Lidl tv ???

ciaran76

A friend of mine has just bought a 21" tv from Lidl and cannot tune in C4 and some other channel (can't remember now) I haven't gone around to have a look but was wondering before i do is there any reason this channel would not be on this tv ?


Here is a link to the Lidl website of the same tv.
http://www.lidl.ie/ie/index.nsf/pages/c.o.oow.20050905.p.Television

ambro25

Stating the obvious, but... could be the tuner's faulty/sub-spec, or not IE-compatible.

I've got a 14" Sanyo myself, 1 year-old or so. It won't tune anything else than C4, E4 and Discovery on an NTL feed. Other 2 Sanyos (28" & 32", both WS) work absolutely fine on the same NTL feed. All TVs ex-UK. Go figure...

DemonOfTheFall

C4 E4 and Discovery are the weakest signals on NTL feeds so I'm guessing that has something to do with it. The Lidl and Aldi TVs have a massive online reputation for being ****, with lies in their specs and lots of hype. Check avforums.com if you wanna see a pile of problems with them...

copacetic

as demon says they are the weakest signals, but a powered (i.e plug in) booster (in argos for example for 15 or so) and he should be fine

ambro25

But they are the weakest, how come my TV tunes only those and not the stronger ones?

@ the OP - sorry, not meaning to hijack thread

ZENER

daveym wrote:

as demon says they are the weakest signals, but a powered (i.e plug in) booster (in argos for example for 15 or so) and he should be fine

That will cause problems with the stronger channels overloading the tuner. Most TVs give a viewable and tunable reception above 58dB with 70 + being required for a clear picture. The 58dB signal will contain noise which when amplified by a booster will still be present. As most booster give about 15dB of boost this would increase the stronger signals on cable to well over 90 dB which could cause problems for most tuners.

I don't have NTL so could anyone post or link to the channel list, also what is the model number of the TV - the link provided doesn't go there.

ZEN

byte

ZENER wrote:

I don't have NTL so could anyone post or link to the channel list, also what is the model number of the TV - the link provided doesn't go there.

ZEN

NTL Analogue List

Channel 4 is 543MHz with Discovery the only other above it at 575MHz.

These 2, along with E4 seem to be the only channls on UHF but of course, every telly should at least have UHF (unless tuner is dodgy).

ZENER

Most cheap wide band boosters don't have a flat frequency response accross their bandwidth, this means signals toward the center of the band get more amplification than those at the extremes. This means the upper VHF bands and band IV uhf will get more amplification - probably what the specs quote as the highest level which could be up to 15 dB. Most cable signals come in to the house at a max of about 80 to 85 dB depending on the frequency and allowing for UHF losses inherent in the distribution cables. at the upper extremes these signals could drop by as much as 15 to 20 dB or even more, hence the poor signal on the channels mentioned and why UHF is seldom if ever used as a distribution medium on cable. While the SNR of the signal is affected it usually gives a better reception than the same signal picked up from an antenna reduced interference and resistance to ghost channels.

Using a cheap booster ups the center signals to over 100dB which can be beyond the upper limit of many tuners thus overloading them causing interference and patterning on the picture as well as stray channel interference from radios etc they can also introduce noise onto lower level signals like the ones you are interested in boosting here.

Whenever I do an installtion like this I use up to a 15dB pad on the input to a good quality distribution amp to prevent these problems. You may have had success on a few occasions you've tried, this doesn't mean it will work for everyone.

ZEN

ZENER

Oops ! who trod on your toes ? Just trying to share the knowledge to help the guy make the best decision. Not showing off at all here but for your information:


TV Attenuation Pads

Bandwidth: Link

Just incase you were confused !

ZEN

ZENER

OK then !

Simple answers :

1. Bring the TV back, it's faulty !?

2. Call your cable company and complain about the quality of their signal.

3. Hire an engineer who's never heard of a Passive Attenuation Device (PAD) before and hasn't a clue what amplifier bandwidth is, to come out and install a cheap Argos booster amp in your house.

How'd you like them eggs ???

ZEN

ZENER

no engineer (as in professional not someone with no degree who calls themself an 'engineer') will have heard of a 'pad' it's not an engineering term, maybe it is a tv repair mans term.

Maybe when you get a couple of years experience and tone down that obnoxious "I have an engineering degree" attitude you have you'll learn some real world skills and how to apply all that wonderful engineer stuff you've learned to real world situations. I deal with lads like you every day of the week - fresh out of school thinking they're the only ones in the world with a degree - who I wouldn't trust to replace a lightbulb let alone install a TV booster.

Information and knowledge are two different things - try gaining some of the latter along with a little humility and maybe you'll be a good engineer someday.

Google for "15dB PAD" and see how many results come back, you'll be surprised how widely used the term actually is. I'll wager every sound engineer in the world will know what a PAD is . . . except you obviously.


ZEN

ZENER

Are you for f*****g real !? My first post was to respond to your (the degree certified engineer no less) inaccurate information. Of course how dare I question degree boys say so on his turf.

By "nobody" you mean yourself, every engineer - both audio and video - on the planet knows what a pad is which leads me to believe you are the one who's been found out here.

On the subject of borrowing things how would you like to borrow my qualifications to copy and put on your wall - it's as close as you'll get to the real thing.

Now if you don't mind I have a life to live and a living to earn degree boy, ttfn !

ZEN

The Muppet

ZENER wrote:

Are you for f*****g real !? My first post was to respond to your (the degree certified engineer no less) inaccurate information. Of course how dare I question degree boys say so on his turf.

By "nobody" you mean yourself, every engineer - both audio and video - on the planet knows what a pad is which leads me to believe you are the one who's been found out here.

On the subject of borrowing things how would you like to borrow my qualifications to copy and put on your wall - it's as close as you'll get to the real thing.

Now if you don't mind I have a life to live and a living to earn degree boy, ttfn !

ZEN

Tut! Tut! talking to yourself again Ken, you really will need to address that.

Tenshot

One other bit of info to add to the above: until fairly recently, NTL Dublin were only transmitting Channel 4, E4 and Discovery on low frequency VHF, around 48 MHz, 56 MHz and 64 MHz if I remember correctly. (They still are, in fact - I hadn't even realised they were on the UHF band now, so I'll be checking that out when I get home.)

Because those low frequencies are below even the normal FM band at 87-108 MHz, they seem particularly susceptible to interference and drop-out, and most cheap amplifiers don't do a good job boosting them - I think this is why they appear quite grainy compared to the other channels.

So, people with dodgy Channel 4 are probably tuning to the low frequency; people with good Channel 4 but no main channels (BBC, UTV etc.) are probably using a TV that only has a UHF tuner.

(Thanks for the amplifier link, Zener ... I've been looking to source some decent kit like that for a while.)

ZENER

Tut! Tut! talking to yourself again Ken, you really will need to address that.

You'd think I'd be used to that after 12 years of Hospital Radio wouldn't you ?

I try to give as much info in my posts as I can most of the time and let the reader decide if it's too much. I suppose davym prefers to treat people like idiots, pity he deleted all his posts. If you don't like what I say then tell me, but there's no need to go as far as he did.

I never claimed to have a degree (working on it though ! ) but I do have qualifications and 26 years of experience in TV - Audio and Radio. . . has to count for something.

Tenshot: I remember years ago the cable companies used those frequencies and the problems you mention. These days I have my own antenna and dish because Chorus are the provider out here in Swords (less said the better in this instance) so I don't know much about NTLs setup so thanks to you and Byte for the related info.

ZEN

copacetic

ZENER wrote:

You'd think I'd be used to that after 12 years of Hospital Radio wouldn't you ?

I try to give as much info in my posts as I can most of the time and let the reader decide if it's too much. I suppose davym prefers to treat people like idiots, pity he deleted all his posts. If you don't like what I say then tell me, but there's no need to go as far as he did.

I never claimed to have a degree (working on it though ! ) but I do have qualifications and 26 years of experience in TV - Audio and Radio. . . has to count for something.

Tenshot: I remember years ago the cable companies used those frequencies and the problems you mention. These days I have my own antenna and dish because Chorus are the provider out here in Swords (less said the better in this instance) so I don't know much about NTLs setup so thanks to you and Byte for the related info.

ZEN

I thought it was pretty clear I didn't like what you said. Especially when you went straight for personal attacks and have posted various pieces of untrue information about me above. Some people reading might feel that you know me and that what you said above is true. There are certainly people on here who know me and my user id and I don't appreciate them being able to read your posts. I reported some of your posts but obviously nothing happened so I deleted my own as I think we both came across as idiots.

I like a good disagreement about tech stuff as much as anyone, but you got on my nerves and obviously I got on yours. Your profile obviously isn't correct, when I checked it it made you 18 years old so I thought you were talking complete rubbish with no quals OR experience. Hence my posts about qualifications, obviously experience is worth a thousand pieces of paper, but I have both and don't appreciate you implying I don't.

I've read some of your stuff on here and you certainly have some valuable information to give and I respect that you are trying for a part time qual. I know myself it's not easy to do things that way (also from experience). I didn't ask for you to be banned or anything just that the mod would remove any posts that purported to know anything about me...