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All Freeview receivers offer retuning and programme list sorting options
Freeview
Setting up Freeview Setting up a Freeview receiver is basically pretty simple, but complex situations can arise The Freeview standard was designed that way so Freeview is an easy-to-use successor to analogue terrestrial TV for every person in the country. The only slight complexities arise when you are using a separate Freeview receiver ‘box’ instead of an integrated Freeview TV, or a Freeview recorder, or both. Nevertheless, setting it all up is relatively straightforward and shouldn’t take too long – and certainly doesn’t require an expensive visit from an engineer. How to connect up the boxes
01 With an integrated Freeview TV only, life couldn’t be simpler – you connect up the aerial (it must already be checked or upgraded for digital terrestrial reception in your area) and that’s it. If your TV doesn’t contain a digital tuner then you’ll need a separate
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The correct AV settings can improve your picture 2 What Satellite & Digital TV
Freeview box. For recording Freeview, you’ll need a Freeview PVR recorder. Accompanying a digital TV this will just handle recording (like an old VCR used to do for analogue), but coupled to an analogue TV you will both watch and record Freeview using this box (that’s where a twin-tuner model excels as you can watch one channel while recording another). You will also need to connect a co-ax cable from the Freeview box loopthrough output to the TV aerial input socket to pass on the analogue and/or digital signals to the TV’s own tuner. You should connect the Freeview receiver or recorder to the TV by the highest fidelity connection available on both items. HDMI is tops, followed by component video, RGB Scart, S-video, composite video Scart, and UHF co-ax. HDMI and Scart connections handle sound as well – otherwise, this must be a
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The best kit walks you through the tuning process
separate digital or analogue connection, as appropriate. HDMI is the clear favourite as it produces the best pictures. UHF is barely worth considering and is not offered on most Freeview equipment anyway. How to connect up several boxes
02 If you have more than one Freeview receiver – whether they are built into a TV set or as separate boxes – then you need to either supply each with its own aerial or (and a much better solution) split the signal from a good central aerial to all of the boxes. This may require an active distribution amplifier so each receiver gets a strong signal, but it is not difficult to achieve (and much easier than feeding many satellite receivers from a single dish). Twin-tuner Freeview recorders require only one aerial connection as they split the signal to both tuners internally.
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Automatic tuning may also need a full reset to work
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The HDMI output should match your TVs resolution
How to tune in your receiver
03 Both integrated Freeview TVs and set-top boxes need to be tuned in to find the channel frequencies used in your particular area. This is usually automatic and always simple to do. Most TVs and many receivers start the auto-tuning process as soon as they’re first switched on. You will see an onscreen message saying something like ‘Automatic Setup. Press OK to continue’. If the process doesn’t begin automatically, press the Menu button and select Initial Setup or Automatic Tuning from the menu onscreen. Tuning will take a couple of minutes and you are usually entertained with a progress bar and a list of the channels found. After tuning, control of the receiver is returned to you and you can watch the channels found. How to set up the receiver 04 In many cases there is nothing else that you have to set up on your receiver to enjoy Freeview TV, but you may need to switch on or off (as appropriate) the onscreen subtitles and/or audio description function. Check that the output is in the best format for the connections you are using. In particular, if you are using HDMI from an upscaling Freeview box or recorder, make sure that the video format best matches the TV – 720p for HD Ready TVs, or 1080i for Full HD TVs. How to sort out the channels
05 All the Freeview channels found are stored, and ordered BBC One, BBC Two, ITV1, Channel 4, Five, etc, but this may not be to your taste. You can use the Edit Channels option in the menu to delete channels that you will never want to watch (e.g. other-region duplicates, adult channels, and so on) and move channels that you like from far down the list towards the top. This is usually a process of selecting the channel to move from the complete list, and then moving to the position you want it. You can also PIN-protect channels unsuitable for all-family viewing. Some receivers will allow channels to
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It’s worth sorting channels to suit your tastes
be renamed, which can be useful if you receive two versions of, say, ITV from different regions and you want access to both and you can also set up a list of favourite channels for easy access. How to tune in your receiver
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In the fullness of time, broadcasters come and go, channels move frequency and other events alter the airwaves from how they were when you first got the Freeview equipment. Whether you’re informed of changes onscreen or in the press, it’s time to retune the receiver (some receivers, especially integrated TVs, do this automatically). You can either reset the whole box to its fresh-from-the-factory state – usually called ‘Factory Settings’, ‘Default Settings’ or ‘Factory Reset’ in the menus – and start again (although this will wipe other settings you may have made) or initiate Auto Tuning manually from the menu. Experience of the changes last autumn suggests that for most receivers a complete reset is most effective. When retuning, some receivers give you the option of keeping the old stored channels and just adding new channels to the list. This can be handy if your signal levels vary and weaker channels are not recognisable at the time. If you know a single multiplex has changed, or you want to do some selective tuning in a regional overlap area because the strongest signal is not from the transmitter you want, then you can use the Manual Tune option. This tunes in just one multiplex, usually selected by its ‘channel number’ (21-69). Some receivers allow for the tuning frequency to be varied from the standard channel numbers, which can be useful if there’s close-frequency interference.
A signal check can help diagnose tuning problems
with the TV programmes, and many receivers will update themselves automatically. Otherwise, you can ‘force’ an update by selecting the Software Update option from the menus and it’s a good idea to periodically select this function to ensure that your box is using the latest version n Geoff Bains
Glossary HDMI
TV connection carrying uncompressed digital video and sound, as received and decoded from the over-the-air broadcast. Produces the best quality picture and sound because the signals remain in the digital domain between reception and display.
Multiplex
Transmission at a single frequency containing a number of digitally encoded and compressed TV and/or radio channels. Freeview operates in six multiplexes (1 and 2 for the BBC and A-D for commercial broadcasters), each carrying up to about 12 full-time TV channels. One multiplex is used for HD transmissions in some areas.
Scart
Analogue TV connection carrying a composite video signal and stereo analogue audio in both directions. Scart usually also carries the much better-quality RGB video signal and/or the slightly better S-video format.
Major retuning events usually require a full reset to erase the old channels first
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How to update your receiver
07 Not all Freeview receivers are born perfect and Freeview recorders, in particular, have upgraded software released during their lifetime to fix bugs, or even to add new functions. The new software is transmitted along What Satellite & Digital TV 3