*&^%$%^!! Freeview

[David Challinor]

love our modern age. up at 6am this morning to Wales's triumph in the rugby, to find 'ITV1' not available =
'Freeview signal poor quality or too low level' & it's still like that 3 hours later. ...I'm not in some rural backwater but deepest surrey.
This never happened 1967-2009 when I enjoyed analogue. I wonder what the pubs round here are doing for england v france???? Cheers Tessa Jowell and co!
Lucky I have a laptop (£1,000) and net link (£20 a month) ....those who don't have no access I suppose

[julian_craster]

One of the annoying things about Freeview is that in some areas, the non-BBC channels transmit at only 20% of the power of the BBC multiplex, which rules out a stable picture Film Four, Yesterdays, ITV4 etc for many viewers !

Why should one have to keep upgrading one's ariel just to receive certain channels ?

[CaptainWaggett]

One of the annoying things about Freeview is that in some areas, the non-BBC channels transmit at only 20% of the power of the BBC multiplex, which rules out a stable picture Film Four, Yesterdays, ITV4 etc for many viewers !

Why should one have to keep upgrading one's ariel just to receive certain channels ?

Yes, my reception for Yesterday and Film4 comes and goes which is annoying as they're really the only non-BBC channels I watch much of. Supposedly the Freeview signal is boosted when analogue is switched off - is this the experience of people who live in Freeview-only areas?

[Timmy_Lea]

Mine works fine. . .

[Nick Dando]

The changeover to full digital happened at the end of August for my area (East Midlands) and the signal quality is worse than it was before the cessation of analogue. BBC2 has a problem with sound drop-outs and green flashes with the associated digital screech. Some signals are very poor with lots of pixellation.

I had to spend a lot of time tuning and retuning to reach the best compromise on signal strength and picture quality, but it's still not good enough.

The backward march of technology.

Nick

[batman]

We keep losing Yesterday, C4 and Film4 .... BBC4 has disappeared completely on a couple of occasions. Dave and Challenge (which The Boy Wonder loves) have gone completely. It's really annoying 'cos I record a lot of stuff on BBC4, Yesterday and Film4 and the ones from the last few days have failed. We upgraded our aerial the last time they fiddled with it and it has made no difference at all.

Is anyone else having a problem with their remote control taking ages to work?

[Johnallan]

I've never had a problem here on the Lancashire coast. In fact my Freeview picture seem to be more stable in stormy weather than my satellite reception - though the audio is not quite as loud.

[jimw1]

Is anyone else having a problem with their remote control taking ages to work?

Yes Ive had that Problem for a while' Replaced batteries but still not working properly...........

[jaycad]

Is anyone else having a problem with their remote control taking ages to work?

Yes,my Sky+ remote has been taking ages to work over the last couple of days so it's not just Freeview,my remote will take longer to work now that I've broken the infra-red cover by stamping on it!
The problems I have with Freeview on my bedroom TV are picture freezing and jumping accompanied by loud 'squeaks' on all BBC channels and 'Dave'-I used to leave BBC News on all night but due to the 'squeaks' have to put on BBCradio4ex or BBC Radio3 instead.

[smudge]

Ever since the completion of the changes here we have had far more 'bad or no signal' breakdowns...

Smudge

[Wee Sonny MacGregor]

It's BBC1 and BBC2 I have a problem with on Freeview - the rest are OK. This is odd, given that my local TV man reckons the ITV signals are weaker. I'm wondering about investing in a freesat recorder.

[MikeB]

Nick - I'm having the same problem -my transmitter is Waltham, and BBC/others are dropping out since changeover.

However, this should improve, because (hopefully), the work on the transmitter will be completed soon (see Freeview on Waltham TV transmitter | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice for details). On the other hand, since I'm really in the Sandy Heath area, rather than Waltham (the bloke who put up the ariel said that was the strongest signal at the time), it might end up with me having to move the ariel around to face Sandy Heath. But hopefully, it will be fine after the final retune on the 12th.

I suspect many of you are having the same problem - in the runup to switchover the signal strength is about a 10th of what it should be, and you can get swamping from other transmitters, and of course a marginal signal is going to have problems until the power is up to full strength. Hopefully, they will get there in the end. have a look at ukfree.tv & digitaluk to check out your transmitter.

If any of you really can't get Digital via Freeview, then you could try Freesat, but you will have to buy and install a dish, plus as many LNB's and cables as you have TV's and recorders/tuners. Think Sky Multi-room. And in bad weather, even sat. signals can break up. But you get (according to a customer today) better pictures and more HD channels. And Samsung have just started making Freesat PVR's and putting Freesat tuners in their top end tellies, although Panasonic has stopped putting them in anything but their top end models. We tend to sell mostly Freeview PVR's now, rather than Freesat.

My Sony HDD is taking a little longer to work at the moment sometimes, and this could be something to do with the signal, but the other thing it could be is dust on the infra red transmitter/receiver - a little wipe with a cloth might sort it.

[Wolfgang]

Have you tried amplifier? I have no signal problems after hooking one up to my aerial.

[Wee Sonny MacGregor]

I use an amp - it doesn't sort out the BBC1 and BBC2 problem. I invested in a satellite dish from Maplins and is works well without any problems whatosever. The only snag is that my recorder is a Freeview recorder. It will record Freesat but only if that is the channel one is watching.

[batman]

Dave and Challenge have now reappeared and Yesterday, Film4 and BBC4 now seem to functioning OK. The remote is still really slow at times though.

[Nick Dando]

Mike, thanks for the link to Waltham as that's also the transmitter I'm receiving from. Let's hope that they sort out it as quickly as possible.

Nick

[Dame Starry]

Is anyone else having a problem with their remote control taking ages to work?

I only have that problem when the batteries need changing, Bats.

Apart from the usual occasional pixelation, I haven't had any problems......touching wood! I watch a lot of Yesterday and Challenge too (although I do draw the line at John Leslie) and it's been fine.

Have a look at the Freeview help page: Freeview / Home / Resolutions / About Freeview availability / Aerial information / Why am I having problems with my reception?

[Timmy_Lea]

Is anyone else having a problem with their remote control taking ages to work?

Get a universal remote? Harmony 300 is good.

[Dame Starry]

Get a universal remote? Harmony 300 is good.

It's a lot cheaper to try new batteries first - and universal remotes are really limited in what they can do. It's getting easier and easier to get replacement original remotes now anyway.

[batman]

I have changed the batteries and have tried a universal remote. Neither has made any difference. Sometimes it works fine but at other times it is very slow and has 'locked', necessitating turning the power on and off to get it going again.