OT; Freeview

[T i m]

My old aerial is just wedged in the loft under the slates and feeds Freeview round the house via an old (20 years) wideband distribution unit.

The only issue is some of the feeder is old so a passing (electrically) noisy vehicle causes complete picture breakup rather than just a few sparklies as in the analogue days.

I'm in Nth London so Crystal Palace.

I can even get some perfect Freeview pictures with a USB DTV tuner in the laptop with the little mushroom type aerial stood on the (downstairs even) window sill.

Cheers, T i m

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Tim Watts saying something like:

Then add the digi channels to the 'favourite' list for easy picking later.

[Tinkerer]

I think it must be. I am not a Virgin customer but I know people in this area are and the whole patch has never been upgraded to digital (found that out when enquiring about cable broadband - it's not available here because it is still just analogue). It is still as installed back in nineteen hundred and long and forgot. Originally by the Windsor Cable TV Co which got swallowed into Telewest which, in turn, eventually went into Virgin with NTL.

[stuart noble]

"The cable stuff" comes down the scart lead from the Virgin box on AV1 or AV2, as it presumably did on the old tv. Disconnect all the scart leads and see if you get any digital channels on the tv. They will be your Freeview channels.

[T i m]

When we considered 'upgrading' to digital (CableTel > NTL > VM here) the Mrs asked if we could still get all the 'other channels' on the other sets (not plugged into the cable box) and I think I can remember VM replying 'no'? (That's no proof it's the case though of course).

We stayed with analogue (but now it's disconnected in any case).

Cheers, T i m

[D.M.Chapman]

Not if it's fed through the coax (which MHM suggested it was)...

I'd connect it via scart, and just forget the freeview tbh :)

Of course, if it is still an analogue cable feed then it's a slightly different kettle of ballgames...

If Dave can give us the virginmedia box details (I'm assuming he has one, it's possible he just has the old coax) then we can sort the best options.

Darren

[Tinkerer]

Here is a link to the user guide for your TV. Go to page 17 - Plug and Play. It tells you how to tune in the channels.

[D.M.Chapman]

Discovered a while back that our loft aerial had fallen off and we just had a bit of coax. Similarly, the telly in the conservatory just has a couple of foot of coax.

Computer needs an aerial for reliable signal, but it's a 3 quid tesco value jobber that is currently on the floor under the desk :)

Being able to see the Dover transmitter out of the window on the hill helps no end ;-)

Darren

[Adrian C]

It's nuts. Can you imagine the fustration occasionally looking at noise when analogue gets turned off?

Samsumg tech support recommend using the (slow) EPG to find and change channel, rather than punching in numbers.

[stuart noble]

I tried that with a Panasonic and it wasn't happy with nothing in the aerial socket. It was easier to connect it and stop the autotune nagging.

[Peter]

I, guessing from this thread that the problem isn't your new tv but the fact that you have a virgin box between your aerial and your tv. Why dont you try unplugging from virgin, then directly plugging your roof aerial into the tv and menu searching for digital channels. Having said that I doubt you'll find much that virgin doesnt already give. However if this cures ther problem and virgin needs the aerial (does it?) then split the aerial before the virgin box sending one to virgin the other to the tv. (I have an older sky box and have to switch between analogue and digi on a tv in another room)

Peter

[Harry Bloomfield]

[Tim Watts]

It only goes to tuned in analogue channels. I *presume* once a rescan shows there are no analogue channels, it won't pull this stunt.

But I do prefer my big Samsung that requires you to explicitly select ATV or DTV and stays there!

[Tim Watts]

I assumed it's above ground. The postcode check should give the ASL of the ground and the default is 10m, which is a reasonable default for a 2 story house + aeriel on chimney.

[Harry Bloomfield]

It happens that The Natural Philosopher formulated :

We had some breakup, but it seemed it might have been local (our own) interference getting into the downlead. It has been much better since upgrading everything, but still not perfect.

[Adrian C]

I should say, that my above was a specific Samsung model, the LE32B450 "Series 4" (Not B550 - me wrong on that).

I hope so as well but fear not.

While installing it, it offers a choice of scanning for digital channels or analogue. In an attempt to wipe out memories of the analogue channels, I tried tuning just those with the aerial disconnected. The result is still an analogue channel position remains, and the 'snow' noise for an untuned channel is rather 'loud' on the eyes :-(

That instruction manual has to be the worst instruction manual I have ever come across for readability - beats Sony!

Fixed :)

BTW, Interesting on the Linux hacking bit.

[Andy Burns]

I think the problem is/was the lack of any aerial.

[Tim Watts]

Ironically, that was an earlier model. Suspect it was before linux - not checked. Seems the later linux firmwares were overseen by a monkey on LSD. My small Samsung is highly inconsistent - Now/Next channel list allows paging with the Prog+/Prog- keys, full channel listing doesn;t (WTF!). Quite often, in Now/Next listing, just when I'm about to press OK, it falls out of the list back to the TV and I have to start again.

[T i m]

I'm surprised you don't get Freeview on yer fillings as well then. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[The Medway Handyman]

Phoned Comet. Very helpful chap talked me through a few things to no avail, then promised to look it up & call back. He did in 10 mins.

Turned out you have a plug & play option for analogue and another for digital. Two identical menu's but in entirely different places. The book doesn't seem to mention this at all, the Comet guy just guessed it might be the case.

So - thank you all for your help - much appreciated.

Thanks to the Comet guy.

Prize for the worst instruction book I've come across goes to - Samsung!