Old Virgin equipment - how do I get regular freeview?

[Cleisthenes]

Hope someone can point me in the right direction as my Google skills have failed me

The previous owners of my flat used Virgin and I did for a time after that, I've since moved to BT. I haven't used the TV for normal domestic TV since I moved in two years ago however would like to now see about getting freeview working.

I have the below connections coming out of the wall by the TV, could anyone tell me whether I can use these for the aerial (via adapter of course) or whether these won't work? If not, how do I go about getting it to work?

 

[Cleisthenes]

That sort of thin twin shotgun coax is what I'd associate with a Sky satellite installation. That doesn't mean to say it definitely is from a dish connection. It's possible that it's a bodged up fly lead, or the homeowner specifically requested their home aerial system be wired with a lossier cable than regular 6.5mm RG6-sized coax for some bizarre reason. It's just best guess with the limited amount of info on hand at the moment.

Do you know if the property has a TV aerial installed and working somewhere?

You won't break anything by getting an adapter and trying to tune in Freeview. If these are from a sat dish LNB then your TV won't find a signal. (Put your TV in to Freeview mode, then go in to the settings menu and try an auto tune.)

Where these are the only connections besides the thick coax that VM use for their cable service, and you don't want to- or can't- have an aerial installed, then your next best option is to get a Freesat recorder. This presumes of course that there's a working satellite dish setup on the other end of those cables.

Freesat offers a similar range of TV channels to Freeview. On the plus side there's a bit less compression than Freeview, so the picture is a tad clearer. Freesat also has the space to carry more HD versions of the regular channels than Freeview, and it's not subject to the ongoing retunes that Freeview has endured due to the sell-off for 4G and 5G mobile phone use.

Set against that, Freesat requires either a TV with Freesat built in or an external tuner/recorder box at each TV point. This makes it a slightly more expensive option if equipping just a lounge, but far more complicated and expensive if trying to service a whole house.

Thanks Lucid.

The property is a flat in an old victorian building, there are 8 flats in total. Do you think it's worth me buying the adapter to try, or is it basically a no go? it would only be the living room that I would need it for, no other TVs in the property.

How does your flat not have a normal TV aerial

Very helpful, thank you