Freeview HD

[docnaz]

Apologies if duplicate but need quick answer. New FReeview HD TV. Signal was ok to start with and now gone. Have removed old booster and no better.

Is it worth me trying new digital booster?

Many thanks

 

[lbear]

There is no such thing as a digital booster or digital aerial.

You may have been lucky with the hot weather giving you a more powerful signal because of the atmospheric conditions. Some idea of your rough location and aerial setup would be helpful for people to be able to give you more advice.

 

[docnaz]

Thanks Ibear. Sensible. New LG LE8900. Set up on Friday last - very hot and still day. Got Freeview HD though BBC1 HD dropped for about 3s each time a plane went over! 12miles from Crystal Palace in Ealing, West London. Now either no HD at all or extremely pixelated. To confuse matters further hve smaller LG with FReeview HD in second room that has been showing HD well for the last 2 months but that has stopped showing HD too. Hi Gain aerial. Did the test on Teletext that shows aerial in good condition. Had old signal booster which I have just replaced with more modern one that says compatible with digital tv, brand SLxG. TV has booster built in which I have also switched on.

Does an autotune overwrite prev list or should one retune without aerial attached in order to revert to factory before retuning again?

That's all I can think of to inform more views at present. Thanks!

 

[winston2010]

In Ealing you should have no problem. Decent 10 element aerial slightly east of south plus possibly an attenuator is all you need. Certainly NOT a booster which will give you violent overloading in that area. A high gain aerial is not required unless you are splitting it to several outlets.
Believe me, I've lived and worked in the area.

 

[docnaz]

Thanks Winston but that just leaves me perplexed! Will try all the basics - check connections, cables etc but I remain puzzled. Took the old booster out of the system y'day and retuned, again with no success. ANy other ideas welcome please.

 

[docnaz]

Another horrible thought.

Having read that a few years ago, some Freeview boxes were rendered defunct by technical changes to the Freeview Broadcast, could that happen to a Freeview HD TV?

I notice that Panasonic have a clause stating no guarantee of future proffing for their Freeview content.

Cheers.

 

[Rodders53]

I, too have worked in Ealing (in an office block over the Broadway station).

While I agree Ealing shouldn't need the biggest of aerials in most parts, there are some places that have taller buildings that might obscure direct reception... which could allow reflections off the wings of aeroplanes on the flight path into Haethrow to mess with the signals.

There are also lots of tall, bushy trees in the Ealing streets that are now coming into full leaf. Aerials pointing through trees can have problems as the leaves can 'match' the UHF wavelengths quite successfully and block signals.

docnaz: you need to check the view your aerial has towards Crystal Palace to see if something has happened to change it recently. It would also be worth double-checking all connections are made properly - with no stray whiskers of outer almost shorting to inner - and that there are no sharp kinks or damage to the cables. Also check if near neighbours have similar reception issues.

No TVs have 'boosters' built in. Some have an 'antenna power supply' that can be switched to power an external device - but normally (almost invariably) this should be set to off.

Your description is of marginal reception. Do the LGs give signal strength and quality figures for the HD mux (and six SD muxes)? Are all the 6 SD muxes received with no errors or breakups at all, ever?