Hi, hope i can gain some expert knowledge in this area. I have a 42" plasma tv with freeview built in, the picture is juddery and no matter what i do remains so, the picture with sky is smooth - i am informed that my signal to the freeview tuner is not strong enough. To this end i am looking at upgrading the loft ariel to an external one and cabling with a high quality cable such as kimber v20 or 30. Can anyone recommend an ariel to use? Also does high quality cabling make that much of a difference? Oh i live 3 miles from the transmitter. Thanks for any help offered.
Three miles from the transmitter? Is it a major regional one, or a local repeater? Can you see it (line of sight) from your house? Who said your signal was too weak? It may be too strong! And can you describe "juddery" in a bit more detail, please? It's just that it's not a word usually used to describe what goes wrong when Freeview reception gets poor.
possibly repeater, judder sorted out turned out to be the drive mode on the tv - thanks to ******** on the pioneer 8g thread! Would improving the cabling from the ariel improve the pq or is it a case of what you get is what you get? - thanks again
With a digital signal, picture quality in the "traditional" sense is wholly unaffected by reception conditions. It's either perfect (meaning, as good as it will ever be) or it blocks and freezes or is non-existent. A different aerial or cable would only serve to reduce (if any) these digital failures. It won't, say, improve focus or reduce grain (etc). If you have these "traditional" sorts of problem, then it is within the TV and/or is the result of limitations in the broadcast.
If it's a repeater, your aerial elements (and those of your neighbours) will be mounted vertically rather than horizontally. However, as mentioned above graininess is not a weak signal symptom for digital TV (unlike traditional analogue "snow"). Chrsi Muriel, Manchester