Is it possible to connect two Freeview boxes to the same aerial?
Brian Butterworth published on UK Free TV Yes, you can connect as many as you like.
All questions
In this section
Monday, 11 November 2013
M
MikeB4:04 PM
Kath: If you have the model number of the TV, and your recorder, that would be very helpful. However, the first thing to do is to check if the DVD Player/Recorder has a freeview box built into it. It will generally say it on the front - either 'digital' or 'Freeview', etc. Check the manual as well.
If it does have one, you dont need any extra boxes - you simply connect the recorder to the TV with an hdmi lead (or scart if it does not have one), and connect up the aerial lead to go from the wall socket to the recorder, and then another aerial lead to the tv. This should be in the manual. Basically, your TV and recorder both have a freview box, and can both watch digital programmes.
If the box does not have freeview installed, you will need an extra box. This will generally mean its a relatively old machine, and since its a bit of a faff, you might want to look at whether its worth doing so. Most people have upgraded to a hard drive recorder (such as a Humax), since it allows a lot more to be recorded, you can do two channels at once, and you'll probably get one with HD. The new Humax 2000 is about to come out, and will be about £180.
Ok - you want to use the existing recorder with a cheap/old digibox. You connect up the box in the normal way, but if you look at the manual, you can connect the recording box to the digibox via scart (in effect, the recorder has its own set-top box, which gets the digital signals, before making them analogue for the old recorder). Then connect the recorder in the way you normally would to the TV.
The problem with doing this is of course that you have to have correct channel on the digibox at the right time, etc - which is why so many people have just got another recorder...
| link to this comment |
K
Kath4:50 PM
Hi
Thank you for getting back to me,my TV is a Toshiba 40BV700B.My recorder is a LITEON HDA740GX and it does have a hard drive but i don't think it has freeview.
Thank You
| link to this comment |
M
MikeB5:52 PM
Kath: Alas, the Liteon does not have Freeview - its up to you as to go for the 'extra digibox' route, or the 'buy a new hard drive'.
A customer did come in the other day and said that she used a video with a digibox, and it did work, so its doable.
The new Humax is out : Humax HDR-2000T Freeview + HD Digital TV recorder - HUMAX UK Direct Sales Website (we should get them in store this week, they are already on the web), and there are of course other brands as well. the Goodmans digibox is (from personal experience) ok if you get a good clear signal, but a pain if you have to manually tune.
| link to this comment |
K
Kath6:04 PM
Thank you
i think i may have to go for a new recorder at some point
| link to this comment |
J
jb389:13 PM
Kath : Although as MikeB has said your best bet would be to purchase a twin tuner Freeview PVR such as the Humax suggested by same, it is however possible to make recordings from your TV's scart 2 socket if connected into the Liteon as AV2 has an output facility.
That said, you are obviously limited to recording the programme you are viewing, and if the TV is placed into standby the output facility is liable to fail as it all depends on the internal circuitry associated with the socket.
| link to this comment |
Thursday, 21 November 2013
C
Chris1:43 PM
We've recently swapped from our Humax HDRFoxT2 (freeview + HD)... to a BTVision box, we've noticed that BTVision doesn't currently cater for BBCHD, ITV HD etc, rather then cancel our subscriptions etc, would it be possible to have BOTH tuned in to our ariel and our tv, so we can switch between the two at our leisure if and when we'd like to view a HD freeview channel on the Humax or even access the recorded material in the box.
Our tv only holds 2 HDMI cable ports, one is taken up by a games console and the other is used by the BTVision/Humax box, would it be possible to get a splitter, that would allow is to use 3 HDMI ports? so we wouldn't have to keep swapping ports and cables over if/when we want to switch between the Humax/BTVision/ Xbox
Thanks, Chris
| link to this comment |
M
MikeB9:19 PM
Chris: A quick question first - when you mean 'BT box', do you mean the older ones, or do you mean a You View' box? If its the latter, its basically a Humax T2 with some software differences, a slightly different casing, and one or twoo ther changes - and it of course does have HD tuners. So I'd just use one or the other. If its the older ones, then carry on!
Yes, you can use a switched splitter (although they dont always work that well), and just arrange it so that the two least used devices are on the switched input - so I suspect the Humax would be on HDMI 1, and the console/BT box on the other (the BT box doesn't have HD, so I assume you'd use that less). The aerial can be split 2 ways (and then daisy chained), three ways, or daisy-chained through both boxes to the tv - whichever works.
Something like this might do - HDMI Switches
| link to this comment |
Wednesday, 24 June 2015
C
Carol9:46 PM
I have a very large and heavy old TV which I watch using a freeview box. It also allows me to record programmes. I am now in a position to replace with a new flatscreen with built-in freeview. However, I don't want to lose all my recordings. Will I be able to connect my existing freeview box to the new TV? Thanks
| link to this comment |
M
MikeB11:14 PM
Carol: It would be nice to have the make and model of the 'freeview box', but I suspect that its a PVR with a freeview tuner, so at least you can record, and possibly watch another channel at the same time (depending on the type). Thats fine - your lumpy TV (like mine) is now basically a large screen with boxes attached to allow you to watch things. And you can simply disconnect that box and attach it to a new one, and play your recordings, although look at the box and see what connections its has .
As far as replacing your TV, if you know the size, then I can estimate the size of the new one to replace it (remember that a modern TV is very flat, whereas a CRT TV is very deep, so the screen will go back a fair way, which will add to the viewing distance. I wrote some of the basics of buying a new TV here: Freeview reception - all about aerials on the 13th June.
| link to this comment |
Tuesday, 11 August 2015
S
sylvia crawley2:31 PM
Hello,I bought a humax 1800t and connected it to my Hitachi flat screen TV and tuned the humax in. All was well until I turned the TV and the humax free view box on standby and turned the TV and Segam free view box on in the kitchen. When I went back to turn the TV and the humax on in the lounge the humax had frozen and wouldn't work until I unplugged at the wall. It's the first time this has happened and I had no problem with the last free view box which was a Hitachi. Do you think it is an areal problem. Cheers for any advice.
Regards from Sylvie Crawley
| link to this comment |
Select more comments
Your comment please