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Brian Butterworth published on UK Free TV For the last six years, I have answered many thousands of personal emails that you have sent to UK Free TV.
Sadly, I am unable to offer this personal service at the moment.
Until I can restore this service, please can you leave any questions you have on an appropriate page, where they will be answered as soon as possible, or below, if you can't figure out where to ask.
I look forward to your questions!
Help with TV/radio stations?
In this section
Sunday, 14 July 2013
J
jb383:39 PM
Steve R: You should carry out a signal check on one of your boxes as what you have reported is inclined to suggest that your dish is slightly out of alignment, as the strength / quality being indicated on the test should be around 50% minimum level but preferably with the quality being slightly higher than the strength.
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J
jb383:57 PM
Steve R: By the way, I should also have added that its best to try this test when all is OK and making a note of the indications seen, then try the same test again when the problems arise and compare the result with the one previously taken.
Error 25 (or 29) is just really the code for no signal, albeit that it hasn't really disappeared but has dropped under the level necessary for decoding of the signal.
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S
Steve R4:06 PM
Thanks JB. I will follow your suggestions and then find the stepladder. Thanks again for your amazingly quick response.
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J
jb385:24 PM
Steve R: No problem, but when you get around to checking your dish, should of course this prove to be necessary, then if the quality is seen to be lagging the strength the problem is usually in the right / left hand horizontal plane rather than in the vertical, this proven if the signal quality is seen to improve by lightly pressing on either the left or right hand side of the dish whilst someone is viewing the signal check screen.
Another method some people use when adjusting a dish in difficult circumstances is with the aid of a length of coax temporarily connect an old analogue TV into a Sky boxes RF1 output socket and tune (scan) the analogue TV to pick up the boxes modulator output channel, then use this to relay the signal strength / quality being indicated on the boxes check screen.
A bit more long winded, but a far more accurate way of doing things by taking away the element of hit and miss.
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K
keith8:49 PM
Poulton-le-fylde
hi can freeview do 3d channel,i was think of buy a 3d tv nex year
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keith's: mapK's Freeview map terrainK's terrain plot wavesK's frequency data K's Freeview Detailed Coverage
F
Floyd9:08 PM
Luton
jb38. Thanks again for your help. But I am baffled about what is happening now. Today I disconnected the flylead, turned off the TV at the socket and retuned all the channels. After that I reconnected the flylead and retuned again. I got all the channels and when I checked the signal strength, it showed about 80% signal level and also on all the channels it showed medium quality strength. In the past whenever it showed medium I always got a good picture without any pixilation. The only time I got no picture in the past when it showed poor quality. But now, even showing medium quality I get only pixilation and no picture at all on any of the channels. What is going on here? Shouldn't I get a picture when it shows MEDIUM quality signal strength as before???
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Floyd's: mapF's Freeview map terrainF's terrain plot wavesF's frequency data F's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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MikeB9:35 PM
keith: The BBC is now stopping the very limited amount of 3D programming it did show, so unless you have a full Sky package, 3D programmes are not a reason to buy a TV.
However, as I keep telling my customers, 3D TV's are a very good buy, but its nothing to do with 3D.
A decent 40/42 inch main room TV can be had from one one of the four big manufacturers for £499 - Buy LG 42LN575V LED HD 1080p Smart TV, 42" with Freeview HD online at John Lewis - this will have 100hz screen (OK - how thats calculated is open to discussion, but its still a good spec), it will be smart, it will have wifi built in, and 3 HDMI's (the Sony has 2). The Samsung 5500 is the same price (although not best in class any longer, I think the LG is slightly better, but its just my opinion), while the very good Panasonic E6 is £579, as is the Sony W635. Its interesting to note that LG makes the panels for Panasonic and Sony as well. I'm happy recommending any of them.
The 100hz is important - the higher that number, the better the picture (its called the refresh rate, and a screen will always be at least 50hz). Have a look in a TV showroom - an 800hz screen will look fantastic - but will be around £1400 in a 40/42in.
The basic difference in the price is largely made up by the quality of the panel. If you look at 100hz screen when there is a lot of movement, or when the credits come at the end of a film, it will 'smear' slightly - the screen can't render the picture quite fast enough - you might not notice it, but I do!
A 200hz screen will cope much better, a 400hz much much better still, and 800hz will be perfect (plasma is calculated in a different way). Get the best you can for your money - I assume you'll be having the TV for a while, so the extra cost of the better panel is money well spent - its pretty much the only thing you can't improve on a modern TV once you've bought it.
The thing is that an LG 42in TV with a 200hz screen (the 620) is only £100 more than the 2D TV - so excellent value - its also 3D. The 200hz is the important bit, 3D is just there for free. Since they don't make 100hz screens with 3D, 3D signifies a better picture. Thats the reason to buy a 3D TV.
The sermon now endeth... (PE12QN)
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Monday, 15 July 2013
J
jb388:16 AM
Floyd: With regards to you latter question, in theory yes! but though you have to appreciate the indications being seen on your Acoustic Solutions TV are not by any means accurate when compared to that indicated if measured using a proper signal strength meter, and so the only way of pinning your problem is by having a on-site investigation carried out by an experienced engineer armed with suitable measuring equipment, this in my opinion NOT being the person who was previously involved.
However, as this action would obviously involve a charge plus other hassle's (finding an "engineer") this whole issue could really be sorted out by yourself dependant on whether or not you are on friendly terms with your neighbours, this to the extent that any of them "who have previously reported good reception on your problem channels" would be good enough to allow you to retune your Acoustic Solutions TV on their aerial connection, although if you managed to arrange this then in the interests of accuracy it should only really be carried out whilst your reception is down, but if your TV proved as being OK on your neighbours aerial system but NOT when reinstalled back on your own apartment then its rather obvious where the problem is, i.e: the input feed from the communal aerial system.
That said, on checking back as early as June 2012 I noticed that you were having reception problems of a similar nature involving a brand new Goodman's GDR11, and so this coupled to the fact that parts of your area are known to experience poor reception from Sandy, hence why the local relay was provided, then I still have thoughts along the lines that this fact is the real reason for your problem.
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Wednesday, 17 July 2013
C
Chris Roberts4:52 PM
My brother has recently bought a new freeview tv, and he had all the channels.
He has a communual aerial and from last week he can only receive 25 channels.
The building has at the moment got scaffolding, do you think that this could be blocking the signal?
I have checked his indoor aerial connections and they are ok.
Please can you help?
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Chris Roberts: Potentially. Does the scaffolding appear to be blocking the line of sight of the aerial? Or is the aerial protruding high on the roof where the scaffolding isn't likely to affect?
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