All posts by MikeB
Below are all of MikeB's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Mr Mark Sandeman : Its a classic case of where the little things trip us up - good news its sorted, and worth thinking about for other people who have a similar problem.
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freddy: Have you come in a tardis from about 1934? I very much doubt that the British viewing public is likely to share your views.
Its also difficult to imagine an aerial the size of a planet, unless such planets would be the home of the G'Gugvuntts or Vl'hurgs (that ones for brianist..).
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Alan Green: If your signal level was on 99 at that time in the morning, it could well be that during the rest of the day (for whatever reason), its breaking up because its too powerful. I entirely agree with JB38, start with the basics, because by the time everything has been fiddled with, a seemingly simple problem can become a complex one!
There are no 'correct' attenuators. I bought a number of different ones, from about 6 upwards. Another flylead connects the output of one to the TV. etc. Try the weakest one first. If it brings the signal strength down a bit and there are no further problems, then great. If it doesn't, try the next one and so on. If you need a stronger attentuator, you can put them in series, so a 3 and a 6 become 9, for instance.
Frankly, I dont think the problem is going to magically diappear - signal strength is not going to decrease in the future, and for about a fiver, you can at least eliminate one potential cause.
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Michael: The idea that 'apparently' the BBC puts in music etc to provide 'jobs for the boys' makes no sense. Not only are many BBC productions made by outside companies (so they are spending extra money because?), but other channels do exactly the same thing. Programme makers want their programme to be as effective as possible, and music is an important way of achieving this.
Peter Dolman: I think your right - the sort of effects and music would work well in a large space and good speakers perhaps dont work with small speakers, and the effect is often a jumbled mashup.
KMJ,Derby: A good question, and in fact they do, although you might need some extra kit. In fact I was demonstrating lots of soundbars and other systems at work yesterday, and was surprised at just how many outputs/inputs manufacturers do supply, considering that most people will never use them.
I suspect what you mean are classic analogue RCA left/right phono's to attach to any old stero system? RCA outputs vanished from TV's a couple of years back, but there is still an analogue output which you can use, the 3.5mm headphone jack.
Pretty much every TV should have one, and while they are no great shakes when it comes to quality, they are easy to connect, and the cables are as cheap as chips. The one I bought to connect my Ipod to RCA's was from Poundland. You can buy bluetooth adapters very cheaply as well, so you could even do without the wires. Even if you had a really cheap home cinema system that just uses a scart, you could use an adapter.
Unless you buy a really nasty TV (cheap stuff like Bush, Celcus, etc) they should have a digital optical output. They have been around for years, and if you've got a decent sound system from the 1980's onwards, there is a good chance you've got one in the back. A cable could cost as little as £3. Pretty much every soundbar on the planet seems to have a digital optical connection, and you can get TOSLINK convertors, to turn digital into analogue. They start on ebay at around £25.
I've suggested both these solutions to customers who have older audio systems, or CD midi systems that they can also use with their TV. However, much as you might want to use that old hifi system with its huge speakers, your wife might have other ideas! If you've just bought a lovely slim TV with very thin bezels, having a hulking great pair of speakers beside them is not going to look great. Even if I find a reasonably priced amp for the very decent 1970's Technic speakers in my loft, I have no idea where I would put them. Customers have spoken of their 'mancave', but I can only dream of such a place...
Home Cinema systems were all the rage about 6-7 years ago, but strangely lots of customers would use them for just that - playing films. They admitted that they seldom used the system for ordinary TV programmes. Now that they are now far less popular, soundbars have become the main product, whereas we would stock just three different models back then.
Of course we now listen to music differently as well. The only CD players we use are the one in the car, and the one my 10 year old got as a present some years back. However, my wife, myself and now my daughter all have Ipods, so dont use the CD player parts any more, just the speakers. And thats the trend generally. Soundbars all have bluetooth in them, and increasingly both people like Samsung and Sonos are offering much more portable speakers using wifi, etc, so your TV sound system becomes part of a household speaker network.
Its worth pointing out that the cost of a TV 10 years ago was far more than it is now. Even if you buy a soundbar with a new TV (and you can often get a deal of some sort from the manufacturer), you are probably paying less for both of those togeather than you did a decade or more ago, and the sound from even an entry 120w soundbar is still much better than the TV speakers of 20 years ago.
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jb38: Good point, I'd forgotten about that. Perhaps a better (shielded) flylead might help?
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ALAN GREEN: OK - you have a TV which is pretty much on max signal strength all the time. If you read the article, you'll see that you really want to be around 75-80%, so some attenuators would be a good idea!
However, JB38 also pointed out a case recently of someone who had interference caused, as it turned out, by his neighbours Virgin box. Since your in a block of flats, thats a distinct possibility. JB38 has already explained one way to find out if there is such interference, but its always a good idea to have an aerial lead that is fairly resistant to interference.
Basically, a decent cable has copper sheathing of some kind which helps cut out interference. Although you can pay a lot for such things (Tesco's used to do one for about £30!), this: Online Satellite/TV/FM/DAB Cable, Leads and Connectors sales. should be fine. £3 plus VAT and P&P is a bargain . You can buy something similar elsewhere, but a couple of them would be a good investment anyway. Ironically, if you have too high a signal, this might not help, since a better cable tends to give a slightly better signal, but for the cost of a couple of leads and some attenuators (perhaps £15 all in), you should be able to solve your problem.
Its not unusual for other people not to have a problem with their system. Their Tv tuners might be less sensitive, aerial leads not working as well, and equipment set out differently. All you can do is to eliminate each possible case, one at a time.
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ed: we need a postcode to find out what transmitter your using - but you could just look up your own postcode and see what the transmitters are doing. My bet is that your aerial system is duff.
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4g and television reception problems:
I'm trying not to be cynical, but this company does offer to sell you filters to help deal with this terrible curse, although it does at least point out that At800 will supply them too. Its list of symptoms seems to be be pretty wide, and could be due to a whole variety of problems.
In reality, the actual number of people who seem to have had a problem with 4G, judging from the questions on this site, seem to be be very small indeed. If people are having problems, its almost certainly due to their existing aerial system, too much signal strength, or something else unrelated to 4G.
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Saturday 1 November 2014 7:33PM
phil: OK - your TV has probably 3 HDMI's and a single scart, plus probable RGB's on the back (model?). The Humax will have a scart, RCA's and probably an HDMI (9200 series onwards - again a model?). The home cinema is more of an unknown (model would be a huge help), but if its from the past 5 years should have HDMI, and possible scart/RCA. There should also be a digital optical on the back of the TV, Humax and Home Cinema.
Start with the best connection first. HDMI 1 on the back of the TV to the Humax. Its the thing your using most. Next, if you've got an HDMI in the back of the Home Cinema, use that as well, in HDMI 2. You'll benefit from Viera link, so you can control the volume with the main remote, upscaling, and if the Home Cinema & TV have 3D/ARC on HDMI, then you just need to connect a 3D capable HDMI to both, and then you'll get great sound as well.
If its not ARC, then use an HDMI (for all the above stuff), but use a digital optical from the home cinema to the TV. It shouldn't need it, but it seems to work better. The sound from the Humax will come into the TV, and then out to the Home Cinema, and hopefully avoid any sync problems.
Model numbers would help narrow down the possibilities.