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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
Sunday, 15 November 2015
P
Paul
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

4:47 PM

It's either "goodbye to Dave" or I go back to my tiny TV!

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Paul's 38 posts GB flag
P
Paul
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

4:59 PM

Paul: Maybe the Panasonic is on its way out? but why only some stations? Half excellent, half useless.

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Paul's 38 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:10 PM

Paul : The actual strength of a signal is not necessarily always affected during problems with reception, albeit that the quality of can be jumping all over the place, as it all depends on the reason for the problem.

One example being the recent reception problems suffered by many (including myself) residing from the Midlands downwards during the spell of high pressure that swept across the area, some channels indicating zero or very low quality whilst at the same time the signal strength was indicating normal, the peculiar thing being, that although the main HD Mux indicated zero on both triggering a "no signal" warning, the much lower powered secondary HD Muxes were little affected by the problem.

As far as your particular problem is concerned, the signal path from the Sandy Heath transmitter is shown on the terrain indicator to suffer from a line-of-sight blockage at approximately 1 mile, stretching down to 0.5 of a mile prior to your location, although the signal quality could possibly be affected from as far as 5 miles out.

Reception in circumstances such as this can be very variable at different times of the year, and indeed affecting some Mux channels more than others. Sometimes moving the aerial to a slightly different position can partially overcome the problem, at least for a time anyway!, but though, this is not really a practical thing to do for most people, that is apart from the time taken to reach a reasonable balance between each of the Mux channels used by a main transmitter.

By the way, a lower intensity level of the high pressure referred to is presently sweeping across the same area of the UK again, although this is indicated as clearing the UK in the early hours of the morning.

If you wish, you can view the terrain indications referred to by opening the undermentioned link.


Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location








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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:27 PM

Paul: In addition to that said. With reference to your latest update, if the small TV performed OK when connected into the same outlet socket / jumper lead from used by your main Plasma set, then try resetting the Plasma using the "shipping condition" facility as seen on page 36 of your manual, should you still have it!

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
M
MikeB
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

6:59 PM

Paul: Did you read the article about 'too much of a good thing' that Brianist linked to?

You've got a Panasonic PZ80A (good set, BTW, and I'm sure is totally fine), a brand which is known for having sensitive tuners. So basically, Sandy Heath is shouting at your TV, and its going deaf. If your attentuator is not quite bringing down the signal level enough, then (in the words of Chief Brody), your 'going to need a bigger boat!' Get another attenuator (perhaps 6db if you already bought a 12), and put them in series. 80% is evidently still too high, so perhaps aim for 70%.

I have no idea why your signal strength has gone up slightly - could be something as simple as all the leaves finally falling off the tree's, and the strength just going up enough to screw up the quality. However, just get a nother attenuator to kill the signal a little more (play about with it), and everything should be fine.

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MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag
Monday, 16 November 2015
P
Paul
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

12:29 AM

MikeB: Hi Mike, thanks for your constructive suggestions. I bought a 6db attenuator, maybe a 12db is the answer. The guy in the store said I could take back the 6db and swap it for a 12 if it didn't do the job. The BBC channels are all on 8 and yet the signal quality there is fine. Half the channels, the quality is 10, the other half, quality is 2. Very odd

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Paul's 38 posts GB flag
P
Paul
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

3:31 PM

MikeB: Well, I don't want to be a pain in the neck but no change. I have fitted a 12db attenuator, brought signal down to 60- 75% and the signal quality is still all over the place. Only with the panasonic. everything fine on the tiny TV. when I do the Auto Scan half the channels are quality 10, half quality 2. Should have stuck to the tiny TV, its a richer sounds and I have never had any problems with it. Maybe the only way for me to enjoy the panasonic is through free sat? This has only become a problem since the start of this month. Do you know if they are working on the Sandy Heath feed?

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Paul's 38 posts GB flag
P
Paul
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

3:49 PM

MikeB: I'm watching the Richer Sounds TV now. all stations perfect, no pixilation audio fine. This is driving me up the wall. Maybe I could use this tv as the tuner and power the big screen panasonic from it? The problem Is with the Panasonic but only on half the stations. first half on scanning are perfect. second half of the scan are unwatchable. The Richer sounds TV is problem free. A great buy. I would trade in the Panasonic for a larger screen Richer Sounds model any day.

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Paul's 38 posts GB flag
M
MikeB
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

4:07 PM

Paul: Ok - so half the TV mux's are fine, and the other half unwatchable. What is the signal strength on the unwatchable ones. Not the quality - the strength.

The Richer Sounds TV has a different tuner - so it might be less sensitive, hence it doesnt have a problem with signal strength.

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MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag
P
Paul
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

4:23 PM

MikeB: The signal strength on the unwatchable channels is 10. I attached the 12db attenuator and brought this down to 6 no change. The signal strength is steady in both instances. However the quality varies wildly from 0-10. It has got me thinking that whatever alterations have been made at sandy heath are incompatible with the Panasonic tuner. Given that the richer sounds tv is untroubled

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Paul's 38 posts GB flag
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