All posts by Michael Perry
Below are all of Michael Perry's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
MikeB/jb38
My YouView box is not a Humax, as far as I know. It is a DB T2200/BT, a small square box as supplied by BT now (it arrived 2 weeks ago and I've only just got it set up after moving home) and it does not have a recording facility as it's not YouView+ equipped. The sockets on the back are for power, USB, HDMI, Ethernet and UHF aerial in - there is no UHF out socket provided.
So I've used an active splitter to feed UHF to TV and YouView so we can chose which we want to watch, either Freeview, Freesat (the TV has that built-in), Sky or YouView with all the usual internet fed catch-up options.
| link to this comment |
MikeB
Still discovering how to use it as no User Manual/Guide is supplied! You have to do a bit of 'FOFO'. It seems to pick up all the Freeview services via the aerial quite well and shows the BT Sport chanels plus the other BT services. The catch-up services are via the internet and although they count towards the monthly usage limits they seem pretty reasonable on my FTTC connection (running at 39 Mbps currently) and we haven't seen any buffering but we have not used it much yet. The remote control is a bit big (long but narrow and thin) and works fine but doesn't seem to have the facility to control my LG 32" Full HD TV, a bit of experimenting needed after some searching on the web. Picture quality is fine on SD services but as there are so few HD programmes we haven't had chance to compare them yet (too busy unpacking boxes still and trying to get the house ready for guests at Christmas!). I'm not displeased - especially as I got it free for six months as part of a compensation package for dreadful Customer Service when we moved (the Indian Call Centre messed everything up completely). But we benefitted from getting Infinity at the 'new customer' rates rather than the higher costs for existing customers.
The active splitter works fine for me as I can now select which inputs I want to use as the TV has Freeview HD (a DVB-T2 is built-in), satellite (it can get 798 TV services as well as 82 radio channels!), the Sky+HD box (via SCART as the HDMI does not autoselect in the same way as pin 8 of a SCART does) or the YouView box via HDMI. So we have a huge selection of programming to chose from but I doubt we will ever look at all of them!
But we can opt for whatever programme content we want irrespective of how we get it and at whatever definition suits us at the time.
| link to this comment |
Jane:
It depends on where in France and what size dish you will have. An indication of the intended location will help to check what the 'footprint' of the Astra satellite's signal beams would be at that location. That could help to work out whether you would get anything and how large a dish would be needed if it is at all possible to get the signals.
You will not be able to record or playback anything alrready stored on the box if it is of the Sky+ type.
| link to this comment |
MikeB
To get HD on the Sky+HD box means an extra subscription charge which we are not prepared to pay for something that makes so little difference to our viewing, especially as there are still few programmes transmitted as HD - most being in SD even though they may be on an HD multiplex. Then as we have access to the HD services on Freeview that we can watch for no additional cost there is no incentive to pay more to Sky. Plus the YouView box provides HD services as well and as we are not paying the £3 extra at present (part of the compensation) then there is even less incentive to pay Sky. So taking all that into account there is no benefit from the HDMI connection for the Sky box, especially as that makes it more confusing for a non-technical family member (the wife) to get what programmes she wants to watch. (The LG does not automatically switch over to the HDMI input when the Sky box is turned on but it does when we use the SCART input, so that is easier for her).
jb38
I understand that these smaller boxes are what BT supply unless someone wants the + version for recording/playback features. I looked for information about this box on the web but have only found stuff about the PVR versions (or an Icecrypt device that is totally different!). The supplied 'User Guide' is, as usual, pretty poor for any technical information but does give basic details of how to connect it up. I'm fairly sure this box is what Patricia has as it's the norm for those taking the BT TV Starter option, the PVR boxes cost extra. It would have been nice and helpful if we heard back from Patricia, but as we haven't we can't be sure.
| link to this comment |
MikeB
BTW, the TV is an LG 32LB585V-ZM that has Freeview HD, satellite HD, 'Smart' features, etc. On the satellite section we get all the non-encrypted services including the HD ones and not just the Sky provision. Despite what the 'technical support' at LG said, it gets the programmes from all the satellites at orbital positions 28.2 and 28.5 East (as that's where the 60 cm dish is aimed) so includes some non-UK channels as well.
We're quite pleased with the TV set, good picture, easy to use once set up suitably for our needs, but waiting for the sound bar to be delivered so we can better judge the sound quality (the tiny built-in speakers are rather 'tinny', especially for music).
| link to this comment |
Briantist/Paul Ryan
Can I recommend you look at having a log-periodic aerial installed instead of any Yagi pattern, whether 'wideband' or not. A log-periodic has approximately level reception across the whole band used for Freeview transmission and reception so it will suit the current services as well as those in the foreseeable future that are envisaged for terrestrial UHF transmission. That means it is is suitable for your current reception needs and those suggested by the plans being discussed by Ofcom for the future of terrestrial broadcasting beyond 2019.
| link to this comment |
Peter Webber.
It is currently available on Freesat but not on Freeview as yet. As Briantists says, it's all down to the operators where they are transmitted from, terrestrial transmitters or satellites or both.
| link to this comment |
MikeB & jb38
I can confirm that the only HD channels I can watch on the Sky+HD box are the PSB ones, none of the commercial services are available for viewing. They are shown in the 'Guide' but in a different colour and selecting one brings up a warning that to watch this channel you need an HD subscription.
As I can get all the channels I want on HD via Freeview or Freesat I personally see no value in the expense of an additional subscription fee to Sky.
| link to this comment |
Rob Page:
I'm on the Mendip transmitter and there has not been any problem at all. Perhaps it is worth checking your aerial system and all the connections?
| link to this comment |
Wednesday 3 December 2014 10:16PM
MFPA
There are two ways to feed more than one TV set from a single aerial. The best is to use a powered splitter, but that rather sounds to be problematic due to lack of available power unless two neighbours agreed to share a single aerial and powered splitter. The other less satisfactory method is to use and unpowered splitter. These have two major problems: there is a significant signal loss between the input and the two outputs that could be enough to render recpetion problematic; the second is that if one TV were to be unplugged then the other TV fed from that splitter may well get a much poorer quality signal as the impedance matching is lost (aerials are designed to operate with a 75 Ohm 'load' and taking one TV out would mean the aerial is 'seeing a load of 37.5 Ohms so is mismatched and will not work properly). If, however, you could between all the residents guarantee that all the TVs will remain connected to the aerial systems then it might be worth trying. One factor we can't answer is whether there is enough signal strength to use a passive splitter. We would need to have a measurement of the actual strength at the aerial, but at Peasedown St John you may have sufficient as you are not that far from the transmitter at Mendip. I'd suggest that at least two of you consider sharing the costs of setting up a single aerial with a passive splitter - that's the only way to check whether it will work - but there are no guarantees that it will.