Getting ready for saorview, opinions and advice

ahnowbrowncow

I'm buying a new tv, I'd like 1080p but 22" is a bit too big for where it's going and I can't find any reasonably priced 19" 1080p tvs though so looks like it'll have to be HD ready

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005FVJ5FA/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Toshiba-19BL502B-19-inch-Widescreen-Freeview/dp/B00778ENKQ/ref=sr_1_6?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1347372471&sr=1-6

I'm assuming both of these will be able to get saorview without a box, which would you recommend?
I'm leaning towards the samsung because of the two hdmi ports, dvi port and being lighter and looking slimmer.

I also have another tv that I'd like to set up with saorview, it's a Toshiba 26AV615D. It has freeview but for whatever reason I very rarely get any signal for those freeview channels though (film4, itv3, kerrang etc) sometimes fuzzy and blurry and sometimes no signal at all. I can get all the RTE radio stations perfectly though.
It has all the Irish analogue channels and some English ones bb1/2, Itv and Channel 4. The quality of the bbc channels have decreased in the past few months, I'm guessing it's because they're shutting down the analogue soon.

I'm guessing I'll have to buy a box to get saorview for this tv, will I be able to get the freeview or freesat stations? I live close to the border and right beside the mast in monaghan and I think I have a UHF wideband outdoor aerial. (Aerial seems to be pointing west, mast is towards the north?)

Will this argos set top box be suitable for saorview and freeview?
http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/5322745/Trail/searchtext%3ESAORVIEW.htm

Thanks in advance

Peter Rhea

The Samsung 19" tv is on the Saorview approved list. The Toshiba 19" isn't approved, but may work: you'd have to find a spec. sheet to see if it decodes MPEG4 HD video.

EDIT: The manual says DVB-T MPEG2, so no use for Saorview if that's all it can handle.

Your aerial pointing west could be for the Brougher Mountain transmitter for UK channels (would be more northwest), southwest would be towards Cairn Hill (Longford), for analogue TV3, which isn't transmitted from Monaghan.

NIMAN

Don't worry about getting 1080p Full HD for a 19" TV - far too small to worry about it.
1080p is really only noticeable around the 42" and above TVs.

HD Ready will suffice.

zg3409

For the toshiba the best box would be to go to the north and buy a Freeview HD box. After October scan again and see what channels you get. They may all come in fine. If not you might need a professionally installed TV aerial.

You could opt for FreeSAT but that would require a box and a dish for both televisions.

ahnowbrowncow

I got the samsung tv in the end.

I'm a bit disappointed tbh because I'm only getting a few freeview stations.
I can get bbc parliament and cbbc :rolleyes: and lots of bbc radio stations and they are of perfect quality, and for some reason I'm missing bbc, itv, channel 4. I'm still getting the analogue version of bbc 1,2 , itv and channel 4 just not the digital versions.

So is there any way to get those channels as well as the rest of the freeview channels like e4, dave, bbc 3 etc?

Saorview stations are working perfectly.

Peter Rhea

The fact that you have any Freeview reception atm is a good sign. You'll have to wait until switchover is complete on 24th October to see where you stand wrt reliable reception of all Freeview services.

FREETV

He may need to change his cable, align his aerial, get a bigger high gain Group A aerial and possibly check or add a new masthead amp. You should be receiving a lot more stations than that at your location at the moment, is your aerial mounted high above the roof level?

Peter Rhea

FREETV wrote: »

You should be receiving a lot more stations than that at your location at the moment

Not necessarily, especially if the signal is coming from Brougher. There was a deterioration of the analogue signal mentioned in the OP, so it's possible the aerial system requires some attention.

ahnowbrowncow

Peter Rhea wrote: »

Not necessarily, especially if the signal is coming from Brougher. There was a deterioration of the analogue signal mentioned in the OP, so it's possible the aerial system requires some attention.

I'm literally only 500m south of the transmitter in monaghan that is shown on the saorview coverage checker (http://www.saorview.ie/make-the-switch/coverage-map/) so I'm guessing that would be where I'm getting the signal from even though the aerial is pointing west instead of north. I'd say the cable is quite old too if that would make much of a difference to the signal? Aerial is mounted about 3 or 4 foot above roof level.

There's actually another smaller aerial on the mast aligned vertically pointing east, I'm guessing towards clermont carn.

So should I just get someone out to check the aerial now or wait until the end of October to see how the reception of the freeview channels is then? Should I attempt to align the aerial myself?

And thanks to everyone for the replies

Peter Rhea

If you have an aerial for Clermont, the west pointing one will be on Brougher Mtn. There's a possibility the Divis (Belfast) transmitter might prove a better option after switchover, though it will actually be a help to the Brougher signal if you can't receive Divis. Wait until after October 24th & see if you can receive the full service from Brougher reliably.

There's no reason to choose Clermont over Monaghan now, as Saorview is the same from all transmitters. As mentioned already, Monaghan did not carry analogue TV3 (& TG4 disappeared a couple of months ago). This aerial can be changed to horizontal polarisation & realigned on Monaghan, but you'll have to beware of signal overload, being so close to the transmitter.