All posts by Derek McLean
Below are all of Derek McLean's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
There is a further complicating factor in the above.
One of the DVRs is an HD one. So I have it connected to the living room TV with an HDMI cable, which by-passes the Scart network.
It all works rather well, apart from the 37" Panasonic full HD TV that I bought last year, which doesn't respond well to picture movement, despite having a 100Hz refresh rate. It can also have some unpleasant colours. But that's another story.
I would be interested to know if anybody has found a reliable multi-way Scart switch, either mechanical or electronic. The one I had was a 5-way Thor with an additional audio (phono) input that was perfect for my DAB. In principle, it was great. But one input after another just failed for no apparent reason.
Most of my 'other' TVs are old 14" portable CRTs, apart from a cheap 19" LCD in my bedroom that actually has a better picture than the Panasonic!
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No, Karen. Aerial and satellite signals are completely unrelated.
A satellite dish can be used to feed either a Sky box or a Freesat box, maybe even both at the same time, if you have enough cables coming in from the dish.
But the only signals available via an aerial are now Freeview, which must be decoded by the correct type of box, i.e. a Freeview box or recorder.
A basic box can be as little as £20. Recorders now start below £100, but I've found that the cheapest ones aren't very reliable. The best ones seem to be made by Humax. But if you just want a simple decoder without recording, go to your supermarket and buy one of their cheap boxes.
Good luck.
Derek.
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Phil,
There is an alternative way to rig a multi-TV set-up if you only ever want to watch the same program on them all, e.g. as you move around the house. And it could save you upgrading your LNB.
If your Freesat box has a Scart socket and if you have an old VCR, you can feed the Freesat signal into the VCR and use it as a modulator to then send a signal via aerial cable (co-ax) to the other TVs.
This is how my system works, and it works well.
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John Robinson
Sorry, I've only just come to this thread and seen your problem of area selection, which is exacly what I get too.
My solution may not be totally to your satisfaction, but it does seem to have worked for me.
Incidentally, I am near Dunbar and my preferred transmitter is Craigkelly too, although I can also get strong signals from Black Hill, Angus and Durris.
What I do is let it do its full automatic scan, and then do a manual scan on one channel, which is obviously 24, to ensure I get the Edinburgh STV service. I think that then becomes the default signal for all the channels on that MUX.
It doesn't seem to compromise the box's ability to do auto scans. For example, it has just found BBC1 Scotland HD, which only came on stream yesterday.
I hope this is helpful.
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It seems that Edinburgh TV is late arriving.
I have done a scan on two TVs and all I am getting on RF30 is a test card on 791 and BonanzaBonanza on 64. ETV is supposed to be on 34, according to the information above, but even after doing a First-time Installation that channel number is still showing ITV3+1.
Does anybody have information on ETV?
Oh, by the way, I'm near Dunbar and I'm getting the test card signal with what my TVs say is a 10/10 signal quality.
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Wednesday 26 October 2011 9:00AM
Catherine:
There are several ways to distribute signals around your house, depending on whether the various TVs will be used to watch the same or different programs.
Let me describe my own case, in which I want to be able to follow the same signal wherever I am in the house.
I have several DVRs, some on Freeview and some on Freesat, to maximise my options.
Their outputs go into a Scart switch network so that I can choose which of the recorders to watch.
The output from this Scart network goes to the living room TV and to a VCR, which I use purely as a modulator. This means I use it to create a secondary RF signal that I can distribute round the house with co-ax cable, using splitters and amplifiers as necessary.
I can watch recordings or live signals as appropriate.
I also have a DAB radio in the system, and a separate stereo sound network fed from the same Scart network, because the modulated signals on the co-ax don't send stereo.
In theory, I could also play a tape over the co-ax network, but in reality all my VCRs seem to have lost their ability to play tapes without damaging them. But this at least lets me make some use of the VCR's technology.
I can also link a DVD player into the Scart network, the details of which are rather complex. At one time I had a single electronic Scart switch with a remote control, but that turned out to be unreliable, so now I use a cascade of 3-way mechanical switches. It's a bit awkward, but it works.
If you want more details, email me and I'll send you a diagram. "A diagram is worth a thousand words!"