It's amazing what a decent roof aerial can do

[Steve]

Today I've been testing a TV tuner. It's a PCIe dual-tuner. The review will be along in due course

To test it, I had to run a cable from where the aerial comes into my flat, through into my office. I already had three tuners attached to the aerial. Meaning I was, in effect, about to add another two.

In my old house, running two tuners stably was a royal struggle.

But in this'un, no worries!

But the best thing is, I live in a block of 10 flats, on top of which there are two roof aerials, each serving five flats. They're masthead amplified.

I think the combination of masthead amplifier, and the fact that we're a tall building, means I get a lovely reception from the Mendip transmitter.

But here are a couple of tips from me on getting a good signal, especially if you run a MCE/MythTV PC:

1. Don't mess with the signal once it's left the roof - Amplify at the masthead if you need too, but not at the other end of the cable run; no point boosting all that extra noise.
2. Cut out the cable - I had lots of problems when I had loops of cables to my three tuners. Now I just plug T splitters into each other - the only cable is the incoming aerial cable. No more crosstalk nightmares.

Never thought my sole reason for liking a flat would be its TV reception.