Bad Freeview Reception Since Weekend

littlebrooklyn

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We've had a digital TV since January and the reception has always been pretty good, had a little bit of break up on the picture now and then, but in general it's been pretty good.

However since the weekend the picture has been unwatchable, it's breaking up constantly. We have checked all the leads and even bought a new aerial socket, new leads and a booster. No matter what we do the picture is total crap and the message on the screen says 'Bad Signal' :eek:

We also have a digital DVD recorder and that seems to be recording fine, which I don't understand as it's obviously getting it's signal from the same aerial. Anyone have any ideas as to what could be wrong :confused:

Lyn
 
I dont know what part of the country your in, but loads of transmitters are on low power which could be the cause, see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/transmitters/index.shtml

Could also be your set top box / TV card is on the blink !!

Well I checked the link you gave and that doesn't seem to cover my area, I am in SW Herts. Also I have a freeview box upstairs and the picture hasn't changed at all.

When you say the set top box/TV card do you mean the TV card inside the TV? It's a digital TV so doesn't have a separate set top box, the only set top box we have is the VM box.

I am just so confused as the DVD recorder is recording perfectly which is very odd :confused:

Lyn
 
A couple of things to try.
Take the TV upstairs and try it on that aerial outlet.
Remove the aerial from the input of the DVDR and plug it directly into the TV so that it's first in the chain.
 
A couple of things to try.
Take the TV upstairs and try it on that aerial outlet.
Remove the aerial from the input of the DVDR and plug it directly into the TV so that it's first in the chain.

The TV is too big to take upstairs :eek:

We did put the aerial lead directly in the back of the TV but still the picture is the same :confused:

However we did bring in our other digital TV from the other room and plugged the aerial into that and once again we had the same problem, so we are assuming it's not the TV. Not really sure where that leaves us.

Lyn
 
When you say you have a "VM" box...do you mean a Virgin cable box?
Does your aerial lead come direct from the aerial/booster or do you have that connected through the cable box and then its output to the DVDR/TV?
 
Do you have a distributor on the aerial for the connections in each room ? Most house that have multiple rooms connected do.

This box may be powered with a built in amplifier, in which case check it's still working. Could be the heat (if the box is in the loft) has killed the signal amplifier. Some signal may get through to the shorter run upstrairs room, but the longer cable run downstairs no longer has the "omph!".

I speak from experience - now replaced my 6-way (now 4 way) booster twice.

Edit: Noticed you replaced the booster (in the room?) but I am still curious how the cables are split around the house. There may be a booster in the loft you don't know about.
 
The TV is too big to take upstairs :eek:

We did put the aerial lead directly in the back of the TV but still the picture is the same :confused:

However we did bring in our other digital TV from the other room and plugged the aerial into that and once again we had the same problem, so we are assuming it's not the TV. Not really sure where that leaves us.

Lyn

Have you checked the signal condition on the recorder? This should give you an indication as to whether you have poor reception at the moment. I believe you have an EX77, so select BBC1 and then ...

Functions-To Others-Setup-Tuning-Signal Condition.

The Signal Quality should be at or near 10 and totally Green in colour, if it is substantially less than this and/or is Orange in colour then you have poor reception at the moment and your TV's tuner is not sensitive enough for good reception.
 
Have you checked the signal condition on the recorder? This should give you an indication as to whether you have poor reception at the moment. I believe you have an EX77, so select BBC1 and then ...

Functions-To Others-Setup-Tuning-Signal Condition.

The Signal Quality should be at or near 10 and totally Green in colour, if it is substantially less than this and/or is Orange in colour then you have poor reception at the moment and your TV's tuner is not sensitive enough for good reception.

Yes I have managed to check that and the signal is right up to 10 and green. At least I can manage to watch Freeview through the DVD recorder now and the picture is excellent, however I am really confused as to why Freeview through the TV suddenly seems to be playing up.

What I can't understand is why the DVD recorder has a good signal but the TV has a bad signal when they are both connected to the same rooftop aerial. To me that makes no sense, perhaps I am missing something :confused:

I am not using an aerial splitter or anything like that, my TV upstairs has it's own separate aerial and of the 2 TV's I have downstairs one has just a Virgin Media set top box and the other, which is the one I am having problems with, has a Virgin Media + box and a rooftop aerial.

Lyn
 
I have lots of problems with freeview I live in Broadstairs in kent and freeview comes from Folkestone In summer and when warm signal nearly allways up creek get lots of interference from France and other countrys near buy their TV channels are very close to same frequences as are freeview totally kills ITV, Channel 5 and Channel 4 I just whent got Freesat well worth it looking forward to FA Cup in HD on Saturday.
 
Well I retuned the TV but it's still totally unwatchable on most channels. BBC1 and BBC2 seem to be okay but that's about it. We have a huge aerial on the roof and had hoped it would be okay for digital but I guess something is wrong with it. I guess I will have to get someone down to install a proper digital aerial, it's just a case of finding someone good who isn't going to charge the earth :eek:

Lyn
 

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