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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
Saturday, 17 March 2012
L
laura
6:40 AM

Thanks for your help...I just find it strange as my tv downstairs with built in freeview is fine no problems with the picture or anything,yet the one upstairs has the problems,that one also has built in freeview?

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laura's 2 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

7:27 AM

laura: You didn't actually mention this aspect in your posting or I would have included the possible reason for this happening, which though is still connected to what I did say, basically being that the conditions referred also causes the signal levels received to drop and tuners in some models of TV's are better at coping with this than others because of variations in the sensitivity levels of their tuners, so you "might" have found that if you had swapped the sets over the problem could have moved with the swap.

Another aspect that can also affect this is the method you have used to feed the aerial into the two TV's, as unless a powered splitter has been used one TV could be getting a higher level of signal over the other, and if the TV with the lower signal is also the one with the less sensitive tuner then that's a bad combination.

One other final possible reason, being that "if" you are in an area where more than one station can be received (post code required to verify) then the TV with the problem might have picked up an alternative transmitter during a re-scan, this being something quite commonly experienced by many residing in multi-reception possibility areas.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Monday, 19 March 2012
R
Russ G
12:55 PM

jb38 : You replied to me a couple of weeks ago (3rd March), many thanks for that and apologies for not responding before now. On the Sony box in question I have checked version no then updated the firmware as per the sony website instructions and checked that the auto update settings are correct. I've also forced a scan for updates. Still the problem persists. I'm starting to suspect the machine may be faulty? Anything else I can try?

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Russ G's 3 posts FR flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:41 PM

Russ G: You have actually beat me to it as far as the software update is concerned, as I was going to ask if it was 1.7 or the older 1.65 or maybe even the original 1.44, and should it have been the original I intended giving you a link to the so-called latest.

Anyway, "if" you have kept the CD you burned the latest firmware onto there is only about one thing left I can suggest that you try, that being the standard procedure of carrying out a complete reset on the box by pressing the "stop and off" buttons at the same time, the box automatically switching off after doing so, then once this is done and "before" using the update CD, checking if the EPG situation is still the same, and should it still be then using the CD updating procedure again.

If you have been searching about I dare say you might have noticed that your fault is not exactly an unknown one on the HX870 and with other model numbers also being affected, and even although I haven't been personally involved with that particular problem on your model I do know that in many cases that no really 100% satisfactory solution has been found by Sony to cure the guide problems, this no-matter what they might try to maintain. Plus of course, the fact that there is always a danger when carrying out software updating procedures anyway, as should any glitches occur during the process the device can effectively be rendered as only being of use for spare parts, as there is no back tracking fix for this type of problem.

Of course to be honest about it, that can happen with most other devices as well as Sony if something goes wrong during a software update.

I would be interested to know what the software number was when you first checked it, and did you update it to 1.7?

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 20 March 2012
R
Russ G
9:31 AM

jb38: Thanks again for the reply. It was running on version 1.65 and post-update it's on 1.7. I won't get a chance to look at it again until the weekend so I'll have a think about whether to mess with it further. As it's not my machine I wouldn't want to trash it completely, although the update I have done went smoothly and quickly enough. Does the factory reset initialise the hard disc as well, do you know? thanks.

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Russ G's 3 posts FR flag
Wednesday, 21 March 2012
J
Jon
7:31 AM

Maidenhead here, a South East comment again!

2 Weeks or so with intermittent problems, have reset re-tuned re-cabled and re-alligned more times than I care to remember, but another quick question - according to the posts above high pressure may be to blame, as my channels seem to work fine up to 7.15am every morning then suddenly disappear (most of the Ch4, Ch5, ITV related channels) for the rest of the day until an unknown time at night. Am I likely to be experiencing some kind of local interference or it this work on transmitters?

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Jon's 1 post GB flag
A
Andy
9:15 AM
Worthing

Hi, hope it's not a numpty question. I'm in Worthing BN11 3AX we've had no signal all morning, I'm assuming we're on the Whitehawk transmitter as we seem to have switched from South to South East after the last part of the switchover. I noticed their may be some issues with some transmitters until 3pm, did it mean today?

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

12:28 PM

Andy: The Digital UK page for the times that switchover is completed for Whitehawk and its relays is here:

Digital UK - Relay transmitter switching times

Some relays are shown as due to be completed by sometime in the afternoon. If you are on Whitehawk, then it has completed switchover.

This is not uncommon. The main station will usually be done overnight, and only then can relays be changed. Some take longer due to the fact that engineers will have to commute.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
T
Tim Bishop
8:26 PM

Since the digital switchover I have lost ALL my digital channels on both my TV (built in freeview) and my set top box. I live at the bottom of Albion Hill with no direct line of site to the transmitter. I have been told my signal was being relayed via one of the tower blocks in central Brighton. Is it possible the relay hasn't been updated since the transmitter switchover? Am I the only one experiencing problems in central Brighton?

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Tim Bishop's 3 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:12 PM

Tim Bishop: There is a "Brighton Central" transmitter which acts as a low power "filler in" for areas with difficulty receiving from the main transmitter in Brighton which is Whitehawk Hill.

Brighton Central transmitter is on the top of Theobald House and directs its signals to its east.

However, Brighton Central did not carry Freeview before switchover and now switchover has completed it only carries Public Service multiplexes (BBC, ITV1, ITV2, Channel 4, E4, More4, Channel 5, HD and a few others).

The long and short of it is that if you received Freeview before, you were almost certainly picking it up from Whitehawk (and certainly not Brighton Central) and that you should probably like to continue to do so now so as to provide you with the full range of Freeview channels.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
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