Damian asked

12th September 2011

Can you connect an HD Freesat box to a non HD TV?

You certainly can do this, you will get all the usual Freeview channels and unless you buy a particularly chap and nasty Freeview HDbox you should also be able to watch the Freeview HD channels (where available) in high-definition also.

Peter asked

9th September 2011

I have a Samsung 46" 6530, all works fine, but when I change channels via my Virgin V Box I lose the signal, and displays check signal cable, but the source changed to a HDMI connection which is not being used.

I have checked the connections and all seems fine. Any ideas?

Experiment with disabling the Anynet+ CEC (Consumer Electronics Control) option or options within the setup menus of you Samsung HDTV, it sounds like you may have some other device connected that's causing the input/source to change as a result of you changing channels.

Steve asked

8th September 2011

Do I need an HDMI cable for Freeview a recorder to receive and record HDTV or would it function correctly via a SCART lead?

Neither type of cable will determine how you receive or record Freeview HD, but it will affect the quality of playback from the Freeview+ record to your HDTV.

A SCART lead will only support standard-definition video and is an analogue connection so is quite inferior to HDMI. HDMI is able tocarry high-definition audio and video and does so digitally for improved fidelity. If you have and HDMI output on your recorder and an HDMI input on your TV, pick up a cheap HDMI cable and connect them together for the best picture quality.

Andy asked

7th September 2011

I have a 42 inch Panasonic high-definition plasma monitor. I bought it off eBay thinking it was a TV! I have managed to connect a Sky+ box through the monitor using the SCART from the Sky box which is converted at the other end with a simple yellow video in connection. It has worked really well. I have now taken possession of a Sky HD box and was trying to work out how to receive HD through the monitor. The monitor has no HDMI connection, no SCART connection and only an S-Video port, 2 serial ports for a computer connection, a video out and video in connection and an audio out and audio in connection. I also have a DVD/home cinema system which is connected and provides the sound by connecting the audio from the Sky box to the DVD player! It all sounds very complicated and I have little knowledge of these things. Can you advise me on whether I can connect the Sky HD box and actually receive HD picture quality?

Sadly there's no easy answer to this one and without knowing about which display and type of Sky HD box you have but I'll do my best to give you some guidance. I'm also assuming that your TV is able to accept and display HD video signals over one or more of its inputs throughout all of this.

You won't automatically get a high-definition service from Sky without paying them for it, but you may do well to start with Freesat to start with as that should get you some HD content for free.

You'll need some way of connecting your Sky HD box and display together. In the absence of HDMI, for HD this needs to be a component connection as S-Video will only carry standard-definition. I'm not sure if this is what you have, if you only have a single composite video connector you may be out of luck.

Even if you get something working with Freesat HD, this doesn't sadly mean that Sky HD will work as the component output, as part of the High Defintion Content Protection (HDCP) system, can be disabled by programme makers at their discression. It's not widely used but is in use and you may encounter it more in future.

Clive asked

6th September 2011

If I buy a TV with Freeview HD built-in, will I need to buy a DVD recorder with Freeview HD as well to record and playback programmes in HD, or will a standard hard disk with Freeview recorder convert recordings to HD on playback?

If you want to record Freeview HD you will need a high-defintion Freeview+ recorder box to do so; a standard-definition Freeview+ recorder will record and playback in standard-definition only.

Joyce asked

6th September 2011

Hi, we have metronic DTR/02 Freeveiw recorder box which works fine on the old TV. The old tv broke, which ment we had to go out and buy a new TV, we decided on a 42 inch Panasonic LCD TV with 1 SCART socket and 1 HDMI socket. The Freeview box is connected to the TV via the SCART and the DVD player is connected via the HDMI cable. The problem is after a while the Freeveiw box stops working, we have to keep unplugging it to reset it. Why is this? could it be because the Freeview box is not HD? We need to old Freeview box to record on as the TV has no recorder neither has the DVD player, can you please shine any light on this?

If it's the Freeview+ box itself that's stopping working then you should probably contact the manufacturer or your retailer if you think the unit itself is defective. If the problem seems to be more connection related then I would try unplugging the DVD player for a short time to see if that helps and then if necessary consult the manual and setup menu on the HDTV to check for any misconfiguration.

Stuart asked

6th September 2011

I've recently bought a couple of new TV's with built in freeview, which work fine. I already had Sky, which was available on every TV in the house. Sky is now available through one of the analogue channels on the new TVs although the picture quality is not as good as the Freeview channels. How do I improve the reception?

It sounds like your new TVs are connected to the modulated analogue RF output of your Sky box which by definition won't look as good as digital signal received by the Freeview tuners inside the televisions. You may be able to eke a small improvement by checking the cabling and connectors piping the analogue signal around your home but there probably isn't a great deal more you can for free. Sadly analogue RF solution you currently have can't be so cheaply and easily achieved with more modern reception hardware and relative to that more modern equipment it looks poorer in comparison.

The official solution would be for you to connect each TV location directly to your satellite dish and have a Sky (or Freesat?) box connected directly to each TV. This isn't likely to be a cheap option although you would gain independence from the 'main' Sky box in terms of choosing channels as a result.

Morris asked

31st August 2011

At present we have an ordinary non-HDTV, but will eventually replace it with an HD compatible one. Can we use a Freeview HD+ box with the TV we have now, or will we have to wait until we change our TV and use a Freeview+ box now? Our concern is if the box will work, not whether we can watch HD at present, as we shall eventually get a new HDTV.

There's no real need to wait; a Freeview HD box will receive all the existing standard-defintion Freeview channels (as well the HD ones) so you will certainly be able to watch those so long as you can physically connect it to an input on your existing TV. Unless you buy a particularly bad/cheap Freeview HD box you should also find that the box will output a standard-defintion version of the HD channels' picture via it's analogue outputs, one of which you will already be using to connect with your standard-definition TV.