Unreliable Digital TV Reception
by matt @ 11:17 pm. Blogged under Science & Technology, TV Shows
I don’t know about anybody else but we still find watching many of the Freeview channels almost impossible due to a poor digital reception in our area. We’ve tried various different digital boxes over the past few years sadly to no avail. With the 2012 analogue signal close down fast approaching I’m wondering if it will ever get any better, perhaps we’ll have to give up watching television for the Olympics? Another thing I’ve noticed is that all of our tried and tested digital boxes seem to be psychic devices which wait until the most crucial moment of a TV programme before going into a glitching frenzy, causing me to go into fits of hysteria and throw things.
On Sunday night the final series of the Sopranos started being aired on E4, we’ve never had trouble with E4 but wouldn’t you know it, at 10pm the signal became glitchy and I got very annoyed. I ended up leaning over the TV wiggling the scart connection and aerial for the first ten minutes to see if it made any difference. I’ve heard that if the aerial cable is too near to a power lead it can interfere with digital boxes - but now I think about it I’m not sure why it would only affect a few channels selectively. One thing I have noticed is that E4+1 isn’t affected, so I guess we just have to get used to watching our channel four shows one hour later than everybody else . And I thought digital television was meant to be so much better…
Technorati Tags: digital television, freeview, freeview boxes, sopranos, E4, E4+1, analogue television, TV
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September 9th, 2007 at 9:47 pm
ha ha as I sit here pete is fiddling with his digi box !! oh er… ours is exactly as you describe and we are right under Reigate Transmitter !!!
I give up with it most of the time !!!
September 14th, 2007 at 2:22 pm
One of the main reasons for poor quality reception is the state and age of your main aerial. It is well worth asking a tv aerial person to take a look at it and the cable that is running to it.
Also make sure you are splitting the aerial properly if sending a signal to more than one television in the house.
Matt I suspect the programmes that you like the most are on in the evening when the sun goes down and the higher frequencies don’t travel as well.
Other things can affect signal too like trees, large buildings, wind farms, hair dryers.
September 24th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
Matt, there are a great deal of theories about why the reception is so poor in our area - but nonetheless, poor it is. We have the same dilemma but instead of shelling out one hundred and fourty pounds on an aerial which ‘might’ make it ‘better’, we have decided to ditch the aerial entirely. Its difficult to maintain and arguably no less ugly than a dish. And since satellite transmissions don’t seem to have the same problems at dusk
etc etc we have decided to pursue Sky’s “free to view”, the same as Freeview but with over 200 channels as opposed to 40 odd. You do need a sky dish, box and card, but they will package that all up for £75 and no subscription. Potentially less than changing your aerial cable.
That is if internet TV doesn’t get there first.
January 6th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
I can’t even get all five analogue stations yet never mind the digital stuff!!!!
January 7th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
If when analogue is switched off and a TV doesn’t have a digital receiver (and is therefore useless) will a license still be a legal requirement?
January 22nd, 2008 at 7:02 pm
I have had the same problem in 3 different flats - opposite ends of London & in Liverpool. I’ve also had 3 different digi-boxes. And none of the excuses the aeriel cowboys have given (e.g trees, external aerial etc)apply in my latest house. I also get perfect picture some days & others it’s completely unwatchable. I’m glad I didn’t splash out on a big expensive flat screen - I’ve given up on TV these days.
I used to have sky & I had problems with that too everytime it rained or the wind blew!
April 18th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
My tv was ok’ish, last 4 months rubbish, getting worse at night, im so cross but what can i do - we need it sorted, i live central London.
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:06 pm
I really think it’s worth finding out how old your aerial is and what state it is in.