Freeview signal - Help Please

aliEnRIK

Most freeview boxes will work well with a poor signal
Tvs these days however do not

MonicaMoo

Have checked the tv in analogue mode and the channels are fine, not perfect but watchable. Do you think my roof aerial needs a booster to enable the freeview within the tv to work?

kwikbreaks

A last question on this one which I should really have asked last night...

What do you mean by "signal is terrible" - the usual result of a channel scan with a poor signal is completely missing channels rather than poor pictures. Later you may get some where the picture breaks up of course. If you are commenting on the signal strength and quality displayed in one of the setup menu screens then the actual pictures you get are more important than that although it can suggest problems later of course.

debitcardmayhem

debitcardmayhem wrote: »

If you press the DTV/Radio button and then the list it will tell you which channels you have tuned in Freeview try one of the Radio channels say 701 and listen to find out if you get a good radio signal.

Anything on this ? did the radio work and when you press the list button when on DTV - has it listed a lot of channels?

Inactive

It sounds to me like your TV Aerial is only giving a borderline signal, using a booster may or may not help.

I suspect that a bigger/better aerial is required.

kwikbreaks

MonicaMoo wrote: »

Have checked the tv in analogue mode and the channels are fine, not perfect but watchable. Do you think my roof aerial needs a booster to enable the freeview within the tv to work?

In general boosters only improve things when you are distributing a single aerial signal to several TVs. The important thing is signal to noise ratio and unless the amplifier in the booster is significantly better quality that the TV front end then it will amplify the noise just as much as the signal and not improve anything much.

As your current Freeview box seems to be working then IMO your best option if the replacement TV is the same is to continue using the Freeview box with the new TV until digital switchover.

Freeview needs a decent signal - if your analogue pictures are not good then the Freeview ones almost certainly won't be as in areas where the digital switchover hasn't happened Freeview is broadcast at lower power than analogue.

debitcardmayhem

Also worth checking is the coverage for your area here and see what they say

MonicaMoo

Kwikbreaks - when I say signal I presume it's the signal that is breaking the picture up, no channels are watchable, although as far as I can tell when I completed the channel scan all the channels were their.

Debitcardmayhem - Yes tried what you suggested, the radio channels are also poor quality on sound but it does list lots of radio channels.

Inactive and Alienrik - Yes , I suspect I may need a bigger aerial.

Found this on a web site, what do you think?

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


Before you install any indoor aerial, ask your neighbours whether they get good reception using a loft aerial for Freeview TV. If they are still using analogue TV, check whether the picture is free from noise on all channels (a weak signal gives snowy or grainy picture). If they get a weak TV signal or problems with Freeview reception, then installing a high gain external TV aerial is advised. Get the aerial fitted by a local CAI installer.
If a indoor TV aerials appear viable, you can crudely check signal strength in your loft by trying a portable TV and a set-top aerial inside your attic.

Inactive

MonicaMoo wrote: »

Inactive and Alienrik - Yes , I suspect I may need a bigger aerial.

Found this on a web site, what do you think?

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

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It may or may not help, the real cure is a bigger/better aerial.

MonicaMoo

Thank you for the help, I think the reality is the cost of a bigger/better aerial.

One question though, referring to Alienriks post, why does the set top box pick up a good signal but the tv does not?