All posts by MikeB
Below are all of MikeB's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Martin Cooper: Although your problem might be caused by 4G, I suspect that its much closer to home, and that 4G is blamed for everything, rather like 15th century witchcraft.
The clue is in how you describe how you lose your 'BBC Channels'. I'm assuming by 'BBC Channels' you mean Freeview generally.
It would be helpful to have the make and model of the TV and PVR, but in cases where the TV has a Freeview tuner built in, that is the default source for the TV, and the one it will first go to when its switched on.
If you want another source (Scart, RGB, Phono, HDMI, etc) you press the 'source' button on your remote. Most of the time this is a button with a rectangle, a dot in the middle and an arrow, but it can 'AV' on Panasonic's etc. It will hopefully choose the next powered source, say the PVR on scart.
What I think you might be doing is pushing the source button again. However, lots of TV's (including mine) just show the next source, be it connected/powered or not. Your potentially seeing a black screen (although hopefully with an indictaion of the source in the corner), rather than the Freeview tuner, and confusing the blank screen with the loss of your channels.
If you tell us the models of your equipment, I can see how many imputs you have on the TV. If its a CRT, it will normally have two scarts and a phono, and an HD ready TV will have either one/two scarts, and at least one HDMI (depending on the age/size). BTW - if you have an HDMI equiped TV and PVR, use those instead - you'll generally get a better and more reliable signal.
The other thing which might be at fault is the fly lead - if its looped through from the Pvr, it might be loose, which might explain why one box works, and the other doesnt always.
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Mike Batchelor: have a look at the page on 'too strong a signal' - 95% is far too high (75-85% are far better), and a look at your signal quality would probably show it boucing up and down. Since HD channels tend to get effected first, thats why your HD channels are blanking out.
Just follow the instructions on the Freeview signals: too much of a good thing is bad for you | Digital switchover | ukfree.tv - 10 years of independent, free digital TV advice page - attenuators are pretty cheap, although obviously the first step is to switch off/bypass any boosters, etc. (PE12QN)
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Peter Yates : Apparently HD channels are amoungst the first to be effected if your signal is too powerful for your tuners Freeview signals: too much of a good thing is bad for you | Digital switchover | ukfree.tv - 10 years of independent, free digital TV advice - have a check of your signal strenght and quality - if the strength is heading towards 100% and the quality is yoyoing, then that might be the answer.
If you have a booster, bypass it or switch it off, and see if you get HD and quality improves. At the same time, see what sort of signal that you should be getting by looking up your postcode with the terrain/map on this site, just to make sure that there is no particular problem in that area. (PE12QN)
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M
Waltham (Leicestershire, England) Full Freeview transmitterThursday 6 June 2013 11:10PM
Peterborough
Martin: Sony tuners are generally less sensitive than Panasonics (I've got a Sony PVR as well), so I'm surprised the PVR is jumpy - mine retuned to Waltham with no problems at all.
There seems to be a number of people in the LE area with problems, so obviously check there is nothing wrong with the signal (you can check the terrain, etc with a postcode), and then check signal strength on both TV and PVR seperately (if you loop the TV through the PVR, just put the leads directly into each machine to check). Also check that the signal is not too high.
Are you getting signals from another transmitter? The tuners might be picking up another transmitter, so check the channels the tuners are using, and then possibly manually retune.
If none of this works, then perhaps one of the gurus here might be able to help!
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A Briggs: The TV needs to have a factory reset (or first time setup, etc). Since your PVR is working fine, look to see what channel/transmitter its on. The TV will pick up another signal (unless the cable is loose), usually automatically.
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A Briggs: Its nice of Samsung to tell you this (I didn't know they did this - a question for the Samsung rep I think!), but Dave is right - there is nothing listed for the Weymouth transmitter.
OK - if your PVR is fine, did it need retuning? Unless it did an automatic retune, then is it one the same transmitter as your TV? If you look at the Digital UK predictor for your postcode Coverage Checker - Detailed View you find that there was a retune needed, but on the Bincombe Hill Transmitter, not Weymouth.
Both are relays, and both really close, but are in almost opposite directions. This might explain why your TV has problems - its picking up a signal which is pretty much opposite to the direction your aerial is facing, and possibly a different one to your PVR.
Check the PVR's settings - I bet its still on Weymouth, not Bincombe. Obviously check signal strength on both tuners and which direction your aerial is facing. You might need to manually retune, or rethink which transmitter you want to go for.
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Christine: By Hdi DVD player do you mean a blu-ray player? Blu-ray players do not have scarts - they have to use hdmi cables (which are actually very cheap now).
Many DVD players (or most of the remaining DVD players on the market) also just use HDMI only as well. Tivo boxes apparently have both HDMI and scart. More about the different connections are at the top of the page.
Firstly, is your TV HD Ready? If it is an old style CRT (deep) TV, then you will have no HDMI imputs at all, and your going to either return the player or replace the TV. However, assuming you have a flat HD ready TV, you should have at least one HDMI imput.
If you look at the TV's manual, it will tell you where to put the HDMI cable from the Blu-ray player. It will normally go in HDMI 2 on the TV, and the Tivo box will use HDMI 1 (you'll being using that one more). Make sure the HDMI cables are connected properly (do not force them) from the player to the TV, and make sure the player is plugged in. Switch it on.
Press the 'source' button on your TV and you should scroll through from the TV's own tuner, then the Tivo box, and then the blu-ray. The player will now often go on the net, so follow the instructions to set that up if you want.
If you have huge problems, tell us the model and make of player/tv, but the instructions for the blu-ray should tell you everything you should need to know.
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Briantist: Shawna's case highlights the problem with buying a TV from a different country.
I occasionally get asked by customers about buying a TV/blu-ray to take to relatives overseas (usually Pakistan). I always advise against it. TV's have different voltages, systems (NTSC in this case), and tuners, depending on the country they are produced for.
Your often wasting your money if you try to use a TV set meant for another country elsewhere - at best its going to be a pain, and often simply will not function at all.
Frankly, I'm surpised the DVD player works - I suspect that most DVD's available locally would be Region 1 (US) rather than Region 2.
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M
Freesat reception - all about dishes | Free satellite - generalWednesday 12 June 2013 2:30PM
Peterborough
Jerry Smith: Not optimistic, but it will cost you a great deal of money!
Freesat equiped TV's are not common, and tend towards the middle high end of the market, and the smallest they've ever been made in is 32". The only 32" being made this year with Freesat is the Samsung 32" Six series - which is currently £599. Its actually a very nice TV (400hz screen, etc), but is a little over the top for a bedroom TV. Other than that its 40" plus.
I would start by looking to see if you have an aerial, aerial points and the strength/ quality of your Freeview signal, since every TV sold for at least the past five years should have a Freeview tuner built in. If you get a decent signal, and even better, have a number of extra points, then you have the choice of either Freeview or Freesat, and of course you can use your existing equipment immediately with no extra cost.
Check your TV's to see if any of them have Freesat built in. About 4 years ago, a fair number of Panasonics had them, and some LG's (there was only one Sony). Samsung started putting them in in the 8000 & 7000 series, and then the 6 series a couple of years back. If they have one, then they are good to go.
Its slightly strange that the previous owner had what sounds like Sky multi-room, but only had one connection into the living room - if you want to record/watch on Freesat or Sky you need two cables (one for each tuner) - so your fine to watch using a Freesat box, but you'd have to have an extra cable coming in to use a Humax Freesat PVR (the de facto standard).
If you do want to use the connections from the dish, you'll need to buy a Freesat box, which connects to the coax from the dish, and then uses scart or (even better) HDMI to your TV. They are around £70, depending on the brand. A recorder can start from £150ish, but the Humax Freetime (basically You View but Freesat) is £249, but a PVR does need two connections.
Bottom line - if you've got Freeview, then use that first, and you can attach Freesat tuners as well if you want. If you've got (or are buying) a TV with Freesat in, then thats useful as well, but its not essential. And if you want to record on Freesat (in the lounge), you'll need two cables coming in, not one. If your reception on Freeview is awful, then the dish will be very useful.
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Sunday 2 June 2013 11:08PM
Cheryl: The Offset function should work better than that - see this page (towards the bottom) for some tips Sony TV and Humax Freesat PVR - Freesat+ Recorders - Digital Spy Forums and this one Volume issue on Foxsat HDR since changing TV - Freesat+ Recorders - Digital Spy Forums - a google around Humax websites might bring up something as well. (PE12QN)