Help - Telly Problems!

[timsk]

Help - Telly Problems!
Our trusty 15 year old telly suffered a coronary last week and so yesterday was spent trawling around electrical retailers, rather than relaxing in the sun with a cold beer, or two, or three. We returned home with a sleek, svelte, slimline new telly and a big hole in our savings account. I protested to my wife at the time that a cheap 'n' cheerful machine would serve our purposes just fine and we could put some additional money into my trading account. The comment didn't even get a reply! Worth a try though. Oh well, at least she'll be happy, with 'ambient' sound effects and that richer sharper picture. Watching Changing Rooms will be a whole new and (even more!!!) exciting televisual experience for her. Except it won't. The picture is rubbish, much worse than that of the deceased machine. I suspect it's the signal and / or aerial, as the picture on the telly in the shop was excellent. I will go back the the retailer and ask them about this, but as I'm a technological Luddite, I thought I'd canvass the views of T2W members first. I don't want to be sold additional gizmo's that I don't want or need in order to solve what I pray is a simple problem. I just want a sharp picture on the 4 main channels. (Can't get a picture at all on ITV1 with the new telly). Any ideas anyone?
Tim.

 

[ChartMan]

Check that the aerial connections don't have a short inside them..... Try another TV.... You didn't say if you took the model that you ACTUALLY saw working in the shop....

 

[Mr. Charts]

Hi Tim,
I think you can buy a signal booster very cheaply and that might help, but I'd be inclined to take the TV back to the shop, complain and ask for them to plug it in. You could then tell if the TV was ok or if the problem is in your house. I assume the aerial is atop your roof so the signal should be good across the hills and moors. However, check if there is a crane or major works in line between your house and the local transmitter.
Check with your neighbours - it might be the local transmitter.
What on earth would you want ITV1 for? They don't do programs, only mindless drivel.
Best wishes,
Richard

 

[TheBramble]

Tim, I presume the old set was a smaller screen?

I doubt the signal has got much to do with it. A bigger screen will appear harsher than the smaller one. You're simply seeing more of the rubbish signal in greater detail!

Unless you're running a new-fangled flat plasma which should be wonderfully forgiving whatever the signal, it's more likely it's just the screen size. I was similarly disappointed and no additional effort by TV engineers made much difference.

I've found the signal through sky even for the terrestrial stations gives better quality, but that might just be a local thing.

Of course, you could try the above suggestions and they may help.

 

[chump]

How did you set the channels on the new box? When I replaced ours I had to tune it in to the correct channels..then presto it was fine.

 

[timsk]

Chartman,
"check that the aerial connections don't have a short inside them". No, no, worry not, I'm sure they're all long, LOL. Sorry, a tad too technical for me, I'm afraid! However, I'd be surprised if the aerial was at fault as it's only 2 years old. And no, I didn't buy the set I saw working in the shop; I bought the same model from another shop, £60.00 cheaper. I'm reasonably confident the problem revolves around reception.

Richard,
A booster may be the answer, thanks. Rest assured, I don't watch ITV1, but some members of the household are addicted to programmes like Bad Girls. :cheesy:

The Bramble,
Size isn't an issue, honestly darling! Sorry, too much Sangria at lunchtime. The screen size of the old and new sets is the same. The old telly was a bulky CRT, whereas the new one is a flat screen LCD affair.

Chump,
I haven't set the channels myself. It's an automatic plug 'n' play machine that does it all by its clever little self. Maybe I'll try and tune it myself, but I'm not hopeful that I can find a better signal than the telly's own built in search facility?!

Thanks for your help everyone. anyone else got anything to add?
Cheers,
Tim.

 

[TheBramble]

A booster may be the answer, thanks

One thing 'our chap' did come up with was that we had TOO MUCH signal coming through. So he slapped a resistor (or something) in line with the cable. Didn't make any difference to the picture, but he seemed pleased with himself.

 

[mutantcar]

I'm with Chump Tim.

My experience of auto-tuning is they pick up ANY signal they can find, have you checked ALL the channels it found, maybe 5,6,7,8 +. You may have signals coming from different transmitters, it may have put the weaker ones on 1-4.

If you're using the same aerial, leads etc. it should be at least as good as the old TV.

 

[Bluewave]

I'd go with what Bramble said... you're just seeing a clearer, less forgiving picture of the present noise coming down your aerial. I'm afraid LCD TVs, while being sharp and very suitable for PC work, are not, in my humble opinion, the best medium for TV

It's stupidly frustrating getting a good picture on CRT screens, without having every little interference problem highlighted due to LCD technology. It'd drive me nuts I am sure, and is one reason why watching TV without glasses is less distracting

And yes, auto-tuning is cool if you live in direct sight of a transmitter, but being in South Devon I would guess you will need to manually tune a few stations... time to reach for the manual.

Perhaps someone can answer this: with one of those "Freeview" digital boxes, would one expect to get a better picture for terrestrial channels? Surely they also rely on the aerial, so if you're not getting a good signal from the start, you'll still have problems? After all, digital radios still have aerials don't they, and mobile phones constantly lose the signal - bit of a con really, because digital radio is sold to the public as being "crystal clear".

 

[mutantcar]

Bluewave,

Freeview is much like digital satellite in that your picture is either get a very good, very bad or none at all. You get dropouts & breaks in sound if you have a weak signal / poor aerial.

There are some good websites around that tell you what your signal should be like for Freeview & what type of aerial you might need.

 

[RogerM]

We can't get a decent freeview picture in our area of S.Devon.

If this is a new all-singing-all-dancing-flute-playing-gizmo-laden TV, could you be replacing an old analogue TV with a digital one? We had to return our digibox for a cash refund because the digital signal was too weak, although the analogue one is fine.