Hi,
Linked to my previous post about dropping Sky and moving to another option I may try living with 'just' Netflix, Amazon and Terrerestial TV via the Smart TV hub. Only issue is having relied on Sky TV since we moved house I do not have a TV aerial.
I suspect the best option is to install an external roof mounted one but the wife is against that particularly in terms of drilling through the wall and bringing in another cable through her decor.
I've noticed looking on Amazon there are some flat aerials that that can be mounted behind the TV or on the window (out of view) and they seem like a good option. So Ideally looking for a 'plug and watch' solution with £30 seemingly covering the task.
Just wondered if anyone on here had any experiences or recommendations on this kind of thing and whether more expensive options are worth it?
Cheers
Chris
P.S. We are just over 7 miles from the Crystal Palace Transmitter in a relatively high area so 'should' be Ok for TV signal?
Last edited by smokey99; 22nd January 2020 at 10:42.
Indoor aerials are pretty poor as there is too many types of interference as well as physical barriers.
No harm in trying but maybe pick one up from Argos as it’s easily returned.
Loft aerial might be a compromise between indoor and roof level.
The ideal is roof of course as you say.
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It's a difficult one to answer because of your location, obstructions to the transmitter etc.
Each movement of the aerial will bring varying results. If you want the best picture, there's no alternative to an outside one or loft mounted one.
If you've got a dish already, doesn't freesat work for you?
Good point I'd forgtten about that option. Not sure whether SKy Q complicates this as I know they update the Dish/LNB when installing Sky Q?Originally Posted by guinea
Also asw e currenty use the mini box in the main TV room so I'd imagine without Sky Q the mini box won't receive the signal and we'd either have to move rooms again or run another cable anyway?
No idea about Sky Q, but I moved from sky to freesat many years ago and the cable just plugged straight into the TV.
Just to be clear...the cable that previously went into the Sky box?
Just plugs straight into the TV aerial socket?
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I had a freesat tuner in the TV, so it simply plugged into the appropriate input.
You may need a freesat box if your TV can't do this.
If your TV has freesat built in you will have the threaded LNB connection on the rear as well as a standard aerial connection. I moved into a house with only a dish last year and get freesat this way just using the existing cable. Netflix, amazon, catch up etc is all via wi- Fi that is built into the Tv and everything works perfectly and I’m in a pretty rural area with regular wi-Fi speeds
Ah oK. Mines a Sony OLED so doesn't come with Freesat. But as you say a £50 box would fix it....assuming I didn't want to record.
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I tried a few of those flat TV aerials a year or so ago, both with and without a booster. They were all rubbish, giving poor reception on some channels.
You can see Winter Hill transmitter from the window, but still didn't work reliably.
I ended up fitting an excessively large aerial in the loft.
Ok thanks thats good to know. Might explore the loft option....albeit we've had a loft conversion so options are limited.
I also explored having an indoor antenna with a booster and as pointed out above found the few I tried to all be pretty rubbish. The problem with them is they need to be sited in a particular spot and height according to where you live but this then defeats the idea of hiding them away. I still have them kicking about in the garage somewhere
If you have your sky dish.... the cables can fit into a normal old style sky box and you’ll get your tv on free view
You won’t be able to record
How’s er with start TVs hiba abd the net I don’t record much anyway
The old style boxes can be picked up for £10 or so via eBay or FB
Well worth a try
Sky will want the sky w stuff back - I’ve never took them up on their generous offers to re t me that kit in essence for free....
Our office at work has direct line of sight to the Emley Moor transmitter which is only a few miles away, but an indoor aerial regularly suffered breakup on SD channels and HD channels were unwatchable.
Not sure if they still do, but Sky used to offer an option to keep the “free” to air channels through a Sky HD box for a small charge per month, including the recording function.
If you don’t have an old HD box, I have one that I can post to you in return for a fundraiser donation.
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