Set top freeview ariels - Any good?

Dolph

Dolph

Dolph

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Joined
17 Oct 2002
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Well, got the new TV (Managed to pick up the Toshiba 37" 1080p set and HD-DVD player for less than £900 all in which I didn't think was bad at all) but it's shown that the aerial located in our loft is even worse than we thought, as we get nothing at all on freeview, and virtually nothing on analogue. (We haven't been using the aerial anyway since we moved in).

Now, I can see three options.

A new external aerial
A new loft aerial
A set top aerial.

I know the rough costs for the first, and to be honest probably wouldn't bother with the second, but the third is vaguely intriguing, it would seem to be much cheaper than the first, and it's not a problem that you wouldn't easily be able to split it. I suppose if it's really any use it could be fitted upstairs in place of the loft aerial.

However, I'm reluctant to buy one on the hope that it would work, so does anyone have any experience of the sort of thing I'm talking about?
 
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Every single indoor aerial I have tried (at least 10-15) have been totally useless. The latest one I bought was A3 sized flat panel that you can hang on the wall, and while its the best out of a bad bunch its still very poor, I only use it for my sons TV in his bedroom.

On a decent TV you really need a good quality signal or the picture will be shocking when displayed on a large set.

Im sure a few poeple on here can reccomend a decent outdoor aerial you can buy online, some come as install kits with all the cable and brackets you will need. If you dont fancy getting up on the roof then im sure if you called a couple of local people they would be more then happy to fit your gear for a fee.

Failing that, if you do a decent arial, it should be fine in the loft, mine is and I get full bars on my signal strenght, guess it depends on how strong the signal is near you.
 
All about the signal strength in your area, I know people with aerials in the loft who get full strength 8 miles from my house, but I can't get a decent signal with a good quality aerial on the Roof, a mate of mine in the Welsh valleys gets a good signal with an indoor aerial! All about the geography…
 
I just got a medium gain ariel (digi + analogue) from a large orange DIY store for around £25. No booster just a direct wire.

I put it in the loft, simply reversed the U section piece to how it would be on a pole fitting and swapped the wing nuts for normal nuts to clamped it directly to the roof joist. No drilling or messing, once I found the wire. It only feeds the lounge at the moment as Im yet to split the signal but the signal is spot on in both formats with the freeview box showing full signal most days and I get channel 5 now too. Far better than a crummy aerial on your TV and anything up the loft is better than a smaller on in your lounge.
 
Interesting how people will gladly fork out £1000 on a spanking new TV but when it comes to feeding it with a decent signal they will try and get away with a £10 aerial.
 
had the most success with a £30 mains powered digi aerial with booster, but by no means was it perfect, it still worked pretty well
 
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carpmaster said:
Interesting how people will gladly fork out £1000 on a spanking new TV but when it comes to feeding it with a decent signal they will try and get away with a £10 aerial.
Click to expand...

given that the sky is the primary feed, I don't see why this is an issue.
 
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