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[HPsauce]

Although saying that I can get the likes of Jeremy Kyle repeats & QVC on TV just fine

Wait till you get FreeSat and put the box into "non-FreeSat" mode where it picks up ALL (1000 or so) Free-to-air stations on that satellite group. 
There are a lot of "very" strange channels out there. 
(though not as many as you can get in the Middle East  )

[kitz]

Gee thanks!  More channels  YAY!

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.

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Seriously though it is annoying that I can pick up the garbage channels just fine...  not the BBC and ITV though.
Welcome to digital switchover with 100's of new channels.. minus the 4 you watch the most.


/sarcasm

[asbokid]

Gee thanks!  More channels  YAY!

Seriously though it is annoying that I can pick up the garbage channels just fine...  not the BBC and ITV though.
Welcome to digital switchover with 100's of new channels.. minus the 4 you watch the most.

/sarcasm

It's been said before, but the money spent on the terrestrial TV digital switchover (upwards of £300m) would have been better allocated to speeding up the roll-out of FTTC/FTTP.   IPTV over fibre is the way to go, offering streaming video-on-demand, etc.. 

Terrestrial broadcast TV is so yesteryear, and that £300m bill only accounts for the cost to HMG.

To date, we've probably spent £500 trying to get decent Freeview reception, and we're still striving!  ITV1 on Freeview is unwatchable tonight because of the heavy rain. *sigh!*

cheers, a

[renluop]

Seems that the aerial pattern can be part of some problems.
http://www.aerialsandtv.com/aerials.html

http://www.aerialsandtv.com/polardiagrams.html
are good reading, even if a lot is too techhy for the likes of this mortal,

[tonyappuk]

Kitz
I may have pointed you at this site before for help with Freeview but do have a look.
http://www.paras.org.uk/  The two leading lights Mark Carver and Bill wright are very knowledgeable. Bill runs his own aerial business but not sure about Mark. Both post regularly on uk.tech.digital-tv. Pretty sure Bill is in Yorkshire as many of his posts refer to Emley Moor. As a retired old TV Transmitter engineer I'm disappointed you are getting such a poor service and although I'm reluctant to recommend it a change to Freesat would be the solution if the paras site can't help. I'm sure it would be possible to get the five main free channels OK but it might mean fitting channel stop filters which means more expense.
Tony

[kitz]

Thanks vm for the link tony
My problem is the moel y parc transmitter which wrapped up their signal strength.  Although winter hill is probably only about 45 mins drive away and moel parc is 3.5 hrs...  the latter has a good clear bird flies line of sight over the sea.  I can see Wales from the beach.. Can't see winterhill.
I saw a regional map on one of the digital tv sites showing region coverage.. There was a slight area where winterhill wasn't green... Unfortunately right over the part of town I live...  Yet moel yparc  was a lovely bright green

I've spent so much time on trying to find a solution over the years...  And although I found a part solution here it takes hours, I still can't get all chans,  the EPG never ties up... And the channel numbers keep changing.  

I got an attenuator to try but that didn't work either. 

I got so sick of it all and all the wasted time that I just basically gave up on tv... Hence me now being so thrilled at what the ATV and iplayer now offers me.  All my neighbours now have sky due to the total signal mess here.

Out of interest I just did a full rescan (new setup scan) on the upstairs tv.. And now everything's gone welsh and it's worse than before... And even parts of the EPG is in welsh. But I'm hoping that may be due to the ungodly hour.


Looks like I'm going to have to do a full manual tune when I get chance  
Won't be now.. I'm grumpy as heck due to hardly any sleep over the past 2 mites.. I went to bed early cause I was sooooo tired.. Only for zigs to wake me tonight at 2.30 doing his call for zac...  I'm almost tempted to carry out asbokids suggestion to kick him outside..... Note almost.. . I have to be up early tomorrow..  and a total of about 10 hrs kip over 4 days doesn't make kitz a happy bunny. 

Channel stop filters may be something to look at though?


Anyhow zigs has now finally shut up and curled up again... So I'm gonna try get my head down whilst I can....and at this look again tomorrow


------

Any typos and stupid caps come from auto correct..

[BritBrat]

I bought a new TV a while back and although I have clear line of site to my tranmiter could I get it to tune into it on  auto it kept going to Wales.

So I phoned the help line that was in the manual of the TV and they sorted it out in a few minutes, I had to manually select the transmiter number from a drop down list in the TV menu. Auto search never worked even after I had tried it many times.

Maybe Kitz that is your issue/problem.

[HPsauce]

I had to manually select the transmiter number from a drop down list in the TV menu.

That's what I referred to, it's not (yet?) a common feature.

Kitz, given what you describe I really would (sorry for banging on about it) give up and go for FreeSat. 
Check it out: http://www.freesat.co.uk/

We bought a pretty standard setup including a HD hard-disc recorder, dual-LNB dish, installation etc. via John Lewis.
I then paid the installer a small amount to upgrade to a Quad LNB and run a dual feed to a 2nd room.
A cheap secondhand HD tuner box enabled that for my son and his own big TV (he has since moved out).

[exo]

I can only pick up from Wales... and its dreadful (signal).  Most evenings the picture is blocky or totally breaks up. Our 'local' transmitter is supposed to be Winter Hill. 

If the new aerial made thing worse, it may have been due to the type of aerial fitted.  It was probably a wideband one.
You require a specific aerial such as the Yagi 18CD and pointing at the Winter Hill transmitter.
http://www.aerialsandtv.com/onlineaerials.html#Yagi18CD

Just something to bear in mind. May or maybe not relevant in your case depending on other factors.

exo

[sevenlayermuddle]

So I phoned the help line that was in the manual of the TV and they sorted it out in a few minutes, I had to manually select the transmiter number from a drop down list in the TV menu. Auto search never worked even after I had tried it many times.

Indeed, that is a feature that the set-makers ought to be providing, though none of mine do.  I can't resist adding however that good old mythtv does allow a similar feature, or at least you can edit the list of multiplexes so that it only scans the ones you want.

But short of buying new TVs, switching everything to mythtv,  or learning to speak welsh, I'm inclined to think HPs Freesat suggestion may be worth considering.  Or just stick with internet services if that gives you what you want.

[asbokid]

Or just stick with internet services if that gives you what you want.

That reminds me, I've got a couple of invites for uknova.com and thebox.bz (TV torrent sites) for anyone interested..

cheers, a

[kitz]

Thanks for everyones input. I didnt get chance to reply yesterday.

Re the aeriel, Im unsure what it is, although it does look like one of the Yagi ones.  I used to have a loft ariel which wasnt too great and very basic (looked more like the DM Log model). 
In preparation for digital I got a local contractor to install a proper aeriel on the roof and they also installed some sort of splitter/booster box which currently resides in the roof space and I see its blue light everytime I venture up into the loft.
 
When they installed they used some sort of signal detector thingy (on a box strapped overshoulder/to his hip) to locate the direction to point ariel for best signal.

Its a while ago now so I may be wrong, but from digging I did last time, more likely that it all went to pot because apparently Moel-y-parc wapped up its power.  I also tried contacting the manufacturer of my lounge TV, but they were as useless as a chocolate tea-pot.

Re Freestat..  Im going to need a dish looking at the prices and installation that aint too cheap either.  It may work out more economical to go with Sky when they have a good offer that comes up with free/cheap install.  Use sky for a year, cancel and then use the sky dish for freesat.

I guess I also need to get a new TV for the lounge.. as thats the one that is the real problem.  Its annoying because its still a very modern looking TV and supposed to be digital ticked... but it takes hours to retune and is difficult and still doesnt get everything. All in all Im going to need to shell out several hundred quid to get it sorted.

However thats going to have to wait. The PC is the next thing thats worrying me. Im running an adapted 4yo medion which has had some real hammer over the years and is on 24/7.... and so that will have to take priority over a new tele. 

[HPsauce]

I guess I also need to get a new TV for the lounge.. as thats the one that is the real problem. 

Well if it looks good, has a good picture etc. you could just plug in a tuner box.
Freeview boxes are really cheap, you might even find a suitable one which can select the region/transmitter.

And obviously FreeSat needs a box, unless you buy a new TV with the tuner built in.

Either of those might be cheaper and more effective than a new TV. A Freeview box certainly will be, you might even want one with a hard disk recorder inside it.

[kitz]

>>> Freeview boxes are really cheap, you might even find a suitable one which can select the region/transmitter.

Selection of region/transmitter I think is going to be a must.  I have freeview boxes (granted they are a few yr old now) but they dont seem to fair any better and also pick up from moel-y-parc.  Actually maybe I should look for a freeview box that does exactly that  because that would be a solution.

[tonyappuk]

I'd support the idea of a new set top box for freeview. I was very surprised at the sophistication of the rescan/installation program of a box I bought recently in Argos for less than £20. You can select the continent (Europe), country England) and the area (SW, S or SE). It even separates the radio channels from the TV and you can switch between them with the remote. It is "only" SD because it's used in the conservatory on a smallish screen TV. There is the ability to manually scan although being in a fringe area I've not used it. Just for reference this is an Argos branded item so who knows who made it. The product code is VDVB51N.  I would suspect that modern HD boxes would have the same level of sophistication.
Tony