WTF is wrong with digital TV?

[mick_dundee]

With all the glitches and shit that are going on with the picture now it's barely worth watching, not f'n happy jan!!!

[King Nicholas]

My TV died earlier this week and I am really happy without it.
I am so glad my housemate is broke as I want to live without a TV for while to see how it goes.
If she wants to buy a TV, cool, if not, cool.
Give it a go Mick.
As I told my distraught housemate "You might have to actually do something now."

[Ratmick]

Has your antenna shifted, or the line of sight to the transmitter been blocked by spring foliage?

I shifted mine a few metres a few years back, a gum tree grew in the wrong direction and when it was wet the signal died in the arse. Alas it didn't save the tree, I eventually had it cut down as it was overhanging the house.

I had some issues a few weeks back with the new Plasma. worked out the bearing to the transmitter from my place via Google Maps, moved the antenna about 15 degrees to the left and it's been good since...didn't think it would make much difference, but it did.

Mick

[MickLC]

Yeah, reception problems that would've given you a bit of graininess or ghosting on analogue will give you a lot more trouble with a digital signal. Our old antenna and dodgy cabling wasn't up to the task even with line-of-sight to the transmitter, but a new one with new cabling has been perfect.

[mick_dundee]

Well have to move house soon so not going to be spending any money on an atennae that isn't mine and won't be coming with me, guess i'll jump on the roof tomrrow and swing it around a bit see if that helps.

[ttc]

We get pretty good reception with the LCD upstairs using bunny ears

[Smitty]

Well have to move house soon so not going to be spending any money on an atennae that isn't mine and won't be coming with me, guess i'll jump on the roof tomrrow and swing it around a bit see if that helps.

Mick
look for the Dandenongs..and aim for the middle
thats where your transmitters are

[craig]

you dont need a new antenna just upgrade the co-axial cable to quad shielded and as said by others check alignment........... usually works

[mike-s]

I had some issues a few weeks back with the new Plasma. worked out the bearing to the transmitter from my place via Google Maps, moved the antenna about 15 degrees to the left and it's been good since...didn't think it would make much difference, but it did.

Nice bit of work there

[Wardy]

you dont need a new antenna just upgrade the co-axial cable to quad shielded and as said by others check alignment........... usually works

You may also need to change the antenna. The old antennas are usually wide band and will pick up more noise which results in the impulse noise/glitches on the tv. You need to choose a digital antenna for the specific band for your area. Also replace all coax with RG6 quad shield, use F-type wall plates and RG6 quad shield fly leads, replace any existing masthead amps and splitters. It usually isn't a problem in high signal strength areas but the fringe areas are worse obviously. If your in a fringe area and having problems you really should consult an installer that actually has the test equipment for digital, they should be able to tell you the bit error rate, signal strength etc. The guys without the test equipment are just having an educated guess, which is fine in the high signal areas but elsewhere not so good.

Another thing to check is that all your earth cables in the meter box are soldered together. You find when you get additional electrical work done some guys are dodgey and don't do this. Air con guys seem to be the worst and some aren't even qualified sparkies. This will definately cause issues.

Good luck

[mike-s]

If i plug my tv or anything else straight into the antennae i get a horrible 50Hz buzzing through my speakers. I think that for some reason the pre-amp in the unit roof is feeding some voltage into its output, i think this is called a ground loop. A simple fix is to make an electrical isolator or a surge protector if you've got one.

[Ratmick]

My place used to be wired up with 300ohm ribbon, no wonder the signal was shite.

It's all RG6 Quad now.

Mick

[Wardy]

Also don't run your coax parallel with the electrical cabling or worse yet cable tied to them this will also induce noise. Try to seperate them as much as possible. It is ok to cross perpendicular perpendicular if you have to.

[mick_dundee]

Well picture was pretty damn fine tonight, and i've done nothing, maybe the rain cleaned some shite off the antennae or something anyways, spose I can live it have to move in a month or so anyyways

[oldmanmike]

If the antenna has been up for more than a few years, take it down and clean the oxidisation off all the elements with some soapy water and steel wool.
As others have said, low grade co-ax or ribbon cable just will not cut it, make sure you use good quality quad shield cable and if you have any splitters change then for the better quality "f" connector sealed type

more info can be found here..http://www.dtvforum.info/

btw. motogp doesn't start again til april '10, so you have a little time