No TV aerial. Can't get TV guide on new Sony TV. What options do we have?

Slinky

Just had a new extension built, OH said we wouldn't bother getting a TV aerial installed in our new room as we can connect over t'internet. Not realising that Sony live in the dark ages and it appears without a wired aerial our very expensive new TV we can't watch ITV live, get a programme guide, or local news on BBC.

We have a Firestick so have plugged that in to sort the ITV live issue, but it seems like we have the tail wagging the dog. When Eastenders comes on, I just want to run down the programme guide and find something else live for half an hour, rather than scrolling through loads of series options wasting 10-20 minutes looking for something to watch.

OH doesn't want to have the new render wrecked with wires on the outside of the house or plaster hacked into inside.

Is there any EASY option we have to make this TV function in a simple straightforward manner that doesn't involve having to have a wired aerial?

We don't have or want satellite, our other TV is connected up to a Freesat aerial via a Freesat compatible box thing.

I wish we'd bought a different TV or had an aerial put in but both those options aren't possible now.

oldernonethewiser

You have a new Sony TV that doesn't have wifi capability?

That is annoying.

Is there not a live TV guide you can scroll through on the Firestick?

SiliconChip

Slinky said:

We don't have or want satellite, our other TV is connected up to a Freesat aerial via a Freesat compatible box thing.

Unless something has changed since I last had Freesat this doesn't really make sense: if you watch Freesat then you do already have satellite access via a dish, because that is the way the Freesat signal gets to the box (not through an aerial). If the issue is that you don't want to run a cable from the existing dish location to your new extension then that's different to saying you don't have it.

It might help if you tell us which TV you have as someone may have specific knowledge of it and can suggest a solution, I've not had an internet-only TV so it's not something I've come across, although I suspect that it may be an issue with any TV rather than just Sony as I'm not sure where your EPG would be coming from if the TV isn't connected to a broadcaster in some way.

Slinky

Sorry, we have a Freesat dish on the roof which the aerial installer put up so we can get a good range of channels, our previous aerial only picked up a very limited number of stations from a small transmitter which didn't give us all the Freeview ones, we're in a bit of a not-spot here. What I meant to say was we don't have any sort of subscription to Sky or the like.  The other TVs connect to the aerial on the roof via cables, and we have Manhattan Freesat boxes to decode the signals.

The new TV is a Sony Bravia XR-55A80K.  WHen you try and access the programme guide option, it's asking for an aerial to be plugged in.

Slinky

Looking at the 'how to watch ITVX' page this is the info given:

How to watch on connected TV

The live TV feature is currently available only on Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV, Freesat, Now/Roku streaming players, Samsung Smart TVs, Sky Q, Sky Glass and Sky Stream puck, Virgin Media, Xbox One/S/X and Xbox Series X/S.

We'd have bought Samsung if we'd known this in advance.

jon81uk

If you want to watch live TV through the TV guide and normal freeview channels you need an aerial.

Otherwise you might be able to watch via the iPlayer, ITVX, Channel4 and My5 apps but I'm not sure which support live TV.

I can definitely watch live BBC via iPlayer on our LG TV. But the guide and channel system won't work without an aerial (or dish as some TVs have built in Freesat).

Slinky

We can get live BBC apart from local news, and apparently My5, but not live TV on ITVX.

flaneurs_lobster

Slinky said:

We can get live BBC apart from local news, and apparently My5, but not live TV on ITVX.

Use ITVx (and everything else) via the Fire TV stick? Bit of a pisser when you've paid a grand for the telly but most of that dosh will not have gone on the Google TV interface.

I think the Firestick has a live TV listing too.

oldernonethewiser

You can connect the TV to your wifi.  Can you download BBC iPlayer, CH4 & CH5 apps?

If you have a dish on the roof then you would need to connect a cable from that to the TV to get the full range of channels.

Neil49

oldernonethewiser said:

If you have a dish on the roof then you would need to connect a cable from that to the TV to get the full range of channels.

That is the problem. OH doesn't want a cable connection as it will ruin the rendering on the new extension. 

Put a cable in and your problem is solved instantly.

Your other option is to buy a copy of the Radio Times every week. 

TadleyBaggie

My Sony TV is a couple of years old but it has a app named "Live TV and Catch Up", it's basically Youview.