|
||||||||
Hitachi Freeview box vs Samsung TV! |
![]() |
|
|
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
|
|
#1 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Tea and toast
Posts: 403
|
Hitachi Freeview box vs Samsung TV!
It's not a happy marriage so far. I am temporarily in a flat due to working away and so no Sky - bought a set top box which connects to my TV via SCART and my tv is, six years old so quite modern, the problem is the picture quality is poor and has that old buzzing sound intermittently, you'll know what I mean, like where it's just off frequency. In ye old days you tuned these devices, either the box or the tv but I don't see anyway of doing it. Obviously the external aerial goes into the freebies box and I'm wondering if the problem is a poor signal from outside? Anyway hopefully someone will have some suggestion, meanwhile I wait for that watching a rather fuzzy edition of 8 Out Of Ten Cats Does Countdown.
|
|
|
|
|
Please sign in or register to remove this advertisement.
|
|
|
#2 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Reading
Posts: 27,884
|
If it is a poor aerial signal then you will get picture breakup as well as odd splats and bangs on the audio.
What is more likely is a cheap and nasty unsreened SCART lead picking up interference. There are lots of video and audio signals inside a SCART led and cheap ones use unscreened wires to connect the two plugs. This means signals from one wire can cause interference to other wires round them. Good leads use individually screened cables which greatly reduces this interference. So using a good quality fully screened SCART is the first step, Then make sure the Freeview box and TV are both set to use RGB video mode which will give the best picture quality. If the TV is 6 years old then does it not have Freeview built in? If so then what do you get if you plug the aerial direct to the TV and use it's tuner? |
|
|
|
|
|
#3 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Tea and toast
Posts: 403
|
Quote:
If it is a poor aerial signal then you will get picture breakup as well as odd splats and bangs on the audio.
What is more likely is a cheap and nasty unsreened SCART lead picking up interference. There are lots of video and audio signals inside a SCART led and cheap ones use unscreened wires to connect the two plugs. This means signals from one wire can cause interference to other wires round them. Good leads use individually screened cables which greatly reduces this interference. So using a good quality fully screened SCART is the first step, Then make sure the Freeview box and TV are both set to use RGB video mode which will give the best picture quality. If the TV is 6 years old then does it not have Freeview built in? If so then what do you get if you plug the aerial direct to the TV and use it's tuner? The SCART was £3.50 from Wilkinsons! (Probably top of the range LOL) Have not tried plugging the aerial directly into the tv but then analogue has been switched off hasn't it so there would be no picrure plus I can't find any tuning function on the tv. Likewise on the tv and box I cannot see an RGB option. |
|
|
|
|
|
#4 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 3,455
|
If your TV is only six years old you don't need a box, just plug the aerial in to it. As chrisjr says the faults are typical of a cheap and nasty SCART cable, or one that hasn't been pushed fully home.
|
|
|
|
|
|
#5 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Reading
Posts: 27,884
|
Quote:
Thanks, I will answer much of this. Sometimes do get picture break up and freezing. Next door has scaffolding up - possible cause of interference?
The SCART was £3.50 from Wilkinsons! (Probably top of the range LOL) Have not tried plugging the aerial directly into the tv but then analogue has been switched off hasn't it so there would be no picrure plus I can't find any tuning function on the tv. Likewise on the tv and box I cannot see an RGB option. For SCART leads the key words on the packaging are "fully screened" or "individually screened" which means all the various signal wires inside the cable are individually screened against mutual interference. The Hitachi is probably one of the many Vestel clone boxes. All the ones I have used had an RGB option in the set-up menus. The TV may auto sense. What exact model of TV is it? A six year old TV is quite likely to have a digital tuner so you should be able to connect the aerial directly. |
|
|
|
|
|
#6 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Tea and toast
Posts: 403
|
Thanks for the advice, I made sure the SCART was fully home both ends, still the background buzzing and not the best picture quality, when I removed the aerial from the freeview box and put it directly into the tv there was a notice saying that there was no aerial, forgive my ignorance here but I thought it must need the aerial going into the set top box, the model code for the Samsung tv is LE40B530 which is this?
https://www.electronicworldtv.co.uk/...cd-tv-le40b530 If so this is confusing because it looks like a freeview tv but I'm not aware mine is - I bought it to run my Sky box through it! Also, the scaffolding mentioned is to the right of my window (this is a basement flat) and covers the entire facia of the next house, it could be affecting the signal/reception as the internet hub is also suffering badly from interruptions. |
|
|
|
|
|
#7 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Reading
Posts: 27,884
|
If you did not select the DTV option on the TV then you were still watching the SCART input and that message is being generated by the Hitachi box, nowt to do with the telly. Looking at a manual online it seems the remote for the Samsung has a TV button top right to select TV mode.
You then need to go into the Menu system and select Channel (which appears to be the second item down the left) Make sure Country is set to UK for Digital (doesn't matter about Analogue). Then use the Auto Store option to scan for channels. |
|
|
|
|
|
#8 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Tea and toast
Posts: 403
|
I'm going to try all that, thanks. Just now I disconnected the box and had the ext aerial plug into the tv and lo and behold there was something called DTV Air and a mix of tv and radio channels between 1 and 900 although only a handful actually worked, say about ten channels.
EDIT: Set the country to UK Digital and had to guess a pin, hmm, 0-0-0-0 - country successfully changed - no DTV option in source so was on TV and ended up with ATV and no channels at which point I stuck the set top box back on.
|
|
|
|
|
|
#9 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 3,455
|
Quote:
I'm going to try all that, thanks. Just now I disconnected the box and had the ext aerial plug into the tv and lo and behold there was something called DTV Air and a mix of tv and radio channels between 1 and 900 although only a handful actually worked, say about ten channels.
EDIT: Set the country to UK Digital and had to guess a pin, hmm, 0-0-0-0 - country successfully changed - no DTV option in source so was on TV and ended up with ATV and no channels at which point I stuck the set top box back on. ![]() |
|
|
|
|
|
#10 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Reading
Posts: 27,884
|
There is a digital tuner in there. It is possible that you have to press TV on the remote twice to toggle between analogue and digital. The fact you got something called DTV and could see some channels means it must be there. What is possible is that it was tuned in on a different transmitter hence why not many channels work. Or was tuned in pre analogue switch off when all the mux frequencies changed.
If you go into the Auto Store option on the Channels menu that will tune it in properly. |
|
|
|
|
|
#11 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Tea and toast
Posts: 403
|
Quote:
If you go into the Auto Store option on the Channels menu that will tune it in properly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
#12 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Reading
Posts: 27,884
|
Quote:
Auto Store, okay I'll look for that later, also will try pressing twice on the TV button on the remote - and see if I can get a pdf download of the manual.
http://www.manualslib.com/manual/201...page=16#manual And page 17 |
|
|
|
![]() |
|
All times are GMT. The time now is 08:04.

