All posts by Michael Perry
Below are all of Michael Perry's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Hooded Oracle
Please look at my response to your post on this subject under the Freeview page.
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To Briantist, et all
Ofcom have announced a consultation about further changes in the use of the UHF spectrum, including yet more changes for Freeview transmission and reception with one idea being to utilise part of the 600 Mhz spectrum as well as some in the 700 MHz range. See Ofcom sets out next DECADE of spectrum policy: Use it or lose it The Register and look at Ofcom's own site at Ofcom | Consultations
Worth looking at the consultation and maybe making comments.
I suspect the viewing public are in for far more retuning than is reasonable and far more co-channel and adjacent channel interference in future as more and more transmitters end up having to use a much reduced range of frequencies. So more loss of reception, more tuning, more complaints and more questions for contributors here.
I, for one, will be keeping an eye on what is proposed and will examine the consultation with a view to giving a response from someone who spent 50 years in the TV manufacturing and servicing industries. I'm not keen on what is being reported but I never trust news media to get it right.
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Ann
Try switching off the box at the mains socket, wait at least 2 minutes and then switch the mains socket on again. Then try bringing the box into use again with the remote control.
Sometimes the electronics inside gets confused and needs to be restarted, as suggested above.
Hope that helps. If not then please post back here with details of the equipment (such as make and model number).
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rob:
Just checked on Amazon UK and a freesat box is from £65 and a Freesat PVR (recorder) is from £150.
As you already have a dish pointing in the correct direction all you need is a change of LNB, as jb38 states.
Setting up the box is easy once you have read the manual.
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Sharealam:
You can buy used equipment - but most adverts show whether it is new, as most are, or give a link to used items. I have used Amazon for many years and never bought anything used or refurbished as I always check the status of the item.
The old adage is 'buyer beware' so check first before buying.
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Joe:
Are you having problems with Freeview from the Tunbridge transmitter and using an aerial, or do you have problems with FreeSat using a dish?
Details of your equipment will help as well.
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Byron Weston:
No known problem with Mendip (at the time of writing), I'm on that and have no problems at present. The thunder storm may have caused problems with aerial amplifiers or water may have entered the coaxial cables from your aerial.
Check with neighbours to see if they have problems as well, but make sure they are talking about Freeview from Mendip and not any other transmitter and not about Freesat with a dish instead of an aerial.
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Briantist:
Re Item 2: A technical error has crept in. A satellite above the Maiko National Park will be at orbital position 0 degrees. The park is on the Greenwich Meridian and the Equator so anything vertically above the park is at the orbital meridian of 0 degrees. However, the Astra range of satellite are not above Maiko Park, but are further east at 28.2 and 28.5 degrees east in a geo-stationary equatorial orbit, meaning they stay largely above Nord Kivu Province in the Congo.
The satellites move around slightly because of variations in gravitational effects between them and they are normally within an imaginary box of around 1 km, but they appear to be in same position because of beam spread of the dishes used.
A dish, note the spelling error in your text, can be any colour and is a concave disk shape. It can be circular or ovate and the LNB mount point may be directly in line or offset, the latter affecting the 'ideal' shape of the dish. Sky dishes tend to be ovate horizontally to allow for the two orbital positions.
Re Item 3: Virgin Media are just one of the cable service providers, other operate in places such as Kingston-upon-Hull for example.
Re Item 4: please include a reference to fibre, it is the newer system replacing ADSL in a growing number of locations, often either a commercial service or under the BDUK provisions. The BT version being known as Infinity.
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MikeB:
I think the expectation of equipment replacement being that frequent takes little account of the changes in peoples' spending patterns recently. It is quite common for normal viewers to expect a TV to last 12-15 years and a set-top box the same time. So there are still large numbers of CRT televisions in use and many boxes/PVRs without a T2 tuner.
I am very sceptical about Ofcom's ability and have serious concerns about their approach to entertainment broadcasting, telephony services, etc. They appear to be driven by mobile phone operators desires and not properly understand the reluctance of TV viewers to keep retuning their TV equipment, they never did under analogue but have now had to do it several times with digital- so they think digital is no as good as promised. They may be right judging from many of the problems posted here and elsewhere.
I admit that my TV is 13 years old and my Freeview box is getting on for 9. The Sky+ box is about that too! It suits us perfectly as we want to watch and enjoy programme content and not see every 'zit' on a teenager's face. If the picture/sound/reception is good enough to enjoy the content without commenting on technical aspects of the displayed image or sound then that meets the users needs and we should allow them to enjoy their chosen entertainment. Those that want to count facial hairs are welcome to buy what equipment they want as long as they recognise that others may not want to follow them.
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Tuesday 1 October 2013 9:09PM
Hooded Oracle:
I am on the Mendip transmitter and have had no problems at all in North Wiltshire.
I suggest you ask neighbours whether they have/are having any reception problems with Freeview (make sure they don't mistake FreeSat or Sky for the Mendip Freeview transmissions).
Also, giving a post code and equipmend models will help.