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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
Tuesday, 1 October 2013
M
MikeB8:18 PM
Michael Dalton:
If you have Sky plus, then a simple swapout for a Freesat box will allow you to record, but Freeview is available on far more recorders, and its standard to use the TV's internal tuner to watch, while recording on the two tuners in the PVR.
Please get a recorder, rather than just relying on Iplayer, etc. Not everything is available on streaming services (and if it is, then often only for a week), its dependent on your broadband speed, and a capped download package might give you very little left over after watching a couple of programmes.
Steve P has suggested some options, but there are others which are probably easier and/or cheaper.
The first is to buy a PVR with Iplayer, etc. The Humax T2 is currently about £180 on the High Street, and has that. You can make it wifi for about £29 (Powerline, etc can also be used). The Youview box has all 4 channels on demand, but is not wifi capable at present. About £225 on the High Street.
The next option is to buy a cheap Blu-Ray player thats come out in 2012/3 - £59.95 for the basic Samsung 5100. No wifi (and not capable) and 2D, Samsung has all 4 channels on demand. Such players are all smart, and is the cheapest way to make your TV smart as well. Panasonic, Sony & LG will just have Iplayer at present, but otherwise very similar. Expect to pay about £99 for a wifi model.
Panasonic and Samsung also do machines which are both Blu-Ray players and recorders - so smart as well - about £299.
Steve did suggest the PC/tablet option - you can plug one in via an HDMI, or stream via Apple TV/Roku. Plugging it in is a bit of a pain, but is at least very cheap.
What is the make/model of your TV? It might have some of the functions already.
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Thursday, 3 October 2013
MikeP
8:42 PM
8:42 PM
To Briantist, et all
Ofcom have announced a consultation about further changes in the use of the UHF spectrum, including yet more changes for Freeview transmission and reception with one idea being to utilise part of the 600 Mhz spectrum as well as some in the 700 MHz range. See Ofcom sets out next DECADE of spectrum policy: Use it or lose it The Register and look at Ofcom's own site at Ofcom | Consultations
Worth looking at the consultation and maybe making comments.
I suspect the viewing public are in for far more retuning than is reasonable and far more co-channel and adjacent channel interference in future as more and more transmitters end up having to use a much reduced range of frequencies. So more loss of reception, more tuning, more complaints and more questions for contributors here.
I, for one, will be keeping an eye on what is proposed and will examine the consultation with a view to giving a response from someone who spent 50 years in the TV manufacturing and servicing industries. I'm not keen on what is being reported but I never trust news media to get it right.
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Friday, 4 October 2013
S
saul3:34 PM
Hi, I just moved in to swindon and I bought a new TV, I can't see any channel from D3 + 4, the other channels are working well, with good signal strength. We have an aerial which looks very good for 6 flats. I still don't know my neighbors but as far as I know they have not reported anything (maybe they use cable) where do you think is the problem? aerial?, tv? Thank you
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MikeB4:01 PM
saul: we need a postcode to help answer your question, and an outline of where the aerial is, and the tv you have
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saul4:44 PM
Swindon
Hi Mike, postcode sn1 5JS. the aerial is on the roof, two floors building,TV
Technika 40-270 40" Widescreen Full HD 1080p LCD TV with Freeview Thank you
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saul's: ...
Sunday, 6 October 2013
W
Wendy12:11 PM
Worcester
Hi, we have a Sony DVD recorder through which we put the aerial and from there to the TV. Our aerial is on a pole above the roof but I don't know which transmitter it points to. We are in WR4 0PG, on the northern edge of Worcester. We have been having a problem with the signal from ITV, C4 programs which occurs when the recorder is switched on - it wipes out many of the commercial channels both from the recorder and the tv which show 'no signal'. As soon as we turn the recorder off it comes back but tends to pixilate sometimes. Today it is also affecting BBC and others. We tried a hard re-set on the advice of Sony; this worked for a few days but the problems have come back. My husband is convinced it is the recorder but I'm wondering if it could be signal problems which can't cope when both machines are switched on and sharing the signal. Any suggestions will be gratefully received.
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Wendy's: mapW's Freeview map terrainW's terrain plot wavesW's frequency data W's Freeview Detailed Coverage
M
MikeB7:24 PM
Wendy: Its a bit of an odd problem, since it might be a couple of things.
To start with - is the TV HD Ready or with its own tuner? And if it does have one, are you connecting the TV to the aerial via the Sony, and also via a scart/hdmi? The reason for asking this is obviously if your using the Sony as a sort of digibox, then you've just got one tuner.
OK, your signal should be fine, and you can check the transmitter by going into the System Menu, then digital tuner (I have a sony recorder, so I know the routine!) - it will tell you the strength/quality of the signal, and the RF channel you are on (Sutton Coldfield will be on 43, for instance). It could be your signal strength is too low, but with the Sony being sensitive, above 93% it starts to break up.
My personal suggestion is to isolate the problem - get a good quality splitter and decent cable (ATV are doing both for about £3 each Online Satellite/TV/FM/DAB Cable, Leads and Connectors sales. . The reason for this is you can split the signal from the wall socket, so that one goes to the TV directly, with its own tuner, and the Sony also gets its own, which is then connected to the TV via scart/hdmi. You can then see where the problem lies. This is the setup I have, because its helps problem solving a bit easier.
If you can say the make/model of TV, and how its connected up, and of course the transmitter being used and signal strength, that will all be helpful.
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Monday, 7 October 2013
S
sally lamb 5:13 PM
Can anybody help i have a tomson top up recorder box no channels at all everything i have recorded plays look on the internal help menu its blank on the transmitter but the freeview tv works with the areil is my box broke
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MikeB7:00 PM
sally lamb : Sally, check that the aerial is plugged into the back of the box, because it sound like you've lost the connection. If you've connected the TV from the box via another cable (which is what the instructions normally say), then your TV should not be working at all. Since it is, could you say how the TV and box are connected up - in what order, and what cables.
But start with the simple thing - check the aerial leads, and make sure that they are in properly.
PS - a postcode would really help, in case the box is responding to the signal in a different way to the TV - with a postcode, we can see what transmitter you are using.
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Tuesday, 8 October 2013
S
saul3:27 PM
Swindon
Hi, any further advice for my problem? I can't see any channel from D3 + 4 (itv, channel 4...), the other channels are working well.
postcode sn1 5JS. the aerial is on the roof, two floors building,TV
Technika 40-270 40" Widescreen Full HD 1080p LCD TV with Freeview.
Any other reported issue on this area? Thank you
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saul's: ...
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