Freeview…well.. almost.. f**king thing wont work

[LeviathanRan]

My grandad got me a freeview box for my birthday.

so I go to set it up in my room for a night of TV watching… nope! not today craig!

after discovering it DOESN’T come with a scart cable which is required to work the fecking thing… and then running around the house trying to find one… i get it all hooked up and scanned through…
but hardly any of the fuggin channles work!!

there is no bbc1,bbc2,bbc3,itv2,itv3,etc etc etc

what the fuggin hell’s going on? I HATE IT when something says on the box
“easy to install” and then something like this f**king happens… god i want to thump someone!

[!][!][!][!][!][!]

[Gix]

You got a digital aerial? I had to buy a digital aerial before mine would work proper.

[LeviathanRan]

it says on the box it will work with a terestrial aerial though…grr… how much are digital aerials? : <

[Gix]

Mine was £14.99 from Argos, but there were cheaper ones. Think the cheapest was about a tenner.

[LeviathanRan]

what needs to be done when i buy this aerial? just sit it on my tv and hook it all up?

[Gix]

plug it into the freeview box and into mains, analogue aerial stays in back of telly

[LeviathanRan]

and then the digital aerial goes into the back of the box, and I watch it thru the scart plug I assume? lol

thanks Gix Hope this work, I’ll let you know xxx

[Gix]

Yes, with mine, there is a scart from telly to box, the regular aerial stays put, then the digital has a lead to the mains, and a lead to the freeview box. Be wise in your location of aerial though, cos if its an indoor one (mine is – cheaper LOL), it will upset the reception if its too close to things like digital phone bases and sometimes when I walk about too close to antenna. HTH[]

[LeviathanRan]

hehe that’s fine hun! I know aaalll about electronic feilds it’s like my sterio..
If i have it turned on and playing music and my TV is on as well It crackles and makes a beep sound lol

Thanks for the help Gix xxx

[imperialdata]

Most terrestrial aerials will work fine. If you get a good reception on analogue (ie channels 1 to 5) then you should be OK getting a half decent signal on Freeview. Have you plugged the old tv aerial into the freeview box Levi? You need to do this and then you use the scart to connect the Freeview box to the tv. If you are using a video recorder, this can be used in the setup as well. Let me know your setup and I’ll try to help.

If you do decide to take it back, I recommend hard drive recorders with digital freeview built in. So much better quality than video cassette, you wouldn’t go back to tape.

[LeviathanRan]

It was a gift from my grandad, I’m not taking it back!

But yeah, the setup is as you mentioned.
However it isn’t the main aerial, it’s from an extension cable from downstairs you see.
Could that be the problem? apart from that the setup is as you mentioned.

[imperialdata]

How is the normal reception on your TV using the extension aerial cable direct into the back (ie without the freeview box plugged in)? If it is good then it may be a duff Freeview box or scart lead/socket. Any other TV’s to try it on?

[Gix]

ID, dont you need digital reception to receive digital pictures? I couldnt get mine to work without a digital aerial, and I dont have an extension on my terrestrial aerial….

[imperialdata]

Nope, most standard terrestrial aerials will do the trick if they are receiving with good signal strength. Digital Freeview signals come down these aerials fine.
Otherwise you can do a quick Postcode check to see what reception is like in your area here:

https://www.digitaluk.co.uk/

[imperialdata]

May also be worth doing a re-scan. Many boxes will show your signal strength during this scan. I think http://www.freeview.co.uk has some info on this.

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