# Getting rid of ghosting?



## itm (Aug 12, 2001)

This is a little off-topic, but couldn't think of anywhere else to post it...

Ive recently been getting alot of ghosting in my TV signal, and was wondering if anyone had experience of getting rid of this sort of thing?

I live in an area of poor TV reception (near the bottom of Richmond Hill in Surrey). Ive just bought a 42 LCD television, and the ghosting problems that Ive had for a while now look 10 times worse in higher resolution! I use a signal booster, and also pass my RF signal to other rooms around the house, but even connecting the aerial directly into the TV, with the booster and all external feeds disconnected, I get the ghosting.

I receive digital terrestrial channels from Crystal Palace, but only some of the channels. For example, I receive digital BBC1 at 37% signal strength. None of the other channels are received at much higher than 50% signal strength.

The analogue signal is important to me for two reasons:
(a)	I'm devoted to my Tivo
(b)	I use 2 CCTV security cameras which broadcast on RF channels.

I've come acoss a couple of products which may or may not help:
http://www.garex.co.uk/vhf_accs/notch.htm
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?criteria=qt25c&doy=9m11&source=15&AID=10351789&PID=1830319

Does anyone have any experience of dealing with this sort of problem?

TIA
Ian


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## katman (Jun 4, 2002)

Neither of those products will help with ghosting.

The notch filter is for removing a particular channel and the RFI filter is for attenuating general RFI.

Ghosting is caused by receiving multiple signals from the same source by different routes eg directly from the transmitter and reflected off some large building nearby.

Having a booster also amplifys the ghosting as well as the original wanted signal.

The only way to resolve ghosting is to use a HIGHLY DIRECTIONAL AERIAL that is accurately aligned. You may also need to alter the physical location of the aerial to avoid receiving the reflected signal.

HTH

Keith


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

itm said:


> This is a little off-topic, but couldn't think of anywhere else to post it...
> 
> Ive recently been getting alot of ghosting in my TV signal, and was wondering if anyone had experience of getting rid of this sort of thing?
> 
> ...


The Maplin product looks worth trying in view of the low price. Not so sure about the other one as you have to know the frequency the cross channel interference is being generated on.

I know that the Freeview signal does bizarre things in weaker reception areas as at my mum's house she can't get the C3/4 Mux Freeview signal at all (signal meter on box says zero) but has good signal on the other five Muxes. I'm surprised you have a serious problem at the bottom of Richmond Hill though and that Crystal Palace can't reach such a comparatively short distance.

Can't you improve the actual aerial itself and replace it with one designe for Freeview in your area as that's the only guaranteed solution but can be expensive to do or impossible if its as shared communal aerial system. Alternatively how about going for a minimum one year contract with Sky at £15 per month and then cancelling at the end of year one and ordering through www.quidco.co.uk and their site so as to get a further £50 cashback normally paid by Sky to retailers like Comet or Currys for selling Sky subscriptions. Or do you also have a restriction that doesn't allow you to have your own Sky satellite dish? Alternatively is either NTL cable or www.homechoice.co.uk via broadband and the phone line available in your part of London?


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## Pugwash (May 23, 2003)

I plugged a 17" LCD TV into my xbox and got a lot of ghosting. I found out by trial and error that it was trying to smoothen the picture. On a crisp xbox menu that looked awful!

To correct it, I set the "sharpness" in the TV settings to maximum. It was only when it got to the maximum value that all artificial smoothening suddenly disappeared and the image looks a lot better.


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## itm (Aug 12, 2001)

I had my aerial installed professionally a few years ago when OnDigital first became available (by Thames Aerial Services). At that time the signal was fine. From katman's post I'm guessing that it's deteriorated due to some change in the the landscape which is now giving me reflected signals.
I actually had the original fitters in a couple of months ago to look at general reception issues, and they basically recommended that I move to digital. This doesn't work for me as (a) my DTT signal is nowhere near strong enough, and is often unwatchable, and (b) I make extensive use of Tivo, which really works best with the built-in analog tuner.
I already have a SkyPlus box (I use it as backup/overflow for the Tivo), so for normal viewing I can watch Sky via Tivo Aux, but the problem is that I deliberately set up all of my Tivo recordings to use analogue - this is because if Tivo is recording from a Sky channel this stops me from watching a different Sky channel at the same time. I also get ghosting when watching Sky via Tivo aux - but a different type of ghosting and probably for different reasons.


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

itm said:


> I already have a SkyPlus box (I use it as backup/overflow for the Tivo), so for normal viewing I can watch Sky via Tivo Aux, but the problem is that I deliberately set up all of my Tivo recordings to use analogue - this is because if Tivo is recording from a Sky channel this stops me from watching a different Sky channel at the same time.


But a Sky+ box has two tuners that is the whole point of it.  

Also you will find most people here use their Tivo with a Sky Digibox or a Freeview box and very few indeed use the internal tuner due to the limited number of channels and the poor picture quality. Feeding your Tivo from the Sky Digibox would be the better option or get Sky Multiroom and have a second standard Sky Digibox installed to exclusively serve the Tivo.

As to your local landscape changing I really think that's terribly unlikely even allowing for global warming.  

Its much more likely that your aerial has been blown out of alignment by storms or had a piece fall off it. I suppose you might have had a large new block of flats complete between you and the transmitter?


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## katman (Jun 4, 2002)

itm said:


> I also get ghosting when watching Sky via Tivo aux - but a different type of ghosting and probably for different reasons.


That sounds like poor quality SCART leads.

A SCART lead is bi-directional and if it is a poor quality one you can get crosstalk between the signals.

Do you see a faint different image in the background, possibly moving slightly with repect the the wanted image.

If you do, select a chanel on the TV that doesnt exist eg one that normally gives snow or a blue mute screen and see if that improves the image. If it does then you need better quality SCART leads.

PLEASE NOTE: that doesnt mean the most expensive you can find, you just need decent ones, some expensive ones are no better than cheap ones. The SCART leads with cable so thick that you almost need a pipe bender to mold them to shape can either pull themselves out of the sockets or put so much stress on the connector that they break the solder joints on the PCB.

HTH

Keith


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## mikerr (Jun 2, 2005)

The scart leads you should be looking for are:

"Fully wired", or "fully connected", "21 pin connected" (so you get RGB)
and "individually shielded/screened" (so you don't get interference)

I prefer the "flat" type, it makes the cabling neater:

E.g. £2.50 from here:
http://www.kenable.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=575
That's where I got mine from - they are just up the road from here.

No need to spend a fortune on "monster" ripoff cables, so long as you know what to look for.


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## katman (Jun 4, 2002)

mikerr said:


> E.g. £2.50 from here:
> http://www.kenable.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=575
> That's where I got mine from - they are just up the road from here.


Good link, thanks for that. some good stuff on that site


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