Can you get a booster for a freeview dvd recorder?

xmastellyxmastelly Posts: 568
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As i have freeview on my main telly but a dvd recoder with another freeview inside and that signals crap so can you get boosters for dvd recoders?

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  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3,605
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    AFAIK boosters are solely to boost signals coming from the aerial either into your TV, Freeview set top box or in your case Freeview DVD recorder. A booster may well help signal coming into your Freeview DVD recorder in the same way it may help signal coming into a Freeview set top box. See for good information on boosters/amplifiers: http://www.beststuff.co.uk/aerial_amplifiers.htm
  • ejstubbsejstubbs Posts: 365
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    A signal booster is a signal booster is a signal booster (or an RF amplifier if you prefer). It should work equally well (or badly*) for a DVD recorder as for a TV.

    Are the TV and the DVD recorder on the same aerial downlead, ie does the aerial go in to one box, then on to the next? If so then I'd suggest trying to route the aerial in to the DVD recorder first, then on to the TV is likely to give the better result.

    * See
    http://www.megalithia.com/elect/boostercasc/index.html
    and
    http://www.megalithia.com/elect/boostercasc/mobetta.html
  • xmastellyxmastelly Posts: 568
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    ejstubbs wrote: »
    A signal booster is a signal booster is a signal booster (or an RF amplifier if you prefer). It should work equally well (or badly*) for a DVD recorder as for a TV.

    Are the TV and the DVD recorder on the same aerial downlead, ie does the aerial go in to one box, then on to the next? If so then I'd suggest trying to route the aerial in to the DVD recorder first, then on to the TV is likely to give the better result.

    * See
    http://www.megalithia.com/elect/boostercasc/index.html
    and
    http://www.megalithia.com/elect/boostercasc/mobetta.html

    I have just got a new telly with freeview on we got our arieal fixed because the signal was rubbish and we weren't recieving half the channels, so i then bought a dvd player to record on and now the signal for this is rubbish so i may need a booster but i don't understand why if the telly signal is now good the dvd recorder 1 isn't?

    forgot to say the freeview on telly is sepeate from the freeview is my dvd player is that what the problem is i have 2 freeviews running - i of the tely and 1 of the dvd recoder?
  • xmastellyxmastelly Posts: 568
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    AFAIK boosters are solely to boost signals coming from the aerial either into your TV, Freeview set top box or in your case Freeview DVD recorder. A booster may well help signal coming into your Freeview DVD recorder in the same way it may help signal coming into a Freeview set top box. See for good information on boosters/amplifiers: http://www.beststuff.co.uk/aerial_amplifiers.htm

    just read your website link so does that mean if i have a bad signal in my dvd player now it will just make it worse if i get a booster? Butt then i don't understand as my frreview telly signal is fine now so shouldn't the other freeview coming though my dvd recorder be just as good?
  • xmastellyxmastelly Posts: 568
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    my dvd recodrer is the pionner dvr-440hx-s 80gb if that helps - thanks
  • chrisjrchrisjr Posts: 33,282
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    You have omitted one very important detail

    How is it all wired up?

    Where does the aerial down lead connect to? How does the aerial signal get between TV and DVD recorder?

    There are two possible scenarios that i can think of.

    Aerial --> DVD RF in
    DVD RF out --> TV RF in

    or

    Aerial --> TV RF in
    TV RF out --> DVD RF in

    If you have it connected the second way just double check you haven't connected to the DVD RF OUT by mistake! :)

    If the aerial does go TV first then your problem may be the link lead between TV and DVD. If that is poor quality you may be suffering enough signal loss to affect the DVD.

    Easy way to eliminate that is to plug the aerial to the DVD first. If you get perfect signal with only the aerial plugged in to the DVd and NO link to the TV try plugging the link lead from the DVD into the TV.

    If the TV now suffers poor signal then the lead is your problem. And is way cheaper to put right than buying a booster.
  • xmastellyxmastelly Posts: 568
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    chrisjr wrote: »
    You have omitted one very important detail

    How is it all wired up?

    Where does the aerial down lead connect to? How does the aerial signal get between TV and DVD recorder?

    There are two possible scenarios that i can think of.

    Aerial --> DVD RF in
    DVD RF out --> TV RF in

    or

    Aerial --> TV RF in
    TV RF out --> DVD RF in

    If you have it connected the second way just double check you haven't connected to the DVD RF OUT by mistake! :)

    If the aerial does go TV first then your problem may be the link lead between TV and DVD. If that is poor quality you may be suffering enough signal loss to affect the DVD.

    Easy way to eliminate that is to plug the aerial to the DVD first. If you get perfect signal with only the aerial plugged in to the DVd and NO link to the TV try plugging the link lead from the DVD into the TV.

    If the TV now suffers poor signal then the lead is your problem. And is way cheaper to put right than buying a booster.


    THANKS FOR YOUR HELP - its connexed by an ameter! that digital in out thing - sorry not every techincal so your abig help - thanks!
  • xmastellyxmastelly Posts: 568
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    chrisjr wrote: »
    You have omitted one very important detail

    How is it all wired up?

    Where does the aerial down lead connect to? How does the aerial signal get between TV and DVD recorder?

    There are two possible scenarios that i can think of.

    Aerial --> DVD RF in
    DVD RF out --> TV RF in

    or

    Aerial --> TV RF in
    TV RF out --> DVD RF in

    If you have it connected the second way just double check you haven't connected to the DVD RF OUT by mistake! :)

    If the aerial does go TV first then your problem may be the link lead between TV and DVD. If that is poor quality you may be suffering enough signal loss to affect the DVD.

    Easy way to eliminate that is to plug the aerial to the DVD first. If you get perfect signal with only the aerial plugged in to the DVd and NO link to the TV try plugging the link lead from the DVD into the TV.

    If the TV now suffers poor signal then the lead is your problem. And is way cheaper to put right than buying a booster.

    As well as my signal problems will this help me get the channels i am missing as i used to have this problem with my telly the bbc channels jumped and i was missing half the channels now this is what is happeningon my dvd recorder?
  • chrisjrchrisjr Posts: 33,282
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    xmastelly wrote: »
    As well as my signal problems will this help me get the channels i am missing as i used to have this problem with my telly the bbc channels jumped and i was missing half the channels now this is what is happeningon my dvd recorder?
    If you are now getting a better signal strength on the DVD I can't see why things should not improve. One thing you may have to do though is re-scan on the DVD to force it to rebuild it's channel list.

    If you get every freeview channel on the TV there is every hope that you can get them on the DVD. If everything is connected correctly and you are using decent quality RF cables that is.

    One thing to watch however is if you have two devices connected to one aerial you may get some signal loss through the first device in the chain. So if the aerial goes to the TV first the DVD may be getting a very slightly lower signal than if the aerial went to it first. Should not be a problem except if your signal is especially poor to begin with. In most cases it shouldn't cause you any problems.

    Or try reversing the connections. ie plug the aerial to the DVD first then on to the TV. If the TV has a more sensitive tuner it may not be affected as much.

    If that doesn't work a solution may be to use a two output amplifier and feed TV and DVD separately from one output each of the amplifier and have no direct RF link between the two, (assumes you use a SCART lead to connect DVD to TV as well).
  • xmastellyxmastelly Posts: 568
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    chrisjr wrote: »
    If you are now getting a better signal strength on the DVD I can't see why things should not improve. One thing you may have to do though is re-scan on the DVD to force it to rebuild it's channel list.

    If you get every freeview channel on the TV there is every hope that you can get them on the DVD. If everything is connected correctly and you are using decent quality RF cables that is.

    One thing to watch however is if you have two devices connected to one aerial you may get some signal loss through the first device in the chain. So if the aerial goes to the TV first the DVD may be getting a very slightly lower signal than if the aerial went to it first. Should not be a problem except if your signal is especially poor to begin with. In most cases it shouldn't cause you any problems.

    Or try reversing the connections. ie plug the aerial to the DVD first then on to the TV. If the TV has a more sensitive tuner it may not be affected as much.

    If that doesn't work a solution may be to use a two output amplifier and feed TV and DVD separately from one output each of the amplifier and have no direct RF link between the two, (assumes you use a SCART lead to connect DVD to TV as well).

    Thanks for all your help i am going to give your ideas a go right now! I will be back in touch if anything else goes wrong or i need anymore help as you have been a great help to me thankyou!

    I may not post back if i need to for a while as i think i may be a while trying your ideas out as i'm not a very techinal person so i take longer doing these sort of things but i'm not going to give up!

    THANKS AGAIN! I'll be back posting on here if i need anymore help! BE WARNED!
  • chrisjrchrisjr Posts: 33,282
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    xmastelly wrote: »
    Thanks for all your help i am going to give your ideas a go right now! I will be back in touch if anything else goes wrong or i need anymore help as you have been a great help to me thankyou!

    I may not post back if i need to for a while as i think i may be a while trying your ideas out as i'm not a very techinal person so i take longer doing these sort of things but i'm not going to give up!

    THANKS AGAIN! I'll be back posting on here if i need anymore help! BE WARNED!
    Only try the alternatives if the first option doesn't work.

    As they say "if it ain't broke don't fix it!"

    Rescan the DVD to make sure it is seeing all the channels properly. if it works OK then leave it alone :)

    The more you fiddle the more chance you have of breaking it :D
  • xmastellyxmastelly Posts: 568
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    :eek:
    chrisjr wrote: »
    Only try the alternatives if the first option doesn't work.

    As they say "if it ain't broke don't fix it!"

    Rescan the DVD to make sure it is seeing all the channels properly. if it works OK then leave it alone :)

    The more you fiddle the more chance you have of breaking it :D

    Hi, i tried your suggestions and i now have the areial that was coming through straight to telly now coming straight through to the dvd recorder instead so everythings fine now with the signal on the dvd recorder now and all the channels are fine etc just like i wanted it like - thanks, but now it means the freeview signal coming into my telly is really bad and is like what my dvd signal was, and i do understand what you said about having 2 freeviews through my telly means either my telly or dvd will have a bad signal depending which way round the arieal is, so to make my freeview telly signal good now, does this mean i may have to get a booster signal as otherwise i'm going to have a good signal on my dvd player but not on the freeview on my telly!

    So i'm having the same problems but the otherway round but i do think its better having the arieal coming straight into my dvd player as may be able to get a booster for my overall freeview telly picture as it may be harder to sort the arieal out for my freeview on my dvd player if i didn't have the arieal the way round i have it now!

    So i need your help please, what should i do now?

    Do you think i should get a booster for my telly now as i would like both freeview signals working as i don't want 1 without the other as i do watch alot of telly and i do like to record 1 thing and watch another thing and if both freeviews are not working i can't do this!
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 115
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    Do you have another RF patch cable you can try between the RF out on your DVD player to your TV. You seem to be loosing a lot of signal on this cable.

    In general I would say that a signal booster should not be needed. I asume that the DVD player is next to your TV.

    There may also be a problem with the RF pass through from your DVD player. Before going down the signal booster route, try an RF splitter which should be cheaper.

    http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?TabID=1&ModuleNo=1625&doy=3m11
  • xmastellyxmastelly Posts: 568
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    Paul_H wrote: »
    Do you have another RF patch cable you can try between the RF out on your DVD player to your TV. You seem to be loosing a lot of signal on this cable.

    In general I would say that a signal booster should not be needed. I asume that the DVD player is next to your TV.
    There may also be a problem with the RF pass through from your DVD player. Before going down the signal booster route, try an RF splitter which should be cheaper.

    http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?TabID=1&ModuleNo=1625&doy=3m11

    Yes the dvd player is next to my telly i'm not very techinal so i'm going to have to check my RF cable or if i even have 1 - thanks for the suggestion of an RF splitter hopfully it will work thanks!
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 382
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    You have yet to confirm that you have it connected up as per the topmost diagram on page 16 of the manual, as advised in the other thread you started for exactly the same problem.

    Specifically, you must:
    • use the long lead to connect the aerial to the topmost of the left hand pair of RF connectors
    • use the short lead supplied to connect the bottommost of the left hand pair of RF connectors to the bottommost of the right hand pair of RF connectors
    • use another long lead to connect the topmost of the right hand pair of RF connectors to your TV
    Try it! Nobody here is going to help you unless and until you can confirm that you've got it connected up correctly.
  • xmastellyxmastelly Posts: 568
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    MC2 wrote: »
    You have yet to confirm that you have it connected up as per the topmost diagram on page 16 of the manual, as advised in the other thread you started for exactly the same problem.

    Specifically, you must:
    • use the long lead to connect the aerial to the topmost of the left hand pair of RF connectors
    • use the short lead supplied to connect the bottommost of the left hand pair of RF connectors to the bottommost of the right hand pair of RF connectors
    • use another long lead to connect the topmost of the right hand pair of RF connectors to your TV
    Try it! Nobody here is going to help you unless and until you can confirm that you've got it connected up correctly.

    Have connexed up per the diagram, dvd picture is now fine but signal stength 2 tv has now been reduced because its all coming through the 1 arieal so i i need a way of getting the telly signal just as good as dvd signal somehow?

    And what it is, its basically 2 separte freeviews coming through 1 arieal, the freeview on the telly is diffrent to the dvd freeview, so i can record 1 freeview channel on dvd and watch another 1 through the tv, as the telly came with freeview anyway what i've done is basically bought a dvd recorder which has given another freeview! They are both separte from 1 another you see!!


    Thanks for help!:D
  • xmastellyxmastelly Posts: 568
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    Paul_H wrote: »
    Do you have another RF patch cable you can try between the RF out on your DVD player to your TV. You seem to be loosing a lot of signal on this cable.

    In general I would say that a signal booster should not be needed. I asume that the DVD player is next to your TV.

    There may also be a problem with the RF pass through from your DVD player. Before going down the signal booster route, try an RF splitter which should be cheaper.

    http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?TabID=1&ModuleNo=1625&doy=3m11

    Just a question as i am going to baq tomorrow does an rf splitter work like a 3 way plug as you can plug 3 things into a 3 way plug that then goes into the 1 socket?
  • user123456789user123456789 Posts: 16,589
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    Is the reduced signal strength on the TV causing problems?

    I can run my freeview boxes from an indoor aerial that gives 50% or less signal strength but this gives me a perfect picture.

    Unless your getting picture breakups or missing channels I'd not worry about a lower signal level.

    In my setup I have the outdoor aerial going into my SkyHD box then to my RDR-HXD870 Freeview DVD then to my Freeview box then to my Vista Media Centers freeview card. I get a perfect picture on all 3 devices and don't care what the signal strength is. I have run all this via an inoor aerial when my outdoor cable joint came loose.
  • xmastellyxmastelly Posts: 568
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    anniebrion wrote: »
    Is the reduced signal strength on the TV causing problems?

    I can run my freeview boxes from an indoor aerial that gives 50% or less signal strength but this gives me a perfect picture.

    Unless your getting picture breakups or missing channels I'd not worry about a lower signal level.

    In my setup I have the outdoor aerial going into my SkyHD box then to my RDR-HXD870 Freeview DVD then to my Freeview box then to my Vista Media Centers freeview card. I get a perfect picture on all 3 devices and don't care what the signal strength is. I have run all this via an inoor aerial when my outdoor cable joint came loose.

    No i am worrying as i'm getting picture break-ups on my telly!Whereas everything through my dvd is fine so i need to get my telly sorted!
  • chrisjrchrisjr Posts: 33,282
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    Lets try something else here.

    Let us assume that you do not want to record any analogue TV. This will simplify things somewhat. So on the back of the DVD recorder plug the aerial into the socket labelled ANTENNA (DIGITAL) IN. Plug a lead from the socket below this one (labelled OUT) to the Aerial IN on the TV ie the socket that you originally were getting good pictures on. Do not make any connection to the aerial sockets near the edge of the DVD rear panel labelled ANTENNA IN and OUT.

    It is entirely possible that looping through the analogue connections on the DVD is adding a little bit of extra attenuation to the signal.

    I would also agree with what Paul_H posted that it would help track down the problem if you try a different lead between DVD and TV just in case that is faulty. Assuming you are still getting problems that is.

    It is sounding as if this lead may be the root cause of your problems. It does seem as if you have a reasonable signal so the very slight loss through the DVD should not be affecting the signal on the TV that badly. Trying a different lead will eliminate that as the cause.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,222
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    xmastelly wrote: »
    No i am worrying as i'm getting picture break-ups on my telly!Whereas everything through my dvd is fine so i need to get my telly sorted!
    I may have misunderstood, is what you are saying:

    The first device connected to the aeriel (either TV or DVD) works fine, but then the second device connected has a lower signal.

    If that is what you are saying then that is normal, no device ever passes 100% of the signal to the second device. If you have a weak-ish freeview signal it may be strong enough to power the first device, but not the second.

    I had a similar problem. Argos sell a TV signal Booster for £25 that can power up to three devices. Basically the Aeriel plus into the booster, then you have up to three separate leads going from the booster to up to 3 devices, so in effect each device (TV, DVD recorder) has its own aeriel lead.

    I would not think just a plain splitter would help you as the signal to both devices would be weakened.

    I would recommend getting the booster from Argos, if it does not help you then can always return it under their money back guarantee.

    Note: Depending on which booster you buy you may need to buy some extra male-to-femaile aerial leads too.
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