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Thread ID: 123485 2012-02-28 00:45:00 any Freeview experts able to answer some questions please? sooby (15023) Press F1
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1261883 2012-02-28 00:45:00 1/ Are UHF aerials affected by tall trees close by? We have a VHF aerial currently which gives fine reception, will UHF be the same?

2/ I heard a rumor that TV's with integrated Freeview tuners need to be left 'on' to be able to record from. I'm not sure if 'ON' means merely in standby mode of actually 'going'

3/ I have a DishTV PVR freeview tuner www.dishtv.co.nz will this be able to connect to a PC screen directly? Are there adapters that can turn S-video connections (or whatever they are called) into monitor input cables? Not fussed on pictures quality loss.

4/ We have an older model TV without inbuilt freeview tuner, when we go to record freeview channels to our dvd/hdd player, we need to 'book' them on our freeview decoder to make sure the channels change to the one we want to record. If we had a TV with an inbuilt freeview tune, would we still need to book them,or would it be the same as normal free to air channels are now (no booking)?

5/ I tried swapping our VHF aerial for a UHF aerial but the Hauppauge tuner didn't pick up any channels, assuming the tuner is at fault, is the rest of my setup OK, ie: is the splitter a problem? (Please see attached diagram, apologies for the small size)

images.trademe.co.nz

thanks for any info & suggestions 		sooby (15023)
1261884 2012-02-28 01:01:00 1) where are you in the country, check here if you can get freeview HD
www.freeviewnz.tv 		Morgenmuffel (187)
1261885 2012-02-28 01:12:00 cheers MM,

we are in taupo & get both satellite & terrestrial service.

I want it to be like recording regular tv is now ie: schedule dvd recorder for different shows on at different times (like 10-11am TV1, 12-1pm TV3, 3-4pm C4, 5-5:30 prime etc) without having to 'book' them individually on the tuner - just the recorder. 		sooby (15023)
1261886 2012-02-28 01:27:00 Check the link Morgen posted and bear in mind the UHF signal may not be in the same location as the VHF and that UHF aerials ar more directional and therefore need to point pretty much exactly the right way. Also check the polarisation, most are horizontal but in some areas you may need to rotate the aerial 90 degrees.
As to your questions
1/To a degree yes, depends how many trees. A bit of light foliage isn't a problem, large tall trees or hills are

2/Only if you are using the TV to do the tuning, much like using your external tuner now. If using your PVR then the TV can be off.

3/Maybe, the easiest option would be a 1080P monitor with an HDMI input and it's own speakers. Many PC screens have this, a lot don't.

4/ really depends on how you set it up, as the dvd/hdd player doesn't have it's own tuner something has to feed it a signal. Either the TV or your existing tuner. TV's generally don't have a booking feature and may not have an output you can use for recording either. You may want to consider replacing the dvd player with something freeview capable to save an overly complicated setup.

5/ Your diagrams look fine 		dugimodo (138)
1261887 2012-02-28 01:46:00 You inspired me to draw a picture of my setup for comparison so here it is.
img851.imageshack.us

I just use the TiVo for all my tuning and recording needs and I don't have the TV connected to the aerial at all but it would be easy enough to split the connection if I wanted to. Basically I just use my TV as a giant monitor. 		dugimodo (138)
1261888 2012-02-28 01:49:00 thanks dugimodo!

hrmm, may have to sharpen the axe - trees are quite thick & going off the direction of a neightbour's UHF they are exactly in the wrong place for reception! Either that or move the aerial.

Thanks for the definitive answer to Q2, that was bugging me a lot.

I'm not fussed on 1080P monitor, I just want to connect to a 21" PC screen in my office as a make shift secondary TV, when she who must be obeyed is using our actual TV.

You say in Q4 that TV's generally don't have a booking feature and may not have an output you can use for recording either. Does this mean a TV with freeview inbuilt tuner would not provide outputs to dvd recorder, to enable recording all freeview channels as we do now with regular analog channels? The wife raised a good point about when we go away for a few days & set up dvd recorder to record the shows we want, we don't want to have to book them too, if it can be avoided (if this makes sense) 		sooby (15023)
1261889 2012-02-28 01:53:00 You inspired me to draw a picture of my setup for comparison so here it is.
img851.imageshack.us

I just use the TiVo for all my tuning and recording needs and I don't have the TV connected to the aerial at all but it would be easy enough to split the connection if I wanted to. Basically I just use my TV as a giant monitor.

thanks for that - makes a lot of sense! 		sooby (15023)
1261890 2012-02-28 02:00:00 With VHF (ie, analogue) it is essential to have a proper antenna, otherwise you get multipath reception, or ghosting.

With UHF (digital), the only purpose of the antenna is to provide enough signal. Multipath is not a problem. Quite often a VHF antenna will work OK, if you are in a good reception area 		BBCmicro (15761)
1261891 2012-02-28 02:05:00 Get an external FAT32 HDD and connect it to your dishTV and use that to record TV (it has a PVR function I believe) - I'm told it works quite well. You could test it with a flash drive first to see how good it is (actually a large flash drive might even be good enough). Depending on how much you record it wouldn't need to be that big, my TiVO has a 320G drive and it has never come close to being full.

Using the PC as a TV is best with the hauppauge tuner you mentioned, it will allow the picture to scale to any resolution whereas the the external tuner will only work at predefined resolutions, SVideo may be an option but I've never seen an adapter.

As for the TV outputs, you'd have to check the features of the model you have or are considering getting to see, I don't believe mine has a video out but I may be wrong, I'm not at home right now to check).

The best option for recording Freeview HD is a HDD based PVR which your DishTV may be able to become by adding a HDD or alternatively the Tivo is a good option ($200-$200 depending on specials, but requires wireless or ethernet internet access to get the guide working). There are plenty around. 		dugimodo (138)
1261892 2012-02-28 02:09:00 thanks everyone for your help - I appreciate it.

You've given me plenty to think about! 		sooby (15023)
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