DTT terestrial TV

christy02

Hi,
Wonder if anyone can help as am a little confused by DTT televison.
I live in Maynooth and dont bother with cable as dont watch much telly. Am happy with RTE and TV3. Recieved ok with indoor aeriel until I bought a new telly.
Its a Samsung LE32B550. Guy in shop recommended it as said that had MPEG4 tuner built in.
Now can barely get any signal with same aeriel. Last telly was bog standard telly not plasma or lcd.
Am I doing something wrong or should I get a decent picture with this?
Driving me mad.:mad:

Please help.....

Schorpio

christy02 wrote: »

Hi,
Wonder if anyone can help as am a little confused by DTT televison.
I live in Maynooth and dont bother with cable as dont watch much telly. Am happy with RTE and TV3. Recieved ok with indoor aeriel until I bought a new telly.
Its a Samsung LE32B550. Guy in shop recommended it as said that had MPEG4 tuner built in.
Now can barely get any signal with same aeriel. Last telly was bog standard telly not plasma or lcd.
Am I doing something wrong or should I get a decent picture with this?
Driving me mad.:mad:

Please help.....

are you trying to find digital channels, analogue channels or both? you should at least get the same analogue channels as before.

christy02

Tried to find both but didnt find any digital channels. Just the analogue channels but only when I had my rabbits ears plugged in and poor reception.
Didnt think I would need rabbits ears??? Though I would find digital RTE channels thru tv?

Thanks

You appear to be saying that you thought your TV would receive channels with nothing at all plugged into it's aerial socket?

Have you tried posting on boards yet with your modem disconnected?

Where is the tv located in the room?
Is there a window to the outside?
Can you see the wicklow mtns as thats roughly where the transmitter is.
If you can have the indoor aerial near the window or at the window,it should work better.

You may have been getting RTE before on vhf from kippure by the way and the indoor aerial will not work so well out where you are for uhf dtt to be honest.
At a minimum you'd need a powered aerial at the window and at that the view at the window un obstructed by other buildings and tree's and preferably facing the wicklow mtns.

Schorpio

christy02 wrote: »

Tried to find both but didnt find any digital channels. Just the analogue channels but only when I had my rabbits ears plugged in and poor reception.
Didnt think I would need rabbits ears??? Though I would find digital RTE channels thru tv?

Thanks

yeah, as the previous poster said, you will need some sort of aerial plugged into the tv at all times. Neither digital tv and analogue tv will work without an aerial. i'd say plug back in the rabbit ears and rescan for both digital and analogue channels.

i have a samsung tv hooked up to (non - powered) rabbit ears in a valley and I could pick up DTT, so you never know!

If there's still nothing then you'll probably need to invest in a better aerial. What type of rabbit ears are you using at the moment? Are they very basic?

JDxtra

I am down the road in Leixlip. With a bit of positioning I can get DTT on an indoor aerial when near the window. No analog though. I get a stronger digital signal though with an aerial in my attic, so this is what my TV is connected to. Analog is fine from this too.

christy02

Its a powered rabbit ears. What kinda aeriel would I need for attic and where would I pick one up?
Should I get DTT on that tv with basic aeriel?
Might try upstairs see if any better signal...

Thanks

Schorpio

christy02 wrote: »

Its a powered rabbit ears. What kinda aeriel would I need for attic and where would I pick one up?
Should I get DTT on that tv with basic aeriel?
Might try upstairs see if any better signal...

Thanks

You could put any aerial up in the attic to try and see if it will work! If I were putting up an aerial up there tho, I'd put up bigger, outdoor aerial. They are very widely available and at a quick search, I see that satellite.ie have one for the bones of €50 here. No idea if that's the cheapest/best one available, but like I said, you'll find them everywhere.

I'd recommend doing a bit of fiddling with the positioning of the rabbit ears though. If a guy down the road from you is picking it up, you should be getting some sort of signal. Definitely try them upstairs anyway.

christy02

Okay...Tried upsatirs in back bedroom which would be facing towards wicklow and has no houses in way and success...Got da DTT channels!!!
So suppose that means that an aeriel in da attic would work??

Thanks for help.
Any more reccomendations of cheapo aeriels appreciated.

yes
Make sure its a group CD wideband aerial as thats what you need for kippure.

John mac

http://www.tvtrade.ie/green-group-cd-uhf-aerial.html

one like this?

Yes that would do for out door but you would want a much bigger one for the loft as you lose 20db's indoors.

Finne1993

John mac wrote: »

http://www.tvtrade.ie/green-group-cd-uhf-aerial.html

one like this?

Yep, that will do fine, no need for a bigger aerial, he'll be wasting his money on a €50 aerial, if a set of crappy rabbits ears work in an upstairs bedroom, a simple contract aerial will work fine in the attic, especially as he's close enough to the transmitter

it's a powered rabbits ears though,that only works upstairs close to a window.
There won't be a window in the loft,there will be walls and the contract aerial won't be powered.

You can get a stronger aerial than a contract one for about 30 euro.

Finne1993

Deleted User wrote: »

it's a powered rabbits ears though,that only works upstairs close to a window.
There won't be a window in the loft,there will be walls and the contract aerial won't be powered.

You can get a stronger aerial than a contract one for about 30 euro.

Powered or not, the rabits ears aerials give an unreliable signal in my experience anyway, you need a traditional aerial to give a true signal.

He's less than 10 miles away from the transmitter, the contract will work fine in the attic, the other aerials will only give a little more gain, and whatever that is, at that distance its hardly worth talking about.

I'm 60 miles away from Kippure here and I get 100% DTT signal from it on an amplified contract aerial in my attic and I'm at no great height either.

I recently installed an unamplified contract in an attic of a house 25 miles away from Clermont Carn and received perfect analogue on the 4 channels and 90% signal on DTT.

ymmv.

I know I'd feel safer spending 20 euro more rather than having to throw something out and buy something new again.
There is a poster here from newbridge iirc, who has reported poor enough kippure reception by the way.
West of it's beam and north of it's beam are not the same thing.

Finne1993

Fair enough, well its up to the OP what he chooses to do, all I'm trying to do is save him a few quid, he knows his different options now anyway.

christy02

Thanks all,
Ordered the aeriel from tvtrade.ie. Cross fingers and hope for best.
Actually got DTT working somewhat downstairs near rear windows although weak signal with rabbit ears.
Hoping then that this will work in attic. ALready a feed there for old dish that someone had. If doesnt work in attic will try affix to old dish.
Thanks again. Will update...

Finne1993

Hooking your TV up to a dish won't get you any terrestrial channels, its for Satellite only and you'll need a Freesat/ FTA/ Sky box to pick up all the free channels, eg: BBC 1,2,3,4, ITV 1/2/3/4, CH4, E4, MORE4, FIVE, Sky News etc. If you already have a dish there it might be worth your while purchasing a freesat box, I believe Tvtrade have them on sale at a good price.
As for your DTT, it will work fine with the aerial you purchased in the attic.

christy02

No I mean just affix the new aeriel I bought onto dish so its outside.
Reckon it will work fine in attic tho.. Thanks

Finne,Regarding the contract aerial
It *may* work fine.
You can't say that it *will* work fine.

I hope it does,it probably will but we don't know.

Finne1993

christy02 wrote: »

No I mean just affix the new aeriel I bought onto dish so its outside.
Reckon it will work fine in attic tho.. Thanks

Ah I see, well best of luck with it anyway, it will work fine

Finne1993

Deleted User wrote: »

Finne,Regarding the contract aerial
It *may* work fine.
You can't say that it *will* work fine.

I hope it does,it probably will but we don't know.

:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

OP said he bought an aerial, he never mentioned what type of one it was.

Finne1993

Finne1993 wrote: »

:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

OP said he bought an aerial, he never mentioned what type of one it was.

So?
Why is this an argument that requires roll eyes?

Finne1993

Deleted User wrote: »

So?
Why is this an argument that requires roll eyes?

Argument??? I never post to argue, All I did was offer advice and give my opinion to the OP, sometimes I wonder why i even bother when theres always somone looking to shoot you down.

End of DISCUSSION (not argument) for me anyway.

Finne1993

Finne1993 wrote: »

Argument??? I never post to argue, All I did was offer advice and give my opinion to the OP, sometimes I wonder why i even bother when theres always somone looking to shoot you down.

Well,in fairness I am not here to shoot you down and I'm not the person who posted 4 rolly eyes.I just offered an equally valid opinion.

I also said that,you cannot say that something will work when it's not 100% certain that it will.
It might in the case of a contract aerial.
However my case was a tenner or two more and you get much more likelyhood of a stable signal.
I'd rather spend 39 euro on a sturdier better aerial,than 29 on a contract any day in case I have to throw the contract out if it's not stable enough..

Anyway,I'm sure the op appreciates your advice aswell as mine without either of us getting narky about it.

watty

Personally when I set up Web2.0 stuff I delete the RollyEyes icons.