All posts by MikeB
Below are all of MikeB's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Chris: If the sockets have sat 1 and sat 2,
does it look a bit like the ' Double F socket' on this page Wall Plates faceplatesscreened sockets - then you dont have a freeview aerial at all in theory.
Since one of them works, at least you've got something, but its by luck, not by someone putting one in! Ask the management why you dont have Freeview acces, etc is the first step.
If you want to carry on using the Sat2 connection, I think a number of us would like to know the signal strength/quality - just to prove that such a thing works!
If you want a proper aerial, then you could just go and get a portable one for a tenner (someone did mention to me that this Buy John Lewis Performance Amplified Indoor Aerial online at John Lewis worked pretty well, but since your just using a long bit of wire at the moment, I wouldn't be too worried).
If you want to use the F fitting properly, and they are actually attached to a dish, then a Freesat recorder is your best bet for a one off purchase - around £250 for the latest Humax. And there is always Sky..
Let us know how you get on, and what you find out from the building management - if only so you dont miss Match of the Day (there is always Iplayer, and if you've got a new blu-ray, or a tablet, you could stream it to the TV).
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jb38: I can confirm that the TV does have a T2 tuner. Frankly, I havn't seen a TV (at least 32in and above) from one of the big four makes (Samsung, Sony, Panasonic and LG) which does not have Freeview HD as standard for the last two years. The only ones without one will be at the very cheap end of the market.
And the F6800 is not at the cheap end - its a rather good mid-range TV with pretty much all the trimmings (and an interesting transparent frame), but its does seem that Samsung do have fat fingers with this range, since its not the first time that this questions been asked.
Since I've never done a first time setup on a Samsung, I'm not sure that my advice is much good, but I'd start by following JB38's suggestion of checking signal strength - your only 17km from the transmitter, so your signal should be excellent, at the very least. If your HD channels are breaking up, then that would make sense.
As far as the EPG being all mixed up, I 'd just start the setup again - I know that some makes allow you to display in different ways, and perhaps that option has been used during the setup. Start again from scratch is probably the easiest option. As far as 'no signal' - check all the connections, etc,
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Dave Lindsay: It seems that the You View boxes dont do manual tuning - for most people its not a big deal (simple setup, etc), but I agree that for a minority, its really useful, and hopefully they will either bring it back in any new model or upgrade via software.
The new Humax 2000 hopefully will - I'm waiting on the review, since its due in very soon...
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Ken Campbell: your 1km from your transmitter! Although the checker reckons your reception should be dodgy, I suspect you could get a signal with a bit of wet string.
If you can, check your signal strength , and ditch yyour booster(why did anyone think you'd need that?) if poss. If you search this site, type in 'too much of a good thing' and it will tell you all about it.
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jb38: Whats even stranger is that pretty much all the other ones on their site say 'Freeview HD tuner' - which would make life a lot easier for everyone!
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Ken Campbell: Have you actually checked the strength of your signal? Even though you are in a hollow, you are sooo close to the transmitter that an over strong signal might look like too weak a signal, at least at first sight.
If you want to test this, just take out the aerial lead from the wall, and leave it trailing from the back of the TV - it will act as a sort of mini aerial. Be interested to see the results.
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Ken Campbell: OK - could you say what your signal strength is with and without booster?
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Timothy: Unfortunately, you havn't included a postcode or a description of the type of the equipment you have, but its unusual to have that kind of problem now. David Lindsay & JB38 will know much more than me, but here goes:
There is a page that covers it here: Single frequency interference | Freeview Interference | ukfree.tv - 11 years of independent, free digital TV advice but its probably best to start off by using an aerial as high as possible (away from interference). Try not to use a portable aerial, since they are pretty rubbish anyway, and if you are getting such interference, you can help 'harden' against such problems by using good shielded cables. There is a section about this on ATV's website - Satellite, Television, FM, DAB, Aerial, Coaxial Cable, Plugs, Sockets, Connectors & Leads .
Buying some decent quality cables from them (and perhaps a shielded wall socket (you can get these from places like Screwfix as well) is a really cheap way of making your signal better anyway, and might cure the problem.
If you do want one, the Satcure do them for about £8 - UHF Bandpass filters, amplifiers for terrestrial TV
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kathleen jones : Take a look at your signal strength - your only 25km from Emley Moor, and Humax's have good, but sensitive tuners. If its 100% strength its too much, and need to come down nearer to 80%
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Sunday 3 November 2013 7:46PM
Chris: I am slightly intrigued when you wrote that you had great reception using the 'SAT socket for the last 2 yrs, with a coax to fibre optic cable'.
Assuming that you meant an normal coax lead (but with a F fitting at one end) rather than a 'fibre optic cable' (because that wouldn't work), there is a reason why you got a good signal, although of course it should not have been possible.
Some months ago there was a similar case, where someone was also using the sat. connection in their building for Freeview. The reason it worked was probably because being fairly close to the transmitter and high up, the coax cable leading up to the dish was basically acting as a large primative aerial. I suspect your getting the same thing!
Although it works, its not ideal, and your obviously paying for both connection to work properly, so certainly have a word with the building manager. Its also perhaps worth asking other residents - if its not working properly for you, you might not be the only one.