3Greens
Novice Member
- Hi, thanks in advance for any advice!
I am struggling to receive a decent TV signal in my home and considering different options. I was hoping someone here could help!
The below is a reasonable summary of my situation:
- My family and I don't do a huge amount of TV watching but most of the content we do watch is streamed over appleTV or Netflix
- We occasionally watch terrestrial TV over freeview but the reception is very poor.
- I would like better access to TV channels for ad-hoc viewing, movies, news, kids shows, international content, etc.
- there are 3 different TVs in the home in very different places which would require 3 different connections - not all would be required simultaneously
- All TVs have access to coax aerial cable and Cat5E ethernet as well as a strong wifi signal
- Some of the TVs have a 2nd coax port (the kind with a threaded port) but I haven't managed to determine what this is fed by (if anything).
- The house used to have virgin media connection for TV - these were all through external cables which were fairly poorly installed and very visible and I had these removed when we redecorated so i assume this infrastructure is now gone.
- Internet is now provided by Virgin Media who can supply up to 1GB. The connection is excellent and supplied via single coax cable (plus a spare) running from my the front door to the data cabinet (not near any TV)
- The house is wired throughout with Cat5e and what ever coax cable is used for the aerial feed
- I have largely ruled out Virgin for TV (or Sky) as I don't think it can work through the existing aerial coax cables and I don't want to drill through external walls
- My neighbours tell me that the freeview signal in the area is patchy at best and think this is likely a non-starter.
- A limited amount of research suggests that IP TV might be a good option but I don't really know where to start with this: exactly what it does, whether it's any good, which service to use, etc. but my thoughts are there must be a good service for me that doesn't require complete rewiring of the house and makes use of the excellent data cabling and high-speed internet available already.
If it does sounds like IP TV is the right option, would someone be kind enough to provide an idiot's introduction to what, how and why?
If not, I would welcome any other suggestions!