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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.


Ian from notts /Paul Stableford: That was also my initial suspicion with regards to this problem, Samsung's manual for that model running true to form by not being particularly helpful by omitting to provide info on the tuner, but though the link to the specifications for that model could suggest (and only suggest!) that it does have a DVB-T2 tuner.


BD-E8900M - TECH SPECS | SUPPORT | SAMSUNG UK

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MikeB: Re: Samsung BD-E8900 HD problem, many thanks for your confirmation on the issue of the tuner as I did note you mention in your original reply to MikeB as having had dealings with these models in one way or another, this being in contrast to myself who has not.

I fully agree with that said in the last paragraph of your posting, as on having read a few reports from owners of these devices they certainly seem to attract complaints.

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janice: Yes, or you can even consider purchasing a Freesat box as the dish is 100% compatible with both systems.

Please note though, that if the box you have been using is a Sky+ type then should you purchase a second hand same you will not be able to use the recording side of it as the card has to be paired to the box, and of course Sky will have cancelled the card as far as anything dedicated to Sky is concerned.

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J
ITV 4
Saturday 6 July 2013 4:12PM

Nobby: If when you refer to no traces of a signal being indicated on Ch53 and Ch60 when using the manual tune channel entry but NOT followed by search procedure then that does not look very promising, as even if the North facing aerial dates pre-switchover (which I expect it might be) you should still get a trace of a signal using that procedure.

When you mention "amplifier" is this within sight? if it is then try by-passing it, maybe though you could indicate the model number of the device.

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J
Full technical details of Freeview
Saturday 6 July 2013 4:56PM

Keith: Thanks for the latest on the issue, however I stick by my previous suspicions with regards to the aerial installer having overlooked the real cause of the problem, but as a face saving measure having covered this up by "arranging" another reason for your difficulty as something does not ring true about what you have been led to believe.

The only thing I will fully agree with the installer about is by his action of moving the aerial, however as your problem has now been rectified I suppose the whole issue to be relegated into the class of being one of those "open verdict" cases as to the exact cause of the problem, albeit I still suspect that the downlead or connections at each end of were really responsible.

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Ian Young: But the question is just how long will your good fortune last at this time of the year when atmospheric conditions play such a large role in reception, and especially so when your signal is only being received through diffraction due to the line of sight signal path from the Blackhill transmitter being blocked from roughly 2 - 9 miles prior to your location.

But though, and although its neither here nor there if your reception has returned to normal, but when reading the run down on equipment used I was wondering what had influenced your decision to use the Labgear HDU681 for long distance reception when its such a relatively low powered device only offering a 8dB gain on its UHF outputs? albeit I do appreciate that you are possibly using its other multi-band capabilities.

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Lee: If all you have done is to carry out the mux channel check then reception of ITV2+1 will be erratic from the Bluebell Hill transmitter "if" your aerial is still facing the Faversham vertically polarised transmitter located on a bearing of 255 degrees, the Bluebell Hill transmitter being on a bearing of 271 degrees radiating on horizontal polarity.

That said though, the reception predictor does indicate Ch45 as providing a variable level of reception, likewise Ch39 and Ch43.

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Sharon : In cases such as yours its always the the best policy by far to make one or two local enquiries for the purpose of finding out if the problem is purely confined to your particular installation or not as the case may be, because if it isnt then this saves no end of time needlessly checking for a fault that doesnt exist as its being caused by factors external to your household.

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Sharon : In addition to that already said, your area is served by the Winter Hill transmitter which according to the engineering notice board is "not" undergoing any engineering work nor have any transmitter faults been reported.

If others are also experiencing problems then its possible that it might be caused by atmospheric reasons if its affecting all channels, although it does have to be said that you are circled by approximately ten mobile phone masts located not that terribly far away from your particular spot and so it might be prudent to have a 4g filter installed anyway, although in areas thats liable to be affected once that the service is started letters are sent out to the residents warning them of this potential problem and offering a free filter, the question being whether or not you have received a letter from a company called AT800 as seen on the link below this posting.

4G Filters Buying Guide | Free Filters | at800 Filters

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J
Feedback | Feedback
Saturday 6 July 2013 11:29PM

sam: This can happen on a box with a defective power supply and whose tuner is already struggling to hold a signal, the extra load imposed on the boxes power unit by the action of the of the hard drive running pulling the voltage down to the tuner thereby causing it to cut out.

However, you should carry out a signal strength / quality check by pressing "services - 4 - 6" (on white Sky+ box) the levels seen indicated being a minimum of around 50% for both strength and quality, if the quality is under the strength then the dish is slightly out of alignment making the power unit problem worse.

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