Which Scart/Acces etc

P-E

P-E

P-E

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Well now that I have got a Toshiba 32WLT58P LCD TV, I would like to get the best possible picture I can.

First off I need to sort out an outside ariel as the indoor one gives poor results (as expected).

I am running through a Digi FreeView box using the scart provided.....is it worth getting a better scart with the gold connectors?

Are there any other cables etc I should look into, to obtain the best setup I can.

Aprreciate any help.
 
P-E said:
Well now that I have got a Toshiba 32WLT58P LCD TV, I would like to get the best possible picture I can.

First off I need to sort out an outside ariel as the indoor one gives poor results (as expected).

I am running through a Digi FreeView box using the scart provided.....is it worth getting a better scart with the gold connectors?

Are there any other cables etc I should look into, to obtain the best setup I can.

Aprreciate any help.
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The best SCARTs are not nessesarily the ones with gold connectors

Have a look at the Thors, or if you are felling extravagant the SQARTs. I have an SQART and it was the best upgrade I ever made to my living room setup £ for £ :)

MB
 
Matblack said:
The best SCARTs are not nessesarily the ones with gold connectors

Have a look at the Thors, or if you are felling extravagant the SQARTs. I have an SQART and it was the best upgrade I ever made to my living room setup £ for £ :)

MB
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Are these easy to obtain?

Sorry for the noob questions but all this new tech stuff takes some taking in for an old man like me ;)
 
P-E said:
43 :D ...............cheers for that.

One more question please;

Anyone use one of those loft ariels you can buy for less than £50.........reckon I could fit one of them myself.
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Bah! You win, but only by 10 years :p

Yes you probably could fit one of them there loaf ariels however the quality achieved will depend entirely on the signal strength in your area which I can't tell you :)

If your really luckly Tesla will be along in a minute to tell you about ariels. :)

MB
 
Matblack said:
Bah! You win, but only by 10 years :p

Yes you probably could fit one of them there loaf ariels however the quality achieved will depend entirely on the signal strength in your area which I can't tell you :)

If your really luckly Tesla will be along in a minute to tell you about ariels. :)

MB
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Thanks for taking the time to help an old man ;)

Fingers crossed Tesla will come across my thread with some advice on ariels.
 
Ah, good morning.

I am by no means an aerial expert (carpmaster knows his stuff about them though) but am studying lots to do with them at the moment and been doing some voluntary work with a family friend (who is an aerial installer) learning lots of stuff.

Ideally you want to put your aerial outside, up on the roof. If you have a chimney stack then thats perfect for using, if not then it can be mouted to the wall and a longer pole used to elevate it and/or take it passed the eaves/overhang.

If you put your aerial in the attic you will pretty much lose about 4db of signal as a result of the roofing tiles/material. 4db doesn't sound like much but it is quite a lot. Remeber the db scale is logarithmic.

Next thing you need to decide is what aerial. If you email me (click sig pic) your postcode I will look up how far away you are from your nearest transmitter.

The aerial which the chap I am working with favours is called a UNIX52. They are suprisingly inexpensive but very good.

If you are happy to go up onto the roof then you could do it yourself. I would probably pay a local installer to come and stick his meter on the aerial and align it perfectly for you though. Chances are you can get it in the first Fresnel zone without too much problem but by using a proper meter you can get it spot on. Also make sure that the local chap has a digital meter. There are loads of cowboys around in this business and some will have an analogue meter which isn't realy up to the job as it doesn't measure things like C/N ratio and BER, something which needs to be with digital signals/reception.

Next thing you need to worry about is the cable, also called the down lead or drop lead. Basically the cable between the aerial and where you want the signal to end up, freeview box in this case.

I would recommend using WF100 coax cable. It's about 20-30p per metre if you buy it on a drum. Stay away from things like B&Q coax as it's not very good. You don't want all your signal leaking out the cable, or other nearby signals getting in and interfering with your picture!

Coax connectors. Personally I use crimp connectors. But then you have to buy a crimper to use them. If you get a bloke to come and stick his meter on then I expect he will do this for you if you ask nicely.

That's all there is too it really. I am sure you are aware that analogue is being switched off. Do you have other TV's in the house? If so it may be worth running a good signal to all of them. If you want info on this please let me know.

Like I said I am only a novice at all this currently trying to learn as much as possible before I start doing it along with my companies other activities.

Cheers,

Chris
 
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Hi Tesla..........

Thanks for the reply.

I am just dashing out :( so will have a read through your post later.

Once again thanks for taking the time to reply ;)
 
Had a read through your advice Tesia very informative thankyou & thanks to Matblack for your help.

The reason I was going for a loft aeriel was;

(A) As said "too many cowboys in the business".
(B) Didn't fancy getting on the roof myself.

So as I am going to lose some quality if I install in the loft I think I may have to take the chance with someone out of the Yellow Pages.

Suprisingly today the reception isn't too bad with my indoor aeriel but far from perfect.........can't wait to see what this LCD looks like with a good signal.

Tesia I have mailed you my PostCode.
 
Sounds like good advice from Tesla. Only thing I would say is that I personally wouldn't use the Triax Unix52 unless the signal really was useless.

These are quite heavy and have a high wind resistance, so unless absolutely necessary use a smaller aerial.

I'd use something like an Antiference TCX10 or TCX18, in the correct group for your local transmitter.

If you're in Sheffield, South Yorkshire then I can recommend someone who is in Rotherham. He almost certainly won't give you the cheapest quote, but the price will be reasonable and the job will be done well. You're probably looking at around £150 + VAT for a TCX18 with all the bracketry and new cabling (QF100 cable is what Bill uses).

His website is www.wrightsaerials.tv

Yellow Pages is a lucky dip. So many cowboys out there it's a minefield. Yes there are some people who will come and do the job for £80 but it will probably be a complete bodge job and will definately be using crap materials.
 
Right I may go for the option of fitting it in the loft myself :eek:

I have looked at the cable suggested and on one website it has the following;

WF100 Satellite Cable & Standard Coax Cable.

WF 100 was suggested above but is this ok to fit into my FreeView box or do I need the standard coax?

As for the aerial can anyone tell me which Antiference one I need? TCX10 or TCX18.

Edit; I have come across an 18 element wideband loft aerial kit so maybe better off with that.
 
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Use WF100. I'm not sure what QF100 is? I imagine it's WF100 made by another company. AFAIK W stands for Webro, the manufacturer?

Standard Coax is probably air filled and only single screened. Although air is a better dialetric than foam it overall has downsides, water propogation and air space can collapse when bent. The foil screen in the better quality coax cables and the fact they are made from copper and not aluminium makes them better.

If you do decide to fit in the loft make sure the aerial will only have to receive the signal through the tiles and not the wall(s).

If you get signal drop outs etc... then it could be time to move it to the roof but I think it will be ok as you are not in a bad location. Personally, I would still put it on the stack.
 
So WF100 it is then...........when I looked online at a shop that had it for sale I thought it stated it was only to be used for Sky TV :confused:

Up until yesterday I had 2 stacks.......now I have non as the roof has just been reslated and the builder has taken both stacks down.

I won't repeat what the builder said when I asked if he could just put one back up ;)

The aerial I was looking at also appears to have a built in booster than needs to be plugged into a mains socket.
 
QF100 is made by Cavel, and it's pretty much identical to WF100. Both are high quality copper on copper cables.

WF100 / QF100 etc is used for satellite as the higher frequencies involved with satellite (much higher than normal UHF TV frequencies) means that a much better quality cable is needed to prevent too much attenuation (signal loss). As the frequency gets higher the attenuation increases.

That doesn't mean you can't use it for normal TV UHF reception. I use WF100 / QC100 / PF100 / H109F etc for everything because it's top notch stuff and the screening is far superior to other cheaper coaxial cables.

P-E said:
The aerial I was looking at also appears to have a built in booster than needs to be plugged into a mains socket.
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Nooooo.
 
Take it thats a no to the aerial I was looking at carpmaster :o

What about this one;

Extra Gain Wideband Aerial Specifications:
Specifications:
Forward gain (dBd): 9
Forward gain (dBi): 14
Front/back ratio (dB): >28
Acceptance angle (°ree;): 16
Windage N (130km/h): 80
Number of director bays: 10
Length (mm): 1455
Width (mm): 546
 
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Tesla said:
Isn't that about 1.5m in length?

That's bigger than the unix 52 I mentioned!
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I am going to admit defeat trying to fit one :o
I like to have ago with things myself but this time I think I am out of my depth and it could finnish up an expensive mistake.

Going to give a recognised installer a call to come and have a look.

Will let you know how I go on.
 
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