Poor signal/picture quality

[Anonymous User]

Hi

I hope someone can help me.  When we first has NowTV it was fine for picture quality, occasionally had poor signal in really bad weather (i'm talking storms, not just a bit of rain), now however it's has become really bad even in bright sunshine.  The TV guide often says 'No Signal' for about 3/4 of the listings, but when I go to those channels they are there, just really poor quality.   By poor quality I mean that the picture pixalates and the sound goes to the extent that channels are unwatchable. 

Internet seems to be okay.

Hope someone can help

Thank you

[SeeMoreDigital]

Hi @Anonymous User,

I take it your 'poor signal' issues are related to the NOW TV 'smart' boxes terrestrial Freeview (DVB-T) tuner?

Cheers

[schnapps]

@Anonymous User

Assuming you have a nowtv smart box with the TV Freeview channels then you could try the following :-

Does you TV have an inbuilt TV tuner, if so can you plug the TV aerial directly into the back of the television to see if the signal improves.

The above would eliminate any possible issues with your aerial.

Also have you tried re scanning the TV channels on the nowtv smart box to see if there are any improvements with the signal strength quality.

Last resort you could try a factory reset on the nowtv smart box and re tune the TV channels again (make sure you know your nowtv password before attempting a factory reset).

[Anonymous User]

Thanks both.  We put the aerial lead directly into the telly and nothing at all - went to 'no signal' on all channels.  I'm assuming then that this would point towards an aerial problem?  Yes it's a smartbox thingy.

[schnapps]

@Anonymous User

Just checking, so when you plug the aerial directly into the back of your TV (ie bypassing the nowtv smart box) there is no TV channels available on the television own inbuilt TV tuner even if you try a rescan of channels in your TV menu settings ?

Obviously, during this above test totally disregard the TV channels from the NowTV box because you have disconnected the aerial and you will be getting no terrestrial TV channels signal from the box.

Is this what's happening ?

[Anonymous User]

Thank you for getting back to me again, we're not used to this system, always had Sky or cable before but neither an option here! 

We missed searching for channels last time, so put the aerial back into the TV and searched for channels, most came up but missing BBC1 and 2, however the picture and sound is good on the channels we do have.  Does this mean it's the nowtv box?

[schnapps]

@Anonymous User

If you are in a decent Freeview reception area around the country, i would have expected you should have the main BBC channels.

Use this free checker tool below to see what channels and the number of channels you may be expected to receive (please note it's only a guide, but should give you an idea).

https://www.freeview.co.uk/channels-at-your-address#3C7HH29gudWEbrCK.97 

How does the results compare against what you are actually receiving directly from the TV ?

[schnapps]

@Anonymous User

Also forgot to ask in my above post if the TV aerial that you have installed is a fixed external aerial or some type of indoor portable aerial.

The type of aerial installation my have an effect on your TV signal reception and the number and quality of the channels you receive at your property.

[Anonymous User]

@schnapps

Will try the link, thank you. 

The aerial is in the loft so will have to ask the other half in the morning as he's the one that gets to go into the loft!  The really annoying thing is that it used to work fine for months when we first had it, it's only really been the last 3 or so when it's started to go weird.  Sometimes on the nowtv BBC 1 and 2 channels disappear too and I have to go to the HD channels to find them.

[schnapps]

@Anonymous User

At this stage i personally wouldn't attempt to go into the loft, especially if access to the your loft is difficult, it might need to be tackled by a professional (unless your partner is fully safe checking and is aware of the dangers of working in a loft environment).

Firstly I would compare the results on the Freeview checker tool against what channels you can actually receive on your TV, you may find that you are in a poor reception area and some of the channels that you are missing on the TV are borderline.

Perhaps try reconnecting the nowtv box again into the TV aerial and carry out a rescan again of the TV channels in the nowtv box menu settings.

If that fails maybe try a factory reset on the box by going into the box menu settings ( make sure you know your nowtv username and password prior to a factory reset on the box).