Portable TV Reception

Party_Animal

Can anyone please advise as to the best way forward. I've got a good tele in the lounge connected to NTL cable and with surround sound but just lately I've spent more time in the conservatory watching my portable tv. The trouble is the picture's not sparkling. I was going to get one of those amplified aerials from Argos but I noticed there were other ways of improving the picture and wasn't sure which way to go. I don't want to run a cable from the other set as there's no easy way to conceal it. Are these amplified ones any good?
Thanks

waster_2

What do you mean by amplified one? If you mean an indoor aerial with an amplifier built in, then it is unlikely to make the picture any better. An amplifier only amplifies the signal you already receive. It does not improve the signal quality. So, if you amplify a poor and interference laden signal you will just get an amplified interference laden signal. You need a good signal to get a good picture.

If you do not want to use the signal from your cable set up in the lounge due to the cabling issues you can always go for a wireless TV picture distribution system. You plug a transmitter into your NTL box via a scart lead and then connect the receiver to your other TV via another scart lead and you can watch your second TV using the signal from your main TV. They sell these in the larger Tesco's for about £30. Maplins also sell them. Phillips also make them and they are sold through the usual electrical outlets.

Things to watch out; Does your second TV have scart socket? Does your NTL box have a spare scart socket. If you or a neighbour arer using a wireless network on the PC it can cause interference to the TV signals. You can only watch the same channel on the second set as is being watched on the main set at the same time (i.e. if the main set is watching ITV 1 then that is what the second set must also watch), although you do not need the first set on to watch the programme on the second set. You can also change channels via the wireless set up.

Finally, if you do decide on this check that NTL is supported by whatever you buy. Sometimes cable installtions are a bit fussy about what they will work with. I use it for Sky+ and it works great.

Good luck.

mike_paterson

waster is correct - the wireless AV sender is probably the way to go for you. I have seen them as cheap as £20 or less at times - try ebay !

Cheers
Mike

Wombat

I got a Tevion Vision Wireless Video/Audio Sender from Aldi (I think it was £20ish) and it's excellent.

I'm on NTL cable and you don't need a spare Scart socket on the NTL box to use it. You plug it into the Scart socket of your TV with the supplied pass-through Scart lead and the NTL box plugs into the pass through socket. I use a double Scart adaptor also so that I can plug in my DVD player or video player and watch those on the remote TV. The sender transmits whatever signal is fed into the pass through Scart plug whether cable box, DVD, video etc. etc. All the devices plugged into that socket can be controlled remotely via their own remote controls while watching the remote TV.

One of my best buys.

Incidentally, I've tried those amplified indoor aerials and they act exactly as waster says: they amplify all the signal including the interference!! Avoid.

HTH.

Party_Animal

Thanks a lot. The portable tv is a new one and will take a scart lead. I'll have a look round for one.

Party_Animal

Ok, got one today from Tesco. Its a Technika TT-07. Unfortunately, there isn't a spare scart on my NTL box and I'm not sure what's meant by a pass through scart. Nothing else came with the kit. So I plugged into the NTL box and I get a great picture on the portable. But I have to keep switching the scart lead, we can have one tv on at once ( not too worried about that as I could always revert back to aerial on the portable), and the remote for the set top box doen't appear to operate the portable tele. You have to got into the other room to change channels, but the picture is good. Any advice?
Thanks

Wombat

A "pass through" Scart socket is one that is male one side and female the other. So you plug the Scart plug from the Sender into the back of the TV and the Scart plug from the NTL box into the back of the first Scart plug so the signal from the NTL box "passes through" the other plug into the TV. This allows you to watch the programmes from the NTL box on the main TV.

The lead on the Scart plug from the Sender also receives the same programme and transmits it to the Receiver in the other room.

On my Tevion Sender there is a wire which has 3 sticky-backed infrared transmitters attached along its length. These can be stuck on the fronts of any equipment attached to the Scart loop next to their infrared remote receivers. When watching the remote TV you can use the remote controls of any of those pieces of equipment (NTL box, DVD player, video etc.) to control them. So if you have a similar setup you should be able to change channels on the NTL box from your remote position with the NTL remote control.

If your Sender unit doesn't have a similar setup for controlling equipment remotely, then you won't be able to do it.

Hope this clarifies matters.

mike_paterson

It is odd that it doesn't come with a pass through socket. You should be able to find a scart extension block - a bit like an electricity extension that has more than 1 socket on it. You could then plug the scart for the TV and the scart for the sender into it. It would be worth getting a quality one as it might drop the picture quality otherwise. As Wombat says you should also have a cable to transmit the infra red signals to the satellite box.

If not it might be best to return the sender to Tesco and get a different one with a scart pass-through.

Party_Animal

Thanks, It didn't come with one though it did come with an IR lead. I've just asked at a few shops in town but no ones heard of them. They did suggest a splitter or switch but that's not quite the same thing.
Thanks

Wombat

I did a search on the Net for a pass-through Scart socket and couldn't find one. So I'm not surprised the shops were confused. But the Tevion sender definitely comes with one - maybe specially made for them?

I'm not sure a Scart multi-plug would work, since these are usually multiple inputs to 1 output (the TV), whereas you need to have the Sender as an output as well as the TV. The cheaper ones do degrade the signal as well as has already been said.

mike_paterson

My digisender has one too!