Indoor antenna - are they any good?

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invisibleman18

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#127340 7-Aug-2013 11:21

Hi,

My current place where I have been for a year (and have recently renewed the tenancy for another 2 years) does not have a UHF aerial. I have a Sky dish and MySky which is fine, but am now keen to get Sommet Sports which of course is only available on UHF.

Have found out an aerial will cost around $250 to install but am unsure whether it's a reasonable thing to ask the landlord for given we have Sky and it's not essential, and who would be expected to pay for it. An indoor antenna which I can take with me when I leave seems a cheap solution so has anyone used one before and are they any good? I am in Johnsonville, Wellington very near the Mt Kaukau transmitter which we can actually see the top of from the window next to the TV so I assume the signal strength would be decent.

Specifically I've noticed this one which Dick Smith have on special at the moment:
http://www.dicksmith.co.nz/antennas/ds-indoor-amplified-tv-antenna-dsnz-l4044

My TV has built in freeview so am sorted for a receiver.

Cheers

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#873090 7-Aug-2013 11:46

I use this on our 55inch LED and the picture is crystal clear. I got it on special though for $24 awhile ago. We have a 42 inch hooked up in the dining room to an outdoor aerial, and the picture quality on the indoor one matches.

invisibleman18

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#873093 7-Aug-2013 11:49

Thanks for that suggestion. Similar price and looks a more attractive thing to have to place somewhere.

Klipspringer

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#873096 7-Aug-2013 11:52

Unless the freeview coverage shows "very likely" or better at your address, I would not bother with an internal.

Been there. Done that .....

Bee

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#873098 7-Aug-2013 11:52

We are in a similar situation to you.

I bought an amplified aerial from DSE and it worked great for freeview... Especially if you have line of sight to the transmitter. Where we are in West Auckland the different Mux seem to be in different directions, so some changes were required to the aerial to watch different channels, but otherwise we got good reception of all freeview channels.

Doing your best is much more important than being the best.

Jaxson

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#873100 7-Aug-2013 11:58

The thing is an indoor aerials success will depend on how much signal you are actually getting inside your house. That varies by so many factors it's just not possible to say how it will go in your actual location with any certainty. The likes of distance to the transmitter, houses/trees/hills/industrial buildings etc in between and your house contstruction all come into it.

Some people are lucky enough to be able to reliably receive freeview HD on a simple bit of wire hanging from the TV. Others require progressively more. Start cheaply and work up really. Most TV's have a signal quality page, and you want to be achieving a good quality value across all 3 transport streams to be reliable.

wellygary

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#873103 7-Aug-2013 12:06

invisibleman18:

Specifically I've noticed this one which Dick Smith have on special at the moment:
http://www.dicksmith.co.nz/antennas/ds-indoor-amplified-tv-antenna-dsnz-l4044

My TV has built in freeview so am sorted for a receiver.

Cheers

Gotta love the on/off "max" dial on the front of that unit, must be really rubbish cables they provide :)

On a more serious note you will probably get something with this, but it could be hit or miss,

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invisibleman18

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#873109 7-Aug-2013 12:13

Thanks for the quick advice people.

Klipspringer: Unless the freeview coverage shows "very likely" or better at your address, I would not bother with an internal.

Been there. Done that .....

Yep it shows very likely for my address. :)

B1GGLZ

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#873164 7-Aug-2013 13:02

Have you tried just sticking a short length of wire in the socket on the TV?
I'm about 10km direct line of site from Waiatarua and can get a picture on just a short bit of wire stuck in the end of a length of coax on the Tv, Recorder and PC tuner. Not the most efficient but very cheap. It would also give an indication of how well any indoor antenna would work.
I do have a decent outdoor antenna for best reception.
Also, given that analogue gets turned off next month I'd be asking the Landlord to install an antenna.

GBristow

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#873172 7-Aug-2013 13:14

No. Unless you have line of sight or your reception is excellent they're pretty useless.

invisibleman18

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#873203 7-Aug-2013 13:59

No I haven't tried a piece of wire, thanks for the idea. There isn't even an old analogue aerial on the house, just a sky dish so I guess previous residents have always either had sky or just not watched TV. I'll always have sky for the sport so it hasn't really mattered to me but I would like to get the new Sommet channel at some point.

alasta

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#873336 7-Aug-2013 16:56

I am in a similar position, but I am pretty happy just using the dish. I personally consider landlords to be ethically (not necessarily legally) obligated to provide some sort of television service, but if there's a working satellite dish available then I would agree that you shouldn't reasonably expect the landlord to wear the cost of a UHF aerial.

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alvin

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#873343 7-Aug-2013 17:14

hello there,

I'm in Johnsonville as well and can see MT Kaukau, sort of direct line of sight and I'm using a simple rabbit ears antenna like the one below. It is working fine on my tivo and I have another rabbit antenna connected to a freeview TV. once in a while, there will be distortion especially if the weather is really bad.

dickytim

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#873635 8-Aug-2013 07:07

I have a cheap HD internal aerial from Dicksmith, it seems to work fine, it took me a while to find which way to point it (at Sky Tower) but I get all channels available and in good quality.

I live in a very "likely" area so I guess that helps.

sxz

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#873666 8-Aug-2013 08:34

I used a Warehouse UHF indoor antenna for 3 years in Auckland without a (major) problem. We were on the second floor and it sat on the window sill with a direct line of sight to the Waitak's. Every now and then it would cut out tho, and we really were in the ideal place to be using it.

Our new place has no line of sight and I couldn't get anything at all on it.

I asked the landlord to pay for an aerial - I consider it an essential service these days. They paid for it without question, $220 installed.

antoniosk

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#873685 8-Aug-2013 09:03

invisibleman18: Hi,

My current place where I have been for a year (and have recently renewed the tenancy for another 2 years) does not have a UHF aerial. I have a Sky dish and MySky which is fine, but am now keen to get Sommet Sports which of course is only available on UHF.

Have found out an aerial will cost around $250 to install but am unsure whether it's a reasonable thing to ask the landlord for given we have Sky and it's not essential, and who would be expected to pay for it. An indoor antenna which I can take with me when I leave seems a cheap solution so has anyone used one before and are they any good? I am in Johnsonville, Wellington very near the Mt Kaukau transmitter which we can actually see the top of from the window next to the TV so I assume the signal strength would be decent.

Specifically I've noticed this one which Dick Smith have on special at the moment:
http://www.dicksmith.co.nz/antennas/ds-indoor-amplified-tv-antenna-dsnz-l4044

My TV has built in freeview so am sorted for a receiver.

Cheers

I used one of these from Jaycar:
Indoor Aerial

for a while in Wellington, and it was great for TV3 upwards but rubbish for TV1/2 - I don't have line of sight to Mt Kaukau though. Have replaced it with an external passive aerial.

Sitting idle if you're interested, and way better than the Dick Smith one... PM if you want to talk

________

Antoniosk

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