What top up tv freeview box?

Tesla · 7 Jun 2006 at 10:57

Smithy said:
Nope, when i say WE put up the aerial, not technicaly true. My parents mate runs a TV shop (who is coincidently nicknamed the carpetmonster ), he advised us which aerial to buy and assisted in its installation. As for which specific aerial it is i have no idea, and have absolutely no motivation to go and find out

@Tesla, we are in the east of Essex, near Colchester (CO7). But that seems to not make a difference, as it seems my mate who lives down the road from me (literaly), cant get a good reception either, yet when i take my freeview box to another mates house about 1/4 mile away i can tune it into all the channels.

Maybe your other mate has an aerial which has been installed and setup correctly?

Anyway, your best bet would be to point the aerial at sudbury which is NW from Colchester. Which direction is your aerial pointing at the moment.
Sudbury is a bit of an odd transmitter at the moment as MUX's C & D are on very low power. However the main mux's are running on full power.

Also worth noting, the cable and connectors on the end are as important as the aerial. Loads of aerial "installers" do not replace the cable. Which is crazy. It would be like rebuilding a car engine and then re-filling it with the sludgey, crappy oil you removed to begin with. You just wouldn't do it, however, loads of aerial cowboys do.

valve90210 · 7 Jun 2006 at 11:24

Can't get it where I am

I recently considered getting myself a freeview box for my room, cos although we have sky at home i tend to be in my room most of the time and don't benefit from it. I borrowed a mates freeview box to see what kind of reception I could get. Unfortunately it couldn't pick up anything at all.

Well, actually it tuned into about 10 channels most of which were radio stations but the signal was so poor it couldn't actually display anything.

Shame really cos I quite fancied having the extra options for the world cup coverage. ho hum.

Valve

Jez · 7 Jun 2006 at 11:52

Why not just get a sky subscription?

valve90210 · 7 Jun 2006 at 12:12

Jez said:
Why not just get a sky subscription?

I could do but to be honest I watch so little TV it's not worth it. I figured if I could get myself a freeview box for a few quid and have a few extra channels and more options for watching the world cup it'd be good but otherwise I really don't need it.

Valve

Jez · 7 Jun 2006 at 12:15

If you are set on freeview tesco do a "technika" amplified aerial for £9.99

I use one in the kitchen for freeview (i really need to start plumbing sky+ throughout the house instead!) and it gives me great signal on all channels. A friend of mine uses the same aerial and its excellent for him too with freeview.

Best box ive come across was a small phillips one. Much much better than my "techwood" tesco one

The box makes quite a difference.

Tesla · 7 Jun 2006 at 13:27

I use Digilogic boxes from Tesco. They have excellent tuners and excellent RGB output.

Also the software is made in sunny Bristol and is pretty bug-free and instant.

Best bit of all, £30! (Tesco, perhaps they chaged to these crappy techwood thingys now?)

Jamauk · 7 Jun 2006 at 16:35

Could you not just get Freesat, If I remember it's £150

http://www.freesatfromsky.co.uk/

NO MONTHLY FEE
OVER 120 DIGITAL TV CHANNELS INCLUDING YOUR BBC AND ITV FAVOURITES, PLUS OVER 80 DIGITAL RADIO CHANNELS
BOX, MINIDISH, VIEWING CARD AND STANDARD INSTALLATION INCLUDED
ACCESS TO EXCITING INTERACTIVE SERVICES
ABILITY TO UPGRADE TO ANY SKY DIGITAL PACKAGE

SexyGreyFox · 8 Jun 2006 at 21:00

I live right near OCUK and I can get an excellent freeview reception with a portable TV aerial plugged in.

Tesla · 13 Jun 2006 at 08:19

dmpoole said:
I live right near OCUK and I can get an excellent freeview reception with a portable TV aerial plugged in.

You can probably see the Fenton transmitter from your house, can you?

It's in Fenton park, there are two small towers.

If analogue BBC1 is on RF channel 31 then you are getting your signal from here

SexyGreyFox · 13 Jun 2006 at 16:50

Tesla said:
You can probably see the Fenton transmitter from your house, can you?

It's in Fenton park, there are two small towers.

If analogue BBC1 is on RF channel 31 then you are getting your signal from here

I can throw a brick at it from where I live although its nowhere near Fenton Park. If I plug a portable aerial straight into a freeview box and straight out of the scart into the scart on the TV I will get the freeview channels.

Tesla · 13 Jun 2006 at 18:51

Well, I know OcUK is 1KM from Fenton and I looked at your location and recalled pics you have taken whilst out walking your Dog in what I thought was Fenton Park.

Any idea what transmitter you're on then?

SexyGreyFox · 13 Jun 2006 at 19:06

Tesla said:
Well, I know OcUK is 1KM from Fenton and I looked at your location and recalled pics you have taken whilst out walking your Dog in what I thought was Fenton Park.

Any idea what transmitter you're on then?

OCUK is in Fenton.
I haven't got a dog.
The last time I was in Fenton Park was about 20 years ago.
You have me mixed up with somebody else

A map of the area

.

Tesla · 14 Jun 2006 at 07:29

dmpoole said:
snip.

LMAO! Sorry.

Ugley_Matt · 14 Jun 2006 at 16:39

Tesla said:
Well, I know OcUK is 1KM from Fenton and I looked at your location and recalled pics you have taken whilst out walking your Dog in what I thought was Fenton Park.

Any idea what transmitter you're on then?

Pictures whilst out walking the dog eh

How do you find a good aerial fitter, how much should you be looking to pay?

SexyGreyFox · 14 Jun 2006 at 17:28

Ugley_Matt said:
How do you find a good aerial fitter, how much should you be looking to pay?

Earlier this year I decided to have a new aerial. I've go t3 TV's at the front of the house and 3 TV's at the back of the house. I decided to have two aeriels and bring one cable down the front and one down the back. I instructed the fitter to wire them into the portables that were upstairs and his job was done. That cost me £100 for two aeriels which I thought reasonable because he basically charged me £40 for climbing on the roof.

From there I put amplifiers in and fed the 3 TV's front and back.

Tesla · 16 Jun 2006 at 08:26

I wouldn't of fitted two aerials as it looks a bit crappy and instead would have opted for one aerial and a mast head amp with twin outputs. Most aerial riggers do not mount the aerials far enough apart either.

I'm sure what you have works though.

Matt, What area are you in?

SexyGreyFox · 16 Jun 2006 at 16:02

Tesla said:
I wouldn't of fitted two aerials as it looks a bit crappy and instead would have opted for one aerial and a mast head amp with twin outputs. Most aerial riggers do not mount the aerials far enough apart either.

I'm sure what you have works though.

We went through all that and when he said how the six cables would feed the six TV's my wife threw a wobbler - 6 cables on the outside of the house was a big no-no and 6 cables on the inside was a non starter.
My way uses one cable into the top bedroom and then two smaller cables feeding another two (back and front).
Looks dead tidy, works brilliantly and the bloke next door doesn't have a TV so it looks like everybody elses chimney.

Tesla · 17 Jun 2006 at 00:41

Well, aslong as it works well that's what matters. You must have 6 cables altogether though, there are 6 TV's afterall.

SexyGreyFox · 17 Jun 2006 at 11:30

Tesla said:
Well, aslong as it works well that's what matters. You must have 6 cables altogether though, there are 6 TV's afterall.

3TVs at the front and 3 TV's at the back.
One coax comes down from the chimney into the top bedroom.
Inside the bedroom is an amplifier to feed the TV in that bedroom, the bedroom next to it (drilled through wall) and a very small coax that feeds the TV in the front room.
The other coax comes down from the chimney at the back and again feeds the top bedroom and goes into an amplifier. That feeds the TV in that bedroom and two small coaxes go to the back living room and kitchen.
Dead neat and you can only see one lead front and back.
Even the 65 year old Aeriel man thought it was a good idea and something he had never thought of before.

carpmaster · 17 Jun 2006 at 12:44

dmpoole said:
3TVs at the front and 3 TV's at the back.
One coax comes down from the chimney into the top bedroom.
Inside the bedroom is an amplifier to feed the TV in that bedroom, the bedroom next to it (drilled through wall) and a very small coax that feeds the TV in the front room.
The other coax comes down from the chimney at the back and again feeds the top bedroom and goes into an amplifier. That feeds the TV in that bedroom and two small coaxes go to the back living room and kitchen.
Dead neat and you can only see one lead front and back.
Even the 65 year old Aeriel man thought it was a good idea and something he had never thought of before.

It may have achieved what you wanted but it's not the way a new system should be installed if you're doing it properly. The guy must have split the signal on the roof (probably using an unscreened splitter), then used these two outputs to feed the two amplifiers. You're going to struggle if you ever wanted to add FM or DAB or send any other signals (Sky / CCTV) to the rooms.

It serves your purpose though and it's obviously exactly how you wanted it, which is usually the main aim. If the customers happy then the jobs a goodun...