recommend a aerial for DTT in Cabinteely

BopperSnr

Can anyone recommend where to get a suitable aerial to recieve DTT in the cabinteely, Dublin 18 area? There are so many different models and prices I am lost. so looking for suggestions to help steer me.

I have tried 2 indoor ones and neither picked up any signals (on 2 different devices, a portable tablet TV, and a HTPC). So reckon I have to upscale to an outdoor one but which one, I dont know.

Krusty_Clown

You're 3.5 miles from Threerock (as the crow flies). Are you sure you're not experiencing some other type of problem?

coylemj

Did you buy the indoor aerials from some of the bigger electrical shops like DID or Power City? They sell these 'one size fits all' aerials which are no good for Three Rock, you need to buy an aerial that is designed for UHF and nothing else.

This is one of the best you can get for indoor use, it doesn't cost much and is worth trying before you invest in a rooftop aerial, make a note of the stock code (L56AF) before you head for a Maplins shop...

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=33215

BopperSnr

One of the aerials I used was this Mini DVB-T Aerial
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?moduleno=217745

The other one was a bigger one like a box and it has an amplifier I plug into the mains. Will get the details off it when I get home tonight.

But looks better than the one in the last post, so maybe there is something wrong, or maybe the buildings around me may be interferring with the signal. I will try it in otehr rooms and maybe outside tonight. Good to know that the signal is UHF and I should be receiving no problem.

Randyleprechaun

Any of these should do, mounted horizontally


http://tvtrade.ie/show/58,UHF-Contract-aerial-Group-CD-Green

http://tvtrade.ie/show/27,Grid-UHF-Aerial

http://www.vanjak.com/products.php?category_id=131

lucernarian

Wow, I can pick up DTT with a simple loop aerial in a north facing apartment block in Dublin 2. I would have expected wet string to work for DTT in Cabinteely.

Did you try to tune in analogue RTE1 with an appropriate telly and the aerials you have?

p15574

I can pick it up fine in Leopardstown with a €2 pair of rabbits ears (one of which is broken) in the attic...

rurs

According to the Maplin page on the Mini DVB-T Aerial, it's frequency range is 410mhz - 512mhz. If this is true, it's definitely not suitable for Three rock, which is way outside that, at 738mhz. I don't really know WHAT it could be suitable for, in fact.

As regards the other aerial you tried, I too tried an amplified indoor, with a mesh "dish" at the back, two telescopic arms, and a rotatable loop.
It's completely useless for DTT, although it does get a snowy analogue.

I'm currently using a very old set of telescopic rabbits ears, at their minimum extension, carefully positioned. Rock solid reception, except when the gas boiler kicks in, but that's another story...

I'd definitely try the other Maplin one linked to earlier before you spend money on an outdoor install. You'll need to site it at a window which faces the general direction of Three Rock, and spend a bit of time adjusting it. A foot or two either way can make a big difference.

homer911

Perhaps a dumb question, but are you sure your TV/Receiver is MPEG4 compatible?

BopperSnr

Thats a very good question... I just checked and this may be the issue.
The TV card in my PC depends on the driver whether it's MPEG4, so will need to check this later.
but the tablet TV I use is only MPEG2 (this used to work when I 1st got it 2 years ago). Did DTT change from MPEG2 to MPEG 4 recently?

slegs

Yes, June 2008.

BopperSnr

Well that explains it so. Now to get my TV card to see MPEG 4. hmmm.
Will try some more drivers tonight.

Mr McBoatface

Your TV cards drivers are fine as they are, no need to change them. What you need is a h264 decoder/codec, on a basic level the tv card gets a feed from the DTT single and the codec reads the feed and outputs it to picture and sound.

DivX h264 codec (freeware) works well http://www.divx.com/en/software/divx-plus/codec-pack/h264 . I think Win7 has it's own built in codec but I've no experience with it.

Hope this helps

Edit:- After thought : The codec shouldn't stop you from picking up a signal, if there is one your software should pick it up regardless. You won't be able to get pictures without the codec but the channels should tune in. What software are you using on your HTPC ? , some like DVBDream and mediaportal allow you to scan DTT using a "UK All Regions" setting. This setting takes longer to scan but it will pick up any signals if they are there.

coylemj

DTT is broadcast on UHF and the DTT signal from 3rock (ch 54) is next door to the analog signal for TG4 (ch 55) so the best thing to do when trying out aerials is to try it on a regular (analog) TV and see if you can get a decent picture on TG4, if you can then that's the aerial to use for DTT.

I find that some indoor aerials are better at lower frequencies so for example one of mine picks up analog RTE1 (ch 29), RTE2 (ch 33) and TV3 (ch 35) from 3rock no problem but the TG4 picture is crap so it's no good for DTT.

BopperSnr

Not sure how, but I got DTT channels on my HTPC using Win 7 media center.

I installed media portal and the codecs in a thread above. The channels were picked up using an indoor UHF aerial but would show any picture or sound on media portal.

So i retried using win 7 media center and it all worked.
Thanks for all the help above. much appreciated.