All posts by jb38
Below are all of jb38's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
russ grooms: Its not really possible for anyone to be able to assist without knowledge of your location (pref: post code or one nearby) as the signal levels expected at your location from the various transmitters involved cannot be assessed.
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Paul Hazzard: As you are located at only 15 miles or so from the Rowridge transmitters you could well be receiving an excessively strong signal which is blocking your HD reception, overload conditions usually affecting HD before SD, so if you have any type of booster in line with the aerial socket it has to be by-passed, if though you do not have a booster in line then for a test try using a set top aerial followed by either a rescan or just manually tune in Rowridges HD service on mux Ch21.
By the way, if you can not access a set top aerial then use a piece of copper wire about 12" long or so pushed into the inner part of the TV's aerial socket, if you get results by doing this then you will require to purchase an attenuator to place in line with the TV's input, a variable type of about zero to 20db being a better bet as you can adjust it for best results.
However, if none of these measures has helped the situation then come back with the model number of your TV and it spec can be checked on in case its not fitted with a DVB-T2 tuner, this being necessary for HD reception.
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martyh: Regarding the possibility of software updates rectifying this problem, unfortunately the answer is in my opinion no! as rectifying these type of issues generally has to be carried out via RS232 socket transfers or directly into the appropriate test pin area on the PCB if factory updated, that is "if" the manufacturers provided the software for such an action in the first place, something which I very much doubt as the problem would not have been known about then.
That of course being the norm with any digital receiving device hence the reason for the constant stream of software updates one hears about, and the greater the number of updates seen for the same model an indication that the previous one was, to put it, "a shot in the dark" in an attempt to cure whatever defect it was intended to correct.
Your problem does though have slight similarities to a much later manufactured range of Sony TV's that suffered switch over instigated problems, Sony's answer to the problem was to provide users affected with a software update on a £15.00 refundable deposit flash drive to be inserted into the offending TV's USB socket, but to my knowledge Sony is about the only company that has used this procedure.
I have to admit, that I personally feel that the only way your problem is likely to be overcome is by replacement of tuner, the problem there being the cost of such an action would likely exceed the cost of just purchasing a Freeview box and coupling this into the TV's scart socket, or if you didn't want a Freeview box to be seen then use one of these small wedge types that fits directly into the TV's scart socket.
As I am rather curious about this problem from my own point of view, and at the first opportunity I fully intend to check if the TV tuners part number is different between the 05 suffix models and the models without, as that would give a clue if Philips had fitted updated tuners in some later models, so maybe you could let me have the TV's serial number as hardware update notifications on service sheets use that info to indicate when a switch was made.
Regarding the use of the old Virgin box, if you are referring to the original Virgin "Free TV" branded box then its worth giving it a try connected as you have mentioned plus a scart lead coupling between the V box and TV, but its really a hit and miss thing as the tuner spec I have on these only gives the very basic of information and so you might find that it doesnt work for the same reason as your Philips.
By the way, this is a link for one type of scart Freeview receivers I referred to, but there are a few other brands available as well.
Konig Digital Freeview Scart Receiver: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics
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Janice: There has to be something else involved, as there is no such thing as digital or analogue distribution amplifiers, as they amplify anything.
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David How: I was just having a read at your posting and wondered exactly what you are using for an aerial? as anything used in Dulwich that has more efficiency than a simple set top aerial is liable to cause a multitude of problems through signal overloading, and with any indications seen as far as the strength or quality is concerned being totally inaccurate as the tuner will be verging on instability thereby giving incorrect indications.
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David Taylor: Going by your latest report regarding the symptoms seen on the TV makes it rather obvious that something in your system is causing severe instability to occur, are you positive that the scart lead between the box and the TV is OK? what to do is wiggle each of the two scart sockets in turn whilst observing the interference, as if the main earth has come off inside the scart plug (or TV's socket) that can cause problems.
The other point is that this model of TV is made by Vestel (Turkey) and is notorious for bad joints in various places, so do you have any other devices in the house that you can connect into the TV's scart socket to verify that its OK?
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martyh: Thanks for that info, and which I have copied down and will have a check on early next Monday or Tuesday depending on what my non-domestic electronics work schedule might dictate.
The other point about your problem being, that even if Philips (or any other company) customer services puts you through to the technical service side of the help line even they don't get involved with the nitty-gritty of in-depth fault finding and are inclined to believe what they see printed in an info sheet given to them is the gospel, which in many cases it isn't.
Anyway I will get back on this.
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martyh: Just to reinforce a point, it does all hinge on the "05" issue, because as you know that model of TV is on more than one list as not being able to operate on an 8k transmission mode.
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Paul: Purely on the aspect of signal level, as you are only located at 12 miles from Hannington it would in theory be very easy to suffer from tuner overloading problems caused by an excessively high level of signal being received, this of course totally dependant on any local obstructions that may exist as reception predictors cannot cater very well for this type of situation.
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Friday 20 April 2012 8:56PM
martyh: Well although I agree that the manual does indeed indicate that the set supports 2k/8k transmission modes a logical attitude has to be adopted with problems of this nature, insomuch that when you lost BBC on the 4th it can "only" have have caused by one of two reasons, the first being that the signal received in your area was excessively high that it was blocking the receivers tuner or that of the communal aerial systems distribution amplifier.
Secondly that irrespective of what might be printed in the user manual the TV is incapable of responding to 8k transmissions, these being the only reasons for the problem.
As far as the aerial is concerned, as others will be using the communal aerial system you would have heard by now if any problems existed with it, so the only thing you can do is, that if at all possible try another TV on the aerial socket provided as you have to verify that a workable signal is being received.
On the subject of the TV itself, it "might" possibly be that although 2k/8k compatible chips were fitted in the tuner the software necessary to activate the 8k side was not installed during the final set up procedure in the factory, as this is something that can happen and is unfortunately not be noticed until a much later date, the last instance of this I am aware of involving an older Toshiba model dating back about 4/5 years or so, with it also being stated in its manual as being 2k/8k compatible.
I will further investigate this angle, but I suggest that you try and verify the signal being received in your property so that the signal level aspect can be eliminated, that said though I strongly suspect that its a compatibility issue.