# how do i get free to air channels on panasonic viera tv



## buster mammy

hi! I bought a new tv as mentioned above with 50 free to air channels built in, i got " one for all" indoor aerial but all that i got was rte tv3 etc so my question is do i need another box or will an external aerial do? at present getting all channels through upc have gone through similar post but find advise conflicting and dont want to buy wrong item again thank in advance for any advice coming my way


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## gipimann

Free to air channels usually suggest the need for a satellite dish - what sort of channels were mentioned?


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## tallpaul

Did you buy the TV in the North?? What I am guessing is that the box/advert is referring to Freeview which is the UK equivalent of Saorview and the TV has an integrated tuner which is able to pick up DTT signals without the need for a stand-alone receiver. Unless you live in the border counties, you have zero chance of receiving Freeview, especially with an indoor aerial.


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## Leo

What exact model is it? This will be a code such as 'P50GT50B'. 50 channels would suggest satellite, quite a few Panasonic TVs have a tuner built in. These need a feed from a satellite dish.


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## buster mammy

hi leo its TX-L32C4B and any help would be appreciated


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## Spear

sahd said:


> But here in Ireland you will just get our Saorview channels.


 
This may be a related query, so I'll put it on this thread, if nobody minds.

I have a Panasonic TX-P42GT50B which has a built-in Freesat HD tuner built in (UK only).

I have a (free) satellite dish, so get all the free-to-air satellite channels, but the Irish ones are all locked in this "Satellite" setting.

When I try to manually tune the frequency for Saorview (Three Rock) @738MHz (ref [broken link removed]), the TV says "Please enter a frequency between 10700 and 12750 MHz."


Is it possible to pick up the Irish channels via Saorview with this TV, without the need for external aerial?  Any ideas?


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## tallpaul

Spear said:


> This may be a related query, so I'll put it on this thread, if nobody minds.
> 
> I have a Panasonic TX-P42GT50B which has a built-in Freesat HD tuner built in (UK only).
> 
> I have a (free) satellite dish, so get all the free-to-air satellite channels, but the Irish ones are all locked in this "Satellite" setting.
> 
> When I try to manually tune the frequency for Saorview (Three Rock) @738MHz (ref [broken link removed]), the TV says "Please enter a frequency between 10700 and 12750 MHz."
> 
> 
> Is it possible to pick up the Irish channels via Saorview with this TV, without the need for external aerial? Any ideas?


 
Check the country settings of the TV. My bet is that it is set to the UK. If you bought the TV in Ireland, it should be Saorview compatible and you should be able to change the country to Ireland.


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## Spear

tallpaul said:


> Check the country settings of the TV. My bet is that it is set to the UK. If you bought the TV in Ireland, it should be Saorview compatible and you should be able to change the country to Ireland.


 
How can country settings be changed?  I did buy it in Ireland, but thought it was set up for both UK and Ireland.  I have checked everywhere and can't find out how to change country settings.


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## Leo

Spear said:


> How can country settings be changed?


 
You'll have to go through the Auto-Setup procedure.


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## MrEarl

Spear said:


> This may be a related query, so I'll put it on this thread, if nobody minds.
> 
> I have a Panasonic TX-P42GT50B which has a built-in Freesat HD tuner built in (UK only).
> 
> I have a (free) satellite dish, so get all the free-to-air satellite channels, but the Irish ones are all locked in this "Satellite" setting.
> 
> When I try to manually tune the frequency for Saorview (Three Rock) @738MHz (ref [broken link removed]), the TV says "Please enter a frequency between 10700 and 12750 MHz."
> 
> 
> Is it possible to pick up the Irish channels via Saorview with this TV, without the need for external aerial?  Any ideas?





Hello,

That frequency range you quote above (10700 - 12750) looks very much like the Ku Band, which is the broadcast band for satellite tv in Europe, I think - satellites such as Astra, broadcast within this band.

I suspect this means your TV has the capacity to be linked to a Satellite Dish and has a Satellite Receiver, built into the TV - in which case you may actually be able to get the free to air, satellite tv channels on it.  Is there a slot for a card, about the size of a credit card, built into the TV by any chance ?

... if so, I suspect you may be able to acquire a free to air tv card (such as the old Sky "Yellow House" cards which were offered for near nothing on Ebay) from someone living in the UK and once inserted, perhaps also get BBC, ITV etc.  No promises mind you and do please keep in mind, this may be breaking copyright 

Does your TV manual indicate the TV has a MPEG-4 decoder (this is what is required, if you wish to watch Saorview channels) ?

Regards

Mr. Earl.


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## Guest125

Spear said:


> This may be a related query, so I'll put it on this thread, if nobody minds.
> 
> I have a Panasonic TX-P42GT50B which has a built-in Freesat HD tuner built in (UK only).
> 
> I have a (free) satellite dish, so get all the free-to-air satellite channels, but the Irish ones are all locked in this "Satellite" setting.
> 
> When I try to manually tune the frequency for Saorview (Three Rock) @738MHz (ref [broken link removed]), the TV says "Please enter a frequency between 10700 and 12750 MHz."
> 
> 
> Is it possible to pick up the Irish channels via Saorview with this TV, without the need for external aerial?  Any ideas?


I think you're confusing the two transmission systems. When you connect to the satellite dish you can get freesat, this will give you the UK channels. The Irish channels are received using an aerial they aren't on freesat. In short you need a dish for the UK channels and an aerial for the Irish ones.


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## Spear

MrEarl said:


> I suspect this means your TV has the capacity to be linked to a Satellite Dish and has a Satellite Receiver, built into the TV - in which case you may actually be able to get the free to air, satellite tv channels on it. Is there a slot for a card, about the size of a credit card, built into the TV by any chance ?
> 
> ... if so, I suspect you may be able to acquire a free to air tv card (such as the old Sky "Yellow House" cards which were offered for near nothing on Ebay) from someone living in the UK and once inserted, perhaps also get BBC, ITV etc.




The Card Interface slot does indeed look like a possibility.  Although, it does seem to be a bit of an effort to find a legal way of doing this.



caff said:


> I think you're confusing the two transmission systems. When you connect to the satellite dish you can get freesat, this will give you the UK channels. The Irish channels are received using an aerial they aren't on freesat. In short you need a dish for the UK channels and an aerial for the Irish ones.


 
True.  I can't find any evidence that there is an aerial built in to the tv, so the only way to get the Irish channels easily, it seems, is with an aerial.

Thanks, all.


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## Leo

Spear said:


> True. I can't find any evidence that there is an aerial built in to the tv, so the only way to get the Irish channels easily, it seems, is with an aerial.


 
There isn't, as with all modern TVs, a separate aerial will be required.


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## Videm

Hi, sorry to jump on this thread but it seemed the most relevant to my issue and I'm very very new to forum messaging....

I just bought a Panasonic Viera tX-L42ET61B which has a built-in Freesat HD tuner built in. I was told I do not need an aerial but I cant get any of the channels (not even the BBC channels) says no signal. Does anyone know what I need to do, to get a signal to receive these Freesat channels which I am told are free.

Any help would be most appreciated.


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## gipimann

Doesn't Freesat need a satellite dish to work (rather than an aerial which is used with Freeview or Saorview)?


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## Spear

With that TV, in Ireland, you will need a satellite dish for the Freesat (UK) channels and an aerial for the Saorview (Irish) channels.


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## Bronte

I'm not very technical but we have the free UK channels, ITV and BBC etc. Plus RTE radio etc. I'm on the continent so we get them via a satellite dish, Astra I think, and a sky box, purchased via the UK with a card. So you should be able to get something similar.  The only costs were the satellite dish and the sky box.


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## Leo

Bronte said:


> I'm not very technical but we have the free UK channels, ITV and BBC etc. Plus RTE radio etc. I'm on the continent so we get them via a satellite dish, Astra I think, and a sky box, purchased via the UK with a card. So you should be able to get something similar.  The only costs were the satellite dish and the sky box.



This thread relates to the setup/config of the built-in satellite tuner, so they won't need the external box.


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## Maretta

You'll need a dish connected to your tv to get the freesat programmes


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## Leo

Maretta said:


> You'll need a dish connected to your tv to get the freesat programmes



Already covered two months ago...


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## Purple

Leo said:


> Already covered two months ago...



It looks like someone is trying to get their post count up...


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## Leo

Purple said:


> It looks like someone is trying to get their post count up...



That was my suspicion too, but posts since are fine though. So my spam senses have relaxed


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