Any TV aerial experts here?
24 November 2006, 01:13 PM
#1
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Any TV aerial experts here?
Want some advice on whether I need to upgrade my TV aerial or not. Its a standard analogue aerial mounted in the loft of the house and would imagine its the original one from when the house was built say 15-20 years ago.
We live at the bottom of two hills basically so a large dip. The analogue reception on a 28" crt is absolutely fine, in fact I would say it looks great. The digital reception on Freeview is pretty good with only an occasional freeze on the reception which may last a second or two but apart from that the picture is very good quality.
I recently bought a 32" HDTV and got it home after great reviews for it only to find the picture on both analogue and digital were appalling, very pixelated sitting at about 8' away.
Now I thought it was just the TV being over hyped and cr4p so took it back. However people have suggested the huge amount of pixellation could be down to me needing a stonger and better signal through my aerial and that the internal one in the loft wont be that great and should be replaced with an external one on the roof.
Does that sound right even though the reception on a crt seems absolutely perfect? Does an HDTV LCD really need a stronger signal to get a good picture? Surely with digitial it is either there or it isn't and there is no grade of quality with it, you either have digital reception or you don't?
I phoned an aerial fitter and asked them and obviously they said it was right and that I need a digital aerial because they want the business. Getting a free quote from them anyway but I don't think its going to make any difference to the quality of the picture on the HDTV if I were to get another one?
We live at the bottom of two hills basically so a large dip. The analogue reception on a 28" crt is absolutely fine, in fact I would say it looks great. The digital reception on Freeview is pretty good with only an occasional freeze on the reception which may last a second or two but apart from that the picture is very good quality.
I recently bought a 32" HDTV and got it home after great reviews for it only to find the picture on both analogue and digital were appalling, very pixelated sitting at about 8' away.
Now I thought it was just the TV being over hyped and cr4p so took it back. However people have suggested the huge amount of pixellation could be down to me needing a stonger and better signal through my aerial and that the internal one in the loft wont be that great and should be replaced with an external one on the roof.
Does that sound right even though the reception on a crt seems absolutely perfect? Does an HDTV LCD really need a stronger signal to get a good picture? Surely with digitial it is either there or it isn't and there is no grade of quality with it, you either have digital reception or you don't?
I phoned an aerial fitter and asked them and obviously they said it was right and that I need a digital aerial because they want the business. Getting a free quote from them anyway but I don't think its going to make any difference to the quality of the picture on the HDTV if I were to get another one?
24 November 2006, 01:18 PM
#2
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I had exactly this problem myself, Bob. To cut a very long story short, get a bloke with a meter round to check the signal. If it's withing the acceptable "window" then there will be nothing more he can do, including a new or re-positioned aerial. You'll then be another victim of the "progress" in television technology - great isn't it? The only way around it, my guy suggested, was to sign up for Sky+ for HDTV transmissions, then your television will come into its own. I've not done that myself as i don't watch enough to warrant it, but that might be different for you. HTH.
24 November 2006, 01:26 PM
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Cheers Tel, the free quote is this afternoon and the guy will be doing a full check with signal equipment etc so hopefully I will get to the bottom of this. Likewise with Sky, I don't even have that let alone the extra for the HD box and monthly subscription. I wont be buying another HDTV unless it turns out the signal is infact cr4p.
24 November 2006, 01:44 PM
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Having recently bought my first LCD TV I can categorically say I would not buy an LCD or Plasma TV if it is to be fed from an outside ariel. Sky or cable only IMHO as they are faaaaaaaaaar too sensitive to the signal quality. Even with the Telewest through an HDMI connection I've had to fanny around a fair bit with the outputs and the TV settings to ensure that the picture is acceptable for SD broadcasts. HD is excellent and SD is now excellent 85% of the time but its also pretty woeful the rest of the time.
There was some truth in what Pslewis has been saying over the last few weeks although I believe its his loss that he didn't buy a flat TV and set it up correctly as on most channels and programmes you'd chose to watch the quality is exceptional. They also seem to increase the quality for certain programmes. For example channel 5 might pump out a medicore signal all day and then a film comes on in the evening and it DVD quality
There was some truth in what Pslewis has been saying over the last few weeks although I believe its his loss that he didn't buy a flat TV and set it up correctly as on most channels and programmes you'd chose to watch the quality is exceptional. They also seem to increase the quality for certain programmes. For example channel 5 might pump out a medicore signal all day and then a film comes on in the evening and it DVD quality
24 November 2006, 01:49 PM
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Originally Posted by Saxo Boy
They also seem to increase the quality for certain programmes. For example channel 5 might pump out a medicore signal all day and then a film comes on in the evening and it DVD quality
I found the Simpsons on Freeview was excellent quality, but then could turn over to the news on BBC and the pixellation was horrendous, switch back to Simpsons and crystal clear again. Unfortunately it was about 95% bad and only 5% good most of the time. Again this was said to be pointing to bad aerial reception as at times it did look good.
24 November 2006, 03:30 PM
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Originally Posted by **************
I found this on the set I had for a couple of days (before returning it).
I found the Simpsons on Freeview was excellent quality, but then could turn over to the news on BBC and the pixellation was horrendous, switch back to Simpsons and crystal clear again. Unfortunately it was about 95% bad and only 5% good most of the time. Again this was said to be pointing to bad aerial reception as at times it did look good.
I found the Simpsons on Freeview was excellent quality, but then could turn over to the news on BBC and the pixellation was horrendous, switch back to Simpsons and crystal clear again. Unfortunately it was about 95% bad and only 5% good most of the time. Again this was said to be pointing to bad aerial reception as at times it did look good.
Used to notice this all the time on cable, even on a normal TV, albeit a high quality Sony CRT.
As far as your aerial is concerned, chances are if you are getting a picture from your set top box without to much break up or freezing, then it's good enough. The error correction coding used for digital TV works very well right up to a certain point with the signal quality. If the signal quality falls below that threshold then it will significantly degrade the picture and usually manifests itself by break up and freezing.
That said a good quality, roof mounted aerial is worth having for reliable digital reception. Chances are you 20 year old antenna doesn't have the bandwidth required for digital TV either so you may be missing some freeview channels.
The picture quality on Freeview itself isn't great. Bandwidth has been sacrificed to allow more channels to be broadcast, hence many channels with low bit rates as opposed to several good channels with high bit rates. Things should improve after 2012 when the analogue signal is scheduled to be switched off, the freed up bandwidth should then be available to dedicate to higher quality broadcast. That said commercial pressures will probably mean that we'll just end up with another 20 shopping / quiz channels
For a high quality, broadcast signal source, for HD LCD/Plasma panels Telewest/NTL HD or Sky HD are the only real options at the moment. It is unlikely that the Freeview system will ever have the bandwidth to support HD.
HD TVs are worth having though, especially if you have an XBox 360 or you're going to be an early adopter of Blu-Ray or HD-DVD. Personally I'm waiting for a few more 1080p screens to become available and possibly some of the emerging display technologies to come to the fore before taking the plunge.
24 November 2006, 03:37 PM
#7
I agree with saxo boy i have just had sky + hd installed this week after shelling out on a sony bravia lcd and the picture is unbeliaveble in hd and very good in digital when it is routed via arial the quality drop is noticeable.
However as the sky guy was telling me some people who buy either lcd or plasma tvs make two basic mistakes the first being the tv they buy is crap ie a 40" lcd made by "hong kung fooey" will never show a great picture no matter what and the second mistake is the tv is too large for the room as there is an optimum range for best viewing so your new 50" plasma may look the bollo@ks in a currys showroom but when you put in your 2 up 2 down you need to be sitting in the next door neighbours kitchen to actually view it correctly.
However as the sky guy was telling me some people who buy either lcd or plasma tvs make two basic mistakes the first being the tv they buy is crap ie a 40" lcd made by "hong kung fooey" will never show a great picture no matter what and the second mistake is the tv is too large for the room as there is an optimum range for best viewing so your new 50" plasma may look the bollo@ks in a currys showroom but when you put in your 2 up 2 down you need to be sitting in the next door neighbours kitchen to actually view it correctly.
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