Does Freeview need an external aerial

[P.Smith]

I am thinking of getting freeview but I don't have an external aerial in my home currently. Some colleagues at work told me that I can run freeview from an indoor aerial. Is this true and if so what aerial do I need?

First time posting so please be gentle!

Thanks.

[Sgt.Colon]

Well to be honest I think freeview is a complete waste of money. If you can afford it try and get sky. It's a lot better with a lot more options.

[Fernsehman]

You can't guess without knowing what your aerial is or what frequencies are used by your local transmitter. Borrow a Freeview box and try it on your existing aerial. If you are happy with the results, buy one. If it doesn't work properly then you can decide whether to investigate further. The satcure eBook "Piping TV Around the House" which I've mentioned in another post is a godsend as it tells you exactly what to look for, how to connect everything and where to find the information about aerials etc. You may need simply to replace the aerial cable with the proper double-shielded coax (as used for satellite) but you may need a different aerial as well and it may need to be outside.

Anyway, try it as it is and see!

Fman

[Pod Person]

Originally posted by Sgt.Colon
Well to be honest I think freeview is a complete waste of money.

If you can afford Sky with all its lovely irritating logos then you might as well get freeview too.

At least the irritating logos are free. :rolleyes:

[P.Smith]

Thank you for all your replies but can I use an indoor aerial with freeview or not and which indoor aerial I could use? Please could someone help. Thank you.

[gilesm]

I have an internal aerial in the loft that I used to quite happily get OnDigital from, and I can get FreeView on it but I don't I've now got Sky.

I lived in an new development so we weren't allowed to put external features up while they were building houses around so had to go for an indoor aerial in my loft (luckily its an old development now and I put up a sat dish). It's quite a big beast (not sure what it is) but I live in a 3 story house so its fairly high up in the loft. I think it depends on loads of factors not least where the transmitter is, what obstacles are in the way - hills especially, and how good an arial you have.

As one of the other posters says, best thing to do is try and borrow a freeview box or an old OnDigital box and give it ago.

[jim.rae]

Yes you can get Freeview from an indoor aerial if the signal is strong and your local transmitter is putting it out.

It's a case of trying it out to see what happens.

But you need a robust signal for it to work - what is your analogue reception like?

[delta]

When I moved to my present address three years ago, I did the Internet search with my postcode to see if I could receive OnDigital, as it was then, and the reply came advising I would only receive part of the service. However I went ahead and had an aerial upgrade for £40 and, bingo!, I received all of the stations that were broadcasting - the full monty! Since then I have had no problems and the receprion nowadays is excellent, (following further improvements by the broadcasters) and I have no regrets. I also have Sky Digital, free-to-air only, and, apart from when it rains hard, there is nothing to choose in the picture quality of either Freeview or Sky. The reason I stopped subscribing to Sky was because I could not justify paying for 300 channels of dross when I can receive about ten that are dross for free! :smashin:

[bar]

Originally posted by P.Smith
Thank you for all your replies but can I use an indoor aerial with freeview or not and which indoor aerial I could use? Please could someone help. Thank you.

I have a loft mounted ariel feeding 2 tv,s one of which is digital so in theory you shouldnt have problems. I suppose it depends the area.

[jryoung]

I have an internal ariel in the roof, which I upgraded myself with a high gain ariel from B&Q 2 years ago for my IDTV, and have had great DTT reception (and jolly good analogue too).

[P.Smith]

Thanks for the replies. It seems like I should give it a go.

[Fernsehman]

<rant>

My wife has Ariel in the kitchen for washing clothes.

What's up, guys? What's the problem with *copying* the word "aerial" (which the original poster spelt correctly) ?

</rant>

:rolleyes:

[lynx]

Biological or non biological, this may be the problem.

[Pod Person]

Originally posted by Fernsehman
<rant>

My wife has Ariel in the kitchen for washing clothes.

</rant>

:rolleyes:

How about washing an aerial with Ariel? You should get a cleaner signal?

:zonked: My attempt at humour.

[rmsdev]

Now here is my problem....

I live in a block of flats with a common aerial

I have an iDTV, but cannot get all the channels

If I go to Info on the channels it says:

Signal Strengh: POOR

But fgor my area Freeview site says I should receive all channels

My question is If I use an indoor Aerial, will I improve on reception issues , that is will I get more channels which i am not currently receiving because the common aerial is orintated in the wrong direction?

Thanks for your answers

[jim.rae]

Well is the common aerial pointing in the wrong direction?

That's pretty crucial.

To get Freeview, you need good reception from a transmitter that's broadcasting the digital signals - and to date - that's usually a main transmitter and not local relays.

If all the digital channels are getting poor reception from your communal aerial it could be that it's in poor condition, but if the ananlogue recepetion from it is OK, it could just be pointing at a transmitter which doesn't have digital transmissions.

You need to know more about where the signalas are coming from.

An indoor aerial pointing out a window could be OK if you are high enough and are within line of sight of a digital transmitter - one with a video amplifier is usually best.

At the end of the day, if your local transmitter is digital enabled, whatever gets a decent analogue picture will also get Freeview.