So, I went out and bought a box anyway....now we have 2 boxes and its fine.

However, some people across the road heard our story, bought an aerial and tried to fit it themselves using the ancient method of "left a bit, right a bit, up a bit, down a bit". They gave up and now have sky.

You stand a better chance of getting a picture if you get an aerial installer to check the direction of your aerial, the status of any booster boxes etc... However, this is no guarantee that it will work!

penrhyn

Indoor aerials have the same performance as a metal coat hanger.

You need a properly installed external aerial of the appropriate wavelength for your area.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A DIGITAL AERIAL!

You can get some useful information on TV reception here

http://www.stevelarkins.freeuk.com/freeview_digital_tv.htm

Somerled

penrhyn wrote:

Indoor aerials have the same performance as a metal coat hanger.

You need a properly installed external aerial of the appropriate wavelength for your area.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A DIGITAL AERIAL!

You can get some useful information on TV reception here

http://www.stevelarkins.freeuk.com/freeview_digital_tv.htm

Not so sure - I bought a TV top ariel with a booster pack on special at Argos for ~£7.00 and the picture is fine . But there again reception my area is good. Can't get a good picture on C5 though. It would be expensive to fit an external ariel on a 2nd floor flat with no external access.

fifo_2

Wow, thanks for all the responses guys.

It was always bad, because of a nearby tall building. I could not stand the TV, it was just so unpleasurable trying to watch anything.

In 2002 I had to go and stay for a few weeks, and so first weekend I had a new arial put up for mum and dad, which actually cost over £150. It impoved what was really bad, but not tooo much. Made things a bit bearable. But I was prepared to pay it for a few of lifes simple pleasures.

In the meantime, a massive 15 floor building has gone up nearby.

So back to square one ! Possibly worse than what it was !

Our next door neighbors, who previously had been OK, then had a new arial, so I am sure it is the building.

Hense me trying to solve it with the Freeview.

Iwould pay the money for them again, for mums simple pleasures in life, I always thought the ariel installers were chancers (left the job half done and had to phone them for weeks to finish) and it was over £150.

I'd be willing to pay for that much the simple pleasure for mum. The "one for all" arials I saw, there was an "outdoor one" and it was a grey plastic triangle, and the indoor one was a flat panel.

Am I to say they are gimmicks.

Sky, NTL etc worry me, as they are subscription. I'd rather just splash out while I can, rather than get into something I might miss a months payment, then suddenly cause all sorts of problems.

Bob63

fifo wrote:

Sky, NTL etc worry me, as they are subscription. I'd rather just splash out while I can, rather than get into something I might miss a months payment, then suddenly cause all sorts of problems.

So what about Freesat from Sky? No subscription, just one upfront payment that won't be much more than having a "digital" aerial professionally fitted. It has a much wider choice of channels compared with Freeview (although Freeview has a couple of channels that Freesat doesn't)

http://www.freesatfromsky.com/

Our village has a digital cliff going right through the middle of it. On my side of the village I can get Freeview with a good quality boosted external aerial. My friend just 400yds away can't get Freeview whatever he does. In other words he has fallen over the digital cliff. The local (and very reasonable) aerial installer says that the digital cliff is a well known effect.

Mike

cannyscot_2

We live in a terrible reception area and have just moved in the arial is broken. I borrowed an ancient old ariel you plug in Tv from my dad-about 20 years old -along with good quality top box-hummer-this works pretty well. Bought a new type booster ariel and it does nothing at all.

pompeyrich

Maybe you could buy one from Argos, and if it works fine, if not return it for a refund under their 16 day returns policy.

Jon_C

Try the One For All indoor digital aerial from Maplin (in-store only I think) for £25.

I found it sorted out my bad reception but if it doesn't work for you, they are usually pretty good at exchanges/refunds as long as the item is returned to them in a resaleable condition.

I don't quite understand what people mean by saying these only work if you have an adequate signal. It sort of makes sense but not when you consider that if the signal was adequate, you wouldn't need a booster-type aerial in the first place - would you?

Maybe a more helpful description would just be to say they're not suitable for everyone (same as external aerials are not suitable for people living in some types of flats, just for a different reason).

emujuice

hi there, we get terrible regular reception but good freeview reception from an indoor aerial. Some channels were picked up with out an amplified aerial, but other require amplification. we tried a few, including the £20 one from maplins (which, incidently is only £10 at argos, go figure!). We also tried the £17.99 argos one, which wasn't much better. We've found the £19.99 one from argos (black oval shaped one...not sure who by, perhaps thompson) works the best. we get every channel fine now. Be aware that turning up the amplification to the top might not help as it amplfies noise. try 3/4 of the way and mess around with positioning etc... as well as amplification.
Good luck