TV stopped working, and weird phone stuff

phoneguy

Given your problems started on the 23rd, the morning after the big retune, has it crossed your mind to bring up the menu for the digital and search for channels?

macman

suiko wrote: »

Thanks. I'll try that tonight (except for the aerial - I don't have another one).

My feeling has always been that it's something to do with the aerial, as the video does work fine on the TV. I would expect to get interference noise and a grey fuzzy screen tho - maybe this doesn't happen these days?

You don't need another aerial-you take your TV to a friend or neighbour and test it there. Or borrow a TV and test it on your aerial.

suiko

I've got an old TV, so could do that. The TV is way too big and heavy to be able to carry it around.

Tried the retuning, phoneguy, as I mentioned before.

suiko

Right... ventured behind TV for first time in nearly ten years and once I got through the layers of dust and spider webs and whatever I found that the wall aerial socket plugged into a heavy metal thing called "interference" something. The cable seemed a bit iffy, as the wire pulled out of the socket of the interference box.

I then tried switching the aerial cable, trying it directly in the digibox, and in the video, and in the TV itself. None of these made any difference - still same blue screen at all times. I then tried putting the aerial cable into a small old TV which I haven't been able to use since the analogue switchover last year. Again, no reception.

So.. as to get someone to even come and look at it will cost fifty quid, is it worth it? I suspect it is easily fixable, as the TV itself works fine on video mode, but would it be worth it? I would be prepared to buy a new set, but it needs to have built-in freeview (hard drive recording would be an advantage, but not essential as long as I can still use the video). Don't want to spend much over £100 really.

macman

Well, you are not gong to get any reception on an analogue TV if your region has already undergone digital switchover. You led us to believe in post 10 that you were still getting the analogue channels before this problem occurred?
'I turn the TV on normally, and the four standard channels work without turning the digibox on'.
To get digital TV you either need a TV with a built in Freeview tuner, or to connect an analogue TV via a Freeview box.
If the TV can still display from another source then it is working OK, and the problem is with your aerial or connecting cables. If the digibox will work via your other TV, that rules it out as the problem. So can't work out why you would think that you need a new TV?
All new TV's have a built in Freeview tuner.

renegade

suiko wrote: »

Right... ventured behind TV for first time in nearly ten years and once I got through the layers of dust and spider webs and whatever I found that the wall aerial socket plugged into a heavy metal thing called "interference" something. The cable seemed a bit iffy, as the wire pulled out of the socket of the interference box.

I then tried switching the aerial cable, trying it directly in the digibox, and in the video, and in the TV itself. None of these made any difference - still same blue screen at all times. I then tried putting the aerial cable into a small old TV which I haven't been able to use since the analogue switchover last year. Again, no reception.

So.. as to get someone to even come and look at it will cost fifty quid, is it worth it? I suspect it is easily fixable, as the TV itself works fine on video mode, but would it be worth it? I would be prepared to buy a new set, but it needs to have built-in freeview (hard drive recording would be an advantage, but not essential as long as I can still use the video). Don't want to spend much over £100 really.

£100 for a freeview TV /recorder,, you really are out of touch aren't you!

suiko

Yes, I did have analogue reception on the TV, with the digibox turned off. This baffled me too, but that's how it was. I would switch on the TV, with the digibox turned off, and I could watch the regular channels normally (tho picture was a bit better when viewed through the digibox). How is this possible? Might it have something to do with the fact that the aerial was plugged into the interference box? In any case, that cable seems to be knackered, so I can't even rewire the set-up as it was.

Unfortunately the other TV has no socket for anything other than an aerial, so can't try the digibox with it.

Quite honestly, I'm at a loss as to know what to do with the thing. Which is why I thought of buying a new set. What exactly can go wrong with a new aerial? I have quite a few aerial cables, and tried different ones last night, so I can't see that that could be the problem.

Guess the recording facility will be more expensive. But there certainly seem to be plenty of TVs with freeview at around that price.

fiddiwebb

suiko wrote: »

Right... ventured behind TV for first time in nearly ten years and once I got through the layers of dust and spider webs and whatever I found that the wall aerial socket plugged into a heavy metal thing called "interference" something. The cable seemed a bit iffy, as the wire pulled out of the socket of the interference box.

I then tried switching the aerial cable, trying it directly in the digibox, and in the video, and in the TV itself. None of these made any difference - still same blue screen at all times. I then tried putting the aerial cable into a small old TV which I haven't been able to use since the analogue switchover last year. Again, no reception.

So.. as to get someone to even come and look at it will cost fifty quid, is it worth it? I suspect it is easily fixable, as the TV itself works fine on video mode, but would it be worth it? I would be prepared to buy a new set, but it needs to have built-in freeview (hard drive recording would be an advantage, but not essential as long as I can still use the video). Don't want to spend much over £100 really.

We still don't know if it's your aerial, tv or digibox that is the problem or not, although if you get a picture on your tv with video then the most likely culprit sounds to be your aerial.

Does your aerial cable from outside which runs into the house connect to a wall plate and then you connect your aerial fly lead from the wall plate to your tv/digibox or does it connect from your wall plate into this "interference" thing and then connects to your tv/digibox?

What you need is a straight connection from your wall plate to your digibox without having anything connected inbetween making sure that the aerial fly lead connectors at the ends are correctly fitted and secure, if you still get no signal then unscrew the wall plate front cover from the wall and check if the aerial connections inside the wall plate are tight and not corroded.

suiko

Thanks! I think we might be getting somewhere.

Before, it connected from the wall plate into the "interference" thing, but the cable that connected it is very worn and it just came out of its connector when I tried to remove it. So perhaps this could be the cause of the problem? What I don't get is why the "interference" box is there at all - guess it must have come with the (2nd hand) TV, but I have no memory of it.

I did try the aerial cable directly into the digibox, but it made no difference. But yes, good idea, there could be corrosion inside the wall plate, as it's near a radiator which has water on top of it for humidity, and this has fallen off once or twice. Is it going to be easy to replace whatever needs replacing inside the wall plate?

fiddiwebb

Some easy to follow instructions for connecting wall plates (further down the page in the link) & aerial cables here.....

http://www.aerialsandtv.com/wiringup.html

New wall plates are not expensive if you need a new one, The problem may not be with your aerial but it would be the first thing to check.

Did you have problems with the quality of the picture on your tv before or was the picture okay one day and the next day you had no signal at all?

Where is your aerial mounted, on the roof or in your attic?

If on the roof, just check the aerial cable where it enters the house and follow it up with your eyes to the aerial and check that there are no breaks/cuts/trapped or the aerial cable hasn't been disconnected from your aerial.