All posts by jb38
Below are all of jb38's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
keith whiteley: This message can also appear when the signal has dropped under the threshold for reception and not necessarily when none at all is being received, and so to find out which applies in your particular case carry a signal check via the menu using the undermentioned procedure.
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:- Use the left / right arrows scroll to "Signal" and press select.
4:- The grey bars displayed will show you the strength of the signal your box is receiving.
If the strength / quality is being indicated then it "has" to be around 60% or more to produce a picture, if its under this level (50% critical) then it points to the dish being very slightly out of alignment and which in most cases is usually in the horizontal plane, a problem which sometimes can be corrected (albeit somewhat crudely!) by giving the edge of dish a slight nudge to either the left or right.
Further advice dependant on findings.
| link to this comment |
Nic: This problem can be caused by either the upstairs box being faulty or the eye, and so to determine which you can either swap the boxes over keeping the eye upstairs, or alternatively connect the eye into the downstairs boxes RF2 and make sure that you have covered the front of the box with a thick towel or similar so as to eliminate any possibility of the boxes IR sensor changing channels rather than the eye.
Either procedure being used will pinpoint the cause of the problem.
| link to this comment |
Deirdre: Although what B.Moffatt has said is perfectly correct regarding Oct 24th, however as far as your present reception is concerned the problems you are experiencing are not entirely unexpected when using an aerial of the type described even although you are indicated as being just slightly over 4 miles away from the station, as Film 4 is on the least powered transmitter of the group by only being on 1.6Kw whereas the other transmitters range from 2Kw / 2.3Kw.
By the way from October 24th the BBC / ITV / HD will be on 100Kw and with the three commercial channels being on 50Kw.
| link to this comment |
William: Starting with the latter which is by far the easiest to sort out, the reason that you cannot get the magic eye to work in your bedroom is because the 5-9 volts or so from the Sky boxes RF2 is either being shorted out or is being blocked by something connected with your aerial return port, "if" that is actually what its sole purpose is?
What to do is first of all do "not" have anything connected to the wall plate in the bedroom, then working from the living room switch your test meter to its ohms range and set it to about 3K (anything more than 1K ohms) check to make sure that the ohms range is working by touching the two test prods together as this should cause the pointer to indicate full scale (i.e: a short circuit) or if a digital type meter that the display zero's, once checked connect the test prods between the inner and outer on the wall plate socket and which should "not" cause anything on your meter to read or change when you do that, if it does then that indicates that either the link cable is faulty (partial short) or that the wall plates being used on this line contain some form of matching filter, and of course they should "not" if used by a Sky boxes RF2.
If however this test is clear, then connected the coax jumper from the living room wall plate into the Sky boxes RF2 then set your meter to DC (any low range around 25 volts) and check that you are getting about 5 - 9 volts or so across the bedroom sockets outlet and which should cause the magic eyes LED to illuminate if plugged in, if no voltage is indicated then the cable is either broken somewhere or its a wall plate problem, (poss filter) as your prior conducted ohms test proved that no short circuit exists across the inner and outer.
I would prefer that you sort this part of the problem out first, as its easier to work backwards.
| link to this comment |
Thomas Glyne: If you have a Bush Freesat box then its AV1 socket (usually marked TV) should be coupled into the TV's AV1 input via a scart connection, and then with the Freesat boxes VCR socket (usually AV2) being coupled into the Panasonic DVD / VCR boxes AV2 input socket, and with this AV2 input being selected on the recorders "input select" button on the remote control.
Needless the say, the aerial should be connected through the Panasonic recorders aerial in / out socket an then onto the TV's aerial input if its also a Freeview capable TV, should any signal problems be experienced by "daisy chaining" the signal then use a two way powered splitter to split the aerial between the TV and the Panasonic DVD recorder.
| link to this comment |
MEM: Regarding the latter not necessarily so! although as you have not provided a post code or one from nearby (a shop etc) an assessment of the signal levels expected in your area cannot be made, but once switch over does takes place should they be found to be slightly too high, the symptoms of being exactly the same as the reverse situation when a signal being received is on the weak side, ie: various fashions of picture break etc, then you have the choice of either removing the amp or alternatively purchasing a simple attenuator costing about £4 or so which is placed in line with the TV or boxes aerial input socket, this in most cases completely curing the problem.
That said, when switch over takes place there are usually always a very small number of people whose signal is right over the top whereby its causing blocking in the TV or boxes tuner resulting in no picture being seen, the test of whether this is applying or not being to temporarily try a set top aerial, as if this works then the main aerials signal requires attenuating, but at this point in time I really wouldn't be too worried about this possible problem.
| link to this comment |
Duncan Flack: No! as all PVR type boxes whether they be Freeview (BT Vision), Freesat or even Sky cannot record anything unless it originates from their internal tuners and that being why none of them have A/V inputs, and signals cannot be transmitted in the way you have mentioned.
However judging by what you have said regarding your location I feel that your post code isn't really very representative of your true situation as the reception predictor indicates that you should have excellent reception from Mendip @ 32miles / 209 degrees from your location, however these predictors don't always take local obstruction problems into consideration.
If you genuinely cannot receive Freeview then I would not hesitate in changing over to Freesat and purchasing a twin tuner Freesat PVR, as this would allow you to watch one programme whilst recording another, or alternatively recording two different programmes at the same time.
| link to this comment |
Duncan Flack: I have just fully answered your question under the other heading of "Feedback" that you posted the same query under.
| link to this comment |
Duncan Flack: Well the plus point about Freesat is that there are no running costs involved after you have purchased the PVR, and with you already having a Sky+ box its even better, as it would just be a case of transferring the two feeds from the dish over to the two "F" input connectors on the Freesat PVR and that's all there is to it.
Although slightly more expensive than some other well known brands, if you prefer to pay a little extra for quality you should look along the Humax Foxsat-HDR ranges, with myself having been using the 320GB version of one for the past three years, although a massive 1TB version is now available.
Just as an example of the type of device I am referring to, the link below is for the 500Gb version.
Humax FOXSATHDR500 Twin tuner Freesat 500GB PVR - HUMAX UK Direct Sales Website
| link to this comment |
Monday 17 September 2012 11:24PM
Bob Peacock: The only thing that can cause that to happen is either that the multi room box has developed a fault or its the coax feed to it, or maybe even this particular outlet port on the dishes LNB has developed a fault.
Of course you can soon eliminate the possibility of the coax cable being faulty if you try the main box in it position.