Hi everyone,

I noticed that my TV reception was really bad, and it turns out I was watching it via antenna, the old-fashioned way. I searched for channels on DVB-T (what we usually call "digital terrestrial TV") and it found hundreds of them, but I have to pay to watch them.

I had read that at least a few of them should be free (RTS and so), but I get a message saying "CI Module not available" even on those.

Do you know why is this? anyone had a similar problem?

I live in Geneva, in case that is important

Thanks!

In Geneva you should have the French and the Swiss Digital TV channels for free.

What kind of digital decoder do you have ?

I think it is integrated with the TV. When click on a number on the remote, for example 1, it lets me choose between "Channel 1 TV" and "Channel 1 DTV". If I click on 'DTV', it says I don't have CI module.

Are you sure it's not a live Cable signal you are getting in though the wall plug? In other words, are you 100% sure it is received via a Terrestrial antenna (have you actually seen it)?

It sounds like it's a cable TV operator's signal you are receiving as they also pipe analogue signals through their cable network...

Perhaps it is, yes, I have no idea. I connect it to the wall, it just says "TV".

How could I connect it to a terrestrial antenna then? is it possible that my building/apartment is not connected, only to cable signal?

In addition, depending on what make TV you have, you may have to select "source" (cable or aerial) from the TV's menu.

I get the same message regarding digital channels (on a Samsung) - but I don't have an aerial, so could only receive them with CI+ card (which I would have to buy from Cc.).

There's every possibility that the TV socket is for cable and not to an aerial - you'll have to ask the abwart/regie.

You may have to buy an internal aerial - although not ideal - with or without a signal power booster, depending on how high up you are.

can you take a pic of the plug in the wall (just to be sure) ?

Aerial signal I get fine, but with bad quality. Well, I am not entirely sure of the name, I get the old-fashioned tv signal if I select "TV" on my television correctly, but if I select digital (DTV on my television) is all for pay, I was expecting to get some free channels and that I'd have to pay for the rest.



Ok, I'll take it when I get back home. But it is not too complicated, it has 2 sockets: one which says "TV" and the other one which says "Radio". I have Cablecom modem connected with a coaxial cable to the one saying "Radio" (?), and it works fine; and the TV to the other one.

For about 150 Chf you can get a satellite dish system and point it to the UK/English ASTRA 2 bird. It is FreeView and you will recieve dozens of free channels. Here is a link to a good on-line directory but only the main channels are shown.

http://www.onastra.com/2197/whats-on

There are also German/Italian/French/etc channels.

I dont think there are any broadcast stations in Switzerland but that is just my asumption.

Ciao

No need to... You answered your question yourself.

It's a cable signal you get in and not terrestrial.

Before wasting money on boosters: If you have a poor analogue TV picture as it is, a booster will not only boost the picture but also the poor quality (if this makes sense).

The reception of analogue signals is a bit different from that of digital...

Ah ok, and then I guess my apartment is not connected to terrestrial then, right?

It is so different from my country, Spain. There everyone has terrestrial, around 30 channels for free and a bunch of them with a special subscription. And if you got cable signal in your building, then it was a separate socket. But I don't know of any apartment without terrestrial.

There's something I don't get, if you've got cablecom, why do you want to watch tv from terrestrial ? you should get tv channels from the cablecom box.

(hope it makes sense...)

Cablecom doesn't offer TV in the French-speaking part of Switzerland (I'm in Geneva). I only have internet connection with them.

Besides, I wouldn't want to pay for television, I barely watch it... I opened this thread because I consider really old-fashioned to be watching aerial television nowadays, the quality of image is terrible, you can't switch languages, etc...

Eversince getting Cablecom, I never had to use the DVB-T on my LCD TV which has an integrated DVB-T tuner.

Cablecom CableTV n/a in my Area: Quest for Lesser of All Evils?

You mean it also has a DVB-C tuner as the frequencies are different from that of DVB-T and DVB-S... Of course, if you decode the signal from the cable via a supplied UPC box it is different, then it doesn't matter what tuner you have on your TV as it would feed through AV/HDMI...

Now, this bring a question to my mind.

How come you're in an flat without an aerial antenna ?

I guess you pay billag, so you have the right to get the Swiss Digital TV (at least) even if you don't want to get it through cablecom.

you should ask your neighbourhood/régie about it.

DVB-T doesn't use an aerial, just a small antenna that can sit on top of the TV.

Tom

It can also use an aerial, as the T (as in DVB-T) doesn't define the type of reception device used but rather the frequency span... In turn this has no impact on MPEG2/4 reception either, but that's a different story...