In an upstairs room I have a low-cost HDTV, one of the Technika telelvisions from Tesco. Overall it is a good value for money bit of kit. However the built-in Freeview has been a nightmare, hardly finding any channels and some it does find are scrambled.
However it’s not a big problem, it can be easily solved with an aerial booster.
The Product
I decided to go with the ‘Philex TV Signal Booster’, which cost a shade under £10 from Amazon. A decent price and the reviews of the Philex range are overall decent so I thought it was worth a pop.
Improvement
9/10. Absolutely brilliant! Not only can it now find all the Freeview channels, the ones that were scrambled now work perfectly fine. Some channels it has newly found are scrambled (notably G.O.L.D which is a big shame) so I can’t give it the full 10 out of 10, but still close.
Setup
10/10. Super easy, simply plug in the aerials (you need 2, so if you don’t have a separate one spare you will need to buy one), plug in the mains adapter and retune the TV – job done. Hard to go wrong.
Value for money
Have to give it 9/10 again. Did exactly what it is supposed to do and at just under a tenner can’t go far wrong.
So if you need to boost your signal this is highly recommended.
Philex TV Aerial Booster Review
2 Comments
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Posted on 17 May 2010 by Chris.
About Expert Author: I am an experienced researcher and have been a full-time writer since 2007. My main passion is technology and gadgets.
HELP
Normally, in RF setups the signal is output through a male (small) RF jack, and input to a large (female) plug. For some unknown reason, Philex chose to make both the input and the output female, rendering standard patch cords useless. What’s more, this is not mentioned on the box or in the adverts, necessitating 2 trips to the store (in my case, the second trip will be to return this – not because I cannot easily buy and attach another male plug to create the necessary male-to-male patch cord – but because I do not appreciate this level of customer ‘service’ not least because I do not know whether it will work in our area and do not want to risk having to make a third trip (25 mins each way). Glad it worked for you, though.
Your right, on Amazon where I got mine it doesn’t state it is female to female. Luckily for me I had a aerial extension before I bought it, so it was easy. I don’t blame you not risking it given the journey, shame as the actual function of it (IE improving signal) is actually very good so why would they let themselves down with something like this