Sony Trintron TV Freeview Digital channels

libra10

We have a 5 to 6 year old Sony TV, model KV-28D and in bad weather had found some digital channels blocking and freezing. Recently we had been unable to manually tune in channel 5 and some other digital channels which we should have been able to receive in our area.

An aeriel installer called today and said we didn't need an aeriel upgrade, he just placed our existing aeriel higher and fitted some new wiring in various areas.

He was then able to manually tune in channel 5 and one or two other channels before leaving. He told my OH that we can manually tune in the channels we need ourselves, but need the channel number and server number.

To cut a long story short(ish), we can find channel numbers on the internet, but can anyone advise where we can find server numbers? Have looked on the net but can't find any information.

Can anyone please advise?

A_Nice_Englishman

Well it's good to hear the aerial installer didn't sell you an unnecessary aerial.

I can't find any mention of the KV-28D by Googling but I assume it has built in Freeview? i.e. you can (could) get channels like BBC4 and ITV2?

What you need to do is a 're-scan' or 'initial installation' to search for and store the Freeview channels. It should say how to do this in the manual if you still have it. You don't need to know channel numbers and I don't understand the reference to 'server numbers'.

libra10

Thanks very much nice englishman and gizmoleeds.

It seems technology has improved considerably since buying our tv. The aeriel installer said that our TV was slow(ish) at installing some channels. It has an inbuilt digital box with all the Freeview channels. Most of them instal when doing the automatic tune, but some channels just refuse to instal - hence the problems we are having with channel 5 and a number of Freeview channels.

Just wondering whether OH properly understood what the installer suggested regarding channel and server or service numbers.

By the way we are at postcode PR4 and receive broadcasts from Winter Hill.

Thanks very much for your helpful suggestions.

A_Nice_Englishman

OK. I think I understand the problem better now and I am going to change my advice!

I take it the new cabling was done with satellite-grade cable (CT100 or similar)? If not, it should have been.

If you are not too bothered about the Freeview channels you can't get I would wait. You may find you can get them once analogue is switched off and the Freeview signal increased.

If you want these channels now I would try a new Freeview box. Technology is improving all the time and a modern one may be more sensitive than your 5/6 year old TV. If that doesn't work then you'll need a better aerial.

libra10

Thanks again for your advice nice englishman. We may upgrade to a new digital box to obtain these channels. Will probably upgrade the TV eventually, not sure how long TVs are supposed to last these days. Our old Bang & Olufsen lasted 15 years with only one service call out in all that time. Have a feeling modern TVs become obsolete much sooner these days.

Thank you very much for your helpful advice.

A_Nice_Englishman

You're welcome, libra10!

I also had a B&O which lasted for years and years with no problems. It did cost an arm and a leg compared with today's 'disposable' sets though.