All posts by jb38
Below are all of jb38's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Avril: As regards to your Freeview reception, Crystal Palace is located at 28 miles away and as such wont really become more reliable until April 18th when as you know it switches over to high powered operation, an event that should make a huge difference to anyone who presently only receives it in an erratic fashion.
But just to reiterate a point, Quest is only available on Freeview (via a normal aerial) and "not" on Freesat, so its really a case of either waiting until April when the signal improves before purchasing a Freeview PVR, or alternatively not waiting and go for a Freesat PVR straight away, as it has to be admitted that with what you are presently using going over to Freesat has the absolute minimum of inconvenience, plus not having the worry of signal problems as satellite reception is 99.9% of the time excellent.
Of course you do have another possible option, that being to go for a Freesat PVR without waiting, then come April purchase a cheap Freeview box (not PVR) for around £30 or so purely to enable you to view Quest, as both can be coupled into your TV. The only thing to remember though is that PVR's (all) cannot record from externally connected devices, so you wouldn't be able to record Quest.
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KMJ,Derby: Yes, you are quite correct on that point KMJ, and I suppose with a dish feed cable already being in the other room it would be exceedingly convenient just to retain the Sky box, but the reason I didn't suggest it was because of the Quest issue of it not being able to be viewed without a subscription, as I checked this on my own Sky box with ex subscription card installed before posting as I wasn't quite sure if it was free to view or not, which on my box it wasn't.
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Paddy: You would have been better off purchasing a Freesat PVR, as that would have coupled straight onto the "F" connector that was used by the Sky box, although if the PVR was of the more usual twin tuner type you would require two feeds from the dish.
However as things are at present then you have no option but to have a normal aerial fitted, as there is no way around your problem unless you are located not too far away from the transmitter whereby you might get away with an indoor (same room) type aerial, albeit they are not recommended for digital reception.
Knowing your location (pref: post code) would enable an assessment to be made of your expected signal level, and from where.
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Mike: Many thanks for the update as is always interesting to know the result of anything tried, even although if it might well be in a negative sense! Just a pity you didn't have a normal Freeview box to try out on your aerial (box connected to your TV via a scart lead) as although I know you were using the PC's-TV tuner to judge against the tuner / receiver in the TV its not really the best of devices to use for comparisons, albeit that it might well be OK for the purpose intended.
I think though that the latter comment you made in the update is best policy, as although you will always get someone finding fault with something, it wasn't exactly easy to read anything other than derogatory comments about that particular model of TV, albeit on the face of it nothing would seem amiss, especially with it having an M &S tag on it.
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wendy marilyn johnson: Assuming you are wishing to view Freeview on your TV as well as having the alternative of Sky+ as well, its really a case of what type of aerial system you are using on your TV coupled to your location, as if you received BBC1 then there should also have been BBC2 as well as other BBC channels, so did have your TV set on DVB (digital) when you tuned it?
The point is, that as your query basically involves reception you really have to indicate your location, this preferably in the form of a post code as it will enable your expected signal levels to be checked on, and from what transmitter.
If you don't wish to give your exact code then choose one from a shop / post office near to your location, as if too far away the signal levels predicted will not be accurate.
By the way as your Sky+ box is coupled into your TV via the scart socket nothing else need be connected, as if the Sky box is put into standby it should allow the TV's Freeview screen to come back on, likewise off if the Sky box is taken out of standby again. (i.e: Automatic switching)
Maybe you could also give the model number of the TV.
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Dave Tattum: Could you please indicate the model numbers of the boxes concerned, as if you had only mentioned problems with the model that's notorious for this (and other) type of problem, namely the Grundig, the fact of you stating the Philex shows likewise is a bit strange.
When you said you re-scanned the Grundig did you do this after you had carried out a factory reset on it, preferably by having preceded this action by leaving it unpowered for 3 or 4 minutes beforehand.
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David Wardynec: No! as Sky retains control of the recording side of the box and will deactivate it along with your entitlement to view subscription channels.
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David Wardynec: Just to clarify, you will still be able to view all the non subscription channels though with the exception of Pick TV.
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thomas: I am a bit curious as to why you should want a Freesat recorder (PVR) when you have a Freeview HD TV, which if you receive a good Freeview signal should be suffice for your needs, a Humax Freeview Fox T2 PVR completing your set up by providing twin channel HD recording facilities.
Maybe you could clarify this point enabling further advice to be given, although if its because you reside in an area not served by Freeview then a Humax Foxsat HDR PVR would be what you require to use with a twin output dish, as you can view through the PVR whilst you record a another channel, the PVR connected to your TV via an HDMI lead.
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Sunday 22 January 2012 2:11PM
Avril: Just to add, that if you decided that Quest wasn't so important after all then you could just use a Freesat PVR, as the "F" connector plugs on the end of the two leads from the dish would just require to be transferred over from the sockets on the Sky box to the two sockets on a Freesat PVR, in this case being a Humax FoxSat HDR which like the Freeview equivalent can be obtained with various sizes of hard drive, the normal being 320Gb and slightly later 500Gb, but obtainable with up to 1TB.
As far as feeding to another room is concerned, the situation is the same as with the Freeview device, you cannot without an additional modulator, or for higher quality a device known as a "Digi sender", the sender plugged into the boxes scart socket, and with the receiver into the scart socket of a TV in another room, no wires being involved.