SD Analogue Cable back on in North London?

m419 · 10-01-2012, 15:25

Ok, well the other day my Virgin tv service went down all morning, the crap that the council have installed some IRS communal TV system doesn't work and i'm paying around 90p per week in my rent and service charge for that after they spent thousands on installing on most blocks around here.

Therefore i tried the TV cable directly into the Virgin socket, and what do I get a grainy BBC1,BBC2,ITV1,Channel 4

It was meant to have been shut off in 2009 when barker channels said 'your service is coming to an end and you'll stop paying for it'.

So when my Virgin Digital TV service goes down, i'm gonna be screwed for TV! that IRS tv system is unreliable everyone is complaining about it, some people hook up there Sky boxes to it and tell me its constantly going down.

Just baffled as to why the council installed it wasting all that money knowing there is a big problem with TV reception because of the buildings in front and trees, just wondering why they couldn't square something with Virgin Media to provide a digital tv service,

BenMcr · 10-01-2012, 15:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by m419

Therefore i tried the TV cable directly into the Virgin socket, and what do I get a grainy BBC1,BBC2,ITV1,Channel 4

That sounds more like the cabling was acting a big terrestrial aerial. If it was Virgin feeding the signal it would be clear

Quote:

Originally Posted by m419

just wondering why they couldn't square something with Virgin Media to provide a digital tv service,

Because there are a few issues in regards to that

1) Virgin aren't really set up to run bulk deal accounts. It always used to cause issues in those areas where they ran a full analogue STB council service (rather than an aerial service) and isn't really Virgin's focus as they want multiple service customers

2) For the council it's a significant and ongoing cost to provide everyone with subscription TV whereas an aerial replacement service is a larger cost but on a short term and then a lot lower maintanence cost

m419 · 10-01-2012, 16:03

Well its a four pin socket 2 satellite and one for TV and the other for Radio. There is an older one right beside it with just TV and FM radio and when I hook up the TV with that older one, it gives the same results as the newly installed one, so I guess the same aerial must be connected to it.

The quality of the analogue signal from the Virgin TV socket is clear with the exception of BBC1 which is grainy, but it was always grainy even when I had Analogue Cable a while ago, the other thing, channel 4, faces appear long and narrow and broadcasts in letterbox.

spiderplant · 10-01-2012, 16:23

The direct subscription analogue service was shut down in 2009, but the signal remains in place for council tenants until the relevant contract comes to an end. Which will be April in the case of Camden.

m419 · 10-01-2012, 17:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by spiderplant

The direct subscription analogue service was shut down in 2009, but the signal remains in place for council tenants until the relevant contract comes to an end. Which will be April in the case of Camden.

Yes it is Camden, people round Holborn are most likely to use that, the council has no IRS communal system in place in any building round there, and especially if you're on the ground floor, you are screwed for TV reception even satellite. A lot of people subscribe to Virgin TV around there and was the first part of Camden to have Cable in 1991 where the rest had it from 1995 onwards, in fact you can still see Rediffusion cabinets and cabling around Bourne Estate although dilapidated and padlocked.