All posts by MikeB
Below are all of MikeB's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
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.
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michael: I was actually quoting a comment from the Guardian website, to show that much the same thing that gets said about digital radio still gets said sometimes about digital TV!
However, he (and you) have a point - although BBC4 and Film 4 do show European drama's, documentaries and films, its not as many as we would perhaps like.
Satellite is one way, and of course there is streaming. Netflix and Lovefilm and well known, but in the US, they have more offbeat stuff from Fandor, Indiepix, etc.
WE live in a media marketplace, and most commercial stations do sound the same. Part of it ownership, but its mainly playing safe in a commercial world. And consolidation is what tends to happen in industries.
If you do want to listen to more adventurous stuff, the net is out there (although BBC6 Music is rather good), and I would recommend KCRW's music station for its new material KCRW 89.9 FM | Internet Public Radio Station Streaming Live Independent Music & NPR News Online from Los Angeles, CA - KCRW - its know to give the first plays to breakout talent, since its the TV/film and music industries local radio station.
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mary: Check your aerial - the tv is getting nothing, so its likely a problem with your system.
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Marion: You say ' the sound on the TV sounds quite blurry and the volume although on very high comes over very quietly.'
From this can I assume that the sound is distorted, or is that the picture? As for sound quality, a modern TV tends not to sound great, but its unusual to be that bad. OK - if you listen on BBC1, is the sound alright? And if your watching through another box, say a recorder (or perhaps something on DVD), is the sound much the same, or is it much quieter?
If its the latter two, then its because the sound level on those imputs is often different to the tuner in the TV itself. This can be cured by using whats called 'volume offset', which will be explained in the manual, and means you can turned the volume for those external boxes up/down so they match the TV itself.
Check to make sure your getting a good signal, picture, etc, but if you are and the sound is very quiet, poor, etc, you might have to get something to help with the quality of the sound.
These days, soundbars are pretty much standard, and are basically speakers in a longish box, which you can put in front of the TV, underneath it, on the wall, etc. You can pay about £170 for a decentish one (about 80-120watts), and this will come with a sub-woofer, to create low frequency sounds, to make the whole experience better. A better and more powerful one (around 300watts) is about £279-£399) - Samsung, Sony, Panasonic and LG all make good ones at this level. If you TV is smaller than a 40in, they might look a bit big, but Orbitsound make smaller ones.
Your partner could use a pair of wireless headphones, that work via the headphone socket on the TV (the ones without wires are pretty cheap, and are easier to use - you can get blu tooth ones as well). However, if you plug one into the earphone socket on an LG (or a Samsung), all other sound is cut off, so you cannot hear it (Panasonic and Sony can split the sound, so you can do both).
If you can tell us the TV's model number, and clarify the problem, perhaps we can help further.
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B Jackson: if your getting your signal from Saddleworth, I'm not surprised at pixilation - your just 4km away. If your going for winter hill, etc, then your sinal is not predicted to be great.
Check your signal strength and transmitter - but it's unlikely to be 4G, hence to luck with a filter.
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B jackson: Dont worry, find out where your signal is coming from isn't that difficult.
Fortunately, you've included your postcode, so its pretty easy to find out where it should be coming from - have a look at your aerial, to begin with.
The Digital tradeview says that Saddleworth should be on a bearing of 210 degrees from your house - so roughly SSW. If it pointing that way, you can then check that both your TV and PVR are tuned into it. Start by going into the setup of each machine (refer to the manual if you can - if not, at least tell us the make/model of each), and there should be a way to check the digital tuners strength and quality, plus what transmitter its on.
Put the TV and PVR on BBC1. And then find the digital tuner in setup (or similar)
It will normally tell you in percentage terms about both strength and quality. Because you are so close to Saddleworth, as Michael and Jamie Stevens have both said, the tuners in the TV, etc might be overloaded, so have a look. If they are very low, and just stay low, your getting a very poor signal. Since you should be getting a very good signal, check that all your aerial connections are working OK, etc. If its too high, the strength bar will jump from very high to very low over a minute or two and back again, and the quality will be bad.
If its just right, then it should be around 75%, and quality should be 100%.
OK - the same menu should give you a number - this will be the 'channel' the TV is tuned to, or rather its the frequency. Saddleworth is 45, but Winter Hill is on 50. If its on 50, then your tuned into a transmitter which is going to be very difficult to get a decent signal on.
Let us know how you get on.
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Minerva: If your equipment is getting the blue-screen 'no signal', then thats what it means - No Signal. This is almost certainly because of a fault in your own aerial system - it has nothing to do with 4G, etc.
Since it tends to wax and wane, and tends to be best in the evening, I suspect that it is due to a loose connection which gets better when the house is warmer (metal expands when the heating comes on?) or is the result of moisture in a connection, which drys out.
Let us know what you find out
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Monday 11 November 2013 4:33PM
Trevor Harris: Its not totally surprising that the comments are generally negative - its a fairly self selecting group that chooses to comment on a newspaper story, and certainly one that involved the shutting down of FM. If you look at the comments on this thread, they sound pretty similar.
Many of the comments are valid - the bit rate is not as high as we'd like, perhaps with hindsight DAB+ would have been better, and the coverage is patchy is present. However, as Mark pointed out, the companies involved do not have a big part of the market. In any case, FM switchoff is not going to happen for sometime yet.
There was one interesting comment, which takes me back to the question I asked a while back about similar objects to digital TV -
'Trouble with digital tv is that it an all-or-nothing medium
If the signal is degraded (and in my area it often is) the picture is not better. It regularly pixilates or freezes or drops out entirely.
Freeview doesn't necessarily give more to watch either. It is usually the same films and programmes repeatedly endlessly.
I had hoped there would have been a channel for foreign language films and programmes. We see fewer films of this type than we ever showed before.
No, digital TV was a scam, and digital radio would be a disaster'
Perhaps he should ask for some advice on reception for his TV on this site....