Analogue to Digital TV in 2002 S8

[Architex_mA8tey]

Originally Posted by HPsauce

A major decision is required re something non-OEM that I can't hide.
The IR receiver "magic eye" for the TV remote; it's a thumbnail-sized dark dome with a black cable, but where to put it?

I'm not bothered about using the remote from anywhere in the cabin, as long as the driver can use it (when parked, obviously ) and maybe the front seat passenger as well?

Two places appear practical:
1. The bottom left of the instrument cluster, just to the right of the clock buttons. The cable (recoloured if necessary) can run vertically down the join in the trim then behind the drivers knee panel. An easy/temporary initial fit.
2. Incorporated into the "video in motion" switch to the right of the steering column in place of the non-functioning LEDs. A bit of work, effectively invisible, but only useable by the driver.

I ran my magic eye under the rear carpets from the boot and into the space under the arm rests in between the front seats (along with the red yellow and white video input cables - in case I ever wanted to plug in an input device like a player or a video cam etc

[HPsauce]

Originally Posted by HPsauce

With the aerials tucked up just under the headlining (behind the top of the windscreen shadeband) reception is OK on my drive.

Just to explain that a bit more, there is a printed black border on the windscreen which at the top is overlapped significantly by the headlining on the inside with quite a space behind. The gap between the metal securing trim on the outside down the glass to the edge of the headlining on the inside is almost 40mm. Plenty of room to tuck a thin horizontal aerial in there, so that's what I've done, one each side.
The aerials installed there are totally invisible from inside or outside the car, no matter how closely you look.

With that setup DVB-T reception in a difficult area (my driveway in a valley) is excellent on radio and "mixed" on TV. I'm getting BBC1 and BBC2 and a few other TV channels clearly from Crystal Palace which is about 30 miles away over the Chiltern hills.

Originally Posted by Architex_mA8tey

I ran my magic eye under the rear carpets from the boot and into the space under the arm rests in between the front seats (along with the red yellow and white video input cables - in case I ever wanted to plug in an input device like a player or a video cam etc.

Thanks Neil, I've also wondered about that space above the front ashtray, though I'm not sure how to get into it from behind or the side.
My tuner box will almost certainly be at the front, somewhere behind the drivers knee panel. The video converter and reversing camera radio receiver are already in that area.
I don't have an existing TV tuner to tap into so nothing is pulling me to the boot. Even aerials at the rear wouldn't as a pair of aerial leads are easier to hide than a set of A/V cables.

[HPsauce]

Originally Posted by HPsauce

DVB-T reception in a difficult area (my driveway in a valley) is excellent on radio and "mixed" on TV.

And it's much better today; the dry clear conditions such as we had yesterday always mess up our TV reception, that's why we are mostly on FreeSat satellite not Freeview terrestrial.