New T.V, how can I improve BBC, ITV C4 quality

Eye of Orion

Hello all.

I bought an LG Flatron M2762 today, http://www.lg.com/us/computer-products/monitors/LG-lcd-monitor-M2762D-PM.jsp

I got this to replace an older and smaller television and to be ready for the digital changeover. Now, I have found all the irish digital stations fine, and even TV3, e3 etc aswell.

My problem is, here in Donegal, I have always had BBC 1 and 2, aswell as ITV and channel 4 to a good quality, now that I tuned the TV in to get the irish stations, I even have RTE Network 2 HD, my BBC, channel 4 etc are really bad quality.

Also, the Rte Jr station is comign up as invalid and so is the rte one + 1 station.

Any help on what I can do here?

Thanks

Sam Russell

Is your problem that the BBC etc. channels are worse than before, or is it that in comparrison to the brilliantly clear RTE etc. channels that they now look like crap?

Eye of Orion

Thanks for the reply, well they are worse than before, we never had a brilliant signal before, but a good one where the quality was very good, but now it is very very bad and almost unwatchable, I spent an hour or more trying to manually tune etc but no luck

BrianD

I'm presuming that the TV you have is digital only.

AFAIK and I'm sure Watty will clarify this, the UK channels are on Freeview which is MPEG2 and a lower quality then Saorview which is MPEG4. It is also possible that the UK digital transmissions are coming from a more distant transmitter site than the analogue signals you used to receive in the past.

You're missing Irish channels may be down to some local issues (or national) with the MUX that you are tuned in to. Could be a temporary thing.
.

Sam Russell

BrianD wrote: »

I'm presuming that the TV you have is digital only.

AFAIK and I'm sure Watty will clarify this, the UK channels are on Freeview which is MPEG2 and a lower quality then Saorview which is MPEG4. It is also possible that the UK digital transmissions are coming from a more distant transmitter site than the analogue signals you used to receive in the past.

You're missing Irish channels may be down to some local issues (or national) with the MUX that you are tuned in to. Could be a temporary thing.
.

The quality of the picture is not related to MPEG 4 or MPEG 2. That only affects how many channels will fit in a mux.

Eye of Orion

Thanks for the replies, I have noticed at iTv has gotten better recently, bbc, channel 4 or terrible tho, not that I watch them, but the parents do

BrianD

Sam Russell wrote: »

The quality of the picture is not related to MPEG 4 or MPEG 2. That only affects how many channels will fit in a mux.

I thought that MPEG4 both allowed more channels to be fitted and because of the compression allowed better quality over MPEG2?

In any case, I would be interested to know what the quality of the BBC pictures are and why he thinks they are lower quality.

Antenna

BrianD wrote: »

I'm presuming that the TV you have is digital only.
.

there are no TVs for sale that are digital only, except for some handheld devices.

Its obvious to me the thread is about analogue reception of the UK channels, either via a 'deflector' (likely, as they still exist in Donegal) or direct.

BrianD

Are all new tellies not all digital only? The Saorview badged ones that it.

I was guessing he was receiving UK stations via analogue due to the quality but he didn't specify whether it was picture or signal quality.

Eye of Orion

it could be either the signal or picture quality, snowy is how i would describe it.

Well be careful what TV you get, as I got one and it was not irish digital compatible, then I got one which is

But still, the parents are very disappointed in the non-irish channels

byte

BrianD wrote: »

Are all new tellies not all digital only? The Saorview badged ones that it.

I was guessing he was receiving UK stations via analogue due to the quality but he didn't specify whether it was picture or signal quality.

No, even the Saorview-approved TV's are dual analogue/digital.

@Eye of Orion: A problem I notice with many "flatscreens" is that they struggle with lower quality analogue transmissions. I'd imagine this is down to the inbuilt upscalers, which "amplify" the graininess as much as the picture, if you get what I mean, in order to fill up all the pixels.

Do you know what transmitter you receive your BBC, etc. from?

The Cush

BrianD wrote: »

the UK channels are on Freeview which is MPEG2 and a lower quality then Saorview which is MPEG4.

BrianD wrote: »

I thought that MPEG4 both allowed more channels to be fitted and because of the compression allowed better quality over MPEG2?

For the same picture quality as MPEG-4 the MPEG-2 video compression standard requires more Mbps (mux capacity), so less capacity available for other channels/services.

The Cush

byte wrote: »

@Eye of Orion: A problem I notice with many "flatscreens" is that they struggle with lower quality analogue transmissions. I'd imagine this is down to the inbuilt upscalers, which "amplify" the graininess as much as the picture, if you get what I mean, in order to fill up all the pixels.

I'd agree with that. When I got my first LCD flatscreen, replacing a smaller CRT, the analogue picture didn't look good at all - especially analogue VHF. They appear much better suited for digital transmission.

@Eye of Orion - Was your older TV a CRT (glass tube) type?

Eye of Orion wrote: »

Also, the Rte Jr station is comign up as invalid and so is the rte one + 1 station.

Both were probably off-air when you tuned in the TV.

Antenna

byte wrote: »

Do you know what transmitter you receive your BBC, etc. from?

If the OP doesn't know this, perhaps post the UHF channel number (or else frequency) that each UK channel is received at, and someone else could say from that what it is.

Should be possible to see in tuning menu - the attached picture is tuning menu on some LG TV (not a very recent one) when receiving a very weak analogue on UHF Ch22

Eye of Orion

Should be possible to see in tuning menu - the attached picture is tuning menu on some LG TV (not a very recent one) when receiving a very weak analogue on UHF Ch22

Thanks for the reply, that menu is the exact same as the one I have.

When I found BBC 1 it was through band: V/UHF and channel 22, after a search and BBC 1 found, the channel switched to 39.

So any other suggestions?

BrianD

Has anything else changed since you bought the TV e.g aerials?

Eye of Orion

Has anything else changed since you bought the TV e.g aerials?

Nope, no new aerials or anything

Galway

Eye of Orion wrote: »

Thanks for the reply, that menu is the exact same as the one I have.

When I found BBC 1 it was through band: V/UHF and channel 22, after a search and BBC 1 found, the channel switched to 39.

So any other suggestions?

It sounds like your receiving from Strabane analogue BBC1 39 BBC2 45 UTV 49 CH4 42. Are your aerial rods vertical? I guess you must be over around the Lifford area as I believe the 2kw signal is nulled to the west. It might be advisable to stick with Strabane until ASO in NI, as some of the Brougher Mt analogue channels - BBC1 22 BBC2 28 UTV 25 CH4 32 are co channel with DTT from Castlebar Mux ch. 22 and Mux 2 ch. 25, as are 2 of the DTT Muxes from Holywell Hill - channels 25 & 32, though I am not sure which are active from HH.

Eye of Orion

It sounds like your receiving from Strabane analogue BBC1 39 BBC2 45 UTV 49 CH4 42. Are your aerial rods vertical? I guess you must be over around the Lifford area as I believe the 2kw signal is nulled to the west. It might be advisable to stick with Strabane until ASO in NI, as some of the Brougher Mt analogue channels - BBC1 22 BBC2 28 UTV 25 CH4 32 are co channel with DTT from Castlebar Mux ch. 22 and Mux 2 ch. 25, as are 2 of the DTT Muxes from Holywell Hill - channels 25 & 32, though I am not sure which are active from HH.


Thanks for the reply Galway. Indeed, I am close to lifford, about 10 mins drive. Yes, those channels u listed are the ones I find them through. The aerial is vertical also.

A few things, what are ASO, brougher Mt, DTT etc.

I will see if I can get good pictures through the ones u listed also

Galway

Eye of Orion wrote: »

Thanks for the reply Galway. Indeed, I am close to lifford, about 10 mins drive. Yes, those channels u listed are the ones I find them through. The aerial is vertical also.

A few things, what are ASO, brougher Mt, DTT etc.

I will see if I can get good pictures through the ones u listed also

ASO - analogue switch off.
DTT - digital terrestrial television.
Brougher Mountain - often referred to as the 'Enniskillen' transmitter in the south - one of the 3 main transmitters in NI.

I can confirm your UK analogue channels are currently received from the Strabane relay with a power of 2KW, though this may well be less to the west.

Forget the Brougher Mt. channels for analogue UK channels. See if your DTT can be received from Holywell Hill. Where do your RTE/TV3/TG4 analogue channels come in on your TV, i.e. which number channels?