All posts by jb38
Below are all of jb38's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Polli Lomax: Yes you shouldn't really experience any problems when only using a single scart connection on the TV's AV1 input, because as soon as the DVD player is switched to play (or first switched on depending on brand) the TV should switch over to its scart input, likewise switch back again to HDMI when the DVD is switched off.
Assuming you are meaning a Sky remote control code for your new TV, if you have any problems come back with the exact model of TV in question and I can possibly find it on other lists, although it has to be said that some brands aren't catered for.
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Colin Hill: If the 100% signal and quality are showing on two separate bars then this is not really an ideal level to be running at, as any further increases (caused by signal reflections etc) is liable to result in the tuner being slightly overloaded, the symptoms of being exactly the same as would be experienced with a weak signal
Your local transmitter is indicated as being Storeton @ 6 miles / 257 degrees with the aerial being mounted vertically, but I notice that there seems to be a level of uncertainty in your area as to where the best signal is from, as some aerials are facing Storeton and others Winter Hill, but should it be Storeton then you have to beware of the fact that the signal "might" be a little too high even although the transmitter is only rated with an ERP of 560 watts, and so whilst on the BBC mux take the aerial out and try a test with either a set top aerial or a short piece of wire (two or three feet long ) and see if any picture of sorts is obtained.
Of course this test is not necessary if you are using a signal booster, as just try by-passing the booster.
You could also double check that the BBC mux is from Storeton on mux channel 26 (Winter Hill being 28) as its not entirely impossible for Winter hills BBC to have been stored during an auto-tune if Storeton's BBC was down slightly at the time, the mux channel number of the transmitter being seen associated with the signal levels on the check screen.
It may well prove that it isnt an excessive signal level that's causing the problem, but the possibility of has to be eliminated.
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Bill W: Well unfortunately the answer is no, as although these boxes were good in their time they were about the worst as far as their total lack of flexibility was concerned and relied purely on over air downloads to keep the software up to date, these OA downloads having ceased many moons ago.
Being an engineer I find it difficult to recommend anything in the lower price ranges, although to be honest about it when dealing with digital receivers and such likes a 100% guarantee (or anywhere near it) of operational reliability cannot really be given about anything, but though two boxes do spring to mind that fits all of your requirements as well as them having RF modulators, these being an Icecrypt T5000 and a Goodmans GDR11, the latter having been fitted into an acquaintances house as part of the Freeview help scheme a number of months ago, and with no adverse reports having been heard about the device.
As far as the Icecrypt is concerned, its quite a versatile device and is currently sold by Amazon at just under £28.00 with free delivery, and even although one might see a few negative reports made by some (which is the norm for any box) these are far outweighed by the number of users who are delighted with their purchase, and from my own point of view I somewhat favour this device.
However on the subject of the Goodman's box, this is somewhat more difficult to get hold of albeit its the one I have personal experience of by having been asked to wire up an extension using the RF modulated output, this having given me an opportunity to put it though its paces as well as have the casing off it for an investigation of the circuitry used.
Anyway hope this additional info might be of assistance.
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malcolm: If you are using the standard RF2 output from the Sky HD box its virtually impossible not to have any audio unless its caused by something connected with the 2nd TV you are using, as the analogue RF video and audio signal from the Sky box cannot be separated insomuch that if something goes wrong both will stop working.
Are you positive that the audio on the TV hasn't been muted or even just turned down?
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Daniele Wiseman: Winter Hill located @ 18miles / 338 degrees from you appears to be the station that serves your area and with the reception being predicted as being good across all six muxes. If the signal vanishes when you switch the BT vision box off the that suggests that you are looping the aerial for the TV through it, and if you are then try connection the aerial directly into the TV and then carrying out another re-tune.
If your Toshiba works OK all of the time can you clarify what aerial its using? as I wasnt quite sure if you meant the indoors or outdoors one.
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Daniele Wiseman: Losing the signal through the day can be caused by a variety of things, but signals received from anywhere vary in strength during over a 24 hour period through natural atmospheric reasons as well as "slight" drops in the mains supply voltage due to demand, and this can affect transmitters as well as receivers, and although these are of a minor nature if anyone has a less than ideal aerial arrangement or the signal they receive is slightly deficient because of the signal path from the transmitter being obstructed by trees, this can result in the signal level received not being that terribly far above the cut off point for reception known as the "digital cliff", whereby any further reductions in strength no matter how slight can cause reception to drop out.
You can verify this for yourself by carrying out a signal test on the channel you are viewing when the reception is OK and making a note of the strength / quality seen, do it on a few programmes such as BBC / ITV1 / ITV3 / Pick TV (11) / Yesterday (12) as that covers all muxes except HD, then the next time you select a programme and it results in a blank screen carry out the signal strength check again on that programme channel, as even although the screen will be blank the signal will still be there but has just dipped under the threshold that your receivers tuner can respond to, and if you compare the strength when its OK to when not, then you can get an idea of the kind of level your TV drops out at, as they are all different and varies from brand to brand.
If by the way the level the signal has dropped to is seen as being reasonably stable, then a booster will always help in that type of situation by lifting the level further away from the cut off point.
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Brian Norris: A log 40 aerial is perfectly adequate for your needs and can cope perfectly OK whether it be Emley moor or Belmont, and if by any chance a slight boost is required than that will not cause any problems either, Argos item number 534 / 4235 being perfect for the job by it having a variable boost level.
I receive Belmont from about 52 miles away and via a very much less than clear signal path using an amplified DM log, plus I use two other logs for the reception of Sandy and Waltham respectively, my location being in the Stamford area.
This is a link for the item mentioned, although there is a possibly that it might not work hence why I included the item number.
Buy Plug-In 1 Way TV Aerial Signal Booster at Argos.co.uk - Your Online Shop for Television aerials and boosters, TV aerials, boosters and accessories.
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Brian Norris: Just to add that what's been said / seen regarding aerial curves. It has to be kept in mind that the info seen on these charts can up to a point be taken as being academic, as it represents the results obtained when an aerial was tested under strict conditions whilst being located at one end of a test area about the size of a football field, and with the highly regulated constant RF output signal used for the test being located at the other end, this arrangement guaranteeing an even level of signal over the entire bandwidth of the channels being covered.
This, as obviously can be appreciated bears no resemblance to the reality of most situations, and where the signals from the six transmitters used for a full service Freeview service do not reach the receiving aerial with the same intensity, this being for a variety of reasons such as obstructions like trees etc along the way, as well as the fact that even without any obstructions the signal received can still be at slightly different levels because RF does not conform to what might be expected when it leaves the sources of radiation which are located at different heights on the mast.
Yagi type aerials, the more normally seen over the years, only have one active element no matter what size (length) the aerial might be, whereas on a log aerial all elements are active and that's what makes them have such an even response over the entire bandwidth, as each element is catering for a certain section of the frequencies being covered.
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malcolm: Provided that you have a "direct" cable link (no wall plate unless a straight through type) between the Sky boxes RF2 output and the input to the magic eye then unfortunately there isn't really anything that you can do about the red light situation except by trying a different brand of eye, as to be perfectly honest about it many of these devices just work and no more at the best of times, and indeed even if you were armed with a few of these Commtell types you would most likely find that some worked better than others as they are just erratic devices, the erratic element really being revealed when used in long cable length situations.
Although it has to be said that its not just the case of them being extremely sensitive to cable lengths but also the quality of the cable used between both devices, so this is another factor that has to be taken into account.
That said though, you are not by any means alone as far as experiencing this type of difficulty is concerned and the problem is not always just caused by the sensitivity of the eye or type of cable used for the link, because many people who had been successfully using a eye with a standard Sky box for a few years suddenly found that the eye would not work when they upgraded to Sky+, as the circuitry used in these + boxes for the eye simply wasn't up to the standard of the older boxes, and there was even complaints from some regarding the RF modulators being somewhat weaker as well, this resulting in a slightly grainy picture being seen whereas before upgrading it was perfect.
I don't know if you had maybe just upgraded to Sky and still have your old box stored away, but if you have then purely for a test connect the mains lead into it and the cable link into its RF2 and check if the eye in the summer house lights up, as that would at least verify the continuity of the cable as far as DC is concerned.
I regret not being able to be more positive about my reply, but the only thing that anyone can do in your type of situation is to try a different brand of eye "if" they know that the cable connection is sound between both devices, as although RF can pass through a bad connection with only a slight grain showing on the picture, but the 9 volts or so that operates the eye wont!
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Monday 9 July 2012 11:07PM
Mervyn Davies: Although you may well be getting an indication of a strong signal but are you positive that the signal is from the correct satellite? as 28.2 might seem to be quite far away from say 19.2 but in reality when a dish is being turned around in its horizontal plane the difference is only fractional, and of course any indication of signal strength on the Sky box is "only" made from the default transponder on 28.2.
Another point being, are you sure that the actual box is OK, as many of these older Amstrad boxes suffer from power supply problems which unfortunately only show up when the mains power supply is disconnected after not having been for a considerable period of time, as when the components cool down that's when a fault usually develops.
If the TV being used can be seen from where is dish is positioned then you should leave the box on the signal checking screen and loosen the horizontal plane clamp, then very, very slowly move the dish to the right or left watching for the slightest sign of an indication on the strength / quality bar.
If though the TV cannot be seen from the dish, then use a coax link from the boxes RF 1 output and feed this into the aerial socket of an analogue TV, tuning same to pick up the box, then use the method previously described to adjust the dish.