Old cable system in house - will it work?

itgoodson

Hi

I have just moved in to our new house, and the previous tennats have left behind all the equipment for Virgin Media. They said they had phoned them up to disconnect the service.

My question is whether I will be able to pick up free to view channels through the cable system, or will I have to phone Virgin up and get them to reconnect me and start a subscription?

I'm assuming its the second, but perhaps someone will be able to tell me different! Thanks

cledor

The easy answer is try it and see if you can receive anything.

itgoodson

That's an idea - just wondered whether anyone knew before I started moving TVs about...!

Does anyone know what the most basic package would be to get Virgin TV up and running through the kit the house's previous owners left would be? I only want to get the basic channels, but freeview doesn't work in our area at all.

Thanks

cledor

see http://allyours.virginmedia.com/websales/service.do?id=1
NB- Any equipment remains property of the cable co.

ianian99

they actually switch the box off they dont (normally ) disconnect the wire. if the wire hasn't been disconnected you will still be able to receive a few channels bbc , itv , etc but not much more.
sometimes however they actually disconnect the wire at the green box in the street but not very often.
plug it into your tv and check

mcfisco

It's worth pointing out that although the cable probably does carry the BBC, ITV signals etc. - there's a good chance that they are not at same frequency as the normal channels coming from the local transmitter - so you will need to re-tune your TV if it was set-up for that transmitter

Doublespresso

If it's an analogue box you will find that it will still work for just some of the basic channels (from memory, also BBC24 and The Box)

ianian99

mcfisco wrote: »

It's worth pointing out that although the cable probably does carry the BBC, ITV signals etc. - there's a good chance that they are not at same frequency as the normal channels coming from the local transmitter - so you will need to re-tune your TV if it was set-up for that transmitter

i was talking about the channels that will be on the cable box, although if the wire is still connected you will get some cahnnels through the coax if its plugged straight into the ariel input on the tv. If you have a multiband tv you will probably get a few more.

itgoodson

Thanks for all those comments - I'll probably have a try this evening. There is no roof top aerial at all. It is a digital rather than analogue box. I may pop back and give you allthe answer this evening! Thanks

itgoodson

I tried it out this evening - I can get all BBC channels and ITV 1 and 2, and the 5 channels, and loads of radio stations.

Is this quite normal then? Anyone know how I could get hold of the other free channels in particular ITV 3 and 4?

S-T-E-V-E_3

using the box without a subscription is actually theft.

also plugging the coax directly into your TV can cause problems for other people in your street due to noise being fed back down the line