Avtex TV

[Don Madge]

I've been looking at a AVTEX 6 in 1 15" TV DVD Radio W151D Details at http://tinyurl.com/zbhh8 I have a bog standard aerial on the roof of the van (I forgot the make) so I assume it will work in the UK. What about places like Greece/Turkey would I need a satellite dish or similar. Any advice would be most welcome Thanks Don

[John NG5]

Don, i'm terribly sorry I can' help with your query but I would like to thank you for bringing this 6 in 1 TV to my attention. I am very interested and did check it out on the web site you provided, very impressive!!! Now, like you, I will await a reply from those in the technical field with regard to the aerial situation. Thanks again. John 8-)

[chris]

Our friends just bought new tv at Shepton show but the ordinary arial did not seem to work with it well. He tried it in ours as we have the push up locker arial and it worked so he was happy tv worked but was checking his arial out. He had no problem with his ordinary tv only the new flat screen so maybe they do need a certain arial. We have an ordinary avtex and it works well. chris

[Guest peter]

Omni directional arials are not as good as directional ones. I have no trouble with directional arial which I use when satelite is not in view of dish.

[Mel E]

Don, To answer your original question, the site lists the TV as multi-standard with both PAL (most of Europe) and SECAM (France, former USSR), but not NTSC (USA), though it lists the details wrongly. So you should be able to receive terrestrial analogue TV anywhere in Europe. It does not appear to receive digital terrestrial TV (Freeview in the UK), so will start to be of more limted use in the UK from 2008. To receive satellite, you'll need a full satallite kit - dish, LNB, receiver and finder. Maplins have one for about £90 and, allegedly, Lidl for £60. Hope that helps.

[Don Madge]

[QUOTE]Mel E - 2006-09-15 12:46 AM Don, To answer your original question, the site lists the TV as multi-standard with both PAL (most of Europe) and SECAM (France, former USSR), but not NTSC (USA), though it lists the details wrongly. So you should be able to receive terrestrial analogue TV anywhere in Europe. It does not appear to receive digital terrestrial TV (Freeview in the UK), so will start to be of more limted use in the UK from 2008. To receive satellite, you'll need a full satallite kit - dish, LNB, receiver and finder. Maplins have one for about £90 and, allegedly, Lidl for £60. Hope that helps.[/QUOTE] Mel, I've got no room for a sat dish and the van aerial is rubbish. I'll have to stick to the laptop. We've managed so far without a TV, We will just have to struggle on, it's a hard life :-D :-D :-D Thanks Don

[Mel E]

Don, Two solutions: 1. The 'Magic Circle' set-top aerial widely sold at Motorhome Shows works very well. It has a built-in aerial amplifier and is all we've ever used in our motorhome. I compared its performance with three other, more expensive, portable aerials from Maplins and it out-performed all of them by a fairly wide margin. We find the best performance is obtained by putting it on the roof and trailing the aerial through the skylight, though in strong reception areas it works fine indoors. Because it is directional, a certain amount of 'twirling' is necessary when first setting it up. 2. If you have a reasonably modern laptop, there is a much cheaper TV solution. Maplins sell a USB device - looks just like a flash memory stick - that has an aerial socket built in and can receive multi-standard TV throughout the world and ALSO receive terrestrial digital TV (Freeview in the UK). The accompanying software even allows it to be used as a recorder and it gets the programme guide on freeview. The cost is £69.95, but a Freeview digital-only version is on sale for just £29.95 (Maplin's Code is A93FN) at present - a real bargain. However, your laptop does need a processor powerful enough to handle the work.

[hbarnett]

Hi Don, if you decide to go for satelite, please contact SD Digital, they're in Devon. I got all the equipment free because they were running a promotion with Sky. I had to subscribe but it was worth it. They advetise in MMM near the back pages, Howard

[Don Madge]

[QUOTE]Mel E - 2006-09-15 10:25 AM Don, Two solutions: 2. If you have a reasonably modern laptop, there is a much cheaper TV solution. Maplins sell a USB device - looks just like a flash memory stick - that has an aerial socket built in and can receive multi-standard TV throughout the world and ALSO receive terrestrial digital TV (Freeview in the UK). The accompanying software even allows it to be used as a recorder and it gets the programme guide on freeview. The cost is £69.95, but a Freeview digital-only version is on sale for just £29.95 (Maplin's Code is A93FN) at present - a real bargain. However, your laptop does need a processor powerful enough to handle the work.[/QUOTE] Mel, We have two new laptops so I might go down that road but I will still have to have a new aerial. I might be able to replace my exisisting one with the Magic Circle. It's apity we won't be at York you could have sorted me out there. I'm taking the laptop to Istanbul with us as the hotels we stay in have Wifi available, it will give me a chance to have a play with it. Thanks Don PS, I've just checked the magic Circle aerial and realised what it is. I'm not having a good day.