Any digital tv guru's?

Firstly.... Digital tv is f@#king shit!

I am over only having channel 7

Channel 10 maybe works twice a week

Haven't had channel 9 in 6 months

This is all pending the weather is 24.3 degrees, winds at 2 knots from the east, no rain and after I have a healthy breakfast

I have had an antenna guy in and he doesn't know why. I had all the channels working well and with full reception but going back about 10 months it all started going downhill. Put in a reception booster and it fixed it for a month but now it is the same shit and it is pissing me off!

Any suggestions are welcome, before I put my tow hitch through the tv!

maybe look into digital tv through the internet?

whats ur address?
are you near pines trees? yes im serious..il explain later
have u relocated ur antenna...a cm can make a difference
a good booster will set u back about $200

What's your location? how old is your cabling? did the antenna guy check all the points in the house? Have all the connectors been checked? How many times does the signal split? Has anything geographic changed in the last 10 months (i.e. building in your path, trees etc)? Do others in your immediate area have the same issue?

Would seem to me going by the limited info at hand that your signal is degrading over time and gradually getting worse which to me would indicate failing equipment or something hampering your signal like trees or building etc.

But yeah Digital tv is shit, since we were forced to dump analogue about 12 months ago we've had many problems and issues, random drop outs, pixelation, channels disappearing and forget watching some channels when a storm is brewing because it's like they switch the signal off when they hear a rumble of thunder.

We've actually got much better reception since we switched to digital, being in a valley we used to have lots of ghosting on analogue and that's gone with digital (as would be expected).

It wasn't cheap for a new high gain antenna, new cabling to 4 points, new wall sockets and a Kingray distribution amplifier though.

We have a perfect picture and no drop outs now though... I don't miss the ghosting that's for sure.

I have no trees, pine trees or any geographic changes. The antenna guy said he had checked all the points and they all seem fine. He said we could change the antenna but to be honest he thought there wouldn't be much difference.

The reception was perfect since we changed to digital but after a year or so it slowly became worse. What I don't get is somedays it would be perfect, then others it would drop out for no reason. I do know that when my hand is on the booster connection, there is an improvement! lol But slightly awkward watching tv with my hand firmly planted on the wall.

We have changed a part in the antenna that was suggested, but it made things worse? Then when we put back the old part, it was back to the previous standard. I am not sure what the part was called

You might need to replace the coax from your aerial to all you points.

just a note also...a booster boosts signal (good and bad) therefore if theres some sort of noise/interference it will also boost that thus causing bad signal picture...the human body does act as good receiver lol and that being said... if it was me i would be replacing antenna as its only job is to receive signal

If it was good a year ago and it's gradually got worse and you still think there is nothing interfering with the signal before it gets to you then it can only lead to degrading equipment. Whether that's cabling, connectors or the things they plug into it would be near impossible to tell without looking at it.

As others have said you could improve the cabling, unfortunately there is not guarantee that is the problem, signal boosters boost crap as well as good signal so that's not a guarantee, you can get tuners and the like that help to remove some of the crap from that boosted signal, you can also get antennas with larger reflectors to help reflect the crap before it goes down the cable. All are reasonably cheap items especially if you can do it yourself but none are guaranteed to fix the issue.

Are any of your neighbours suffering similar issues? If it's a weather effected problem it could be interference in the air from sources you can't control, but the possibilities of that drop if only you are effected unless it's something in your property that's effecting it.

Does the reception change by lowering and raising the antenna? Is it possible to move the antenna a few feet or something? Such thing can make all the difference even if you don't see any physical reason for it.

im an electrician , and do tv points for customers every now and then , how old is your house ? also if the coax cabling is running near large ammounts of electrical cabling in the ceiling it can cause interference , another thing to check is the fly lead from the outlet to the tv .. maybe its on its way out.

if i was you , id start with a new digital ready antenna and run a new coax to you main tv with a new F type connector and see where that gets you... if it works great then all you need is a splitter and connectors and run to the other points within the house....

another thing is maybe ask your neighbours what theres is like etc ?

any questions just pm me

Actually that's another question you should also find an answer too.

How many splitters are already in the line? The more times the signal is split the worse it will be, amps and boosters can only do so much to a degrading signal.

i have used this product before in highrises on levels where they are getting pretty much no channels , to getting every channel perfect , you will require a powerpoint where ever you install it , and if there is more then 1 point , a spliter with a "link cable from the booster to feed the spilter" ...

might be worth a try

http://www.academytv.com.au/products/Kingray-DW32-F-Type-VHF{47}UHF-inc-Power-Supply.html

Appreciate the info guys! I don't really talk to the neighbours lol The cable has only been split once and but it is near 4 lots of 4 powerboards (computer, tv, printer, stereo etc etc) But in saying that, that was already there before we went from analog to digital.

Thanks for that link jarryd, looks like it will be the first option i will go for before I change the antenna!

Would a satellite dish cause interruptions?

The power board could be causing issues but in general one single power board wont, it would be more likely be an item on that board than the board itself, but again nothing is guaranteed.

As for the Sat dish, it could be causing interference but I'd suspect proving it is not going to be easy unless there is some way you can isolate the sat dish reception from the tv reception.

Pretty much anything electrical could cause interference, but that doesn't mean it can or will, fridges, fluros, CFL's, fans, air cons all those things can cause interference, in our old house the electric knife used to kill reception. If you're in a bad reception area sometimes there is just nothing you can do, my parents neighbours can't get WIN, yet mum and dad can on 3 different antenna's. Dad's been in the tv game long enough that he was one of the first techs in the country to play with a colour tv and he's fitted out places like the Aflred Hospital and many large corporate buildings and he still couldn't get any better than ghosting on the neighbours tv and their antenna is about 30 meters from where mum and dads is and no trees in sight, some times some places are just shit out of luck.

A masthead amp might fix your problem, a higher or even better equipped antenna might too but the trouble is you could easily spend $500 on antennas, cables, boosters and amps and have nothing to show for it. If you really aren't that clued up on the system and how it works I'd suggest you ring a different tv bloke, you might still pay them $500 but if they don't fix it you don't have to pay them anything.

I have seen all sorts of devices interfere with digital TV. Baby monitors are a good one. I have even had one set top box that interfered with the others - got rid of it and no more problems. I would suggest trying with everthing else in the house turned off - even fridges/freezers etc and also with all other TV's etc if any unplugged from the antenna system. Might even pay to try another TV or take your TV to a mates and plug in to test to make sure it is ok.

http://www.kingray.net.au/products/matv/matv-satellite-amplifier/MHU34FS

I always run the 22V AC Power Supply.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-MAGN...AU_Television_Accessories&hash=item1c23146c1c

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-MAGN...AU_Television_Accessories&hash=item19c72f46e7

The first one is Similar to what I use.

8 outlets through the house, 130-150m of cable used and there all Crystal Clear.

Make sure the antenna is pointed at the transmission tower.

I used all F-type connections. Crimpers are $50 but are handy to have.

Dont bother with a combination antenna.

4low said:

Firstly.... Digital tv is f@#king shit!

I am over only having channel 7

Channel 10 maybe works twice a week

Haven't had channel 9 in 6 months

This is all pending the weather is 24.3 degrees, winds at 2 knots from the east, no rain and after I have a healthy breakfast

I have had an antenna guy in and he doesn't know why. I had all the channels working well and with full reception but going back about 10 months it all started going downhill. Put in a reception booster and it fixed it for a month but now it is the same shit and it is pissing me off!

Any suggestions are welcome, before I put my tow hitch through the tv!

Click to expand...

Hi there, I had similar problems when I leaved in on the Central Coast NSW, Found the solution was to use RG8 or thicker coax cable, apparantly little black ants and some insects are attracted to the minute electrical impulses that run through the coax (seems to only happen with cheap RG6 cable). I replaced my cable with good quality RG8 cable and good conectors problem fixed. Previous installer had used extremely cheap cable and it had started to disinigrate internally from the little critters. I have now moved to the NT and get my digital through Satellite and an ALTEC DSD4121 reciever box, this set up is available under the NBN co subsidy scheme especially if you are in a designated 'blackout' reception area.

luke91 said:

You might need to replace the coax from your aerial to all you points.

Click to expand...

YEP.....

you must use a Quad 6 coax....for all the runs and even more importantly for the flyleads, cause thats where there is a shitload of electrical noise...fram all the 240V leads and stuff.
Dig TV is very easily effected by electrical interference...too much actually.

Digital tv is shit and the fuckwits in government who authroised the switching off of the analogue system ought to have their arseholes reemed by a very large reeming machine.

Agreed....tho I love dig tv....it reall pisses me off how farkin easily EVERTHING stuffs up reception.