Digital TV Technical Discussion

I’m not to sure wether new tvs are still like this but if they are why do tvs still come out and try to scan for analog and digital channel by default? I remamber buying a tv in 2018 (not high end) and it was like this. It just seems really strange considering we haven’t had analog where I am since 2013.

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My guess would be hotels which still do analogue delivery of cable channels. Also probably so they can just ship one model across the world and not have to worry about what the transmission situation is for that specific area/country.

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Most setups (now) allow you to skip the analogue scan and go straight to digital.

Especially with smart TVs coming with market dependent pre-installed apps, I think this would be getting rarer again.

When they are doing country specific firmware anyway, they may as well predefine the scan to only scan the digtial TV channels in our post-restack band. Most still then have an advanced menu letting you scan custom channel frequencies or analogue, but you can make pretty sensible defaults.

I do wonder how many TVs are actually capable of all format analogue - every TV I’ve had that was multi-sync will take NTSC composite/component video, but I’d be surprised if they will tune ‘over the air’ NTSC.

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You’ll get that in Toowoomba on 4WK 963. :wink:

Not at the moment due to a technical fault which is in the process of being fixed apparently, AM stereo should return after that… But AM stereo receivers are hard to come by.

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Ok question for all you Digital tv nerds. My parents are finally upgrading to a new tv aerial. Probably about 10 years to late. They pretty much have to know as the signal they get is really bad and drops out a lot. What I’m trying to find out is what significant improvements will they get? Other than the picture not cutting out.

I’m not to sure what they have now but its over 30 years old and now there getting this:
03MM-DC21V - High Gain Digital TV Antenna VHF (6-12) 8 Elements - Matchmaster Digital TV Antenna

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The picture not dropping out I think would be improvement enough. We had a similar issue when I moved into this house and the old rooftop antenna wasn’t really useful particularly for picking up ABC digital on VHF 12. What sort of other improvements are you thinking of?

Unless visually inspecting their current antenna shows there’s elements falling off, there’s no reason to think they will have any notable change. “30 years” isn’t that old for a TV antenna, and should be well within the service life.

Specific antenna design might help in some cases where the issue was interference - or if the issue was exclusive to the ABC, but if they have lots of signal drop outs, it’s more likely there’s loss in the cabling between the roof and the TV, or that the signal is a fringe one and you’d need location specific advice on the best translator site (if they exist) or to change the positioning of the antenna. If you only change the antenna, it could even make things worse depending on the specific location.

We’re looking at options at the moment for our antenna - it’s an aggregation special (and it was cheap at the time), I suspect elevating it might solve the problem with our reception (that or a tree two doors down needs a trim), but happy to drop a few hundred dollars for a new one at the same time.

Whats the deal with the bullshit about being “DVB-T2” and “4K” compatible - seems like marketing puff for people who are really concerned they’ll miss out if they buy the wrong one

Obvious BS - just like antennas being marketed as suitable for colour TV back in the day :smile:

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There is an element of truth for DVB-T marketing in the case of analogue wideband VHF antennas (which were designed to cover 0-11 or 2-11).

In that DVB-T is designed for 6-12 so you might get a bit of an improvement in recption quality with a dedicated 6-12 antenna.

Just also suggesting the following. If you’re in Brisbane, you should also get another antenna to try for Sunshine Coast channels. A long-distance UHF one. Don’t worry, they’re on different frequencies, and the commercial networks’ channels aren’t co-channeled as they are on 5 (10), 6 (7QLD) and 8 (WIN). Brisbane and Sunny Coast channels. Easy.

Tbh when I saw the DVB-T2 I thought it meant something lol, but everything else about 4k, and HDR compatible yeah nope I wouldn’t be bothered with that.

I’m mainly just asking as in how big will the difference be? Will there be any other Improvements other then it not dropping out?

Not sure what else you’re hoping for. All any fixed TV antenna install is designed to give you is reception of all 5 networks reliably.

You are unlikely to get any extra channels eg regional TV if in a metro area, at best you might get another relay of the channels you are already getting now eg. Kings Cross repeaters if you are near them as well as the main metro wide Sydney signals.

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Are they just getting that antenna because it looks good or just because or has an antenna installer actually measured the signal at their house & that’s the size recommend?

The reception being really bad & dropping out could be a number of things & the 30 year old antenna might not be one of them, could be as simple as a corroded connection on the antenna or splitter (if they have one) or even the back of the outlet in the wall, you’d also be surprised at the number of reception issues & signal dropping out just from a crappy fly lead (the cable that goes from the wall to the back of the TV.

Too strong a signal gives the same symptoms as too weak a signal, if they have too strong a signal, that antenna could just make it worse with it’s gain, if they have too weak a signal then maybe they’ll need an antenna that’s higher gain than that one?

Also depends if there’s an amplifier in the system, if it’s old that could be the issue & maybe they don’t even need it anymore?

If the existing antenna is 30 years old then the system would’ve been setup for Analogue TV, with digital you need the signal strength at the antenna to be suitably above the digital cliff edge, but not too strong, then if you have long cable runs or lots of outlets you can amplify it to cover the losses, but only the losses as you’ll also be amplifying any unwanted noise, unlike in the Analogue days where you could have a really weak signal at the antenna & amplify it to give the accepted signal strength at the wall outlet to get a good picture.

If this antenna is the wrong one, (too much gain or not enough), or the actual antenna is not the issue, they probably won’t get any improvement & it may actually be worse?

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You may also be able to receive regional channels reliably, providing you have the right high-gain UHF antenna and good coverage at least.

Put your address into myswitch.digitalready.gov.au and find out if you can also receive other transmitters reliably. If in a metro area, you’ll 90% of the time get repeater transmissions for a capital city. If in Sydney, you might be able to also receive the Illawarra channels with another antenna (UHF).

There’s quite a lot of signal overspill from the Illawarra transmissions into Sydney meaning some parts of the NSW capital can reliably receive the Wollongong transmissions.

Ok, I can confirm the picture quality is a lot better. I’m not too sure why but even though this arial is a high gain it seems to only pick up Brisbane channels. This arial also has filters so that may have something to do with it.

I think it’s time to Consider Nine and Ten to follow Seven’s lead and switch all of it’s Remaining MPEG-2 Channels to MPEG-4, Shall I contact Free TV?

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