Due to some dodgy weather conditions I’m losing signal. Everything perfect, the it freezes for a couple of seconds/minutes. What a great advance in technology. Bring back snowyvision, at least you could follow a programme! GRrrrrrrr!
Not really a great step forward in technology is it?

I can’t realy think of another area where the advances aren’t really advances, CRT to LCD/Plasma/LCD?

I agree. Can’t stand it when me CSI goes all pixelly and jerky.

But when it works properly, it’s shits over analogue TV, come on.

CRTs use loads more energy, and aren’t as good imo.

lx to slx?

Don’t you mean digital freeview TV is crap?

We’ve never had an issue with Sky, but the freeview box upstairs is dire.

I agree. Can’t stand it when me CSI goes all pixelly and jerky.

This is NCIS and an important story!

But when it works properly, it’s shits over analogue TV, come on.

Fair enough, but it’s CR4P at the moment and that’s all that counts!

Never ever had signal probs with Virgin TV, used to with Sky though.

This is NCIS and an important story!

You mean Pauley Perrette is getting more than 5 minutes screen time 😉

I think that people have forgotten how good a good quality analogue signal looks in comparison to digital.

football pitches and crowds are a great example of where standard definition digital looks terrible! Really terrible!! They look much better in analogue.

All down to the crappy way in which the digital signal is compressed.

anyhew – look at that, my first post and it has nothing to do with bikes!

Cable works.

Pauley Perrette….

You would though wouldn’t you?

Is that how we talk about women these days?

EDIT.

My Sky dish drops out in bad weather.

And at the moment I can set the recorder to BBC1, BBC2, ITV, C4, C5 – all thru a good old fashioned aerial or satelite. So over a weekend I can record from six channels. Once analogue turned off then I’ll be able to record from the one channel ….. satelite, which I have to preset so I can’t record BBC then ITV. Of course, maybe they want me to spend lots of money replacing stuff that works perfectly well. Digital = a step backwards for me.

Edit – just realised I’ve never recorded C5 so might not be able to !!!

Anyway – you lot got it lucky! Te4h only way I can watch the rugby i want is on the computer with a commentary in frikkin gaelic FFS

That makes digital TV look good.

That’s a good point. Where will I get the rugby from?

Is that how we talk about women these days?

That’s a very fair question, and I accept I’m out of order, which is why I’ve deleted my comment. It was inappropriate and I apologise if I’ve offended anyone.

Works for me. Sport looks great on digital, too (in HD). Time for a new aerial maybe.

Of course Virgin works fine, it’s cable. Of course, you have to actually live in a major connurbation in order to get it; living in a large market town in North Wilts doesn’t cut it. Our Sky and Freeview get wiped out when it buckets down or snows heavily, but I can clearly remember the tv just showing white noise when it rained heavily with analogue, although sound carried on; not much good when it’s a programme relying on visuals for the story, like a nature programme. I can record two things and watch a third using Sky+ and Freeview, and if I got a Freeview PVR machine I could probably record two more programmes. Then all I’d need is a life to go with it.

don’t tell me. It’s a golf thing?

Only low quality budget channels look bad imo. I watch digital tv and it’s fine, sports and all. And don’t blame the tv if your aerial is crap 🙂

I’d say 40 channels instead of 5 is an improvement though, as is an on-screen programme guide. When did you last buy a radio times?

Some people forget the advantages when they fancy a moan, don’t they.

CRTs use loads more energy, and aren’t as good imo.

Have you put a LCD/PLASMA/LED next to a decent CRT?
CRT’s still can’t be beaten for picture quality.

Works for me. Sport looks great on digital, too (in HD). Time for a new aerial maybe.

Some channels working fine, others not, so I don’t think it’s the aerial.

Have you put a LCD/PLASMA/LED next to a decent CRT?

Yes.

LCD is better than all but the proper spensive CRTs.

And anyway we’re talking about TVs, not top-end calibrated monitors.

Have you seen the quality of these? Stunning.

http://store.apple.com/uk/product/MC007B/A?fnode=MTY1NDA5OQ&mco=MTkwMzc1NDA

CRT’s still can’t be beaten for picture quality.

Yeah what ever.

Some channels working fine, others not, so I don’t think it’s the aerial.

Different channels are broadcast at different strengths. If the dodgy channels are weak signals then it could be the aerial. eg:

Mendips transmitter

Freesat / Sky seems to work Ok, occassionally cuts out in bad weather.

My only experience of Freeview was poor, however the aerial was badly installed (below the apex of the roof away from the transmitter).

IMLE I’d have thought that a well set up aerial in an area of ‘reasonable’ reception should be as good as sky.

The signal tester thingies they use are cheap from the likes of Toolstation.

Is that what free view is? Non-satelite TV?
I guess I’ll have to wait and see if it improves tomorrow, thanks.
Not sure I’m going to get anything from the Mendips though!

Freeview is digital signal through terrestrial signal (uses a standard aerial).

Freesat is digital signal through satellite so you need a dish. I run Freesat through the Sky dish. We renew / end our Sky contract every 12 to 18 months. You can buy your own dish but they tend to be quite big for some reason.

Standard TV uses Analogue signal that uses up alot of bandwidth and is transmitted terrestrially, you will need a Freeview / Digital receiver to decode the signal through your aerial that can handle both, as can the Coax cabling. Think of the difference between CDs and Vionyl / DVDs and Video.

‘Digital’ aerials are apparently a con, although if you live in an area of weak signal a ‘high gain’ (same thing) aerial may help, but unless you live in the sticks or a funny valley nothing more than a little ‘tweak’ may be needed to sort out your signal issues.

As satellite points at the sky less likely to be affected by valleys / surrounding hills.

This only helps if your decoder is freesat compatible. Some receivers are freeview only, some do both but you’ll still need a dish and (maybe) special cable if you want to go the Sat route.

If your house already has a satellite dish you may be able to pick up a Sky box cheap and get freesat through that

I have a dish and a decoder. I live in a mountainous region. I have had uninterrupted service for the last couple of years.
Freesat/Sky and all the other UK stuff is no good for me as I live in Spain. 😆

Am I correct in thinking that I can receive terrestrial TV channels from a satelite and just need to find the correct satelite?

Don Simon you probably have a bad connection somewhere! Start from the TV then work towards the aerial.
Should be a signal meter on your Freeview menu somewhere, check that if it’s bouncing around probably a bad connection. This will affect the channels higher up the scale.
Make sure you are on the correct transmitter check the OFCOM maps and check the real nerdy mb21 site for the google map location of the transmitter to make sure your aerial is pointing in the general direction!
When the Digital swap happens in your area the signal will be stronger.
Sorry for the in depth answer but I am working on this project just now.

You might be able to get UK satellite TV. The satellite is very high up and covers a large area of Europe. Selling UK TV to ex-pats is big business. Sky aren’t supposed to let you do it, but they turn a blind eye.

Part of the problem with digital (freeview) TV is that there’s **** all bandwidth left after analogue’s finished tying up most of it. After the big switch-off, digital terrestrial (and DAB) will improve exponentially.

For a Sky contract you need a UK billing address, I think. As long as Sky are receiving money they’ll always turn a blind eye.

I was considering buying a bigger dish, which would be needed for Sky, and a motor to do some searches. I’m not a big telly watcher anyway so not sure if it’d be worth it…

Edit – just realised I’ve never recorded C5 so might not be able to !!!

not sure if I’ve ever even watched C5 other than maybe a couple of football matches.
The only C5 in this household is the Citroen parked on the drive

Sorted itself now! Still cr4p though. 😀

I bet someone who used to work at NTL is looking at all the Sky dishes in marginal reception areas thinking – I wish we’d looked at some coverage maps before we chucked all that fibre in…

how many blades of grass do you need to see on your sporting event?