BRISBANE ANTENNA PROFESSIONALS - Blog

BRISBANE ANTENNA PROFESSIONALS

So you have gone out and purchased a brand new TV . 4K UHD TV . You have brought it home and now you are finding it isnt looking like it was in the shop.    One word MER, or in technical terms modulated error rate.    (yes, there can be other reasons)
Well lets have a little waggle on MER , and hopefully give you a bit of a knowledge based chat about MER or Modulated Error Rates.
MER is basically put as : The radio wave carrier wave of the ones and zeros in the computer language embedded within the radio wave.
If its below a certain level digital TV doesn’t function. 20/22.     If it is only in the middle of the spectrum, 22/28   then you only get a basic TV picture.
A 4K HD Tv wants 30 or better for its best performance UHD wants the top end of 34/36 mer.
The problem with MER it comes down to antenna type, and also just as importantly the quality type of the cable.
To get the best from any antenna, you want the best shielded cable, The industry standard is RG6 quad shielded cable.
So if you have an hybrid analogue / digital antenna, and your old 8 year old TV operates on it. Then that’s a lot of luck on the antenna systems side. The average analogue and digital TV antenna has 2/3/4 elements that are useful for digital TV, in today’s environment. Those big long ones, at the end, they are just looking pretty or might of even broken off from old age. There fore its producing maybe 22 MER, and your old digital TV functioned ok .. However your new 4K TV wants 28 plus just to get going. If i t has 34/36 then its in its butter zone.   Beautiful pictures.
This is why I run a minimum element size antenna to make sure you have the best reception value for your location.

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