Kitz Forum
Chat => Tech Chat => Topic started by: UncleUB on September 23, 2009, 11:54:39 AM
-
Did you know that on September 30th 2009 you have to re tune your Freeview Box(if you have one).
http://www.freeview.co.uk/freeview/Resolutions/About-Channels/Retuning/Freeview-national-retune-30-September-2009
-
I did one of our box's about two weeks ago and then we could Not get BBC1 or BBC2 (it said poor or no signal :'() But after doing without the two channels for two weeks and getting a lot of earache about it I re-tuned it again last night and all seams ok.
Another box (different make ) updated without any problems, see how many more have I got to do >:(..
Anybody gone through the channels after 1am :-[ :o .
-
>>> Anybody gone through the channels after 1am
Thankfully I'm never awake at that time :angel:
-
As I understand it this time you cannot do a retune now and have it work after midday on the 30th. You have to wait until then to retune. Heaven only knows why they are messing around like this, must be causing lots of concern for people who are not familiar with technology. My wife is up in arms about it and simply refuses to get involved, she usually only watches analogue channels anyway and cant hack digital text either. In her view it would have been fine to leave it as it was with channels 1-4.
-
Hi,
http://www.freeview.co.uk/freeview/Resolutions/About-Channels/Retuning/Freeview-national-retune-30-September-2009 (http://www.freeview.co.uk/freeview/Resolutions/About-Channels/Retuning/Freeview-national-retune-30-September-2009)
says:
Freeview national retune 30 September 2009
I've heard I need to retune my Freeview equipment on or after 30/09/2009 - is this true?
Yes - all viewers with a Freeview digital TV or box (including homes with Top Up TV and BT Vision) will need to retune their equipment on or after Wednesday 30 September 2009, to continue receiving their available digital channels. On the day, viewers should retune from lunchtime onwards.
Why is this happening?
The retune will pave the way for Channel Five to become as widely available on Freeview as the other terrestrial channels at digital television switchover. In addition technical preparations for future improvements to the Freeview service (such as Freeview HD) are being made.
Freeview will confirm further details about the new Freeview HD service soon.
What time do I need to retune?
Viewers using a Freeview TV or box should retune from lunchtime onwards. The technical changes have been planned to avoid peak TV viewing hours and minimise disruption. If you retune before lunchtime you will find that some services are unavailable.
Cheers,
Peter
-
Still does not really explain why the messed up to begin with. The whole Freeview thing has been cobbled together in my view with little or no coherent thought behind it, they just let it grow like topsy then discover it wont fit together and do this every few months. Lasy year we had the fiasco where several older pieces of equipment would not handle the new Network Information Table - I'm just waiting for the next big **** (add your own expletive) up.
All this messing around is fine for people who are used to technology but for 1000's of folk who just want to watch TV its a right mess.
-
Still does not really explain why the messed up to begin with. The whole Freeview thing has been cobbled together in my view with little or no coherent thought behind it, they just let it grow like topsy then discover it wont fit together and do this every few months.
Yep, they seem to be allowed to make it up as they go along, and 'sod the consumers'.
All this messing around is fine for people who are used to technology but for 1000's of folk who just want to watch TV its a right mess.
I guess I better brace myself for a lengthy phone call from Mum & Dad on 1st October, as I struggle to describe what they need to do for their freeview STB and freeview HDD recorder. I'm surprised they've not already been on the phone to tell me up about that infuriating popup 'press yellow to get rid of it' box that we all keep seeing.
- 7LM
-
Hi,
And I think it's set to get even better...
Freeview currently uses DVB-T standard.
BBC & ITV etc plan to broadcast HD terrestially - but that needs the DVB-T2 standard.
Will the 48 inch £1000 Plasma screen you've promised yourself for Christmas receive DVB-T2?
Or will it too need a set top box?
And if the set is only 3mm think, how will you balance the box on top of the set?
Cheers,
Peter
-
They have already upset me with that bl*dy popup thing saying pres the yellow button.
Ok a few times is fine but everytime you turn on the TV?
What happens after I retune?
The following changes to Freeview channels and services will be made on the 30 September:
Coverage of Five will increase. More than 500,000 Freeview homes will be able to receive Five for the first time; and these improvements will ensure that Five will be available to all Freeview homes at the point of switchover; along with BBC One, BBC Two, ITV1, and Channel 4.
Some viewers who receive their Freeview service from a relay transmitter will no longer be able be able to receive ITV3 and ITV4. As a result of moving position on the Freeview platform, a small percentage of homes will find they lose these services after retuning.
A new channel called ‘Quest’ will launch on channel 38 on Freeview. It will be available to the majority of Freeview homes.
Some BBC Radio stations will be affected in the 5% of UK homes that have already gone through digital switchover. Listeners in Border, West Country and parts of Wales will lose these services until they retune their Freeview equipment.
The Community Channel will no longer be available on Freeview in areas that have already gone through switchover.
After retuning, the viewer will find a small number of channels in a new position on their on-screen TV guide.
For the updated channel list, effective from 30 September 2009 visit our channel page. For Freeview coverage in your area use our coverage checker.
SOURCE (http://www.freeview.co.uk/freeview/Resolutions/About-Channels/Retuning/Freeview-national-retune-30-September-2009)
-
It does not seem to be working here.
-
Well I did all mine this afternoon, but nothing seemed to change except a few of the strangely-numbered duplicate/triplicate channels. All worked before and after.
Think I mainly get Crystal Palace and Hannington and pick up a couple of local repeaters too so about 120 channels on most boxes.
-
I did ours about 1pm.I did notice before the re tune that channel 5,ITV 3 and ITV 4 were blank screens.Afterwards they were fine.
But what a load of useless channels on there............Gay Rabbit :-X to name but one.
-
I did ours about 1pm.I did notice before the re tune that channel 5,ITV 3 and ITV 4 were blank screens.Afterwards they were fine.
But what a load of useless channels on there............Gay Rabbit :-X to name but one.
On one of our box's you can 'Delete' the channels you do not want. ;)
Anybody still getting that B message still, I do on the box I have just done.
-
I have just done our Hummie and .... yes, even though the retune was successful, still get that b****y message and a new one too - yellow OR blue buttons to press! ::)
-
On one of our box's you can 'Delete' the channels you do not want.
Ours too,not many left when you have deleted the rubbish.
-
Well we did all ours yesterday, even my wife managed to do a couple of sets just to prove she could..... she hates technology. All are working OK and yes we do still get that stoopid message occasionally. Apparently on the ITV news last night they said it has cuased loads of problems with many people not managing it at all.
-
One of the possible problems is that a full retune may not purge the old channel list first, so you end up with a combination of old and new. This happened when I retuned my Toppy, and the solution was to do a factory reset before the retune. Some other Freeview boxes may have a manual 'purge' option which you can use first.
-
TD did all this the painless way.....by ignoring the whole thing. ;D
Mind you, the fact that we do not get digital telly around here helped.. :)
-
TD did all this the painless way.....by ignoring the whole thing. ;D
Mind you, the fact that we do not get digital telly around here helped.. :)
I have a spare box TD complete with flat screen TV.
(https://forum.kitz.co.uk/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.soundcityusa.net%2Fsoundcityusa-gallery-vintage%2Fgallery-vintage-pictures%2Fpredicta-tv.jpg&hash=bc3525f64a9d881178ba8507f07443576ff8190d)
-
:lol:
Thanks, unkyUb...but that looks way too technical and modern for me... :(
-
Sorted, wrong instruction given on the web site.
Worked it out for myself in the end.
-
Mind you, the fact that we do not get digital telly around here helped.. :)
If you look at the official site and put in the post code we dont get digital TV either, however it works - very well most of the time. The problem here is that depending on the atmospherics at the time we can also get French digital and analogue TV stations. Apparently it will be a problem round here when we switchover because the French do at the same time and both them and us will up the power output - so could get interesting!
-
Hmmm...you are spoiled for choice, even if the choice is dependent on outside factors... ;D
Digi switch here is April 2011.....until then we cannot even get Channel 5........but do we get a discounted licence fee ?...... :no:
-
One set's ok but the other BBC1 & 2 got poor signal and we cannot use those channels. :'(
-
I got my ladder out this afternoon and rotated my TV aerial a few degrees while my daughter watched the signal strength meter under settings menu .
It's made a big deference ;D.
It's odd never had any problem until the re-tune ???
-
That is one of the biggest problems where some aerial riggers are conning people into buying new aerials, when all it needs is a slight re-tune to allow for the narrower signal.
-
Did anyone else lose all BBC channels this evening?
-
Fine for me here in Sheffield......Our signal comes via the Emley Moor transmitter
-
I seem to have lost the BBC channels, and am having to go through the retuning process each time I switch on my TV. Does anyone know why that might be. I'm in the Mendip TV region I think.
toulouse
-
Toulouse. One of the "tricks" you may need to do is a complete installation reset to square one. This seems to be necessary for some models probably due to memory limitations. The software in many cases doesn't seem clever enough to reallocate channel numbers properly and it still goes on saying a channel is where it used to be but nothing's there after the transmitter changes.
Tony
-
@tonyappuk
Ok, thanks for that Tony. I'll do a factory settings reset and then a retune. That ought to fix the damned thing !!!!
toulouse
-
The retune didn't help my in-laws in Peterborough at all, wasn't it supposed to improve Ch5 among other things?
Still no Channel 5 or ITV for them on digital.
(something to do with low power from Sandy Heath on the relevant channels)
So they have to use analogue for that, which gets confusing (both in their 90's).
-
HPSauce CH5 changes were the reason for the latest triumph of technology that is Freeview. Maybe a factory reset would help in your case but no guarantee.
Tony
-
Well, it looks as if the factory settings reset may have cracked my problem, but YMMV.
toulouse
-
I seem to have lost the BBC channels, and am having to go through the retuning process each time I switch on my TV. Does anyone know why that might be. I'm in the Mendip TV region I think.
toulouse
I am on a relay off the Mendip transmiter or at least I used to be.
-
I think that some people will lose Ch5 and some ITV channels like 2 3 or 4 (cant remember which), all of this should be fixed when switchover happens.
-
Seem to have lost all signal since sometime after midnight last night. I thought it may fix itself today but still nothing but the blue and red freeview thingy.
Ive done a rescan and all I can get is BBC Wales... everything other than that has gone. :'(
WinterHill Transmitter.
-
Looks like something is happening today at WinterHill
http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/when_do_i_switch/granada/winter_hill
-
Yep they did something last night.. I'm trying to search myself to find out what to do.
Our original date was 4th Nov - I did a retune then that went okish.
What they seem to have done last night is Winter Hill transmitter is meant to be the 1st in the country to go Freeview HD.
Seems like Im not the only one this morning in Granada land who cant get anything
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?s=dcff5e7184e8a9fb9e3401426911d5d1&t=1173715&page=7
Looks like I shall have to try a rescan without the ariel.. then plug in and try again.
Wish me luck
-
Good luck :)
-
Getting really peed off now.
Ive got the TV upstairs working... but what a mess with the one in the lounge.
Channels are all over the damn place and Ive spent ages messing around.
Ive now got ITV on channel 49 CBeebies on channel 2 and nothing is in the right place.
Think Im going to have to do a manual tune or something.
Ive found a list of what channels should be at what number
http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/info/multiplexes.shtml
Now I need to find a list on what channels should be at what frequencies... and read my TV manual to find out what I should do to try sort this.
What a damn PITA this is. ???
-
If that fails a reset to "default" or back to square one will clear the memory and allow new information to be stored. This seems necessary with some tuners. You may have to search the setup menu quite carefully to find this option. If you do a full reset a manual scan shouldn't be necessary.
Tony
-
Sorry to hear it's giving you grief, Kitz.
I got the phone call from my parents the other day, that I'd been expecting since the big retune a few weeks ago. Their HDD recorder "wouldn't record anymore". It turned out, of course, that it needed retuned.
The reason they'd waited so long was that I bought the HDD recorder for them, and they were afraid I'd be upset to hear it was broken. So they'd lived without it for several weeks before admitting here was any problem. I wonder how many households, especially elderly, are just soldiering on without proper TV these days...?
-
If that fails a reset to "default" or back to square one will clear the memory and allow new information to be stored. This seems necessary with some tuners. You may have to search the setup menu quite carefully to find this option. If you do a full reset a manual scan shouldn't be necessary.
Tony
Thanks for that suggestion tony... but I tried a factory reset about an hour ago.
I then started a fresh scan, and thats where I am now.. with channels all over the show.
Ive even manually deleted every channel from the memory one by one so there was nothing in there at all.. I thought that may work, but as soon as I did the scan its back to weird channels.
Ive just brought the lappy downstairs to see if I can get a channel list and sit in front of it down here.
----
I still have to sort the TV upstairs as thats picking up BBC Wales rather than BBC north west. According to what Ive seen that has to be manually retuned as its a known problem to a lot of people, and there's no other way of doing that. However for the time being Im leaving the upstairs tv as although its Wales... at least I do have some sort of TV.
:wall:
-
I wonder how many households, especially elderly, are just soldiering on without proper TV these days...?
I should imagine theres an awful lot today that have no tv. If I didnt have access to the net and the patience (which is rapidly now running out) to sit here and try sort out the mess. Thank god my parents have sky... they wouldnt have a clue where to start.
-
Sorry to hear it's giving you grief, Kitz.
I got the phone call from my parents the other day, that I'd been expecting since the big retune a few weeks ago. Their HDD recorder "wouldn't record anymore". It turned out, of course, that it needed retuned.
Oh god... its just this moment clicked that I bet the one on the media center box doesnt work now either..... nor the HDD box.
I'd forgotten about them.. I was just trying to get the TVs working again :'( :'( :'( :'( :'(
-
What a mess,
Is the Freview a box or is it buit into the TV?What make is it?
Is there not a helpline for this kind of thing,you would think so as it affects millions of users
-
The best help line site I've found is at http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/how_do_i_switch/connections__and__retuning/retuning_instructions which may be useful. The link to http://www.tvretune.co.uk/productmanuals/ looks quite promising too. It does seem extraordinary to me that the technical driving force behind terrestrial digital TV whoever that may be, did not initially stress the need for easy retuning in the initial spec. for receivers. They obviously saw the need for multiple channel adjustments during the changeover but failed to make proper provision for it. As an old TV transmitter man all I can say is "It wouldn't have happened in my day!". Goes to cry in beer.
Tony
-
OK Im really really peed off now. The best part of 4 hours and I still have a TV that I cant seem to retune properly.
The TV is a Hyundai E3200.
Ive got the manual out and does it tie up with what I can actually access?
Does it hellers like!
According to the manual there should be An AutoStore and Manual Store under Menu > Channel > Country.
Can I find either of them? Nope I cant.
TV is gonna go out the pigging window any minute now... I dont have time to mess around like this.
/me is angry,... I best leave it alone now :angry: :mad:
-
For older people I have heard good reports of the Switchover Help Scheme which is at http://www.helpscheme.co.uk/ and will actively help eligible people to retune. Several members in my retirement association have used it successfully and for elderly relatives it may save you a journey. The fact that it has been used by our members only emphasises what a minefield this is when I tell you our retirement association used to be called the Independent Broadcasting Authority Retirement Association!
Tony
-
With regards to your manual re-tune.
Before the switchover.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/info/multiplexes.shtml
The multiplex names and some of the channel locations are different after switchover.
After the switchover.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/info/multiplexes_dso.shtml
-
For older people I have heard good reports of the Switchover Help Scheme which is at http://www.helpscheme.co.uk/
Thanks a lot Tony, I'm going to pass that on to my parents and tell them to spread the word, they live if a block of flats largely populated by the extreme elderly.
it may save you a journey.
It's the best part of 400 miles so visiting them to sort stuff like this is not an option. My usual tactic is to download the user manual for whatever they need help with, then talk them through it over the phone, so I can refer them to exact page and paragraph numbers. Even so, you'd be surprised how much scope for misunderstanding still remains, and how annoying it can be for me to lose a big chuck of a Sunday afternoon in the process.
-
OK I am not happy.
After hours of messing and searching I found a contact number for Hyundai Imagequest TVs in the UK. In case anyone else is having difficulties the contact number is:
RepairTech Ltd Unit 5, Westfield Road, Southam, Warwickshire, CV47 0JH
Tel: 0871 855 3171
Well I rang them.. the response is that there is nothing they can do and there is no firmware or anything that can be done. Apparently these TVs do not support UK freeview and therefore wont work properly after digital switch-over as they were manufactured before the digital switch-over.
Like I say - not happy - I bought this TV to replace an old one that worked perfectly well... but it was bought in anticipation of digital.
Gonna contact ebuyer support to see what happens next.
-
:sick:
-
Gee, Kitz, that's bad :o
I do suspect there'll be plenty more examples of this to follow, however. The industry body responsible for setting standards for set makers in the uk is the Digital TV Group (dtg.org.uk). The information is published in the so-called 'D-Book', but the contents of D-Book are a closely guarded secret not available to the general public.
Earlier in the year I had to investigate a fault in one of my own TV items (I had to investigate it myself because Sony refused to). In that case, it turned out that the D-Book was vague, and the setmakers had interpreted it one way, the broadcaster another. The broadcaster eventually agreed to change so 'all was OK'.
..Except all wasn't OK at all. The point that everybody failed to appreciate was that the D-Book seems to have been written with a total lack of thought of forwards-compatibility. For example, if a comms protocol has a few unused bits somewhere, the standards committee will usually specify these bits 'must be set to zero' by the sender, and they 'must be ignored' by the received. That allows said bits to be assigned some purpose in future, without breaking existing equipment. D-Book has none of that. In my case, 'spare' bits were being set by the broadcaster, in a field that governs the picture aspect ratio. If Sony had ignored these bits, as many sets did, all would have been well but. Instead, Sony placed their own interpretation of the spare bits, causing it to display pictures in the wrong aspect ratio..
Since DTG don't specify that spare bits MUST be ignored, Sony can wash their hands and say 'no bug in our set'. But if DTG ever decide to use these bits then certain Sony equipment, still on sale today, will be dead in the water. A few other manufacturers are implicated too.
I only got to see a few pages of the D-Book (bootleg copies from a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend), but the slap-dash design approach I saw in these pages absolutely horrified me.
-
Ebuyer - Guy was really nice and sympathetic. Unfortunately it is just out of their warranty by 2.5 months so he referred it up to see if there was anything they could do.
But nope.. since the TV works fine and its just the freeview tuner, then there is nothing they can do but recommend I get a set-top box.
This is so damn annoying I bought the TV and built the media centre in the the hope of having a future proof system.... but now Im gonna have to go back to a set top box to get it to work properly.
Ok so now Ive wasted practically most of the day trying to find a solution... I guess I should go back to the upstairs TV and try sort out whatever has happened with regards to people in the winterhill area only being able to pick up BBC Wales. :'( :'(
-
That's terrible, and it's another knock to my confidence in EBuyer. They sold you something three months ago which was not fit for purpose (in my opinion) and the fact that they only gave a 2.5 month warranty doesn't take away your normal legal rights. But battling these things out can be exhausting and frustrating. :wall:
-
That's terrible, and it's another knock to my confidence in EBuyer. They sold you something three months ago which was not fit for purpose (in my opinion) and the fact that they only gave a 2.5 month warranty doesn't take away your normal legal rights. But battling these things out can be exhausting and frustrating. :wall:
I remember Kitz buying a new set a short while ago......is the the same set we are talking about ?
iirc she had a lot of probems with various sets(see this thread)
http://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php/topic,4864.0.html
-
The TV set is 2.5 months outside of warranty.. so theres nothing that they can do.
Help... please does anyone know how or where I can get the frequencies I need to find
BBC1
BBC2
BBC3
BBC4
ITV (Granada).
I seem to be searching fruitlessly for the information that I need to put in to be able to do a manual retune.
Im in the granada region being served by the WinterHill transmitter.
The info I need to put in my TV is
Network = Europe
Channel = I designate the channel number
Frequency = ????
Tx Mode = ???? (Auto???)
Bandwidth (8MHz ????)
-
Some interesting relevant stuff here: http://www.avforums.com/forums/freeview/1132506-manual-retune-winter-hill.html
-
Kitz
I don't suppose you recall if the set had the Digital "Tick" logo on it. This was supposed to let you avoid problems like this that cropped up in the last round of channel changes. It would be worth contacting digitaluk.co.uk to ask them if there is a solution. Some problems can be cured with a software update either overair or via a serial link, which is what I had to do, and they may be able to help you. In the meantime I am contacting my mole in the industry to see what he can offer. At the very least I'm sure I can find the Channel frequencies.
Tony
-
Kitz
There is a very comprehensive page at http://www.ukfree.tv/txdetail.php?a=SD660144 which also includes all the new channel frequencies and thousands of complaints! My mole has still to answer my query.
Tony
-
Sorry it's all double-Dutch to me, but is this any help?
Transmission frequencies
http://www.ukfree.tv/txdetail.php?a=SD660144
-
I'm puzzled about the warranty, I was under the impression that you normally have 12 months, and I believe there is an EU ruling (cant find it right now) which states 24 months. Anyway I'd expect you to have a good case under the UK consumer protection legislation as the goods are obviously not fit for purpose, I dont think under the circumstances it matters that the goal posts are debatable as that should be sorted by the manufacturer when designing the TV.
-
I'm puzzled about the warranty, I was under the impression that you normally have 12 months, and I believe there is an EU ruling (cant find it right now) which states 24 months. Anyway I'd expect you to have a good case under the UK consumer protection legislation as the goods are obviously not fit for purpose, I dont think under the circumstances it matters that the goal posts are debatable as that should be sorted by the manufacturer when designing the TV.
http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/cons_int/safe_shop/guarantees/index_en.htm
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexapi!prod!CELEXnumdoc&lg=en&numdoc=31999L0044&model=guichett
See 17.
(17) Whereas it is appropriate to limit in time the period during which the seller is liable for any lack of conformity which exists at the time of delivery of the goods; whereas Member States may also provide for a limitation on the period during which consumers can exercise their rights, provided such a period does not expire within two years from the time of delivery; whereas where, under national legislation, the time when a limitation period starts is not the time of delivery of the goods, the total duration of the limitation period provided for by national law may not be shorter than two years from the time of delivery;
-
Kitz
There is a very comprehensive page at http://www.ukfree.tv/txdetail.php?a=SD660144 which also includes all the new channel frequencies and thousands of complaints! My mole has still to answer my query.
Tony
Thanks... Ive found something on there that is helping. Ive now got BBC1, BBC2 and ITV1 on the downstairs TV. I cant seem to get BBC3 or the rest so far... but at least its a start. Its going to take me a while though to work through and assign what I do have so far to the correct order.
Havent managed to suss the upstairs tv yet, but that was less urgent as I do seem to have all the channels, but just coming through in welsh.
Youre not kidding about the thousands of complaints... and no-one seems to have found a hardfast solution that fits all as yet.
What a mess.
I had a new ariel fitted last summer in anticipation... I phoned them up and the woman I spoke to said they are swamped with calls today. But if I want to call them out its gonna cost.
-
>> I'm puzzled about the warranty,
Sorry I thought I cleared that up with an earlier post.. its 2 months outside warranty. It was bought in Sept 2007 and just outside the 2yr warranty.
Im not sure yet, but I think I may have found a partial way around some of it.. it is just going to take me a while to manually change and re-order about 78 channels.. and Ive still got some missing so far which I cant seem to find as yet.
-
It is possible that some of the changeover work isn't complete yet no matter what they intended. What's more I haven't yet found any way of getting up to date information. What I mean is perhaps some of the Channels are not radiating yet. It might be worth asking your neighbours.
Tony
-
>> I'm puzzled about the warranty,
Sorry I thought I cleared that up with an earlier post.. its 2 months outside warranty. It was bought in Sept 2007 and just outside the 2yr warranty.
Sorry I misinterpreted what was being said. More than 2 years old is a problem.
I doubt the aerial has anything to do with it, either the transmission is messed up or its a problem with the Freeview tuner.
Wondering now if this is a problem which will hit more of us in the future....
-
>> I'm puzzled about the warranty,
I think people are thinking about the TV with DVD player that you brought a few months ago.
"The one that had to be returned etc"
-
Yes, you're right OF. That was what I was thinking of.
-
The one I bought earlier this year for upstairs kinda went okish aside from the Wales problem.. Well all I had to do was clear out the old list and then rescan. However I still can only pick up BBC wales on that one.
Theres literally thousands of people complaining about being only able to get BBC Wales... some people have found ways around this either by doing a complete clear out of the list or factory reset. Neither worked for me. The other suggested options are using an attenuator (which I havent got).
-----
The Hyundai TV in the lounge is the one that had the real problems and the one that is supposedly unfixable.
But after hours and hours of messing today (Ive only just finished) I do have a workable TV that has some channels missing. I have manually scanned for each and every channel - and then had to put them in the correct order.
I couldnt find a list anywhere that gave all the information together, but Ive made a spreadsheet of my progress so far and what Ive managed to get. Its not actually too bad.. and ironically on the set downstairs Ive managed to actually get the correct BBC region. There are still some gaps, but I'll try rescanning some channels such as CBBC etc when they are on air tomorrow.
The downside is that these changes wont be permanent and if I ever do an automated scan again it will wipe out this afternoons hard work of getting the tv to work. But the main thing is that I do have a TV that I can watch most of the main channels on.
I'll attach the spreadsheet that I've made out this afty.. it may help someone else.
edit I cant upload an .xls will host it somewhere later.
-
Kitz
You have probably already noticed the news of the lack of some ITV channels if you receive off a transponder rather than the main Winter Hill Transmitter. Could this be part of your problems?
Tony
-
Kitz,
I have a Goodmans Freeview box which I stopped using last week (sky installed)
If it can be of any use to you your welcome to it (foc) :)
-
The retune at Winter Hill was completed by Wed afternoon. You can find the MUX channels (if you want to do a manual retune and avoid the Wales transmitter) by going to http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/ and enter your postcode and house number in the box on the right AND ALSO tick the "I am in the aerial installation trade" box. The problems are also being discussed on the Radio and Telly Forums (which do good links to most box manufacturers) - see http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/index.html
Hope this helps :)
-
The other suggested options are using an attenuator (which I havent got).
Maplins' sell them and from memory they are not very expensive (£2 to £3) £4.99 each
Although there are 2 or 3 different strengths, but do not know which one to advice you use as it is a try it and see process.
Just in-case anyone does not know how they get fitted, they simply fit into the TV aerial socket and then plug the aerial coax/cable into it, so no big job.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?criteria=attenuator&source=15&menu=-9
-
Hi
Weird is this digital stuff . At present I have One TV picking up the local transmitter basically Welsh edition. 2 others on a different areal with an amplified splitter tuned to the Granada area (west?) . What I do not understand is how some channels BBC1 wales as an example appear on different Channels bearing in mind they are fed from same areal. Both were retuned last night within minutes of each other
Regards Jeff
-
Just be grateful you don't live where I do. ???
I pick up Crystal Palace, Hannington and a few others too. Multiple everything on strange numbers, and sometimes the "main" choice (should be CP though it's a way away) isn't the logical one. Depends on the weather too.
I think mines further confused because, although the TV aerial (with rooftop amplifier) does point straight at CP I have an FM aerial on the same mast all fed into a biggish distribution amp with separation at the sockets. I reckon the FM aerial must be picking up smaller local transmitters.
Hopefully when they all go full power (2012) and I can reduce the complexity this will get a bit more sensible. I have to play all sorts of games with amplifiers and attenuators to get all the TV's to work. They all have different channel allocations too. :'(
-
>> if it can be of any use to you your welcome to it (foc)
Thanks very much for the kind offer UB. I do have one up in the loft. The ironic thing is I put it up there aftery buying the TV as an all in one to cut down on the clutter :/
Havent had chance to do anything further today, but since I do have at least most of the channels working now Its not as important.
I also managed to manually retune the upstairs one so that it picked up from the correct station. Just need to put those in the correct order and delete the welsh ones.
Still a PITA though. They really do need to get it sorted that a transmitter much further away is taking over the nearest for so many thousands of people.
-
Kitz You have probably found this page http://www.ukfree.tv/txdetail.php?a=SJ123701 which shows the service area and the mux frequencies from Moel-y-Parc but I was surprised to see how big the overlap with Winter Hill is. That's probably why a simple rescan gives so much bother. You could try selecting a Welsh source for a non regional service like Dave for example if it gives you a better signal and it probably won't have an annoying regional identity. Unfortunately the EPG will be wrong I guess and programming your PVR may be difficult. The fact that the two transmitters are in different directions should help with the discrimination if you stick with Winter Hill and together with the use of a suitable attenuator I would hope you could manually get a usable service. I think from your latest posts you may have managed that.
As far as the Hyundai is concerned my mole has no information yet but I am surprised a set bought so recently cannot provide a sensible service even if it needs manual intervention. I'm sure you will have a claim on the seller if the set was not fit for purpose which you seem to indicate was the result of your conversation with RepairTech Ltd. Maybe a letter to Hyundai's CEO is in order.
There seem to be a wealth of low power relays in your neck of the woods and I have a large list of them with their frequencies. It's too long to include here and in any case the only relays that transmit all the muxes are Pendle Forest, Saddleworth, Storeton and Lancaster. If you are near any of them it might be worth tuning in to them. If you have Channel Numbers or frequencies of unknown transmitters/relays let me know and I can identify them for you.
I hope some of your other troubles have been alleviated especially the broken boiler and you're feeling better. You are too far away for me to offer a monitor but you would be welcome of course.
Tony
-
Our oldest Freeview box Has been the most difficult to set up >:D, I must have re-loaded the channels many times and in the end I seem to have it right now.
I even tried the set up for '1st time' setting which deletes all.
-
>>> which shows the service area and the mux frequencies from Moel-y-Parc but I was surprised to see how big the overlap with Winter Hill is
Yes its massive isnt it... and practically the same areas being covered!
>> Unfortunately the EPG will be wrong I guess and programming your PVR may be difficult.
Yes Ive managed to manually retune both sets now for most things... the downstairs one still cant seem to pick up certain channels and I can find no reason for this. However as they are mostly ones that I dont watch Im not too fussed... Think is only BBC3 that I'll miss, but I seem to watch that upstairs where I can get it mostly so no biggy.
Yeah EPG is wrong and I get the welsh ones!.. but most of the time luckily they are similar.
>> wealth of low power relays in your neck of the woods
When I checked it suggested Lancaster... but the signal for that is poorer than winterhill:/
Problem I guess is the Moel-y-Parc signal is strongest.
When I was looking the other week I did see something official that said Moel-y-Parc wapped their power up on the day that I started having problems.
Bit silly really cause WinterHill is soooo much nearer than Moel-y-Parc, which at a guess is about 2.5 - 3 hours drive away.
The only thing I can think of is that the Moel-y-Parc trasmitter also points over the sea to us, and therefore would have a much clearer line of sight than via winter hill which is over land/buildings?
>> together with the use of a suitable attenuator I
I may have to try that... although I must admit I dont know yet what or how Id do this... need to research more in that area lol.
-
PS... I havent researched the attenuator thing yet... so perhaps stupid question coming up :-X
But if you attenuate the signal, surely that would make the winterhill one less strong too?
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?criteria=attenuator&source=15&menu=-9
-
The use of an attenuator is really a red herring I think on reflection. It is often used if you do an auto scan where it can persuade the box to select the strongest and hopefully the required muxes. In your case, if you do a manual tune for each mux (if the device allows that) an attenuator would only be useful if the signal was so strong as to cause overloading. That may result in being unable to select that mux reliably because of cross modulation.
I have been corresponding with Tickmike re his aerial distribution system and its effect on Freeview. He feeds several sockets in each room and to other rooms in parallel or from a distribution amp. We have probably identified some of his problems being down to leaving some of the paralleled ones open circuit and the resulting tuning effect of the o/c stubs removing some of the channels getting to the socket in use. Any paralled feeds or even feeds fed via a resistive splitter should be terminated to avoid problems. Tickmike is experimenting with making his own terminators with small 75 ohm resistors and coax plugs rather than buy more dis amps. He has rather a lot of sockets! I mention this in case this effect is contributing to your reception troubles.
Tony
-
Our Freeview recorder - Panasonic DMR-EZ47V - tells us daily, for several days now,
that there are new services available. But every time we do a rescan it finds nothing.
We're in Hertfordshire and receive from Crystal Palace.
My brother-in-law in Cheshire reports chaos with his Freeview.
His 97 year old mother thinks she's going deaf as she can't understand the programmes lately.
But it's just that they are are now in Welsh!
Cheers,
Peter
-
>> My brother-in-law in Cheshire reports chaos with his Freeview.
Yes this does seem to be affecting parts of Cheshire, Merseyside and West Lancs quite badly. - Well basically Cheshire and the coastal regions like Southport, Blackpool etc.
God knows what they did with signal strength @ Moel-y-Parc and/or Winterhill, but I wish they'd sort it. However I dont hold out much hope as much of the advise so far is live with it and be prepared for any changes you make to get screwed up again on during auto-scans. :/
-
God knows what they did with signal strength @ Moel-y-Parc and/or Winterhill, but I wish they'd sort it. However I dont hold out much hope as much of the advise so far is live with it and be prepared for any changes you make to get screwed up again on during auto-scans. :/
And they call this moving forward into the digital age. :-X :no:
-
I was just looking at http://www.digitaluk.co.uk (http://www.digitaluk.co.uk) postcode checker for the aerial trade.
In 2012, switchover for me at Crystal Palace, all is green "good reception". And only 4 retunes too.
But then in 2013 we drop to orange "variable reception" on Mux C.
It is not obvious what services are on Mux C - probably BBC1 and ITV1 :D
Looks like I'll be on the roof turning the aerial 180 degrees to get Sandy Heath.
Or have two aerials. Wonder how to join their signals together?
(Lord help the Sandy Heath users, they get 6 retunes in 2011 and another 6 in 2012).
It all makes tweaking ADSL seem easy.
Cheers,
Peter
Post-post edit: this link is interesting http://www.megalithia.com/elect/terrain.html (http://www.megalithia.com/elect/terrain.html)
plus his other pages about setting up aerials, and thanks Tony for the helpscheme link below.
-
Just to repeat a link I mentioned earlier for those with elderly relatives in trouble with the retune, which I've heard good reports about, even from engineers. It is http://www.helpscheme.co.uk/. Geep, perhaps this could help your brother-in-law.
Tony
-
It is not obvious what services are on Mux C - probably BBC1 and ITV1 :D
That raises a valid point that I'm not sure it's cropped up yet (or has it?) in this thread... It's often useful to simply know which mux contains which channel, because problems tend to be per-mux rather than per-channel.
Kitz has obvously already sussed this to get as far as she's got, but I'm not sure I've seen any links to simple channel/mux listings, and I'm not sure any of the 'official' sites provide it. A few independent sites do, such as:
http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/freeviewchannels.html
- 7LM
-
mux to channel listings from the Beeb:
Before: http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/info/multiplexes.shtml (http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/info/multiplexes.shtml)
After: http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/info/multiplexes_dso.shtml (http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/info/multiplexes_dso.shtml)
Cheers,
Peter
-
>> It all makes tweaking ADSL seem easy.
Doesnt it just!
>> Kitz has obvously already sussed this to get as far as she's got, but I'm not sure I've seen any links to simple channel/mux listings, and I'm not sure any of the 'official' sites provide it.
Yes... thats what took a bit of time and one of the big problems ... as I couldnt seem to find the information anywhere with all the info together so I could do a manual retune.
One thing I should point out is rather than just 'MUX 1" When manually tuning I needed quite a bit more info than that. I may be wrong but "MUX1" may just be a group reference and it wasnt something that I actually needed to put in.
I ended up making a spreadsheet to help me get all the info that I needed for each channel. I cant upload to the forums but i'll upload it to the main site.
Please note this is for WinterHill only and the MUX channel refs & frequencies may be different for any other region.
http://www.kitz.co.uk/temp/TV%20Channels.xls
-
mux to channel listings from the Beeb:
Before: http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/info/multiplexes.shtml (http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/info/multiplexes.shtml)
After: http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/info/multiplexes_dso.shtml (http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/info/multiplexes_dso.shtml)
Cheers,
Peter
Ahhh... thanks - that 2nd link is one that I could have done with last week!
A lot of other sites quoted the earlier ones... which wasnt much use. I did manage to piece it all together in the end.... by guessing which old MUX would become what new MUX
-
mux to channel listings from the Beeb:
Before: http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/info/multiplexes.shtml (http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/info/multiplexes.shtml)
After: http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/info/multiplexes_dso.shtml (http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/info/multiplexes_dso.shtml)
Cheers,
Peter
Count me in as being grateful for (especially) that second link as well. Glad to hear from Kitz I'm not alone in failing to have found it :)
-
Count me in as being grateful for (especially) that second link as well. Glad to hear from Kitz I'm not alone in failing to have found it :)
Actually you saying that .... Im wondering if that info was actually up there on 2nd Dec?
Reason I say that is because I was definitely at the first link and looking at the info on that page last week.. so how I missed the link to "Multiplexes after the switchover" I dont know. :-\
-
A link I gave earlier http://www.ukfree.tv/txdetail.php?a=SD660144 has all the information on it for Winter Hill both post and pre DSO. It may be swamped in other detail but Muxes, Frequencies and what services are on which Mux, are all there. Lower down the page is the channel allocation before and after. The BBC links present some of the information in a different maybe more user friendly way but at first sight I couldn't find the actual frequencies which may be important in some circumstances and for some tuners.
Tony