Do I need indoor or outdoor aerial for saorview

the optimist

ok I have cancelled my sky digital. We mainly watch rte and tv3 anyway. I am planning on going with saorview, about time we had free to air irish channels.
I have tried an old rabbit ears aerial with the tv and searched for channels. What came up was perfect sound but no picture. The name of the channel is coming up on top perfectly. List of saorview is there. Im going to order the saorview box. should this bring in the picture or should i buy another aerial. I am in Roscommon by the way. Thanks in advance

Sam Russell

the optimist wrote: »

ok I have cancelled my sky digital. We mainly watch rte and tv3 anyway. I am planning on going with saorview, about time we had free to air irish channels.
I have tried an old rabbit ears aerial with the tv and searched for channels. What came up was perfect sound but no picture. The name of the channel is coming up on top perfectly. List of saorview is there. Im going to order the saorview box. should this bring in the picture or should i buy another aerial. I am in Roscommon by the way. Thanks in advance

You have an MPEG 2 set (UK Freeview) which does not work here. You need an MPEG 4 set, but you can get a STB that will allow your TV to receive the Saorview service, the aerial sounds OK..

the optimist

Sorry that sounds very complicated for me. Do you mean I just need to buy the saorview box and use with the aerial. Sorry for the ignorance.

Vince Cable

the optimist wrote: »

We mainly watch rte and tv3 anyway. I am planning on going with saorview, about time we had free to air irish channels.

Do you mean it's about time you personally had them, or about time they were available?

If your reception's good enough for rabbit ears to work for Saorview, you'll more than likely get good analogue reception with an outdoor or loft aerial, which would be better in the long run.
You could then hold off buying the Saorview box until there's more choice available.

reslfj

the optimist wrote: »

Sorry that sounds very complicated for me. Do you mean I just need to buy the saorview box and use with the aerial. Sorry for the ignorance.

Yes - or if 'in the middle of nowhere' is a place where reception of UK Freeview can be expected from late 2012 - a FreeviewHD box.

Lars

the optimist

We havent being able to receive rte before without the sky box and the reception is not great with the aerial. Which is why I thought it might improve with the saorview. Dont have free pipe tv here in the sticks. I never even thought about it before just sick of paying so much for sky every month. so you recommend an outdoor aerial. I am afraid if i buy one it will still not be clear enough and will have to buy box anyway

You'll need a Saorview or Freeview HD box anyway as your TV isn't capable of decoding the picture. You may not need an outdoor aerial if you're getting the sound but you'd need to check the signal quality to be sure.

Bogger77

the optimist wrote: »

We havent being able to receive rte before without the sky box and the reception is not great with the aerial. Which is why I thought it might improve with the saorview. Dont have free pipe tv here in the sticks. I never even thought about it before just sick of paying so much for sky every month. so you recommend an outdoor aerial. I am afraid if i buy one it will still not be clear enough and will have to buy box anyway

I get my signal from Cairn Hill, in Longford, my analogue reception is cat, but the digital reception is perfect. For RTE it's equal if not better than what I get from Sky for RTE.

If rabbit ears can pick up the signal, even if your tv can only decode the sound part, you're looking at having good dtt reception with a loft aerial.

Vince Cable

the optimist wrote: »

. . . so you recommend an outdoor aerial. I am afraid if i buy one it will still not be clear enough and will have to buy box anyway

Indoor aerials aren't reliable & are very interference prone.
An outdoor one in a decent reception area needn't be any way expensive.

What UHF channel no. or frequency are you receiving Saorview on?

the optimist

Thanks for the replies. I will look at getting the aerial first. I will let you know how it goes

lucernarian

Jeez I never thought analogue reception anywhere in Roscommon would be poor, I get perfect Cairn Hill in Louth! It even comes into parts of Drogheda much better than Clermont Carn.

Easy way to tell if you need a new aerial, get the TV that can't tune in the video and see what the signal strength and quality are like. If the quality's up near 100% then there won't be any need for a new aerial. Just get yourself a Saorview STB. There's also many TVs on the market that can display the video from Saorview even if they can't use the new digital teletext etc.

The Cush

Use the Saorview Coverage Checker to determine which way to align your aerial.

the optimist

Just an update
I bought the walkers saorview box in powercity and set it up today. I had some problems with tuning in. I spent about an hour trying to tune in till my ten year old son came in from school and had it tuned in 5 mins. Reception was perfect with a cheap set of rabbit ears. I wasnt happy with it sitting on window sill. All was fine till I went to pull curtains and aerial fell off and reception went. So back tomorrow for a better aerial but it does work perfect with the aerial. I was expecting utv but not on it and rte kids is just a music station so a bit disappointed with selection of programs, would be great if it included a couple more including a good kids channel. happy enough though not to have to pay for sky anymore. Hopefully in time there will be more selection of channels.