E4 Now on freeview (boxes @ £35)

sloppychops

We also must be lucky as we run the one we have in our bedroom off a cheapie indoor aerial like Edinburghlass.

cheghead

anandc84 wrote:

I am in a university halls of residence (City University in London) and I have big problems in getting any good signals on analogue let alone freeview (in which my set top box: Sagem ITD58 Set Top Box cannot find any channels). So, what is the best thing I can do to improve my chances of finding any channels. I read that a booster might help but there are so many about so I'm not sure which is best. When I scan for channels using the freeview box:

Indoor:

signal strength 55%
signal quality 2%

External:

signal strength 35%
signal quality 3%

Can someone please help? Thanks

Sagem boxes are not very good at receiving low signal strengths. Check out https://www.radioandtelly.co.uk. Try a new box like the Echostar 101! (£39.99 from Woolies).

aeuerby

We had a sagem box that we bought from ebay. Couldn't get many channels from it because the tree's we are surrounded by blocked the signal.

Having read a thread on here somewhere just before christmas we put the sagem box back on ebay and sold it. Then bought the echostar 101 box. We have all channels we should have including (unfortunately:D) E4 - cant stand big bother!

Silent_Bob_3

For those with Integrated TVs (and possibly those with standalone boxes), to get Big Brother when its not on E4 (and only when its not on E$ i.e Friends is on) press the red button (fasttext red) and it will take you to Channel 705 (Ch90 on my TV) without the white screeen, the green (fasttext) takes you back to E4 on Channel 14.

anandc84

Edinburghlass wrote:

When you say you have an indoor aerial with the TV, do you mean the one that came with it?

If so try buying one for a fiver from a Tesco store and you can always take it back if it doesn't work. Usually come with a longer lead than the ones that come with the telly so you can move it around a bit more.

Oh right okay, bought a separate aerial for the TV which gives a better reception than the one supplied with the TV.

cheghead wrote:

Sagem boxes are not very good at receiving low signal strengths. Check out https://www.radioandtelly.co.uk. Try a new box like the Echostar 101! (£39.99 from Woolies).

aeuerby wrote:

We had a sagem box that we bought from ebay. Couldn't get many channels from it because the tree's we are surrounded by blocked the signal.

Having read a thread on here somewhere just before christmas we put the sagem box back on ebay and sold it. Then bought the echostar 101 box. We have all channels we should have including (unfortunately) E4 - cant stand big bother!

Okay will give that a try and get a booster too. Thanks

chinagirl

~Any ideas on how to get the most from your freeview box? Ours only picks up about half the chanels it should. For instance, we get the normal terrestrial chanels and bbc3 and bbc4, but not itv2 and few others. Is it something to do with where we live, and if so, what can we do to enhance the signal. There is a phone number to ring which you sould do before you buy, to check whether reception is in your area.

before_hollywood

some things can be helped and some things can't, will try and explain:
try a rescan first of all, go into the menu and find the 'retune' option ( a quick flick through your manual should tell you how to do this.
check in the higher channel numbers (e.g 700's and 800's. my sagem box sometimes puts channels in the 800's, but a retune fixes this)
use the link on the freeview website or the text number (only costs standard network rate) to check reception in your area.
if this is good, it might be an idea to have your arial, but before you shell out that kind of money (this is mse after all), see if you can borrow someone elses box. the lack of channels might be a fault with the box (some lose channels like socks in the dryer, some are just rubbish at picking them up in the first place), if it doesn't pick them up, just take it back and get a refund/exchange and hopefully should be ok.

i've had this problem before and i asked all the same questions, now i have the answers and am more than willing to pass them on

anandc84

Incidentally, what sort of thing do you look for in a good signal booster? All the tech-speak means nothing to me

wirm

Wey Hey, I bought my Bush Freeview box today from Tesco (£40), I've got all the channels, even though when I entered my postcode in the website it said I couldn't get freeview!

Pitty there is nout on! lol

By the way - Tesco will let you return the freeview box if you find you have no recepition! As long as you have recipt and full box contents.

Arfa_2

anandc84 wrote:

what sort of thing do you look for in a good signal booster?

That's a good question which I can't really answer. Instead, I'll tell you what I did:

Most Freeview boxes and ID TVs have a signal strength meter as one of the menu options. When selected, this will be displayed on the TV screen with a scale of 0 to 10. BBC channels are usually up in the 9s, ITV and Channel 4 about 7 or 8, while Channel 5 will be around 5 or 6. Other channels will be 7 or less, some may be even as low as 2 or 3.

Connect the Freeview box directly to the aerial socket and then to the TV (ie take the video recorder and any other equipment out of the circuit). If you have an ID TV just connect that directly to the aerial. Make a note of the values for each channel for your set up. Now get your signal booster (which you have previously bought from a shop that will accept returns) and connect that between the aerial and the Freeview box or IDTV. Repeat the exercise of measuring the signal strength. All the values should go up, with the exception of BBC which probably won't be able to go much higher. To be able to get reasonable digital reception you need a signal strength of 5 or more. If the booster doesn't give you this, take it back and try another make.

I bought a booster from Sainsbury's marketed under the Red brand. It was reasonably priced and nice and slim with the connections at the side so that it didn't take up much space. Unfortunately, when I connected it, all of the values went down so it couldn't really be called a booster. Needless to say, I returned it pretty quickly. I then got one from Maplin which was a bit bulkier, but which does an excellent job and we now have good reception on all digital channels.