All posts by MikeB
Below are all of MikeB's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
James Porter: Since the transmitter reports no problems, logically, the problem must be with your system.
Since you had a thunderstorm, its likely that the weather caused a problem with your wiring, perhaps through water getting in a crack or break. After a couple of weeks it possibly dried out, but now its back (and you had no need to retune the TV, that was fine). Your first instinct was probably the right one - call an engineer.
I don't think your being cheated - its very likely your system at fault, not the transmitter.
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Karen: I suspect that Dave Lindsay has a better answer than I do (I think he has it ready to copy and paste, so often does this issue come up), but here goes.
Around 85% of us don't use Freeview Light transmitters - we dont need to. So the 15% or less of the viewing population do have access to PSB broadcasts via them.
However, has as often been pointed out, its the commercial broadcasters who dont want to pay to transmit to you - they don't think its commercially viable. You probably live in a rural area, and the same logic applies to a huge supermarket on your doorstep - you probably don't have one, because the number of customers in a low density population area does not make it worth it. Your not being ripped off - your not watching their adverts in enough numbers, and therefore they cannot make a profit out of broadcasting their programmes to you - its just business.
Your licence fee has nothing to do with this - in fact, if it wasn't for the BBC, you probably wouldn't have any TV via terrestial at all. You do get PSB HD channels (OK, as has been pointed out, not the full number at present), and many other services. Your licence fee is a flat fee, but does not entitle you get all the channels you'd like to watch (although frankly, your not missing all that much on most of the others). If you want more channels, then the easiest thing to do is try Freesat.
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Brian T: If you click the link to R+T investigation, there appears to be no problems, so perhaps check your system.
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Brian M. Leahy: OK - I found on one or two of your previous posts your postcode - which is whats really needed when asking about reception problems (you also posted similar questions on two different threads), and you seem to have an old LCD Panasonic TV.
You dont really say what the problem is, but it seems that channels go, or at least the subtitles do, and you keep retuning.
If you click on the link to Home to Mast plot, you'll see that your only about 20km from Oxford, and there doesn't seem to be anything in the way. The DigitalUK link confirms that Oxford should be excellent for you, and the aerial should be on a bearing of 28 degrees.
Check that you are actually tuned to the Oxford transmitter - its on RF Channel 53, so its possible the TV has picked something else. The reception guru's will tell you how to manually tune if you need to.
However, since both you and the neighbour are having a similar problem, there is another possibility, that your simply getting too much signal. Panasonic's are sensitive, and your only 20km away from the transmitter. If you got a big newish aerial, (and certainly if you have a booster), then you could just be getting too high a signal strength at certain times. See this page for help with this problem : Freeview signals: too much of a good thing is bad for you | Digital switchover | ukfree.tv - 11 years of independent, free digital TV advice
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Susan: Since I have a Goodmans box, I can agree with MikeP's description ' they are not the best on the market, nor the worst probably'. Its not as sensitive as my Sony recorder by any means.
Changing the Goodmans box isn't going to solve the problem - its your signal strength. You dont give a location, but its probably pretty close to a transmitter.
To kill the signal on my Sony, I did exactly what Mike P said - put some attenuators in series (I had a variable one, but it really didn't work well). You'll find loads of attenuators of different strengths on Amazon - there is a 12db one for £1.59, which is what I got - I used this seller http://www.amazon.co.uk/s…ator .
You can connect them via short lengths of aerial lead, but using couplers is neater (although you can end up with the 'Camberwell Carrot' effect). At least you now know what the problem is, and when you come to replace your system for a TV with an inbuilt digital tuner or PVR, you can take appropriate action.
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MikeP: Your right to say broadband has been, and continues to be available via a dish ( one of my customers got so fed up with his internet speed in his rural area that he got one). He went with company, I seem to remember - Satellite Internet - Satellite Internet
But at around £35 a month, for the same speed that I get, thats a lot of money. It would be interesting as to how many people use that type of system, and what the average speed.
Its not totally surprising that there is some confusion between dish and cable for many people - both have an f fitting, and often are there when you move into a property. Its only when you try to wire one up that you find out which is which!
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Michael: In reverse order:
As far as listening to a programme live - thats self explanatory, with the programme being streamed more or less live. The podcast is able to be downloaded in MP3 format. Streaming online allows you call up stuff from their server. Thats the difference.
For the BBC, there must a whole number of issues surround older material. Is it cleared for rebroadcast? Is its suitable? Does it exist in the archive? Is it useable? And, frankly, is it the best use of the money? Network regularly releases a load of stuff from the archives of ITV, but I also wonder just how many people buy them.
The BBC website has an archive section BBC Archive , which has a huge amount of stuff, and 'pay-to-keep' seems to be in the pipeline. The radio Iplayer has a huge amount of stuff, as does the BBC website.
The digitizing of material has hit a snag
TVTechnology: BBC scraps digitization project after spending $150 million
- because the outside contractors messed up - so we are going to be waiting a little longer. Remember the archive is huge, and its going to take a while to pick up the pieces.
There is some more on the archive on Wiki.
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debs: If your buying a new LG TV (which we all rather like at the moment), then NOW TV is included as part of the smart features, as is wifi, so you can just use your subscription in the same way, but on the TV.
Other Tv's don't have it, but you can see from this list Available Devices | NOW TV - Help that there are a fair number of devices that you can use to stream from. If you buy a smart TV you should be able mirror from an android phone. If not, but a Now TV box (less than £15) and plug it into the TV.
General advice on buying a new TV (this is what I say to my customers). Find the right size (3 times the size of the screen away from it is fine - so 40in x 3 = 120 = 10ft, for example). All TV's should have Freeview HD, be Full HD, be smart and have wifi. There are exceptions, but I can't see the point of not having smart functions, etc. You ultimately paying for the quality of the panel - a 400hz screen will look better than a 100hz screen (although the 100hz LG's, such as the 650, are excellent value), and 800hz better still. They cost more, but thats how it works.
I generally wouldn't have a problem with any of the four major brands (LG, Samsung, Sony or Panasonic). Please go to a proper shop, and ask questions and look at one before buying, if you can.
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Thursday 26 June 2014 1:54PM
Douglas Fraser: I hear what your saying about unwanted dishes, etc, and streaming is fine, but you might have problems doing so. There is a long-running discussion on this site about whether broadband is ready to replace terrestial broadcasting, and the answer seems to be - not yet.
If your in a rural location, check the possible real download speed (rural locations tend to be much slower, and you've already pointed out that you can't get cable), and remember that your average speed might not be the one that you get when everyone goes online at 8pm! In terms of reliability, my terrestial reception is certainly better than my broadband. Thats not to say my broadband is bad, far from it. I'm in the middle of a town, and the Virgin fibre cabinet is just opposite my house, but I still get times when the server is down, etc. Hopefully your fibre link will be fine, but your realistically going to need about 5mbs for HD, and possibly more.
Panasonic's 'Viera' is not a receiver, but simply the companies name for the panel/tv system (its actually an acronym, but lots of TV companies seem to use vaguely Italian sounding names, such as Bravia, Aquos, etc). Panasonic have finally got all 4 channels on demand via the Freetime software for 2014, but Samsung have had this capacity for some time. All the big 4 also have a browser (although beware - last years Panasonic's used Opera, which did not like the ITV player, so dont expect to use all streaming from the browser), plus apps for Netflix, etc. Samsung has had the lead in 'smartness' for some years, but I'd think about the quality of the panel first, the rest can be added.
If you already have a TV, try using one with Apple TV or Chromecast (depending on your phone). You can stream a great deal via one of those, they are wifi, and your outlay is relatively low. You can then see how effective it is, and whether the speed is good enough. Frankly, you could just use a computer screen, but I tend to warn customers against this - we use the two screens in different ways and different distances - and its difficult to get the best out of one if your not using it in the right way.
Hope this helps, and good luck.