All posts by jb38
Below are all of jb38's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Tony: I also intended to say, that when excessively high signal levels are in existence then the indications displayed on a receiver cannot be trusted as being accurate and frequently indicate low, or in some cases zero quality, this is because of the circuitry that samples / measures the level being corrupted by being overloaded.
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Christopher: Thanks for your latest update, although with what you have stated regarding the 21dB gain figure printed on the booster (albeit claimed) putting a slightly different complexion on the situation now, that is should the gain figure stated be in any way accurate, as this would then mean that achieving satisfactory reception would purely be reliant on the realigning of the aerial as the signal will already have been boosted, so that couldn't be relied upon to compensate for slight deficiencies.
I also decided to make a more detailed study of the signal path between Wenvoe and Merthyr Road and noticed that it passes roughly between Garth Hill and Llantwit Fardre, however also having noticed
that the terrain around that area can only really come into the category of being a bit on the iffy side for reception, as the entire area appears to be situated at a slightly higher ground level and with groups of trees having been noticed in the area, a guaranteed recipe for intermittent reception.
If you personally had intended to experiment with the repositioning of the aerial then I would say that its certainly worth a try, but the repositioning of an aerial for best reception is not a five minute job as frequent checks have to be made on the results of any actions taken, but because you intend to get someone else to do this for you brings the risk of money being wasted into the equation, this making me a bit hesitant about advising you to go ahead with this test under these circumstances, although obviously its your choice.
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Jade: Well the rather obvious question would be if you have verified that the remote control batteries are OK, and if they are then try using the buttons on the actual box, if that still doesn't work then unplug the PVR from the mains supply and leave it sitting for about 10 minutes or so before reconnecting the mains again.
If after having carried out these procedures the box still fails to respond then this can suggest that the boxes internal power unit has failed, albeit that the front panel indicator will still be illuminated as it isnt supplied via the power unit.
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Mike Rice: The first two letters of a post code is not sufficient enough to be able to assess the signal level you are likely to be receiving nor the transmitter that covers your area, as a few test codes picked at random from the numerous listed indicate that you could be receiving from quite a number of different transmitters, some of them being located not that terribly far away and meaning that you "might" be suffering from a signal overloading problem.
Maybe you could indicate the signal strength / quality seen indicated on BBC or ITV and the mux channels seen associated with that level, as that will indicate the transmitter that the signal is coming from, although a post code or at least one from nearby (a shop etc) would be of more assistance.
Just another small point concerning these models albeit you might already be aware of this, that although the adverts for these models plug the HD side as far as quality etc is concerned, but according to the limited spec given on their site all of these models are fitted with DVB-T tuners and "not" DVB-T2 types, and as such cannot receive an HD signal but only display one via an HD set top box etc.
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MJM: You should not really require to set anything up "if" you have the Sky box connected into the TV via a scart lead, if though you are using the Sky boxes RF1 modulated output and feeding this into the analogue TV's aerial socket, then all you require to do is re-scan the analogue TV and it will find the channel number used on the Sky box.
I though "no signal" is seen on the Sky boxes signal checking screen (Services - 4 - 6) then unscrew the "F" connector plug and make sure that there isnt a single strand of wire shorting onto the inner core.
Another point to remember being, that you only require to use the LNB 1 input on the Sky box, as LNB 2 was mainly for recording purposes which you will not be able to use now, and so if one dish lead shows no signal then swap it over to the other lead.
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edggy: It depends on where you relocated from as you might now be outside of the transmitter coverage area that your box is tuned to as reception in Nottingham can be from more than one transmitter, if though, and although not mentioned, that you have carried out a rescan and nothing was received then the aerial system in your new apartment will require to be checked out.
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Robert: I don't believe that you can on these boxes, although what model of Thomson are you referring to?
Also, with regards to you having mentioned that you feel that the updater is the only thing that can be spoiling your channels, and which of course it might be, but it should also be appreciated that Thomson boxes are notoriously unreliable due to their poor quality power supplies, and which can either fail completely or reduce the voltage to the tuner which results in intermittent picture freezing or a range of other odd reception problems, so this should always be kept in mind.
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Ian Robinson: If your main socket is wired as said then its not a particularly good arrangement, as the splitter / booster should be located where you are on one output and with the 2nd flat on the other, but the fact of you stating that the Wharfedale (a Vestel chassis device) works perfectly OK on its feed is rather strange as these chassis aren't the best for sensitivity, and so I would be interested to know what the result would be if you tried the Wharfedale on the feed used by Samsung.
I will say though that the signal level predictor (trade) doesn't really give glowing indications for your particular area, but if the Wharfedale works OK that's the main thing, although what you should do is select a programme channel on the Wharfedale that you know is poor on the Samsung and go into the Wharfedales signal check screen and note the mux channel number that's seen associated with the reading, then select that same programme channel on the Samsung and go into its signal check screen and see if the the same mux channel number as on the Wharfedale is indicated, the purpose of this being to ensure that the Samsung hasn't tuned to an alternative transmitter.
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Sunday 6 May 2012 10:44AM
Tony: As you haven't actually given your location (pref post code or one from nearby) the signal levels expected in your locality cannot be checked on, but in general terms if when after switch over any person then finds the SD channels to be OK but not when on HD, this is nearly always caused by the signal received being excessively high and which will always affect HD before SD, so if you reduce your signal level on SD to about 90% or so that should correct the HD problem, should it be caused by what's been mentioned.
If you can access one then for a test try a set top aerial, or even a short piece of wire (about 12") pushed into the inner part of the aerial socket, as if you can still receive a signal by doing that then you are in a high signal level area, and so for a permanent cure you will have to fit a variable attenuator (0-20dB) in line with the aerial socket.