need a quick hand with a xmas gift

mr.noobie

just wondering is there anything i can buy in pc world or somewhere for a hd tv that will get in the few irish channels the picture is terrible on a conventional aerial

Capt'n Midnight

Location , location , location ?

You can buy a SKY satellite dish and an Irish subscription and you will get perfect RTE anywhere in the country


Otherwise it depends where you are.
if you aren't getting clear analogue reception then you can forget about Digital Terresterial

No magic box inside the house will sort out antenna problems outside (a mast head amp might help but you might as well look into replacing the antenna too )

PyeContinental

I was getting RTE1 and RTE2 from Mt Leinster with a roof mounted VHF aerial (yes, still broadcasts on VHF after all these years). The VHF was very prone to interference and the UHF reception of TV3 and TG4 weren't brilliant either. Most of the time I just never bothered watching Irish TV.

Then I discovered the DTT services from Mt Leinster and I'm watching Irish TV much more often now. Picture quality is great and I could never go back.

I see that mr.noobie's location is Waterford, so perhaps if his aerial is pointing roughly due north, he could receive a signal from Mt Leinster also.

Mr Noobie, you will need a device that is capable of decoding Mpeg4 DVB-T. Most products, especially from UK shops will only do Mpeg2 DVB-T. If it says Mpeg4 or TNT on it then it will probably work with Irish DTT.

polyfusion

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Location , location , location ?

....

Otherwise it depends where you are.
if you aren't getting clear analogue reception then you can forget about Digital Terresterial

Are you sure about that? When I use a "rabbits ears" aerial to get analogue, it's completely unwatchable, the picture barely becomes visable through the static, and there is no sound. Yet with the same aerial, and an MPEG-4 box, I get perfect DTT.

Location is important, but maybe for the OP, the type of aerial is more important. Need more info, definitely, but I think a sweeping statement to say "if analogue isn't clear, forget about DTT" is poor. I thought DVB-T had all this error correction/etc to allow a less than perfect signal still give a perfect picture, as long as the signal quality is above a certain threshold?

PyeContinental

Oh, as for what to buy, you could try one of these Sagem boxes, as discussed in the link below, but there are reports of them generating excessive heat and crashing, so they don't sound like a good buy, even though they're cheap at around £25
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055770581

championc

I assume you are more looking for a TV Card for a PC that supports MPEG4 (for Irish DTT Trial) ? In which case, just search this forum for "Hauppauge" and you should find supported models of these cards together with details of other manufacturers products that people have confirmed have worked too.


C

givecredit

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

if you aren't getting clear analogue reception then you can forget about Digital Terresterial

)

Absolute rubbish. All Digital Terresterial needs is a signal from transmitter, I have connected many dtt tvs recently where tv signal was terrible, DTT perfect!! Thats the beauty of Digital..