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Brian Butterworth published on UK Free TV For the last six years, I have answered many thousands of personal emails that you have sent to UK Free TV.
Sadly, I am unable to offer this personal service at the moment.
Until I can restore this service, please can you leave any questions you have on an appropriate page, where they will be answered as soon as possible, or below, if you can't figure out where to ask.
I look forward to your questions!
Help with TV/radio stations?
In this section
Thursday, 19 July 2012
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jb3812:17 AM
John: I don't really think that its so much the case of a problem having developed on your No1 HDMI input but more the case of the design circuitry used by these devices having the unintended effect of sending a pulse though pin 19 when the box is triggered by being programmed by the manufacturer to carry out tasks on a regular basis, the main one being the updating of the EPG programme info, although obviously this pulse on activation wil only affect receiving equipment fitted with a pin 19 sensor on one of its HDMI inputs.
But though when you say "even although the box is switched off", are you meaning completely off altogether or simply when the box is sitting in standby?, because if its the former then it should have no effect whatsoever on the TV, and should it do then this can then indicate the existence of some form of problem, but if you let me have the model number of the box I can then check out some details regarding the boxes circuitry as they are all different.
Of course if your TV has more than one HDMI input then you could just use the No2 input as that wont have any sensor on it, the only inconvenience about using No2 being that you have to select that input when you wish to view Freesat, this being done via the TV's input selector on the remote control and with the various input options seen by repeatedly pressing the input button.
Even I suffer from my Humax Freesat HDR switching the TV over to its input for about 5 seconds or so when its automatically activated from standby about 15 minutes or so before the start of a pre-programmed recording.
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John8:57 AM
jb38 - thanks.
The freesat box is in standby and there is noise from it when tv switches to it.
Its was not a problem really but as I had'nt heard of the auto swithch sensor before I was just making sure.
My freeview recorder is connected to HDMI2.
Thanks again.
John
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Yvonne Baggott2:56 PM
My Samsung BD-HDD Combo suddenly starts recording for 0 or 5 0r 10 minutes or switches from channel to channel eg. 178 instead of BBC 1. Is this a fault in the signal frequency or the equipment?
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jb385:09 PM
John: I do fully appreciate that this isn't really an issue and that you were only making an enquiry about HDMI auto-switching and not actually complaining about anything as such, but though should you wish to find out which one of your TV's HDMI sockets has an auto-switch sensor (if not mentioned in your user manual) then when your TV is first switched on from being completely off (mains switched off) is to leave your Freesat box and Freeview recorder in their standby state so that you are viewing normal TV, then whilst viewing the normal TV take the Freesat box out of standby to see if it takes over the TV, if not switch it back into standby again and do exactly the same test with the Freeview recorder, as obviously the device that switches the TV over to its input is connected to the HDMI input with the auto-switch sensor.
I realise of course that it doesn't really matter either way as you can just manually select the input that you want to view, but I found what you had said interesting insomuch that when one of the boxes is updating whatever its triggering the TV to switch over to it, something which could likely be switched off via the menu on the box concerned by having a look in its user manual and deselecting "auto updates" in any menu that gives you a choice, these usually auto-channel updates as well as automatic software updates.
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Friday, 20 July 2012
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Diana Addison 12:19 PM
My sky+HD box isn't getting a satellite signal and it number 29. What should I do to get the signal back.
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jb386:06 PM
Diana Addison: 29 is just a code number that sometimes appears associated with the box not being able to pick up the default transponder and is something which can be caused by a variety of reasons as well as the actual box being faulty, however its more usually caused with the dish having been moved slightly out of alignment or alternatively water having crept into the "F" connector plug on the dishes LNB, as this will short circuit the signal. You can check on the signal strength being received (if any) by pressing "services" 4 - 6 and look to see if anything is being indicated on the strength / quality bars, if nothing is seen then the problem can be caused by one of the aforementioned reasons plus the lesser possibility of the LNB requiring to be reset, if though strength / quality indications are seen but at a level under the equivalent of 50% (as percentage as such is not shown) then this indicates that the dish has moved "very" slightly out of alignment, this type of problem sometimes cured by giving the dish (sides of) a slight nudge to the left or right. You can also check the settings on the LNB using this procedure / 1:- Press Sky followed by Services. 2:- Highlight "System Setup" (4) and press select. 3:- Press "0 then 1 then select" and the installers screen should then be seen. 4:- Press select again to access the LNB setup screen. 5:- Press the "Red" button to re-set the LNB's default settings. 6:- Using the up/down arrows, highlight "Save New Settings" and press select. 7:- Press select to confirm that the settings have been reset. The LNB's correct settings are / Low frequency - 9.75 High Frequency - 10.60 The LNB power supply should always be set to on. The 22KHz Command should always be set to on.
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John9:05 PM
jb38
Thanks for your further info.
I am happy now I know what is going on with my system.
When the tv switches to Freesat I push TV on the remote and I am back to tv.
John
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jb3811:24 PM
John: Yes, as an HDMI's sockets pin 19 in effect acts in exactly the same way as does a scart sockets pin 8, as its this pin number that's responsible for a TV switching over to its scart socket input as soon as any external device connected into the TV via a scart lead is taken out of standby, the only difference with HDMI being that its not necessarily the case that this auto-switching sensor facility fitted in one of a TV's HDMI inputs is available in every device in the same way as pin 8 is on the AV1 inputs in all TV's.
Anyway pleased to have been able to clarify the workings of the system a little for you.
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Saturday, 21 July 2012
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Diana6:11 PM
I just came back from holiday last week and noticed a problem with my freeview plus box. It seemed to have recorded fine while I was gone, but now it keeps asking me to do a first time installation every time I switch it on. It adds all the channels fine and I can see my previous recordings, but the program guide is gone completely blank. It just says no information available and I can't see what's on and I can't record anything.
I've tried switching the box off and unplugging it etc, nothing seems to work. If I switch it off, it will switch itself on overnight and again ask to do a first time channel scan. I really don't know what to do. I've only had the box for a year and I can't afford to buy another one
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jb387:44 PM
Diana: If your box is set to make automatic channel updates then its possible that by doing so the channels captured has exceeded the tuners memory capacity, and although you should really carry out a factory reset on the box which does NOT affect anything you have recorded (sometimes called default settings) try taking the aerial out and carrying out a rescan without it as this should blank out the tuners channel memory, then once its completed reconnect the aerial and carry out a normal rescan.
If though this doesnt correct the situation then a factory reset should.
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