[HMHB]

I've just got a Panasonic LCD television with inbuilt Freeview but it doesn't find any ITV/C4/C5 channels It goes from BBC2 straight to BBC3 on channel 7 (from memory).
Another question, I have 2 aerials on the roof which come down one cable, one aeiral points towards the Yorkshire region and the other points to Central, how does the Freeview tuner know which one to use ?
Sorry if these are dumb questions.

[Nick_UK]

Combined aerials are not a good idea, because you will be receiving two multiplexes which can confuse some receivers.

[LV426]

1: You are clearly not receiving one or more muxes well enough. See here for details of the six muxes. I think you'll find that you aren't getting all of at least one of these.

It's an aerial issue. It may well be that your transmitter used a broader spread of UHF channels (frequencies) for Freeview than for analogue, and this would indicate the need for a wideband aerial. The same website gives details of the aerial type (group) needed for each transmitter. If it says W then that's wideband and it's probable you don't already have one of these. Or it could be symptomatic of the two aerials - see below.

2: It doesn't. It will scan for channels using everything that comes down the wire. Given two aerials this might mean
- it finds some channels more than once
- signal from one transmitter intreferes with the other and prevents reception of some channels. An analogue programme on a UHF channel the same as or next to a Freeview mux from the other transmitter would prevent reception
- two aerials might cause a double signal which would appear as ghosting on analogue, but might make Freeview unreceivable.
Note that signal "cleanliness" is paramount for digital reception. Even if you have a strong (but "dirty") signal you might fail to receive.

I'd say an aerial rework is needed. If you want to keep access to two transmitters, you should use two separate downleads and physically change over as needed. Note that, on Freeview, this will need a channel rescan every time.

[HMHB]

Thanks chaps, I will do some reading and then sort out the aerials. My analogue signal has been very poor recently from both transmitters, it makes me wonder if they are weakening the signal !

[SamRadford]

That may just be a sign that your cable needs to be replaced. I would fit double-screened cable in any case.

[HMHB]

It's also further complicated by these signals going to 2 different rooms I've just remembered ! I'm sure there's a booster in the equation as well on the mast and then a couple of plug in amp type thingies in the 2 rooms.
It's not a very good signal area around here as we are on the border of the Central and Yorkshire regions

[LV426]

The more links in the chain, the greater the opportunity for "dirt" to accumulate in the signal. And a booster, placed somewhere where the signal has already become corrupted will increase the strength, yes, but will amplify the "dirt" along with it. Sounds like you need a rework. A good, sensitive, directional aerial of the appropriate group for your transmitter is where to start. High quality double screened downleads. If that doesn't do it, try a masthead signal amplifier.

[HMHB]

Cheers Nigel, there's an Aerial Installer lives just round the corner from me so I might give him a call as he should know the score around here

[HMHB]

Beleive it or not I've still not done anything about this ! But my mate who lives about a mile away has just got a Panasonic DVD recorder and that doesn't pick up any ITV or C4 channels either. Could this mean that we are knackered in out area or could it be that both ours aerials are not good enough ?

I think you answered your own question earlier in this thread when you said that recently your analogue signals had been crap. Take it from me if there is any degradation of your analogue reception then quality digital is going to be very doubtful indeed.
Sub-standard analogue just means a bit of "snow" or some "ghosting". With digital it means... no picture, no half measures.
Fit a new wideband arial and new quality cable (not that cheap garbage at B&Q). You`ll need a digital meter to get the alignment spot on. Can`t just "rough guess" like with analogue.
Run it straight to your Freeview box with nothing in between. If you MUST have a masthead amp then make sure it is a new digital compatible one.
Does your Freeview box have a proper rf out? i.e. is there an aerial output from which comes analogue AND digtal channels? If so you can split from there if you want to channel it round your house.
Hope this helps.


Take a look here where you should find some useful info. Good luck

http://www.cai.org.uk/

[LV426]

At the risk of repeating myself:

Sounds like you need a rework. A good, sensitive, directional aerial of the appropriate group for your transmitter is where to start. High quality double screened downleads. If that doesn't do it, try a masthead signal amplifier.

Consult a good local CAI installer.

[SamRadford]

For some strange reason forum management decided to delete my "unhelpful" posts so let me try again!

When I had a problem with reception I got a useful free report here:
http://www.your-book.co.uk/freeview.htm
(I don't see what was "unhelpful" about suggesting this, since it helped me sort out my problem).

In addition, I suggested that the O.P. should start a thread entitled "Anyone get ALL Freeview channels in Mansfield", since that's what he's effectively asking. (And I don't see what was "unhelpful" about that, either).

I was trying to avoid the obvious (and in my opinion not very helpful suggestion) "pay a professional".

[HMHB]

I'm not entering my email address into anything just to get their opinion if I can receive Freeview or not.
It's always been recognised that any of those postcode checking sites are hit and miss with their information, just like the ones for DAB radio reception are.
I objected to the wording that implied I was expecting people to guess and that I was wasting people's time.