Freeview without aerial
Discussion
Hi all
I'm building a garden room at the moment and was planning to put a TV in there.
Ideally I want to be able to at least access live Freeview channels and the usual streaming services. Is there any way of doing this using just WiFi and without installing an aerial?
I see Freeview play is available on most new TVs but it looks like it's primarily aimed at catch up.
We have sky in our main house but I'm not keen on paying an extra subscription to have it in the garden room.
I'm building a garden room at the moment and was planning to put a TV in there.
Ideally I want to be able to at least access live Freeview channels and the usual streaming services. Is there any way of doing this using just WiFi and without installing an aerial?
I see Freeview play is available on most new TVs but it looks like it's primarily aimed at catch up.
We have sky in our main house but I'm not keen on paying an extra subscription to have it in the garden room.
rajan2004 said:
Hi all
I'm building a garden room at the moment and was planning to put a TV in there.
Ideally I want to be able to at least access live Freeview channels and the usual streaming services. Is there any way of doing this using just WiFi and without installing an aerial?
I see Freeview play is available on most new TVs but it looks like it's primarily aimed at catch up.
We have sky in our main house but I'm not keen on paying an extra subscription to have it in the garden room.
Most Sky dishes have access for more than one feed off them, run a coaxial cable to the new room, and access freesat.I'm building a garden room at the moment and was planning to put a TV in there.
Ideally I want to be able to at least access live Freeview channels and the usual streaming services. Is there any way of doing this using just WiFi and without installing an aerial?
I see Freeview play is available on most new TVs but it looks like it's primarily aimed at catch up.
We have sky in our main house but I'm not keen on paying an extra subscription to have it in the garden room.
Coax cable from a free connection on your sky dish , to a second hand sky hd box, then hdmi into the back of your TV.
Or old laptop connected to WiFi (if it reaches), connect via hdmi , add the second monitor (your TV) in your OS, open sky go in a web browser and drag the browser to the 2nd monitor. This doesn’t carry sound (at least on my setup like this in the garage) so I’ve connected an eBay amp to the 3.5mm audio output, then from the amp into some JBL control one speakers
Or old laptop connected to WiFi (if it reaches), connect via hdmi , add the second monitor (your TV) in your OS, open sky go in a web browser and drag the browser to the 2nd monitor. This doesn’t carry sound (at least on my setup like this in the garage) so I’ve connected an eBay amp to the 3.5mm audio output, then from the amp into some JBL control one speakers
Android Box with iplayer, itv hub or dare I suggest RedBoxTv.
All depends on what you want. If it's a fluid TV interaction like on a fully paid up service why not put a small external aerial on your garden room and feed into the TV with freeview. Alternatively what I have suggested above or Chromecast and a tablet or laptop.
All depends on what you want. If it's a fluid TV interaction like on a fully paid up service why not put a small external aerial on your garden room and feed into the TV with freeview. Alternatively what I have suggested above or Chromecast and a tablet or laptop.
tribalsurfer said:
Android Box with iplayer, itv hub or dare I suggest RedBoxTv.
All depends on what you want. If it's a fluid TV interaction like on a fully paid up service why not put a small external aerial on your garden room and feed into the TV with freeview. Alternatively what I have suggested above or Chromecast and a tablet or laptop.
Yes I want a standard TV experience but I wondered whether it could all be done over WiFi but it seems not.All depends on what you want. If it's a fluid TV interaction like on a fully paid up service why not put a small external aerial on your garden room and feed into the TV with freeview. Alternatively what I have suggested above or Chromecast and a tablet or laptop.
I assumed with an aerial it would have to be run from my house. Can an aerial just be attached to the room itself so it's all self contained? Wouldn't it be like those big aerials you see on the roofs of houses or are they a lot smaller now?
rajan2004 said:
Yes I want a standard TV experience but I wondered whether it could all be done over WiFi but it seems not.
I assumed with an aerial it would have to be run from my house. Can an aerial just be attached to the room itself so it's all self contained? Wouldn't it be like those big aerials you see on the roofs of houses or are they a lot smaller now?
It IS possible to watch live tv via wifi if you have a device which can act as a DLNA client connected to your outside tv and have a compatible server which is connected to the aerial in your house. I assumed with an aerial it would have to be run from my house. Can an aerial just be attached to the room itself so it's all self contained? Wouldn't it be like those big aerials you see on the roofs of houses or are they a lot smaller now?
In my case I have a (as it happens) Panasonic PVR in my lounge and also another Panasonic PVR in my study. Each can see the other and via the "Home Network" use the tuner on the other to watch live TV. (Of course in my case it's not a facility I use because I have an aerial connection to both). It's not ideal - you don't have a live tv guide and setup takes a few seconds - but it works fine otherwise if your wifi connection is good.
sociopath said:
Its all such a pain, I just bought a Roku stick. Can get pretty much everything I want on that, it isn't a seamless freeviewtv experience, but all the terrestrial channels, plus sky via nowtv, Netflix, Amazon prime etc are on there
Yes it's strange. With all this technology you would think someone would come up with a smart TV app that just lets you watch TV easily without an aerialrajan2004 said:
sociopath said:
Its all such a pain, I just bought a Roku stick. Can get pretty much everything I wa ofnt on that, it isn't a seamless freeviewtv experience, but all the terrestrial channels, plus sky via nowtv, Netflix, Amazon prime etc are on there
Yes it's strange. With all this technology you would think someone would come up with a smart TV app that just lets you watch TV easily without an aerialThe Media player on my Sony TV (Android OS) will also play live television via wife from one of my recorders too. There are Apps for your phone which will allow you to set (some) programmes to record on the PVR in your house too. So there are plenty of options to view live or recorded TV or catch up via wifi - though I suspect none are completely seemless.
As has been pointed out if you have something (laptop/xbox etc) that runs Sky Go you can connect that to your TV and get all the Sky programmes you have subscribed to and Freeview channels. Unfortunely you can't use Chromecast/Miracast to send the signals wirelessly to your TV, so unless you have one of those rare phones with an HDMI connection (or can use a USB to hdmi converter as some Samsung phones do) you won't be able to use Sky Go on your phone.
As has been pointed out if you have something (laptop/xbox etc) that runs Sky Go you can connect that to your TV and get all the Sky programmes you have subscribed to and Freeview channels. Unfortunely you can't use Chromecast/Miracast to send the signals wirelessly to your TV, so unless you have one of those rare phones with an HDMI connection (or can use a USB to hdmi converter as some Samsung phones do) you won't be able to use Sky Go on your phone.
Edited by bcr5784 on Monday 3rd January 16:44
Edited by bcr5784 on Monday 3rd January 16:46
Edited by bcr5784 on Monday 3rd January 16:50
something like this? https://www.amazon.co.uk/SLx-Directional-Amplified...
The idea of adding an aerial to the garden room isn't a bad one. How well it will work though very much depends on the site conditions.
I install TV aerials as part of my business as an AV installer. My pro meter helps me diagnose signal level conditions, and local knowledge built up over 15 years of doing this helps me predict what will- and wont- work in various parts of my home territory in Cheshire. Doing this I have learned where things like the online signal predictors at Wolfbane get it wrong.
For example, in the area within a half mile radius of my home the predicted signal level suggests that folk need a high-gain aerial with extra amplification just to get a signal. We're about 30 miles due south of the 100,000 Watt Winter Hill transmitter which covers a large part of the North West. There are indeed quite a few homes where they have large aerials, and usually mounted on the thinnest poles and anchored with weedy little chimney stack brackets. For this area, everything about those installations screams 'cowboy'.
The fact is that I could strip off the sheath and shielding from a couple of feet of coax to leave just the centre core and pick up some TV channels. My FM dipole aerial picks up all of the 100kW and 20kW TV transmissions. The TV aerial I use is a low-gain wideband and mounted on the roof. It picks up enough signal on all the muxes including the 5kW and 2kW 'local' transmissions beams to Liverpool and Manchester city centres that I can split the signal to three TVs and still hit 100% signal quality across the board. Local conditions rule everything.
If you have a fairly decent signal level where you live then you'll be able to put up a mini Log Periodic aerial and get good reception. A mini Log is about 14" long. A longer Log such as a DM Log (2ft 6") will give more gain. A full sized Log 36 (3ft 6") is still low profile by conventional aerial standards.
Have a chat with a couple of local aerial installers. Find out what the field strength is for where you live and see what your options are. If you decide to go IPTV then just check what sort of wireless strength you get in the building. That'll be really important.
I install TV aerials as part of my business as an AV installer. My pro meter helps me diagnose signal level conditions, and local knowledge built up over 15 years of doing this helps me predict what will- and wont- work in various parts of my home territory in Cheshire. Doing this I have learned where things like the online signal predictors at Wolfbane get it wrong.
For example, in the area within a half mile radius of my home the predicted signal level suggests that folk need a high-gain aerial with extra amplification just to get a signal. We're about 30 miles due south of the 100,000 Watt Winter Hill transmitter which covers a large part of the North West. There are indeed quite a few homes where they have large aerials, and usually mounted on the thinnest poles and anchored with weedy little chimney stack brackets. For this area, everything about those installations screams 'cowboy'.
The fact is that I could strip off the sheath and shielding from a couple of feet of coax to leave just the centre core and pick up some TV channels. My FM dipole aerial picks up all of the 100kW and 20kW TV transmissions. The TV aerial I use is a low-gain wideband and mounted on the roof. It picks up enough signal on all the muxes including the 5kW and 2kW 'local' transmissions beams to Liverpool and Manchester city centres that I can split the signal to three TVs and still hit 100% signal quality across the board. Local conditions rule everything.
If you have a fairly decent signal level where you live then you'll be able to put up a mini Log Periodic aerial and get good reception. A mini Log is about 14" long. A longer Log such as a DM Log (2ft 6") will give more gain. A full sized Log 36 (3ft 6") is still low profile by conventional aerial standards.
Have a chat with a couple of local aerial installers. Find out what the field strength is for where you live and see what your options are. If you decide to go IPTV then just check what sort of wireless strength you get in the building. That'll be really important.
Lucid_AV said:
The idea of adding an aerial to the garden room isn't a bad one. How well it will work though very much depends on the site conditions.
I install TV aerials as part of my business as an AV installer. My pro meter helps me diagnose signal level conditions, and local knowledge built up over 15 years of doing this helps me predict what will- and wont- work in various parts of my home territory in Cheshire. Doing this I have learned where things like the online signal predictors at Wolfbane get it wrong.
For example, in the area within a half mile radius of my home the predicted signal level suggests that folk need a high-gain aerial with extra amplification just to get a signal. We're about 30 miles due south of the 100,000 Watt Winter Hill transmitter which covers a large part of the North West. There are indeed quite a few homes where they have large aerials, and usually mounted on the thinnest poles and anchored with weedy little chimney stack brackets. For this area, everything about those installations screams 'cowboy'.
The fact is that I could strip off the sheath and shielding from a couple of feet of coax to leave just the centre core and pick up some TV channels. My FM dipole aerial picks up all of the 100kW and 20kW TV transmissions. The TV aerial I use is a low-gain wideband and mounted on the roof. It picks up enough signal on all the muxes including the 5kW and 2kW 'local' transmissions beams to Liverpool and Manchester city centres that I can split the signal to three TVs and still hit 100% signal quality across the board. Local conditions rule everything.
If you have a fairly decent signal level where you live then you'll be able to put up a mini Log Periodic aerial and get good reception. A mini Log is about 14" long. A longer Log such as a DM Log (2ft 6") will give more gain. A full sized Log 36 (3ft 6") is still low profile by conventional aerial standards.
Have a chat with a couple of local aerial installers. Find out what the field strength is for where you live and see what your options are. If you decide to go IPTV then just check what sort of wireless strength you get in the building. That'll be really important.
Thanks for the advice. According to wolfbane, I only need a set top aerial. Do you think it's worth me trying that first? Would it be easy to fit a proper external aerial after the garden room has been built if the internal one doesn't work?I install TV aerials as part of my business as an AV installer. My pro meter helps me diagnose signal level conditions, and local knowledge built up over 15 years of doing this helps me predict what will- and wont- work in various parts of my home territory in Cheshire. Doing this I have learned where things like the online signal predictors at Wolfbane get it wrong.
For example, in the area within a half mile radius of my home the predicted signal level suggests that folk need a high-gain aerial with extra amplification just to get a signal. We're about 30 miles due south of the 100,000 Watt Winter Hill transmitter which covers a large part of the North West. There are indeed quite a few homes where they have large aerials, and usually mounted on the thinnest poles and anchored with weedy little chimney stack brackets. For this area, everything about those installations screams 'cowboy'.
The fact is that I could strip off the sheath and shielding from a couple of feet of coax to leave just the centre core and pick up some TV channels. My FM dipole aerial picks up all of the 100kW and 20kW TV transmissions. The TV aerial I use is a low-gain wideband and mounted on the roof. It picks up enough signal on all the muxes including the 5kW and 2kW 'local' transmissions beams to Liverpool and Manchester city centres that I can split the signal to three TVs and still hit 100% signal quality across the board. Local conditions rule everything.
If you have a fairly decent signal level where you live then you'll be able to put up a mini Log Periodic aerial and get good reception. A mini Log is about 14" long. A longer Log such as a DM Log (2ft 6") will give more gain. A full sized Log 36 (3ft 6") is still low profile by conventional aerial standards.
Have a chat with a couple of local aerial installers. Find out what the field strength is for where you live and see what your options are. If you decide to go IPTV then just check what sort of wireless strength you get in the building. That'll be really important.
For internal aerials, do you have recommendations? As for IPTV, I'll have a couple of cat 6 cables running to the room so signal should be excellent. Are there any legal iptvs that replicate the aerial Freeview experience?
Gassing Station | Home Cinema & Hi-Fi | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff