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| Thread ID: 91093 | 2008-06-26 02:11:00 | UHF signal booster and Freeview | Nermal (7077) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 682479 | 2008-06-26 02:11:00 | A question or three for you TV experts :) I currently have Freeview HD, but of course Prime is still analogue. The picture is a bit fuzzy for my taste so I'd like to improve it. I've heard that you can get "signal boosters" for UHF, that supposedly improve the signal and make the picture clearer. 1: Do they work? :) 2: Would this affect my Freeview reception at all? With any luck it'd make the digital signal stronger (I currently get the odd dropped frame), but on the other hand the booster may be completely incompatible with digital and actually make it worse. What's the story here? 3: Is there a better solution to this problem? Thanks |
Nermal (7077) | ||
| 682480 | 2008-06-26 02:58:00 | What you are talking about is a signal amplifier. They don't make a weak signal any better. What they are used for is to amplifier the already good signal if you want to run say 4 TVs off the same aerial/TV dish. :) |
Trev (427) | ||
| 682481 | 2008-06-26 03:05:00 | I'm using an amplified, internal UHF aerial (with the amplification turned all the way up), and it works fine. It may be worth a try. | somebody (208) | ||
| 682482 | 2008-06-26 03:07:00 | What you are talking about is a signal amplifier. They don't make a weak signal any better. What they are used for is to amplifier the already good signal if you want to run say 4 TVs off the same aerial/TV dish. :) Hmm, would it help with loss within my cabling? If I connect my TV directly to the cable that comes down from the aerial, then I get a much better picture than I do in the bedroom (which is where I'm trying to watch Prime). Would an amplifier help with this? I'm using an amplified, internal UHF aerial (with the amplification turned all the way up), and it works fine. It may be worth a try. I don't think an internal aerial will be worth trying; it's about 120 km to the transmitter from here, so if my 91-element rooftop aerial is having trouble then I shudder to think how an internal one will cope! |
Nermal (7077) | ||
| 682483 | 2008-06-26 03:42:00 | If you have joins or connectors in your cable, I would check them out first, maybe they are faulty. :) |
Trev (427) | ||
| 682484 | 2008-06-26 04:13:00 | There are only a couple of connectors and they're all new (purchased last week). Here's a simple diagram: Aerial -----<>-----|----- TV <> represents where the two internal cables connect together. If I plug in the TV here, then the picture is relatively clear. | is the wall socket in the bedroom. --- are the cables, hopefully you figured that out :) |
Nermal (7077) | ||
| 682485 | 2008-06-26 04:16:00 | You made up the connections? (Joiners) Or were they done professionally? If you did them, pull them apart and do it again, sometimes one strand of Coax in the wrong place messes everything up. |
wratterus (105) | ||
| 682486 | 2008-06-26 04:44:00 | I have my brother visiting at the moment, and he wired it all up for me (he's good at that sort of thing). We've double-checked all of the connections already. He was briefly working for a TV installer, but that was pre-Freeview so his experience is with the much closer transmitter on Mt Edgecumbe (which has no Freeview on it) so weak incoming signals weren't an issue. The cable from the wall socket to the TV is a pre-made one from Noel Leeming, as he had the same thoughts: A professional cable won't (or at least shouldn't!) have strands in the wrong places. |
Nermal (7077) | ||
| 682487 | 2008-06-26 20:48:00 | I'd like to draw attention to my second question now. Will a signal amplifier affect Freeview at all? | Nermal (7077) | ||
| 682488 | 2008-06-26 22:18:00 | If you are running more than one TV off the same aerial yes it might make it better. You would possibly need one of these. www.dse.co.nz Beaware I used the word might. So its up to you whether you buy something like this or not. :) |
Trev (427) | ||
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