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My Freeview box has no EPG, is blank on FIVE, ITV3, ITV4, ITV2+1, has no sound o

My Freeview box has no EPG, is blank on FIVE, ITV3, ITV4, ITV2+1, has no sound or the channel line up is wrong

My Freeview box has no EPG, is blank on FIVE, ITV3, ITV4, ITV2+
published on UK Free TV

To deal with the problem you must clear the channel list completely and then rescan - if your box has it in the menus, please the 'installation menu' to do an initial scan or a reset to factory settings or First Time Installation. You MUST delete the entire existing list of channels. On most boxes this technique can be also be used:

Try this:

1) unplug your Freeview box (or idTV) from the mains;



2) unplug the aerial from the Freeview box by disconnecting the cable from the 'RF in' socket;



3) wait 30 seconds;

4) plug Freeview box (or idTV) mains back in;



5) do a complete scan for channels - it will fail without the aerial. (This may be in the installation or initialization menu, and is distinct from any 'add channels option'). Once this is done your channel line up should be empty;



6) reinsert aerial by reconnecting to the 'RF in' connection;



7) do a complete scan for channels again.



The Freeview channel line-up provided by six "multiplexes" - each of which carry five or more TV channels, radio channels, text services and EPG data. In this diagram each ROW represents a multiplex. If you are still missing a whole multiplex (ie everything on the row) you may need to replace your aerial with a wideband type, purchase a larger aerial or you may have interference from a VCR, games console, Sky Digibox or similar.



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Comments
Thursday, 24 January 2013
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:07 PM

Dave Timm: Many thanks for your update on the situation as I was wondering how you would get on with the manual tuning tests, and with the basic reason for me requesting that you carry out this test being for the purpose of eliminating any possibility that your TV's tuner could be trying to store more channels than its memory capacity would allow, you actually having touched on this (maybe unwittingly!) when you wondered if hidden duplication could affect the EPG, which of course it can could do on any device with a limited channel storage capacity, this deficiency only being revealed when the device is switched off as it results in everything stored being lost.

However your single mux scan has proven that the "memory overload" issue is not applicable in your particular case otherwise Ch47 would not have been lost, and so this once again points to a tuner defect.

But though much as it might be a bit of a pain to carry this out but I would like to make one final request if you can still receive Belmont, the test being exactly as before insomuch blanking out everything stored followed by carrying out a manual tune but this time only on Belmont's channel Ch22 & Ch25, because I would like to know the subsequent outcome as far as the EPG is concerned when none of Emleys high powered channels are stored in the tuner, albeit of course that your tuner will still sense that they are there but hopefully with its auto-gain circuit not cutting back too much on its sensitivity.

One little point that I had previously meant to mention was, when the EPG vanishes does repeatedly pressing the guide button on the remote control have any effect?


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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Monday, 28 January 2013
G
Gordon
10:39 PM
Eastbourne

My old mum (84) keeps losing channels. Before Christmas it was the commercial channels (ITV, CH4 CH5) and after Christmas it was BBC1 and BBC2. I only visit her infrequently (I live far away)and when I do, I retune her JVC to restore the full EPG list again. As I can't explain why it happens every few weeks, she's convinced it's all a government conspiracy! The aerial was installed in her block of flats a couple of months ago and other tenants do not seem to have the same problem. I think the aerial points at the Eastbourne (Old Town) relay. Last time, after I retuned, the BBC frequency was 722000 kHz and ITV 698000 kHz. Any ideas how I can get the channel list to stick and thus convince her that a change of government is not the solution?

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Gordon's 1 post GB flag
Gordon's: mapG's Freeview map terrainG's terrain plot wavesG's frequency data G's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Tuesday, 29 January 2013
D
Dave Timm
1:57 PM
Rotherham

jb38. Once again my continued thanks for your input.

Cleared the TV and manually scanned C25 (ITV) and got 8 channels of limited quality from Belmont. EPG complete and without issue for over 10mins - very good.

Added in the Emley Moor channels (44,47,48,51,52), the EPG populated and within a minute had begun to loose information.

The usual mechanism is that the EPG information either states "NO INFORMATION" or if you are in the EPG and moving between channel information the remote 'locks', ie. you press the button to move and nothing happens for a couple of seconds (and key presses) and then the whole EPG clears.

Continued pressing of the EPG controls does nothing for a couple of seconds - and then reverts to normal - but all the information has gone. EPG repopulated in a few seconds thereafter.

Emley Moor signals are all 85-95%

So, if the low power Belmont signals offer a working EPG I may try adding a small attenuator into the signal path to see if the Emley Moor signals arn't just too strong... Worth a try.

Thanks again.

Best regards



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Dave Timm's 7 posts GB flag
Dave's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Friday, 1 February 2013
S
steve williams
6:43 PM
Rochdale

I have a polaroid digi box set top box from asda it was working one day last week then it just said no signal and I have tried reinstalling more than once it just keeps saying data base empty, no signal, help please!

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steve williams's 1 post GB flag
steve's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:36 PM

steve williams: Your problem can either be caused by a fault on your aerial system or indeed by the box itself, its a pity though that you tried retuning it as all you will have done is to lose the channels already stored in its memory, that is "if" they were still being shown on the EPG list prior to the re-installation that you carried out?, because should they not have been then that can indicate a faulty tuner, as the only other thing that can cause the EPG list to vanish is by the box having picked up more channels during a retune than the tuners memory can cope with, and in the case of the Polaroid its only 48 and a number which could be very easily exceeded.

If you previously received ITV3 then Winter Hill (@ 13 miles) is your most likely station, and so you should go into the boxes manual tune screen then enter and press tune on Ch62 (BBC), if though you could NOT previously receive ITV3 then you are most likely receiving from the Norden PSB transmitters (@ 1.2 miles) and in that case enter and press search on Ch53 and see if the BBC channels (and only the BBC) shows on the EPG list, giving an update on your findings.

The aforementioned said on the assumption that the box actually offers a manual tuning facility? because these boxes can be manufactured by any one of a number of middle Eastern companies hence no service details are obtainable for "checking the spec" as they say! as the Polaroid name is just a badge.



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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Monday, 4 February 2013
A
Alan
3:26 PM
Tenbury Wells

Ilive in Eardiston the postcode is WR15 8JJ all I get is channel 49 and 54 when I scan,. a total of 30 services. My aerial is outside and I have a booster.

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Alan's 1 post GB flag
Alan's: mapA's Freeview map terrainA's terrain plot wavesA's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:41 PM

Alan: I don't think that you will receive anything more than the PSB channels. If you have installed the booster in an effort to receive more channels, then remove it.

You are receiving from the relay at, or adjacent to The Lowe Farm:

mb21 - The Transmission Gallery

See here for an explanation of why we now have a two-tier terrestrial television transmitter network:

Londonderry (Northern Ireland) digital TV transmitter | ukfree.tv - 10 years of independent, free digital TV advice

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 5 February 2013
K
Kenneth Blyth
3:53 PM
Tiverton

Our Freeview reception comes I believe from a sub-station to the north of Bampton. The signal generally seems low, but the signal is now "breaking up" severely in the afternoon (for some weeks past); whereas we had rasonable reception beforehand.
Is therer a general problem or should we get our aerial either look at or renewed.
BLYTH EX16 9JA

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Kenneth Blyth's 1 post GB flag
Kenneth's: mapK's Freeview map terrainK's terrain plot wavesK's frequency data K's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Wednesday, 6 February 2013
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:20 PM

Kenneth Blyth: I think that the most likely possibility is that vegetation is growing in the signal path.

I believe that you are using the Brushford transmitter rather than the Bampton one.

The difficulty is that you don't have line-of-sight to the transmitter, so the signal you are trying to receive is what is coming "over" the brow of Highleigh. With such a low power transmitter, you are probably lucky to get anything at all.

If you picture the signal as being headlights coming towards you but which you cannot see directly because their is a summit in the way, then consider if there were some vegetation on the summit. Clearly it will have the potential to affect the light you see. I imagine that, in principle, vegetation in the path of the signal is not going to be too dissimilar.


To come back to the question of your reception issue, digital signals require both strength and quality:

- The strength of the signal going into the receiver must be above a threshold for it to resolve a picture. Amplification boosts the level of the signal and can be helpful where the signal is too low (but of good quality).

- Quality is the digits not being corrupted. If the vegetation is acting to "mash" the signal, meaning that it is of poor quality, then the only thing to do is try moving your aerial or perhaps a different aerial. No amount of amplification will correct a corrupted signal; quality starts at the aerial.


Observe the strength screen. If it indicates that the signal is there, just it's too low to resolve a picture (below the threshold), then perhaps some amplification might help. If you already have an amplifier, then maybe you can increase its level.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Saturday, 16 February 2013
I
ian smith
7:58 PM
Norwich

BBC text service not working since 14feb13.
Press text or red button okay, but everytime I target an item in the menu, the panel just disappears.
Fairly new Sony, with inbuilt Freeview. Same for neighbours. Postcode NR5 0TW

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ian smith's 1 post GB flag
ian's: mapI's Freeview map terrainI's terrain plot wavesI's frequency data I's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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