All posts by MikeB
Below are all of MikeB's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
John Sturdy: You'll need to clarify some things for us, because at the moment the description dosen't quite make sense.
Ok - you seem to have a dish! That means that the digibox on top of the 19in TV has to be Freesat or a generic sat. tuner, not a Freeview box. You can check what the difference is by looking at the connections - if it pushes in, its Freeview, if it screws in (an F fitting), then its for a dish. You can convert from one to another, but while the connections will work, the boxes wont! See here for some more detail: Connecting it all up | ukfree.tv - helping the UK with free TV reception since 2002
I'm not sure how you got the Bush to even fit with an F fitting, although you might have used some sort of adapter : Online Satellite/TV/FM/DAB Cable, Leads and Connectors sales. . However, as you've discovered, it wont work, becuase the tuners are totally different. The Bush just has a Freeview (or possibly Freeview HD) tuner.
Since I positive wont have a sat tuner in it (LG and Sony's often now have sat tuners, and many Samsung and some Panasonics have Freesat), you going to have to use the box you used for the 19in TV, and in effect use it as a satbox for your new TV.
Connect it the best way you can - if the sat. box has HDMI, use that. If not, then at least you'll have scart, although you'll get no HD.
Best thing long term - buy a decent Freesat PVR (Humax!), and upgrade your dish to a twin or quad LNB - instructions here: SatCure UK satellite and Freeview information
The only thing that occurs to me is that some years ago, someone reported using their dish as a Freeview aerial. They were high up in a block of flats very close to the transmitter - someone guessed that the copper wiring was acting as an aerial - a fluke, but it could happen to you!
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Ben: Whats it like? Although its on .com, we dont have any in my store (I understand Canton hasn't been stocked by JL for very long). It looks vaguely similar to the Orbitsound soundbase, but reviews seem to be excellent, and there are some nice extra features.
How does it compare with a Bose soundbase, for example?
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Michael: If your getting 'no signal', then it means just that! Since checking R & T Investigation says everything is fine (no surprise), its your aerial system with the broble. Could be a loose connection, moisture in the system, a frayed/broken cable. etc.
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Michael: JB38 is quite right, there might be interruptions on Sandy Heath this week.
However, when I checked your position in relation to the transmitter, your only 16km away. Since too high a signal can look a lot like too low, check your signal strength first. If its 100% or close, then look at this page: Freeview signals: too much of a good thing is bad for you
If its continually really low, then its probably your aerial system.
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Anthony: However, we dont live in a world (nor a Europe) where there really are 'pan-european broadcast rights'. Perhaps someone has bought the European TV rights to CSI, but I suspect for perfectly logical reasons (content, dubbed language, etc), such rights are parceled out on a national basis. I certainly would be very annoyed if a European wide broadcaster was showing something I had just paid big money for.
Yes, you can use CAM cards (although does anyone still use them?) or encrypt the content via a box like Sky, but thats not the same as a channel you pick up anywhere in Europe with a dish and a basic receiver.
There are such channels, but Pick (basically a taster channel for Sky) or Challenge (old quiz shows) are hardly premium content. As for music video channels, they are basically playing advertising for record companies. All these are either 'overspill', in terms of viewers other than the home market being able to view them, or are pan-european in nature, but essentially showing fairly basic content.
In reality, most people watch TV using an aerial, and using their own local providers. There is going to be overspill (the Dutch apparently enjoy the BBC, and the East German's used to get Western TV), but thats always going to happen. I suspect that pan European content would be difficult to transmit, and even harder to make money on.
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Anthony: Are the people of Europe really clamouring for repeats of 20 year old British sitcoms? Are we in Britain really wanting to watch bad Greek soap opera or Slovakian music videos? Not really. This isn't about 'monopolies', its about what works in a fragmented market.
It might be that non local programming could be attractive all across Europe, but although expats of all nations might love to see their own programming, most of us at least like to watch stuff in our own language. What language would work for such a pan European service?
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Amcv: I wouldn't remove the dish. Its not doing any harm by just being there, and you might want to return to Sky at some point, use Freesat, or the generic sat. tuners built into many Tier 1 TV manufacturers sets now. You'll only have to pay for it later to be put up again.
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Bob: Check your signal strength on both the Humax and the Sony. My Sony PVR is pretty sensitive, but very robust about high signal strength - its will be fine up to 94%. Humax is also pretty sensitive, but its less robust and it will start to complain a bit sooner.
Its hardly surprising then that the Humax has a problem with too much signal, when the Sony seems fine. My parent-in-law live in North Norfolk, and are having the same problem with their Panasonic TV and PVR from Belmont. The TV complains a little sometimes, but the PVR does it much more.
See here for the cure:https://ukfree.tv/article/1107051892/Freeview_signals_too_much_of_a_good_thing_is_bad_f
BTW - the postcode you've given reckons your in Northumberland!
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Terry Bannon: Whats your postcode - because that would help diagnose the problem.
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Monday 10 November 2014 8:58PM
John: Great news! If you really wanted to, you could swap over the HDMI's, so that the Philips PVR is the first HDMI, but if it works, why worry. Dodgy HDMI's do happen, but at least you've found the problem.
And yes, the Panasonic DVD is SD, so scart wouldn't be the end of the world. As far as the volume is concerned, have a look at the Sony setup - there should be a Volume Offset, so you can give a standard volume to the audio output. Have a look at the manual.
Enjoy your new setup!