Demistify the Digital Switchover

[4eyes2wheels 0]

Help me please.

 

I have Sky in the living room so no problem there. In the kitchen we have old school TV, analogue using the aerial. A few years ago we bought a cheapo Sagem set top box that got us a couple more channels but reception wasn't great and it got stuck in the drawer. Now the switchover has happened and and the analogue signal has gone, out came the Sagem box but got NOTHING!

 

Am I right in saying the minimum we need is Freeview with a one off subscription? So my Sagem box is scrap?

[GlosterOx 0]

Have you tried rescanning it thru' the menu to see if it will lock onto any stations? Freeview is free, there is no subscription needed for the free-to-air stations!!

 

Ian.

[4eyes2wheels 0]

I have rescanned and come up with NOTHING.

[floppyman 0]

Was that one of those £10 argos boxes?? I had to go and buy a more priced box.

[Critical_Mass 10]

Maybe worth buying a signal booster box too, just fits inline with the ariel and tv

[davidwort 0]

firstly, you need a wideband aerial or you just won't pick up some (lots) of the multiplexes, digital channels are broadcast together in groups on individual frequencies. An old TV aerial (10 years or so old) will probably not be wideband, the first set top box I ever tried with a non-wideband aerial only picked up a handful of the freeview channels.

In theory, once the analogue signals in your area are switched off the digital signals should be boosted, so that should mean previously weak signal areas (breaking up in rain etc) should get more reliable, but you still need a wideband aerial.

I know some early freeview receivers failed to work after a subtle change in the freeview system in about 2005, particularly some early sony freeview TV's, your set-top box may have the same problem, if it has stored channels you may get some, but the program info would probably be wrong now, chances are the box will have lost it's previous stored channels by now and may well do if you re-scan.

 

so there's plenty to go on :) I'd imagine that you'd be best off buying a new cheap freview box, a lot of the early ones were really badly made and both software and hardware was pretty unreliable, in my experience anyway!

Working freeview and you should have 100+ free to air TV and radio channels.

[4eyes2wheels 0]

The Sagem box is from 2006 and I can't remember it costing much. I have one of those powered aerials that plugs into the mains and has the rotating disk but it's a bit old too. Suspect I need to bin that lot and buy a new box and aerial and hope for the best!