Was helping a friend move into a new house today and upon setting up her TV we noticed that we couldn't get any ABC channels? I did a rescan and all the other channels are there (DTV only, no analogue.) but no ABC. The only thing I can think of is that in her old house she might have had an analogue and digital antenna allowing her to pick it up on her older TV. But now she only has a digital antenna so her her TV isn't able to decode the ABC's MPEG 4 stream?
Any ideas?
Thanks.
Only one ABC channel is MPEG4.
Most Australian networks have MPEG4 channel or two.
So likely Antenna/cabling/filter/amplifier at the house.
Try different TV or Set Top Box.
http://www.abc.net.au/reception/tv/
Also try factory reset the TV to make sure old location channels are properly wiped.
OK cheers, I have to back tomorrow with a cable to get her other TV going so it will be interesting to see what happens with that one.
I think MPEG4 channels get found OK in the scan even if they can't be decoded. I don't think it's that. Probably antenna/signal based I think. 7 Flix started off MPEG4 and caused problems for many tuners, but I don't think ABC do to ensure maximum compatibility.
Hi, EightImmortals. It's going to be a signal strength or signal quality issue. It could be a broken or disconnected cable anywhere between the antenna and the wall socket, or a faulty or incorrect antenna or amplifier/splitter, or any of a bunch of other things.
Does her antenna look like everyone else's in the area? Is it pointed in the same direction?
I note that you say that you're going back tomorrow to get her other TV going. Is that TV in another room, with its own antenna socket? If so, the problem could be that there is an amplifier or amplified splitter somewhere and it's not powered on. Perhaps the previous owner/tenant took the power supply adaptor with them?
Is there a (usually grey) plastic box (maybe 100mm square, 30mm thick) on the antenna pole? If so, if it's not powered up, you won't be getting as much signal as you should be, and that could easily cause the loss of the ABC.
OK thanks, will look at that also. The other TV is in a different room with a separate antenna plug. The whole unit is brand new as is the antenna and cabling. :)
Not all TV tuners are equal, try a spare set top box & see what results you get.
In the analogue to digital switch (in capital cities) ABC moved from channel 2 to channel 12. Previously the highest channel (apart from UHF) was 10 and analogue antennae and cable distribution systems as used in multi dwelling housing were often designed to reject signals above ch 10.
Most TVs and set top boxes have an inbuilt signal strength meter (hidden deep in the menus) that might help too.
OK looks like it was the TV after all. Put a different TV in and it got ABC no worries. Tried a factory reset on the 1st TV, no difference. It is pretty old though. Thanks for all the tips.
double post.
Hasn't the analogue signal stopped being used?
No idea why she can't get ABC digital though