I live in an approximately 10-year-old apartment complex in Christchurch and I am a newbie to both Freeview and HD LCD TV. My flat has a small wall panel housing two jacks: the lower one, a regular aerial outlet which was connected to the old CRT television – and, at present, the new LCD one – and just above it, a second one which is similar but very slightly smaller, and with a screw thread on the outside. I suspect this leads to the dish on the roof – perhaps someone could confirm that for me.

A week ago I bought a Sony Bravia 32” LCD TV. (Model KDL-32V5500). Over the last week my feelings have ranged from (at first) 90% disappointment and a resolve to return it and get my money back, to (now) 90% satisfaction and being happy with keeping it and finding a home for the CRT TV it replaces –  and with a strong hunch that what remains of the problem can be solved. I just need a little advice!

Incidentally, assistants at two different TV stores have given me demonstrably incorrect information, so I am continuing to work using my own research efforts (Google, and now Geekzone which a friend recommended yesterday).

The problem appears to be all to do with my aerial leads, and possibly the antenna itself. When I first made all the connections and tuned the TV, I got excellent reception for all the analogue programmes, but only 4 Freeview ones: ONE, TV2, TVNZ 6 and TVNZ 7. The picture for these was mostly excellent, though with a little intermittent pixilation. After some Internet research, I moved the TV to the other side of the room next to the aerial wall jack and connected the two with a brand new single lead, replacing the long lead (made up of 4 or 5 joined together which I had previously used). I also connected the new lead direct to the TV, rather than via my VHS recorder. This action improved things immensely, and made me decide not to return the new TV after all. But it’s still not perfect – I can't get either of the TV3 programmes (TV3 or TV3 plus 1) at all, and the degree of pixilation seems to vary, ranging from none at all to unwatchable.

Somewhat perversely, when I reconnected the VHS recorder to the aerial, and connected the VHS recorder and the TV, I got 100% perfect Freeview reception for ONE – but no reception at all for any of the other programmes! So I’ve gone back to the direct wall jack-to-TV connection.

I’ve thought of two possible courses of action to improve my reception situation: go the satellite option with a decoder box (and waste the hundreds of dollars I’ve already spent on a TV with an inbuilt Freeview which uses a UHF tuner – a pity no one told me when I bought it that my TV couldn’t be connected to a satellite dish!), or lobby my apartment’s body corporate into checking / replacing / updating whatever UHF antenna is currently on the roof. As a mere owner-occupier, I can’t access the rooftop – indeed I can’t even see this antenna from ground level. Judging from the height of the building and the lack of other nearby tall buildings though, I can’t imagine that reception could possibly be bad, given the correct antenna.

Any other suggestions, or comments? I could live with the reception as it is – just – but I feel I shouldn’t be putting up with a picture that’s less than perfect. And I’d quite like to get TV3 along with all the others, too!