Why I'm I not getting all my freeview channels?

Question

Since Friday I don't seem to be getting FIVE, FIVER, FIVE US, any of the top up channels and more. I've rescanned for channels with no success. I contacted Top up TV who said that all channels come from 6 frequencies, and I'm not recieving one or two of them. But when I scan for channels the box picks up 6 but not all the channels. Any ideas...?

Answer 1

A faulty aerial, or aerial cable may or may not be the cause.

However, Freeview very recently completed a network upgrade which rendered a few models of box completely useless. This was widely publicised in the media, as it affected approximately 250,000 freeview viewers.

A significantly larger number of viewers have found that their boxes are only partially working after the upgrade - they can get some channels but not others. See the Digital Spy forums for full details on this. Your box may be one of those affected, especially as it seems to pick up all frequencies OK, but can't decipher some of the channels within them.

What's richly ironic about all of this is that many people bought freeview to be "future proof", only to find that they can now still receive the analogue channels but can't get any digital ones!

Answer 2

could be a mixture of poor signal strength etc, freeview has been dodgy for me in a few areas. Your box will only pick up very strong signals I believe.

try and steal a friends box or whatever and see if that picks them up, if it still doesn't, I'd have someone to check/replace the ariel on the roof

Answer 3

Me 2 not getting this channels.

Tom Masters

Answer 4

Um...bad news:

As a result some early manufactured models of digital boxes (before the digital tick was introduced) will unfortunately stop working and viewers will need to replace their equipment to continue receiving the Freeview service.

http://www.freeview.co.uk/features/trans...

Answer 5

rooftop aerial needs adjusting or there is water in the cable that comes down from the roof

Answer 6

read this last week ... this contains a link to the national  newspaper regarding freeview boxes ,  theres been problems with them for more than a week.

Answer 7

I think top up TV arepulling your chain - there have been loads of problems on here alone with people not being able to receive the channels - something must be wrong somewhere because I lost all the channels the other night except BBC1 & 2 and ITV 1.

The signal appears to be degrading...

Answer 8

i cant get these channels either and the remote don't work so i can't install it again i hate freeview boxes for this not enough  buttons  

Answer 9

Freeview channels are transmitted in bundles called Multiplexes. It is the technique used to get over 50 channels in the same radio bandwidth that used to carry 5 analogue channels.

The Freeview tuners contain some very clever circuits that disentangle the tv channels and enable your tv set to show them as 50 discrete tv stations.

The Multiplexes usually carry similar channels, so it's apparent that in your area all the Channel 5 family are on the same multiplex.

Now the confusing bit. The digital tv channels do not all use the same technical protocols. This means that if you were to look at the signal on an analyser you would see that those from different Multiplexes look different. The Freeview tuner is able to make sense of this.

The trouble is, the weather and things such as aerial orientation and signal strength affect different Multiplex standards in different ways. What is happening to you is that you appear to have lost an entire Mulitplex. If you look at the signal strength and signal quality (if your receiver has an on-screen meter) you will see considerable variations between channels.

The cure is to improve your received signal strength and signal quality. The only way to do this is to have a good aerial that is correctly oriented and fitted with a modern good quality downlead. Don't waste your time and money on signal boosters (amplifiers).

Sorry it's long but this is a complex subject. Hope this helps you understand what's going on.