I know this is slightly OT, but this newsgroup is a good source of info on 
technical things as well as price - can anyone recommend a good wireless 
video sender?

The one I have, the original AEI Digisender (bought 4 years ago from Argos), 
seems to have problems with the distance - the receiver is only 10 feet 
above the sender, but reception varies wildly depending on - get this - 
where in the room you are standing, even where your feet and legs are when 
you lie in bed.

Now I've moved the TV in the bedroom to the other side of the room, 
theoretically it is closer vertically to the sender, but further 
horizontally from the door openings, and now the fuzzing, clicking and 
popping are too much!

Not fussed about price, but would like to spend under 80. The sender needs 
to have an "eye" function to allow control of the Sky box back downstairs.

Ta,
D.

"David Wright"  wrote in message 
news:3mb8ahF15r4h0U1@individual.net...

>I know this is slightly OT, but this newsgroup is a good source of info on 
>technical things as well as price - can anyone recommend a good wireless 
>video sender?
>
> The one I have, the original AEI Digisender (bought 4 years ago from 
> Argos), seems to have problems with the distance - the receiver is only 10 
> feet above the sender, but reception varies wildly depending on - get 
> this - where in the room you are standing, even where your feet and legs 
> are when you lie in bed.
>
> Now I've moved the TV in the bedroom to the other side of the room, 
> theoretically it is closer vertically to the sender, but further 
> horizontally from the door openings, and now the fuzzing, clicking and 
> popping are too much!
>
> Not fussed about price, but would like to spend under 80. The sender 
> needs to have an "eye" function to allow control of the Sky box back 
> downstairs.
>

Have you tried changing the send/receive channel? Maybe there is 
interference from something else nearby - perhaps neighbours have a similar 
unit. I'd try experimenting with channels before buying a whole new unit.

Another thought - if the receiver is directly above the sender, and yours is 
the type with a vertical antenna then you probably have a very weak signal. 
Can you lay the antenna(s) flat rather than pointing vertically? The signal 
normally radiates around the antenna (lika a swingball) rather than 
squirting out of the end, so by laying it flat the signal should radiate 
upwards. If sender and receiver both have such antennas then make sure that 
as well as lying flat they are both pointing in the same direction - e.g. 
both towards the front of the house.

"Tiny Tim" <_> wrote in
news:43006d86$0$1318$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader02.plus.net: 


> "David Wright"  wrote in message 
> news:3mb8ahF15r4h0U1@individual.net...
>>I know this is slightly OT, but this newsgroup is a good source of
>>info on technical things as well as price - can anyone recommend a
>>good wireless video sender?
>>
>> The one I have, the original AEI Digisender (bought 4 years ago from 
>> Argos), seems to have problems with the distance - the receiver is
>> only 10 feet above the sender, but reception varies wildly depending
>> on - get this - where in the room you are standing, even where your
>> feet and legs are when you lie in bed.
>>
>> Now I've moved the TV in the bedroom to the other side of the room, 
>> theoretically it is closer vertically to the sender, but further 
>> horizontally from the door openings, and now the fuzzing, clicking
>> and popping are too much!
>>
>> Not fussed about price, but would like to spend under 80. The sender
>> needs to have an "eye" function to allow control of the Sky box back 
>> downstairs.
>>
> Have you tried changing the send/receive channel? Maybe there is 
> interference from something else nearby - perhaps neighbours have a
> similar unit. I'd try experimenting with channels before buying a
> whole new unit. 
> 
> Another thought - if the receiver is directly above the sender, and
> yours is the type with a vertical antenna then you probably have a
> very weak signal. Can you lay the antenna(s) flat rather than pointing
> vertically? The signal normally radiates around the antenna (lika a
> swingball) rather than squirting out of the end, so by laying it flat
> the signal should radiate upwards. If sender and receiver both have
> such antennas then make sure that as well as lying flat they are both
> pointing in the same direction - e.g. both towards the front of the
> house. 
> 
> 
> 

What he said.  I've got an AEI and have about 30 feet between sender and 
receiver.  I've had the legs in bed problem too and fiddling about with 
the channels and the anetnnea(s) has pretty much cured it.  From what I 
know AEI is pretty much the best out there so changing to another make 
might not solve your problem anyway.

> What he said.  I've got an AEI and have about 30 feet between sender and
> receiver.  I've had the legs in bed problem too and fiddling about with
> the channels and the anetnnea(s) has pretty much cured it.  From what I
> know AEI is pretty much the best out there so changing to another make
> might not solve your problem anyway.


Fair enough - I won't consign it to the scrap heap just yet!

This, and some other info I've read on the web today, have given me some 
prompts on things to try. Not least the orientation of the aerial, which is 
very interesting to note. Some other views seem to suggest that you should 
keep the box away from the TV and from sources of heat - hmm, not sure how 
easy that will be!!

Typically, the AEI product is pretty much all that I can find to buy anyway, 
from my casual browsing - there are cheaper ones, but I wouldn't want a 
cheaper one would I!!

D.

"David Wright"  wrote in message 
news:3mbmkaF15n67fU1@individual.net...

>> What he said.  I've got an AEI and have about 30 feet between sender and
>> receiver.  I've had the legs in bed problem too and fiddling about with
>> the channels and the anetnnea(s) has pretty much cured it.  From what I
>> know AEI is pretty much the best out there so changing to another make
>> might not solve your problem anyway.
>
> Fair enough - I won't consign it to the scrap heap just yet!
>
> This, and some other info I've read on the web today, have given me some 
> prompts on things to try. Not least the orientation of the aerial, which 
> is very interesting to note. Some other views seem to suggest that you 
> should keep the box away from the TV and from sources of heat - hmm, not 
> sure how easy that will be!!
>
> Typically, the AEI product is pretty much all that I can find to buy 
> anyway, from my casual browsing - there are cheaper ones, but I wouldn't 
> want a cheaper one would I!!
>

Mine was 45 from Tchibo two or three years ago and once I swapped the 
original dodgy unit has been fine ever since. I get very good results over a 
~20' range from the living room to the bedroom directly above. The sender 
sits directly on top of my TV, at the back above the hottest part of the CRT 
and has no problems whatsoever.

It also has to share airspace with my wireless router that is only about 
2.5' away next to the TV, two DECT phones, three wireless laptops (all with 
bluetooth as well), two bluetooth PDAs, a couple of mobile phones and a 
microwave. I get occasional glitches if a body passes directly in the signal 
path but no problems from moving legs in bed or any RF interference.

I would say that in general the price of these things has dropped since I 
got mine and a 25 Aldi special should probably do the job just fine. I 
doubt there is any benefit from spending AEI or Philips money TBH.

"Tiny Tim" <_> wrote in message 
news:4300b1a4$0$17494$ed2e19e4@ptn-nntp-reader04.plus.net...

> Mine was 45 from Tchibo two or three years ago and once I swapped the 
> original dodgy unit has been fine ever since. I get very good results over 
> a ~20' range from the living room to the bedroom directly above. The 
> sender sits directly on top of my TV, at the back above the hottest part 
> of the CRT and has no problems whatsoever.
>
> It also has to share airspace with my wireless router that is only about 
> 2.5' away next to the TV, two DECT phones, three wireless laptops (all 
> with bluetooth as well), two bluetooth PDAs, a couple of mobile phones and 
> a microwave. I get occasional glitches if a body passes directly in the 
> signal path but no problems from moving legs in bed or any RF 
> interference.
>
> I would say that in general the price of these things has dropped since I 
> got mine and a 25 Aldi special should probably do the job just fine. I 
> doubt there is any benefit from spending AEI or Philips money TBH.


Interesting to see you have a wireless router and don't have any problems 
with interference.  Can I ask which channels you use for your router and 
video sender?

Thanks,

Neil

"Neil"  wrote in message 
news:3mbs1oF159fn2U1@individual.net...

>
> Interesting to see you have a wireless router and don't have any problems 
> with interference.  Can I ask which channels you use for your router and 
> video sender?
>

My router is running on channel 13. My next door neighbour has his on 
channel 6 but the signal is very weak in my place from his router.

My video sender just has A/B/C/D setting s for the channel choices and I 
have no idea how the correlate with 802.11 frequencies. I've used the sender 
on "A" and "D" settings just to see if either end of the spectrum was better 
or worse and they seemed the same to me.

> My router is running on channel 13. My next door neighbour has his on 
> channel 6 but the signal is very weak in my place from his router.
>
> My video sender just has A/B/C/D setting s for the channel choices and I 
> have no idea how the correlate with 802.11 frequencies. I've used the 
> sender on "A" and "D" settings just to see if either end of the spectrum 
> was better or worse and they seemed the same to me.


Just a little update from me - I moved the sender to the top of the 
downstairs TV, and oriented the aerials horizontally and - bingo - perfect 
reception. Better than ever, in fact. No need to buy a new one!

As an aside, I also have a Wireless LAN with three PC's accessing it, and 
also a 2.4Ghz wireless video camera set up in the babies room - and all of 
these seem to co-exist quite happily!

Many thanks to those who replied.

D.

"David Wright"  wrote in message 
news:3mdsblF16bobfU1@individual.net...


> As an aside, I also have a Wireless LAN with three PC's accessing it, and 
> also a 2.4Ghz wireless video camera set up in the babies room -


Is that a wireless IP camera on the LAN or just a wireless camera?
If its a wireless camera you can probably pick its signal up on the video 
senders receiver if its a legal 2.4GHz unit.

> Is that a wireless IP camera on the LAN or just a wireless camera?
> If its a wireless camera you can probably pick its signal up on the video 
> senders receiver if its a legal 2.4GHz unit.


Yes, the latter - yes it is, and yes I can! Likewise, the pre-tuned TV it 
came with can also pick up the video sender signal on one of the two 
channels.

As probably can the neighbours - but there's never anything exciting on the 
camera!

D.