Aerial booster?

aaroncaz

Brought a new tv recently a Sony android tv and have issues with the aerial and receiving channels, the old tv was connected to a virgin box but only for freeview and that had issues as well, 2 tvs upstairs are fine, so was thinking of buy a booster :

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/1068388.htm

Should I buy that one for 1 tv as the others are fine or do I need to buy a booster for all the tvs like this one :

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/1068728.htm

Thanks for any advice.

kwikbreaks

Sorry but the answer isn't a simple yes/no or A/B choice.

For best results the amplifier needs to be on as short a cable as possible to the aerial and should have outputs to feed all the required TV sets. Whether or not that fits the typology of your current cabling I don't know.

Just putting an amp close to the TV isn't likely to bring much in the way of improvement.

The reasons for this are that the benefit any TV amp brings is mostly an improvement in signal to noise ratio. If the signal strength into the amp is poor all you are really doing is amplifying wanted signal and the unwanted noise too. An amp near the antenna can help overcome signal losses in the cable between it and the TV set.

aaroncaz

kwikbreaks wrote: »

Sorry but the answer isn't a simple yes/no or A/B choice.

For best results the amplifier needs to be on as short a cable as possible to the aerial and should have outputs to feed all the required TV sets. Whether or not that fits the typology of your current cabling I don't know.

Just putting an amp close to the TV isn't likely to bring much in the way of improvement.

The reasons for this are that the benefit any TV amp brings is mostly an improvement in signal to noise ratio. If the signal strength into the amp is poor all you are really doing is amplifying wanted signal and the unwanted noise too. An amp near the antenna can help overcome signal losses in the cable between it and the TV set.

Thanks, do you mean the antenna on the roof? This tv in the living room is near to where the aerial cable is plugged into the wall.

MPD

If it helps.

I got a Sony Android TV and had some problems with getting a good signal. I think the tuners are a bit rubbish as the previous Sony TV received all channels no problem.

I bought the aerial booster you linked to and even though it is quite a distance from the aerial and close to the TV it works perfectly and I can now receive all channels.

stator

Yes buy a multiple TV booster. As kwikbreaks has said, it's best to put the booster close to the actual aerial. If you have different rooms fed from the same aerial, do you know where the cables are jointed together? In my house it was under the floorboards in the airing cupboard, so it was really easy to pull the joint up, stick some aerial plugs on each end plug them all into a booster. Putting a booster in your living room is unlikely to help the signal in your living room.
I got a booster from B&Q and it works well.

kwikbreaks

As it worked for MPD and he says that maybe the TV tuner is a bit naff there is a chance it will for you too. As it's Argos if it doesn't you can easily take it back.

My advice was general - the shorter the coax from the aerial itself to the amp/booster the less signal loss there will be in that coax and the better it will work. As I said it's all down to signal to noise ratio. Once the amp has increased the signal level it can overcome the losses in the following coax better.

aaroncaz

Thanks everyone, brought one and it works am very pleased.