All posts by MikeB
Below are all of MikeB's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Phil White: Please check your signal strength - your 5 miles away from the transmitter, and a retune often seems to lead to overloaded tuners.
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Jack Luxon: Couldn't agree more! I think JB38 & Dave Lindsay have the postcode question on 'copy & paste!'. Signal overload seems to be a big problem at the moment, yet 4G seems to get the blame. A checklist would be very useful for everyone.
The other one would be on 'connecting it all up' - have you read the manual?
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Bruce: I think your missing the point about Brian's advice, and there is no point in reporting the 'problem', because the problem is within your own system, not the transmitter.
We have seen a lagre number of reception problems similar to yours, which have arisen after engineering/retuning and upgrades at various transmitters, and this is almost certainly due to an increase in power from the transmitter, overloading the tuners in peoples equipment (there are at least three examples in the past two days).
That is not a problem that can be dealt with by the transmitter - they are transmitting at the power they should be.
Your 18km from Hannington, and so you should be getting a powerful signal, but its now just too much for your tuners. Your masthead amp is really no longer required, although switching it off without cutting off your signal totally requires someone cleverer than me! Follow the advice on the link Brianist supplied, and hopefully your reception should be fine.
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Stu: We need a postcode to help see what reception should be like. Ask your neighbours, to see what their reception is like. 50% is low, so check your aerial, etc again.
Alan Holmes: Bexhill seems to be fine, transmitter wise. BT supplies your box, but has no control over your TV reception! On the other hand, being basically next to the transmitter might be a problem..
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Ronald Catt: You really, really should not be taking the leads in and out! Nor should you have any need to.
If your TV has two scarts, then the simplest thing to do is to put one scart in one, one in the other, and use the remote to change from one to another. This might be (depending on the brand) be a small button with a rectangle/arrow icon on it. You need to read your manual to tell you how to do this.
To make matters slightly more compex, but in some ways better for you - is your TV HD Ready? If it has an HDMI port on it, check you Humax to see if it does not have the same. Humax have, for the past five years or so, had scart and HDMI on the back (and even put the HDMI cable in the box as well), and if so, use the HDMI, rather than the scart.
However, at the very least, fix it up in the way I outlined, and read you manual carefully.
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Bruce: Glad we could help, and JB38 has pointed up the possibility (which hadn't occured to me)that the amp wasn't working properly in the first place!
Hopefully you neighbour will get sorted out as well. I must admit to finding it a little strange as to why anyone thought you needed an amp in the first place, but at least you sorted it out easily.
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Erica bihari: lets start with the basics - your aerial should pointing 203 degrees from north (looking south and then a little to the right) and looking at Rowridge transmitter. Trees can be a real problem, and someone else can offer more detailed advice on that.
OK, the aerial is in the loft, which is less than perfect, but your only 24km from the transmitter. If you have a booster, amp. etc, disconnect your TV and aerial from it if possible, so you just the aerial and TV togeather. What is the signal strength on RF channel 24 (Rowridge)? If its low, then signal is too weak, or you have a problem with the aerial (loose connection?). If its near 100%, it far too strong, and should be nearer 75%.
My personal advice is to get a professional to have a look - they will know what they are doing (something you admit you do not), and will get it sorted out for you, if possible.
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Mel: Firstly check your aerial - a broken connection, loose cable may be the problem.
Also look at the terrain plot for your postcode - there is a big something sticking up about 6km away from you between the transmitter and your location, which is possibly a problem. perhaps one of the reception gurus can add more.
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Lindy: Your missing the point that your tv has pointed up, your aerial is at fault. All three tv's are connected to the same aerial - if all three go at once, then it's the aerial or the connection from it, or the splitter.
Have a look in in the loft, and check the cables and the splitter - it's possibily the latter that's failed. Of course you may not need any powered splitter, and a simple splitter might be fine.
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Tuesday 10 September 2013 9:53AM
chris white: If you turned it off every night, not a lot would happen, but thats actually a problem.
The Humax (like very PVR) is designed to be left on standby - it does it automatically. It uses very little power, and will not overheat, explode, etc.
If you switch it off every night, you will miss out on any updates, software patches, etc which are uploaded in the night (they often do this, because its a quiet time).
Secondly, you miss out on one of its key features - the ability to record when your not watching! If you switch off the recorder when you go to bed, it cannot record the thing which you set to record at midnight. Since a lot of programmes are on plus 1, or repeated at night (which you might record then to avoid a clash), your not getting your full moneys worth if you switch off at the mains.
I switch off the TV and the DVD player at night (they are on one socket). The other socket/gang has the PVR and the broadband hub, and just gets left on.
I get a fair number of customers who do switch off their PVR at night, including one man who would not only switch off the internet hub, but actually take the socket out of the wall! However, there is no need to worry, and the box should be left on, it will go into standby mode quite naturally.