No STB?

[scottyswinton1]

Anyone know of getting ntls line hooked up to the telly to get analogue channels? Is it a visit to maplins tonight?

[Stuart C]

Depends on the area. However, in most areas, Virgin don't provide any analogue signals via the cable without an STB.

Chances are, if you want to use Cable, you'll have to rent a box from Virgin.

BTW, I've moved your thread out of the articles section.

[BlackRain]

I was advised by a cable engineer that you can sometimes receive television channels without using a STB. As we have an un-used extra point in my daughters bedroom due to the previous owners having 2 STB's (1 in bedroom and 1 in lounge), I have been using this method to save using a silly indoor ariel or having to erect another outside ariel for her.

Depending on how the service was originally installed you will have either a box on the wall or a lead coming into the house which would have connected to the STB for your television.

If its a box, then you will need to get a lead with the correct fittings on each end so that you can connect it directly to you television. If its a lead, then you can get an adapter to change it to the correct fitting for your television.

You will need to retune your television to pick up the channels, as they work on a different frequency to the ones that are received through a TV ariel. You may also find that there are some extra channels that are available on top of the usual 1-5 ones.

What this method does is enable you to watch television channels without the need of an external TV ariel, as the stations are available via the cable network. I assume that as they are available in this way, it may also do away with the need to get a Freeview STB when analogue gets switched off.

The only point I'm not sure about is whether you need to be subscribed to your cable company in some way. I used to have an analogue STB and telephone line in the days of Nynex and C&W. Then I stopped the analogue STB, as I didn't use it much, but kept the telephone. I have now recently taken advantage of one of the bundle deals and got telephone, broadband and a digital STB. So I can't confirm if you can get your television channels using the above method if you are not connected to the cable company in some way. It's worth a try though, especially as the signal is better and you may get some extra channels.

Let me know how you get on.

[Skyornot]

This thread reminds me of my student days, when living in halls with terrible TV reception (i even made several attempts at aerial bootser/coathanger combos to no avail). Then i came across an old NTL cable line poking out from behind a wardrobe and via some old speaker wire and blu-tac i was able to connect the cable to the back of my portable TV and receive perfect TV reception to the dismay and amazement of my TV loving *new flat-mates [sighsssssssssssss].


*I even got a kiss and tell out of it, but that's another story :-p