very poor digital tv reception

[WhiteBears]

i have a inbuilt FreeView on my TV and i cant seem to get a good reception, i have aerial lead connected from tv to the booster and booster connected to the indoor tv aerial still cant get full channels only some. most of the time i get no signals. i have moved around the aerial the room some times great pictures now i can only manage to get itv, ch4, ch5, itv2, bbc4, ch4+1, more4, e4, and some radio channels. So frustrating, i thought digital was suppose to be better than analogue!

[Buenchico]

(2-part post):

Firstly, TV transmissions have always been designed to ensure that every household can get good reception if they use a good quality EXTERNAL aerial. (While some people have been able to get good reception with an indoor aerial, because of their proximity to the transmitter, that's never been the intention of the broadcast engineers).

When the digital changeover was planned it was thought that approximately one third of all households would have to buy a better roof-top aerial than their existing one. While the number of households requiring a new aerial has turned out to be considerably lower than that initial estimate, it's hardly surprising that those with poor aerials (particularly indoor ones, which were never guaranteed to get good reception in the first place) have experienced problems.

[Buenchico]

The broadcasters (and the companies who own the transmitters) transmit their signals on the assumption that viewers will be using a good quality aerial, like this one
http://www.maplin.co....e.aspx?ModuleNo=22523
They also assume that viewers who are in a 'fringe' area will have an aerial like this:
http://www.maplin.co.....aspx?moduleno=221124
Using an indoor aerial usually amounts to little more than sticking a bit of wire into the back of your telly. It's hardly surprising if you can't get decent reception.

Given that you get at least some Freeview reception, you MIGHT be able to improve things by using this indoor aerial (which incorporates a high gain amplifier), preferably together with your existing signal booster:
http://www.maplin.co.....aspx?ModuleNo=115127
However there can be no guarantee of good reception until you install a decent external aerial.

Chris

[VHG]

While analogue and digital are both being transmitted the DIGITAL signal is kept low to stop it interfering with the analogue signal.

When the analogue signal is eventually turned off they are going to increase the power of the digital signal so you may not need such a good aerial to pick up digital.

However a digital signal is always going to be better with an outdoor aerial.

[romko]

Digital is not better than analogue. Apart from the compression, the signal is extremely fragile and the error correction gets saturated very quicky and the signal disappears. this si known as the Digital Cliff Edge.

you really need a good external aerial, and ideally one straight run of good quality twin screened RG6 cable from it to the receiver. Many amps just amplify noise and do more harm than good, so do not waste your time with such 'patches'. Get the aerial right and everything else will follow.....

[roxyheartsus]

This might sound silly (and is definitely not very technical!) but I couldnt understand why my flash new tele with built in freeview was getting a worse signal than my old analogue tele was with a set top box. Turns out there was a setting in one of the onscreen menus where you had to select a digital tv option (it seemed the default setting was on analogue).

[WhiteBears]

im getting fed up with having to move my aerial every hour or so, the reception is just so cra p. I've just switch to normal analogue 5 channels.

[redman41]

You need an outdoor Aerial Whitebears as it's pretty obvious to me that your indoor Aerial is of little use. A good quality Aerial is as important as a quality TV.

[WhiteBears]

mayb so redman, but it aint my house, i'm renting :-( I did tell my landlord about it, but he said he installed an aerial point in another room but made no different. oh well.

[redman41]

Is the Aerial socket in the other room connected to an outdoor Aerial ? If it is then run coaxial cable from there into your TV via the Booster.

[romko]

you have reached a dead end. Get the aerial right and everything else will follow. Until that is done, you are wasting your time.