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All posts by jb38

Below are all of jb38's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.

J
Feedback | Feedback
Monday 9 July 2012 8:26AM

Chris Simpson: The procedure to try as mentioned by Mark Fletcher is the maximum that any viewer can do, because if that doesnt rectify the situation then only a engineer "might" depending on the extent of the problem, because these boxes "are" notorious for power supply problems as well other issues relating more to software, and the cost of repairing them far outweighs the value of the box whereby only an owner / technical enthusiast would justify even taking the outer casing off.

The problem you report could indicate a defect in the aforementioned issue concerning the power supply, or it could actually be the hard drive itself that has failed as this isn't exactly a "once in a blue moon" type of situation.

The only other issue that can stop them working is if the hard drive is full, but that wouldn't (or shouldn't!) give the message that you refer to.

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maureen williams: Really pleased to hear that you have managed to rectify the problem, as although a port going down isn't the most common of things to happen it can be a bit misleading to many when it does.

Anyway, many thanks for taking the time to give an update on the situation as its nice to know the outcome of any advice given.

Regards / jb



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J
Diagnostics - old version
Monday 9 July 2012 5:30PM

jason: The problem that you describe is usually caused by the method used to feed the signal from the main position to another room, although I would advise you to temporarily bring the box downstairs again purely for purposes of carrying out another retune before taking it back upstairs again, because boxes / TV's should "never" be retuned unless its known that changes are taking place at the transmitter, as with the exception of an overloaded memory problem channels are not really lost but have only dropped down under the level that can produce a picture, but by you having re-scanned on a suss connection you will now have lost some channels.

Maybe you could indicate what type of aerial / coax arrangement is being used.


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J
Diagnostics - old version
Monday 9 July 2012 5:32PM

chris: What model of box are you using? as some older types have problems with the new transmission modes being used.

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malcolm: If when you say that the TV link doesnt work are you meaning the magic eye? because if its not lighting up then there has to be a broken connection, as the LED in the eye uses pure DC voltage from the Sky boxes RF2.

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malcolm: Or of course a short circuit inside one of the connector plugs, as both of these faults will have exactly the same outcome.

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Polli Lomax: You can do away with the scart connection and start using an HDMI lead between the new TV and the Sky+ HD box, although I would use the No1 HDMI connection on your new TV as that will have an auto switch sensor so that when you take the Sky box out of standby it will switch the TV to its HDMI input, if that is you have anything else connected into the TV.

This will not affect the way your Sky+ HD box works in any way whatsoever and you will use it exactly as you do at present.

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Furnace: Yes, it could well do if the tree is within a couple of hundred feet or so away, although in situations like that turning the aerial a few degrees to the right or left or reducing the aerial height (this even better) can sometimes effect a cure, albeit it "might" have a slightly detrimental effect on another multiplex.

I will say though that the signal strength indications that you have reported are not particularly good as they don't leave that much of a safety margin between your present viewing level and the receivers reception cut off threshold level, are you using any form of booster? because if you aren't then its very likely that you would benefit from using one as that would take the level of the signal received further away from the cut off point referred to.

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J
Diagnostics - old version
Monday 9 July 2012 9:41PM

jason: Well the best way to find what is causing the problem is to use only the set top box for a test, firstly connect it into the aerial socket you had previously used and after giving it a re-tune make a note of the signal strengths on BBC / ITV1 / ITV3, then take the box upstairs again and after re-connecting it carry out another signal strength test "on the same channels", if they are lower then leave it on the test screen and pull out the TV's aerial plug "downstairs" and check if the levels on the box upstairs has improved any, if they have then it would be better to feed each room view a two way powered splitter as that guarantees that each point will have exactly the same signal level.

This is a better way of doing things anyway unless a person is receiving a high level of signal, as I see that you are only about 1.1/2 miles away from the Wrexham Rhos Freeview light relay station and I did wonder if you are using this, if you are then aerial will be mounted vertically (elements pointing up and down) and you will "not" be receiving ITV3.

What to do is when you try the signal strength test note the mux channel number that's associated with the signal level, if its Wrexham Rhos : BBC 28 - ITV1 22 - HD 25

You are also predicted to be able to receive from another two stations, these being horizontally polarised /

Winter Hill : 62 - 59 - 54(HD) - 58(ITV3) - 61 - 55,

The Wrekin: 26 - 23 - 30(HD) - 41(ITV3) - 44 - 47



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malcolm: OK, and will keep a look out for an update from you.

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