My ITV/C4 Freeview channels have disappeared - what can I do? Is it my SCART ca
Brian Butterworth published on UK Free TV It is a feature of television signals that they can be effected by the weather. Aside from the obvious damaged that can be caused by wind or torrential rain, the onset of summer can cause a more intriguing problem called "inversion".
Basically, when the sun heats up the land, the hot air can get trapped below cold air at high level. This creates an "inversion layer" which acts like a polished mirror to TV signals. This causes two problems: you can receive both the original and a reflected signal from your own transmitter (on analogue TV this appears as "ghosting") or interference from TV transmitters that are normally too far distant.
The ITV/C4 multiplex of channels (ITV-1, ITV-2, ITV-3, ITV-4, CITV, C4, More4, E4, Quizcall) use a transmission "mode" called 64QAM, and it is sadly much more prone to these problems.
So, whilst a loft-mounted aerial will provide reception at some time, it will fail at others. The only real solution is to mount the aerial (or a new Class I aerial) outside on a pole, but some people report that changing the cable from the aerial to the set-top box to the high-grade satellite cable can also help.
The SCART connection, by the way, only carries a single TV picture, not the Freeview transmission multiplexes, so if this is disconnected it will result in degradation to every channel at once.
5:46 PM
My partner's 19inch Goodmans TV is also freezing on BBC channels after a few seconds, currently she's cursing about paying the TV license when the service doesn't work.
I figured it was probably the device somehow, looks like she's not alone, any fixes?
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6:48 PM
I've just logged a complaint through the BBC website - I wonder if enough of us did this it might have some effect?
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8:56 PM
Good idea Isla & just done the same before coming across this site. Yes is becoming a pain now.
Myself & workcolleagues are having the exact same problem of late on the Beeb channels (ie freezing then having to power on/ off reset while on BBC channels).
Set top boxes with problem are Goodmans & Manhatten and built in TV makes of colleagues are LG, Toshiba & Sharp.
Using either Fremont Point or La Collette transmitter. All signal levels on my setup are fine (95 - 100% quality). Come on Beeb!!
Best regards
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9:55 PM
SquidgyJersey: The Goodmans having problems makes perfect sense, although I'm a bit surprised by Manhatten, since we havn't heard of them having problems.
I'm really surprised by the TV having problems. I know Toshiba have occasionally had some sort of semi rebadging going on, but Sharp and LG tend to use their own software.
I'm going to email Feedback, and ring the BBC, because this is getting a bit silly.
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8:19 PM
please can anyone help me, i returned my sony tv after the freeview change on 3rd sept. Now i can only get ITV Wales and BBC Wales, previously i had North west as thats the are i live. I have retuned at lease twice every day but to no avail. I am a lady on my own and just don.t know what else to do. Any suggestions.
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10:15 AM
jean prince: Are there any NW region channels, that work correctly, stored in the 800s part of the channel list? If there are, this will usually be because your tuner finds the signal from Wales before it finds the NW signal, so puts the second options in the 800s. It might also be that the signal from Wales is currently stronger than the NW signal if your tuner is one which gives preference to the strongest signal. In either case retuning will simply give the same result each time it is carried out. If you have a channel swapping facility on your tuner you can swap the NW version from the 800s with the version from Wales on positions 1, 2 and 3. Without more detailed information as to your location, such as a postcode or that of a nearby shop, it is not possible to know precisly which transmitters you are able to receive. If such information is to hand, advice for manual tuning to the correct transmitter can be given, assuming your tuner offers a manual tuning option. Alternatively, if your signals are from Moel-Y-Parc and Winter Hill,after clearing the channel list, commence the retune, but have the aerial unplugged when scanning for channels during the section C38 to C46 of the scan so as to miss out the Moel-Y-Parc PSB muxes. Make sure the aerial is plugged in again before C49! This should then store NW channels in their required positions in the channel list.
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12:06 PM
Hmm, has some kind of pressure from the gathered, huddled, disgruntled masses paid off?
I wouldn't want to speak too soon, but as of last night, the BBC channels have been OK (i.e. no freezing and a fully responsive remote).
Fingers crossed.
Anybody else noticed a change?
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2:47 PM
Nightjar: Yes, I was wondering as well, since nothing bad happened. Of course nobody has got back to me yet...
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8:17 PM
Me too! I watched Bakeoff then expected to have to switch off at the mains, but it was fine. Yesterday morning the breakfast programme froze within seconds. I've had no response from my complaint to the BBC either.
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8:20 PM
Isla: Ok - so they sort of work...
I'm going to ring them tomorrow, because this is getting annoying. Sort it, or dont sort it, but at least give us some information about what your doing!
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