All posts by jb38
Below are all of jb38's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Peter: Could you please clarify on a point that I am not quite sure about, when you leave the card out do you get the correct regional version of BBC1 on EPG 101 and ITV1 on EPG 103? which of course you cannot really check on properly until local news times, but that these are lost when you insert the card? because if this is what is happening then it could suggest that the card is defective.
Could you also indicate what type of Sky box you are referring to, standard, Sky+ or Sky+ HD?
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Andy: When you mention that the strength is still the same does this also apply to the quality? if that is its not combined with the strength as in some devices, although I suspect that although it might appear as being the same it is possibly sitting just under the threshold level for reception.
Could you please also indicate the model of TV that you are referring to, and do you use a booster on your aerial? the reason I ask being because as you are located at just over 30 miles away from Sutton Coldfield I feel that you may well do.
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Dave Timm: I notice that your query was made a few days ago and as such you may already have found an answer elsewhere, but the EPG on your TV should never blank out in the way that you have mentioned after having populated your screen, as although variations in the way this operates can be found across the various brands this type of problem suggests a fault having developed in the tuner or associated circuitry such as the power supply to the tuner etc, in other words the problem not being caused by external reasons.
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Mike: If this just happened around the same time as you were changing the "F" connector plugs around then it could suggest that a stray strand of wire has accidentally got wrapped around the inner core of the coax, so unscrew the connector from the cable and make sure that all of the braiding is pulled back along the outer cover of the coax, then screw the plug back onto the coax again and give the system a test.
By the way when you select the signal check screen on the box try each cable in turn using LNB1 input for testing, as LNB2 is mainly used for recording purposes.
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Lesley: Although its maybe a bit late on saying this now but I would not have recommended that any filter be fitted to your aerial system, as filters unless of the more expensive types in the £20 / £30 range (min) have a slightly detrimental effect on channels either side of the filter range, this no matter what the spec might indicate.
The other point is, and getting back to basics, that even apart from the occasional signal fading problems that you refer to and which are basically caused by atmospheric reasons, if the trees that you also mention are fully (or even partially) in line with your main signal path then you will never really obtain reliable reception as you are dealing with a variable that you cannot control, variable meaning that the signal will suffer from differing levels of blocking dependant on weather conditions, this even when the leaves have departed as multiple water laden branches act like a form of mesh.
However I would concentrate on what KMJ has suggested as far as aiming to use a combination of Skipton and Pendle Forrest is concerned or even Pendle on its own, as in my opinion this would be your best chance of obtaining a reasonable standard of reception.
However if this did not work out, then I would not hesitate in suggesting that you ditch Freeview in favour of Freesat and enjoy reliable reception for about 99% of the time totally free from constant glitching.
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john w. powell: What you have mentioned indicates that you have lost reception of the commercial muxes by your TV having possibly tuned to the more local Ipswich Stoke relay which is a PSB only station rather than the Sudbury full service station. That said though, its still a bit odd that the scanning did not continue and pick up Sudbury's higher channel numbers, so have a check up in the EPG 800 range just in case the missing channels are located up there. If not, then remove the aerial plug from your TV or box and select to carry out a first time installation, or if not an option just an auto-tune, once the scan has started carefully watch the progress bar (or number count) moving along, then when you see it reaching around 30% of its travel (or if numbered Ch38) reconnect the aerial and let it continue scanning. By the way you could also try manually tuning in the missing muxes then saving the results, the three muxes concerned being / Ch58 (SDN / Quest etc) Ch60 (ArqA / Challenge etc) Ch56 (ArqB) / Film 4 etc)
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ian from notts: Yes! you are quite correct on both counts, and thanks for drawing my attention to that error as I was that used to typing in 10 / 11 & 12 to cover the three muxes whereas now it will be 10 / 11 & 15.
Cheers - JB.
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Mike: Sky cannot turn off your ability to view non subscription channels as the box is basically a standard satellite receiver but with an added facility of being able to access encrypted channels via a card, also the fact of you not being able to receive anything on the Humax HDR proves that the problem exists with either the dish alignment being out / the LNB having developed a fault / or a problem with the coax from the LNB to your receiver.
However the fact of Sky news on 501 apparently working can be used as a verification that the coax cable to LNB1 input is OK, so test the coax that feeds LNB2's input by taking the coax out of LNB1 and trying LNB2's "F" connector into the LNB1 position and check if Sky news returns, if it does then that cable is also OK.
I suspect though that the problem is caused by your dish having been moved very slightly out of alignment and this aspect can be verified (or not) via the signal check screen using the following procedure, the reason I say "slightly" is because nothing would work if it was more than this.
Sky HD box - signal checking.
1:- Press "Services" on your Sky remote control and you will see the main menu with "Options" highlighted.
2:- Highlight the Settings menu using the right arrow button and press select.
3:- Using the arrow button scroll to "Signal" and press select.
4:- The grey bars displayed will show you the strength of the signal to your Sky+ HD box.
Any strength / quality seen indicated "has" to be around 60% or more to produce a picture (especially the quality) because if its under this then that points to the dish being slightly out of alignment and with this usually always being in its horizontal plane and "sometimes" being rectified by giving a slight nudge on either the left or right side of the dish, as should the dish have been slightly moved by a strong wind or even hit by a bird or ball, this is the direction it would move in.
Give this a try followed by an update on results
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Chattes: Thanks for the updated info, and with the content of indicating that all is perfectly OK as far as the feeds from the distribution amplifier is concerned, but though which now unfortunately points to the problem being with the 8500.
The fact of you stating that the 8500 gives weak or no signal indication can suggest that the tuner is actively trying to receive a signal, and so to verify (partially anyway) if the tuners aerial input socket link is OK (or not) I would like you to try a test by leaving the aerial connected into the 8500's aerial input socket but connect a coax jumper cable from its "ANT OUT" socket on the rear (next to input) into the TV's aerial input socket to make sure that the TV still works on Freeview.
In other words the TV will be receiving its signal from the aerial connection used on the 8500's tuner link, as should by any chance a bad solder connection exist on the internally located rear of this socket it will show up on the TV's picture.
However, should that prove as being OK then without changing anything that was altered for the test go over your 8500's original configuration settings that you made in the "settings" menu (page 26 of your manual) where you selected "channel" and then "channel source" to make sure that the correct aerial input has been selected for the tuner, then follow this by carrying out another auto tune and giving an update on the results, because if still nothing is received I would like you to to try a manual tune on the 8500 but on the lower powered mux Ch29 / 538.000Mhz.
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Sunday 16 December 2012 8:02PM
Stephen P: Its basically a system whereby a person residing within the UK appears in the electronic sense to any website they contact that they are located elsewhere, for example Germany.
The fact of them "appearing" as being outwith the UK allows them to download material that would be blocked if a UK IP address was detected by any site they might wish to contact.