Reception Issue: Panasonic TV w/ built-in Freeview HD

Hi,

I'm living in Ponsonby, and recently purchased a Panasonic TV w/ built-in Freeview HD from Trade Me.

Before I bought this TV, I was using an old flatmate's TV that was connected to an external Freeview STB (non-HD). Reception was perfect.

Reception on the new TV however, is terrible. Sound and pictures cut out constantly, and it is impossible to watch.

I've tried resetting the TV to factory settings, and rescanning for channels multiple times to no avail.

Does anyone here have any idea what might be the cause of this? As a student, I'm trying to avoid the cost of calling an installer out!

If it helps at all, the built-in Freeview HD is connected to the aerial via a coaxial cable.

Thanks in advance.

Did this help? Click to mark!

0 members promoted this

Replies are closed for this discussion.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mike G on November 14, 2013 at 14:23

Hi Mike, check the signal quality readings on the tv for each of the channels. They should all be better than 80% if the aerial system is good. What sort of aerial do you have and which way is it pointing? Old VHF aerials aren't great at receiving freeview. Is there any splitting of the feed going to other rooms?

Where you are, there are two locations that freeview could be received from, Waiatarua and Skytower. Have you tried manually tuning? It's possible that the tv has tuned into the weakest one by mistake.

Permalink Reply by Biggles on November 14, 2013 at 14:41

Was the external Freeview STB Terrestrial or Satellite? Terrestrial boxes are HD. Sat boxes are not.

Sounds like maybe youve plugged a sat dish into the TV instead of a UHF antenna.

Confirm you are using a UHF antenna?

Permalink Reply by Mike Ross on November 15, 2013 at 15:48

Hey guys, thanks for your responses!

The external Freeview STB was standard definition, therefore I'm thinking it must have been a satellite box.

I've taken some pictures to give you further info on the set up that I have.

Below is a photo of the aerial on my roof. Is this a VHF or UHF aerial? I also have a satellite dish up there too, which I'm assuming the old Freeview STB was using.

Below is a photo of what comes out of the wall behind my TV - two coaxial cables. One seems to pick up a weak signal (which is what I'm using at the moment), whereas the other picks up nothing. I've connected the cable to the TV using an adapter from Dick Smith's, as you can see in the second photo.

Does this help to deduce what the problem is at all?

Permalink Reply by Mike G on November 15, 2013 at 16:40

Yes, that is UHF so is the right antenna.

The polarization of the antenna leads me to suspect that it is pointing to the Waitakere ranges. Am I right there?

Have you tried an autotune with the other cable plugged into the TV?

I would guess that one cable is the dish and one cable is the UHF aerial.

Permalink Reply by Mike Ross on November 15, 2013 at 17:02

Hey Mike,

It's actually pointing out towards the North Shore, almost exactly towards the harbour bridge.

Yep, I've tried an autotune with the other cable plugged in, which found zero signal.

Permalink Reply by Mike G on November 15, 2013 at 23:51

I wouldn't think there would be much point in the aerial pointing that way. Do you think you can see the Waitakere Ranges from your place? Maybe aim the aerial that way and see what you can get.

If you can see Skytower you could aim it that way, but you'd need to change the polarization of the aerial to Vertical. It's Horizontal at the moment. Usually you can just unbolt the bracket and put the bolts through another set of holes to swap it over.

Permalink Reply by Mike G on November 16, 2013 at 8:10

Also check your neighbours rooftops for which way their aerials are pointing. Some of them must be correct!

Permalink Reply by Mike Ross on November 20, 2013 at 13:43

Just managed to borrow a ladder and get up on my roof.

I've twisted the aerial around so that it is facing the same direction as my neighbours' aerials (towards the Waitakeres).

I've still had no luck however. When tuning using one of the coaxial cables, the TV only picks up analogue stations with very poor reception. When tuning using the other coaxial cable, the TV picks up nothing at all.

Is there anything else I should try, or do I need to get a professional round?

Permalink Reply by Biggles on November 20, 2013 at 14:38

Probably a stupid question but what colour is the cable on the roof connected to the UHF antenna? The two you are holding are white so the one at the UHF antenna end should be white as well. As both leads have f plugs fitted you just might have 2 satellite dish leads and no UHF? Might be a splitter somewhere too? I've yet to see a UHF antenna with white co-ax. No reason why white rg6 can't be used though.

Permalink Reply by Mike Ross on December 3, 2013 at 13:29

Alright, so after calling a few Freeview installers, they reckon that my problem is that I have an analogue UHF aerial rather than a digital one.

Quotes to convert the aerial from analogue to digital ranged from $300-400, which seems ridiculously high considering a brand new UHF aerial is only $99 from Dick Smith.

The landlord has said no to contributing to this, so I figure that I now have 2 options:

- Buy a new Freeview STB that receives signal via the satellite dish

- Buy a new UHF aerial from Dick Smith and try to install it myself

Both are going to cost around $100. Any recommendations?

Permalink Reply by Biggles on December 3, 2013 at 14:13

Well they're talking BS and looking for suckers. A UHF antenna is a UHF antenna and is manufactured for specific frequencies. A UHF antenna can't tell the difference between analogue and digital signals. Any installer that tells you otherwise I wouldn't let anywhere near your installation. Get a new UHF antenna pack from Dick Smith (on sale this week at $49) and install yourself. Everything you need is in the pack. However the antenna in your picture looks OK. If you can see Waiatarua or Sky Tower from your roof it should work quite OK providing all the connections are OK and the co-ax is in good condition. Just be aware that Waiatarua is Horizontal (like your antenna) but Sky Tower is Vertical polarisation. You could also connect up new antenna and try from beside the TV before locating on the roof. It just may work OK indoors.

P.S. No matter where you are located in Ponsonby there should be no trouble receiving FreeviewHD as long as the antenna and co-ax are all installed correctly.

Permalink Reply by Bill McMurray on December 3, 2013 at 16:41

Hi Ross,

I agree with Biggles. All UHF Aerials will pick up the digital channels. Some new UHF Aerials have filters fitted to sieve out the 4G frequencies, which means they will only pick up the digital channels and not the old analogue ones. But all UHF aerials, old and new, will pick up the digital signals. - and there doesn't look anything obviously wrong with your aerial anyway.

I suggest you go back to Biggles' suggestion about tracing the cables, because the two white cables you are holding in the picture may BOTH come from the dish, and neither may be actually connected to the UHF aerial.

Borrow that ladder again, check what colour the cable from the UHF aerial is, then try to trace where it actually goes to and where it finishes up.

Also check the colour of the cable (or cables) leaving the dish. If there are two, check if they are joined together, and also try to trace where it (or they) go to.

Hang in there, you're getting closer.

Cheers, Bill.