Freesat

[PPRuNe Pop]

There are big changes taking place on Freesat, did anyone hear much about it - I didn't. Channel numbers are changing and some don't mean much anymore. Some of them are 4 digits long now and it was only after downloading the new channel numbers from www.freesat.co.uk (http://www.freesat.co.uk) that I was able to get the new ones.

A bad bit of PR I fancy.

Twould be good to hear other views.

[dazdaz1]

Pop, you should have checked the Freesat news page on the channel. Some work has been taking place, due to finish yesterday 10th Nothing to do with Freesat it's the services that deal with the Sat uploads I lost some programmes . Do a first time install, will be sorted. 870 still looking good

Daz

[OFSO]

A lot of shopping channels (right, who needs em, eh ?) and pop video channels (likewise) went off - "no satellite signal is being received" last weekend but they all came back about the middle of the week. I assumed this was due to the shifting to transponders on the new(ish) Astra satellite.

[axefurabz]

A lot of shopping channels (right, who needs em, eh ?) and pop video channels (likewise) went off And you know this how? ;)

[spekesoftly]

There are big changes taking place on Freesat, did anyone hear much about it - I didn't. Channel numbers are changing and some don't mean much anymore. Some of them are 4 digits long now ............

I didn't hear anything about the changes, but my Humax Foxsat-HDR automatically updates at about 3am provided that it is left in standby. (Much more convenient than periodically having to retune Freeview kit!).

I've checked the Freesat Channel List and they are all still in the range 101 - 999 so no 4 digit channel numbers (unless I change to non-Freesat mode where the channels are still numbered 5001 - 5620.)

Using the Freesat EPG I've had no problems watching and recording programmes during and after the transponder changes.

[ExSp33db1rd]

Digital TV is new to New Zealand, and very new to me.

I have a Sat. dish on the roof feeding 3 decoders in various rooms via a cable splitter half way along the "parent" line from the dish.

Yesterday 2 decoders stopped receiving one channel that we watch, but the third decoder was still receiving it, so ..... it wasn't a channel failure, it wasn't a dish failure or a cable failure - the active decoder is on a branch line from the main cable, one of the failed ones is on an unbroken line from the dish - one of the decoders with the missing channel was unplugged from any power source, but both the successful one and the other problem one were on standby.

All other channels were received without problem, so why did this happen ?

A decoder failure I can accept, but two at the same time ??

The remote controller "Menu" option has led me to many on screen alternative options, many of which are total mysteries to me, but I found one labelled "retune" and that has restored the rogue channel on one of the decoders, but not yet the other one.

We have been advised of something called "Rain fade" which I can understand, but the heavy rain forcast for our area didn't materialise, tho' of course it could have been between us and the satellite, and we did experience gale force winds for a few days. ( this is New Zealand )

World's Gone Mad.

Any suggestions thankfully received - or more to the point, how to prevent it happening again ? ( the successful decoder of the three was the most upmarket one - so it might just be a case of you get what you pays for ?? )

[Nervous SLF]

Have you tried putting the working decoder in place of one that doesn't just to check? Also have you turned the power off
and completely unplugged the "faulty" decoders from the power sockets for about 2 minutes?

[M.Mouse]

I have a Sat. dish on the roof feeding 3 decoders in various rooms via a cable splitter half way along the "parent" line from the dish.

The system in NZ must be different from the system in the UK because what you are saying will simply not work in the UK.

Here the Freesat channels are spread between two frequency bands and are either horizontally or vertically polarised. When a receiver is asked for a particular channel it switches the LNB to the correct polarity and frequency band.

Unlike a simple aerial feed which can be split a satellite cable must be dedicated to each receiver. If you have a receiver which can record it needs TWO independent satellite cable feeds to work.

[TWT]

Sky NZ transmits only on the horizontal pol.,nothing on vertical,hence no need for 2 cables to each receiver.

Speedbird,could be a number of things.I suggest you find the 'signal strength' display in the menu in each receiver ( usually a percentage with 100 being perfect) to compare all 3.

If the receivers are getting a low signal,it will be down to the splitter.Easily solved,just need an active splitter which has no signal loss as opposed to a passive type which does have a reasonable amount of loss on each output compared to the input.

Heavy rain (rain fade) will knock out all your receivers as rain attenuates the signals.Even the largest earth station antennas (13 metres) get knocked out by rain if it's heavy enough (Ku Band).

Nervous SLF offers good advice.Even professional receivers used in broadcasting costing more than 50 times those you have at home can be very flaky.They have to be 'power cycled' too (all power removed from unit and replaced).Welcome to the world of digital TV :)

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[OFSO]

And you know this how?

Because the program* I run each evening flagged up certain channels as "no signal being received."

*All right, I confess.

We expats who fled to the land of sun (that's a joke) and low taxation (even more of a joke) and exceptionally cheap excellent food and good wine (and luckily that's not a joke at all) expect to lose most TV channels on what is referred to as "SKY" but is actually "Astra SES" in the next two months. So as the dread date approaches, I run through the spectrum of all channels (except God and Allah channels) now and then and see what's happening. Interestingly, since the channels which went off reappeared again, my receiver is taking longer to lock up on them than before they went off.

[dazdaz1]

OFSO.....I presume then you have a Sky box? Had similar problems at Punta Banus. Got the local Satellite Senior in, sorted for €75 Don't hold me to this, he changed Sat box. He was Polish:rolleyes: think I have a box for Eurosat now. I'm still confused.:hmm:

[ExSp33db1rd]

Nervous SLF/TWT

Thanks for the comments, I'll investigate the the signal strength, but I don't see why that would only knock out one channel - as you appear to understand the NZ system, it was the Prime channel that went walkabout!

I did totally unplug for awhile before looking again, no improvement until I went through the 'retune' option.

[OFSO]

OFSO.....I presume then you have a Sky box?

Have several, all so old they have grown beards, but the r/x I use for reference is a SAGEM Freesat HDMI. Much better in so many ways than the SKY box but the EPG is nowhere as good - SKY got that so right when it was designed.

[TWT]

Speedbird,power cycling/retuning are required from time to time with a lot of sat tv boxes.They can 'hang' and the ill effects can manifest themselves in many different ways.

[ExSp33db1rd]

Success ! After another retune I started scrolling through all the numbered and named channels, tho' most aren't available for Freeview, and found the one I want, Prime, was now numbered 243 !

I was then able to delete Prime from the original list of channels, where it was in the channel 5 slot, and replace it with the signal from channel 243

Don't understand - but all is well.

Thanks for the advice.