FreeviewHD Wiring

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terry2009

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

# 32422 16-Apr-2009 19:37

Hi need some help.

20 questions.. :)

I have recently purchased a lg 42" HD ready plasma for the bedroom, freeviewHD box from dicksmith $299 and a diplexer, and splitter (dicksmith products)
I have a sky dish which we dont currently subscribe to (and probably wont for a long time) a seperate vhf and uhf aerial. Im assuming we have a uhf and vhf because they look very different to each other and googling pictures of similar aerials appear to confirm this.

i connected the uhf and vhf to a hardwired diplexer inside the house. (commonly seen mounted outside) and run a single coax cable to a splitter to go to 2 tv's in 2 different locations. one old rear projection in the lounge and plasma in bedroom.

researching suggests one freeview box for one tv and cannot be used for multiple tvs unless you watch the same channel, or freeview pre built into the tv - please correct me if im wrong.

my signal now is crap on both tv's and led to believe the diplexer or my wiring is dodgey. I was told today from a old sparky to test the coaxil wiring with a multimeter and check the ohms. should read 0. i done this which one came out 0 and the other cable at reading at 33.5 or something and sky reading at over 200+ ?
does this sound correct ?

since connecting the freeview box to TV via hdmi cable with the splitter extended via coax cable to the freeview box in bedroom, it could not pick up any channels.

i resorted to the nasty old bunny ears which picked up a tv1, 2, 6,7 but not tv3 or any others.
we are zoned for the freeview (which i did reset to factory settings and started fresh which didnt resolve other channels being picked up via menu console)

im waying up if i should pay for a new uhf dish ? or atleast reposition it and run new cable and test. is there anything i could do to test and confirm it will be compatible with my hdfreeview or should i resort in returning the unit and get a freeview box that runs of my sky dish ?
need some suggestions or help please..

could my duplixer be faulty ? or ive done something stupid. may be something obvious here, but i did check y wiring to make sure it was good and tight. i should note that the vhf cable was black and the uhf was a white coax cable which the shielding inside was all sticky when stripping the cable to fit the duplixer and spliiter.

I am a diy person, which dont want to give into a professional fixing this if i can help it.

Cheers

KrazyKid

768 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 207385 16-Apr-2009 20:57

Not claiming to be an expert - the Ohms test is beyond me - but your statement about the same channel on both sets if you are only using one tuner would be correct.

You may have to amplify the signal when splitting it. However before laying out any money have you got it working without the splitter?

Try starting with one thing at the time to ID the faults(s)

See if you can get freeview without the splitter or Diplexer and only the VHF or UHF aerial (I have line of sight to here in Dunedin to the transmitter and don't need UHF at all.)

Then try (or start by trying) the system with the splitter taken out - ie to one TV. Does it now go?
If it goes you may need an amplifier on the circuit - the splitter and Diplexer will reduce the signal strength.
(or the splitter may be faulty)

Personally since I can get HD freeview I go that way. I can see the difference between an HD program on TV3 and the Same program broadcast an hr later on TV3+1 (TV3+1 does not broadcast Full HD).
Also I had no cost outlays.

You may also wish to seek the opinion of a local professional installer - they should know what your changes of getting freeview in your street is.

Good luck

Misha

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

# 207387 16-Apr-2009 21:00

First of all, do you get a good quality picture on your rear projection TV when tuned into Prime channel? If so your UHF aerial is working fine. Try bypassing all the diplexers, splitters etc and connect the UHF aerial directly to your Freeview receiver. If you get a HD picture on your plasma, then you know that the aerial is OK. Before attempting to split the signal etc, try to get a good quality picture on the plasma

terry2009

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

# 207393 16-Apr-2009 21:36

one minor issue is that the cable running from the aerial will not reach the freeview box in the bedroom without the spliiter as another cable is run underneath the house from lounge to bedroom. Not unless i relocate the tv, which would like to avoid since i mounted on a wall and a frustrating to get the x2 screws in. (soniq brand which i dont recomend by the way)
the cable can reach and able to plug directly into the rear projection tv avoiding any splitter or diplexer so will try that first. which i will need to fit a connector back onto the exposed wire to check prime channel quality.
I do appreciate your comments and will give them ago. I will update you in the next day or so.
thanks

terry2009

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

# 207464 17-Apr-2009 08:06

Sorted !!

staying up late last night, managed for isolate the issue. The diplexer was at fault would you believe. the spliiter is fine and now i can enjoy watching freeview HD in the bedroom. The lounge TV i noticed all channels clear apart from tv 1. must be vhf broadcasting ? but thats no biggie as i sort that out later.

Thanks again, most appreciated

mjb

923 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

# 207477 17-Apr-2009 09:20

KrazyKid: See if you can get freeview without the splitter or Diplexer and only the VHF or UHF aerial (I have line of sight to here in Dunedin to the transmitter and don't need UHF at all.)

UHF.. DVB-T is only transmitted on UHF, so you should use a UHF antenna. If you're close enough, and do have line of sight, a VHF antenna will do, but its gain on the UHF signal will be non-existant, so it's more likely that the coax running to the antenna is doing more towards picking up the signal than the antenna itself (not really, but you get my point).

And to answer OP, yes, Analog TV1 is transmitted on VHF only. In fact, a lot of the analog channels are, but TV1 is usually on one of the really low VHF channels so the UHF antenna is pretty rubbish at receiving it.

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