Which freeview box?

Hi people.
I am new to freeview so would like some advice. I live in Andover, Hampshire area, and would like to buy a freeview box just to see what this digital TV is all about as I have heard good things about it. I checked my post code on DTA checker and results show I am in good coverage area and should be able to recieve all channels. There will be two areas in my house that I would like to use Digital TV. Location one is in my living room. I have got a wall RF socket which I beleive is linked to an aerial in the loft when house was built 30-40 years ago. This socket can give me clear BBC1, BBC2, ITV1. Channel 4 and 5 are both fuzzy, with 5 being the worst. Location two will be in my bedroom upstairs using indoor aerial. With this indoor aerial I can get BBC1, BBC2, ITV1 OK-ish, CH4 iffy (depends on time of day and i would need to adjust location of aerial) and CH5 next to nothing at all.

My question is would I be able to receive OK digital signal even if I get semi weak analogue signals, specified as above. I am thinking about buying an amplified indoor aerial to replace loop aerial I'm using in bedroom now. Maybe one of those "All4one" branded, 43dB level ones from Currys, or something simular.

And next question is which freeview box to buy? Any recommendations on value for money boxes? Would like DAB Radio capability too but not essential. Would cheap £60 ones work as well as the £100 ones like Philips DTR1500? I only know of this one cos I spotted it in Tesco Extra, Portsmouth.

Thanks in advance.

 

panasonic ctu30 -and buy a decent scart

 

The thing to realise about digital TV reception is that it has practically nothing to do with your analogue reception. You can have great analogue and crap or even no digital reception, and the oposite as well.
If you are in a very good reception area (digital that is ) then the old aerial and cable should give ok to good reception. If not then you will very likely need to replace the cable at least, and idealy have a continuous run from aerial to DTT box (no wall sockets). Also a roof aerial is the best option. Saying all this I have Freeview with a loft aerial with old cable feeding a wall socket and it work fairly well, but I'm in the London area with very good reception. You will need to try it and see what does work for you.
For the bedroom TV make sure that any indoor aerial is stated as being DTT compatable.Yet again this will only work if you are in a strong signal area.
Signal boosters are not normally a good idea for DTT as all they boost is a bad signal. If you do need a booster then you should get a 'mast head amp' that fits on the side of the aerial and not a booster that sits beside the TV.This is obviously only any good for the main loft aerial to lounge TV.

Mark.

 

Thanks Trev, Mark.

So bascially I wont really know until I try to attach a digibox to both aerials and see what i get right? I still no idea which box to buy. Think I will just get a cheapo one to start with. I not looked in Currys yet, but I know they got a Nokia one.

I gues the Loop aerial I have is not DTT compatible cos it came with Sony 14inch tv i bought 5 years back. Most of the self amplified indoor aerials state digital tv compat, but you say they not good if it gets poor signal to start with?

 

No, in real terms there is no way of knowing what, if anything you can receive until you plug a STB into the TV/aerial and try it.
I would suggest you beg, borrow or steal a DTT STB from a friend etc to see if it works before buying one.

I would very much doubt that a loop aerial would work even if stood six feet from the transmitter . I just would not expect it to be that sensative or be able to pick up enough signal. Even on analogue in a good reception area I find the loop aerials poor.
Any indoor aerial will pick up less of a signal than an external one due to the fact that the walls will reduce the signal strength. Add to that the fact that they are always smaller and you can see why they would not work as well as an external one. I would suggest that any indoor aerial is bought with the agreement that you can return it if it does not work.

Mark.