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TV Aerials

Posted: January 12th, 2019, 3:23 pm
by bruncher
We've moved our TV to a room that has no wall socket connection to the roof aerial. I bought a highly-rated RGTech Monarch indoor aerial but this produces nothing better than a length of coax cable.

Another issue is that we have a rail line nearby and fast trains disrupt the TV signal, unless I take the signal via our Humax box. Picture quality not quite as nice as direct from the Panasonic TV. Nothing is simple.

I tried NOW TV earlier this week, but found it cumbersome to use. And the total lack of customer service - no phone support, no email support, the 'live chat' not working - led me to return the device and cancel the service (also told my bank not to honour any Direct Debits from them in case my online request to cancel has not worked).

Ideally we would watch 'live' TV via the internet, but I am not aware of any service ..... please advise if you know if this is possible.

Re: TV Aerials

Posted: January 12th, 2019, 3:49 pm
by mc2fool
bruncher wrote:We've moved our TV to a room that has no wall socket connection to the roof aerial. I bought a highly-rated RGTech Monarch indoor aerial but this produces nothing better than a length of coax cable.

And I take it that putting a wall socket in the new room, running either directly from the aerial or from the old room, isn't practical?

For aerial and related matters (including if your indoor one should be up to scratch) I recommend the DigitalSpy Terrestrial forums, in particular the Technical one, there's a lot of pretty knowledgeable posters there. https://forums.digitalspy.com/categories/terrestrial

bruncher wrote:Ideally we would watch 'live' TV via the internet, but I am not aware of any service ..... please advise if you know if this is possible.

You can watch live TV over the internet via any of the main broadcasters' players, e.g. iPlayer for all of the BBC channels, ITV Player for all of their channels and All4 for all of the Channel 4 channels, and UKTV Player for Dave and the like, but you need a device to run those on, i.e. a Smart TV or a dumb one with a connected gadget, and if you are a fan of the likes of the Horror channel, True Entertainment, etc, etc, you're stuck.

Re: TV Aerials

Posted: January 12th, 2019, 4:12 pm
by bungeejumper
We have the opposite problem. Or perhaps I should say, the inverse problem. :) Our roof aerial can't get a decent signal because we have a line of electricity pylons about 500 yards away from our house, and the high tension cables sit right between our roof aerial and the line of sight to the Mendip transmitter.

So I bought an amplified aerial (branded One for All, IIRC), and stuck it in the downstairs window, where it misses the line of sight to the cables and gets a perfect signal. There isn't a moral to be drawn here, except that finding the perfect spot for an aerial can be a matter of trial and error. You may end up needing to run a coax to another room after all?

Fluorescent street signs, such as shop signs, used to be a popular source of problems in some urban locations. How's your radio reception?

BJ

Re: TV Aerials

Posted: January 12th, 2019, 5:54 pm
by bruncher
You can watch live TV over the internet via any of the main broadcasters' players, e.g. iPlayer for all of the BBC channels, ITV Player for all of their channels and All4 for all of the Channel 4 channels, and UKTV Player for Dave and the like, but you need a device to run those on, i.e. a Smart TV or a dumb one with a connected gadget


Which gadget would you recommend? I tried a NOW TV stick which plugged into an HDMI socket on the TV, but I did not find any 'live' broadcasting available. Maybe I just didn't work out how to use it.

How's your radio reception?

No problems - we have a Pure DAB radio

Re: TV Aerials

Posted: January 12th, 2019, 8:00 pm
by mc2fool
bruncher wrote:
You can watch live TV over the internet via any of the main broadcasters' players, e.g. iPlayer for all of the BBC channels, ITV Player for all of their channels and All4 for all of the Channel 4 channels, and UKTV Player for Dave and the like, but you need a device to run those on, i.e. a Smart TV or a dumb one with a connected gadget

Which gadget would you recommend? I tried a NOW TV stick which plugged into an HDMI socket on the TV, but I did not find any 'live' broadcasting available. Maybe I just didn't work out how to use it.

I can't recommend any personally, I've got a smart TV. :D

Re: TV Aerials

Posted: January 13th, 2019, 1:31 am
by elkay
You should maybe have a look at Roku devices. Now TV sticks are based on Roku hardware but restricted to Now TV apps. Roku has a large collection of apps. Including NowTV, Netflix, Amazon Prime video, iplayer, ITV Hub etc, but there is also a live TV app called TVPLAYER. I haven't tried it myself, and it has mixed reviews, but it might meet your needs.

Regards
elkay

Re: TV Aerials

Posted: January 15th, 2019, 3:53 pm
by bruncher
We've moved the TV back to a room with better reception until we buy a 'smart' TV

Re: TV Aerials

Posted: February 15th, 2019, 6:20 pm
by fourtwentyfour
Be careful, smart tvs are only smart for a few years and then they aren't supported and apps don't work. Youtube and iPlayer, for example, now need more cpu than a five year old tv has. My experience with 3 Panasonic tvs.

In the old days a tv would last 15 years or more, and be repairable.

Re: TV Aerials

Posted: February 18th, 2019, 12:40 pm
by didds
this may be derailing the thread - aplogies of so, but Im following up on a coupl;e of p[osts.

If "smart" TVs have a limited in effect shelf life, what is the go-forward alternative - the ROKU stick mentioned? and if that becomes redundant then something similar will apear in eg 5 years time to take its place and overall its a cheap alternative compared to a whole new TV?

I ask cos my wife is convinced we need a new TV - we have two or three old TVs of what i regard as a suitable "size" that all have HDMI connections. We use chroimecast currently. The room this TV we cUrrently use does not have tv aerial connection (I raised a tangential query around this topic a few weeks ago).

didds

Re: TV Aerials

Posted: February 18th, 2019, 2:45 pm
by Infrasonic
^^ Have a look at mini PC's from the HDMI stick versions up to the NUC/shuttle variations by Intel, Zotac et al.
Android/Linux/W10 OS' (or Mac...) variations available, just watch out for the really cheap Android one's as they tend to be very limited in what they can do beyond absolute basics.

https://www.google.com/search?q=best+mi ... e&ie=UTF-8
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... ini+pc%27s

Re: TV Aerials

Posted: February 18th, 2019, 3:03 pm
by SalvorHardin
I use an Amazon fire stick, through an HDMI connection, on a TV which doesn't have an aerial. Everything on it is streaming video via the internet.

I mostly use it for Nextflix and Amazon Prime Video, but you can run the BBC iPlayer, ITV and Channel 4 apps on it. I believe that there is a TV Player app available for it which gets all of the Freeview channels.

You don't need to have an Amazon Prime subscription to use it.

Re: TV Aerials

Posted: February 22nd, 2019, 1:41 pm
by bruncher
SalvorHardin wrote:I use an Amazon fire stick, through an HDMI connection, on a TV which doesn't have an aerial. Everything on it is streaming video via the internet.

I mostly use it for Nextflix and Amazon Prime Video, but you can run the BBC iPlayer, ITV and Channel 4 apps on it. I believe that there is a TV Player app available for it which gets all of the Freeview channels.

You don't need to have an Amazon Prime subscription to use it.


This sounds OK. Can you watch 'live' TV? I guess the answer is yes since BBC iPlayer allows that for some programs.

Re: TV Aerials

Posted: February 22nd, 2019, 1:56 pm
by SalvorHardin
bruncher wrote:This sounds OK. Can you watch 'live' TV? I guess the answer is yes since BBC iPlayer allows that for some programs.

Yes, you guessed correctly :D