My Freeview box has no EPG, is blank on FIVE, ITV3, ITV4, ITV2+1, has no sound o
Brian Butterworth published on UK Free TV To deal with the problem you must clear the channel list completely and then rescan - if your box has it in the menus, please the 'installation menu' to do an initial scan or a reset to factory settings or First Time Installation. You MUST delete the entire existing list of channels. On most boxes this technique can be also be used:
Try this:
1) unplug your Freeview box (or idTV) from the mains;
2) unplug the aerial from the Freeview box by disconnecting the cable from the 'RF in' socket;
3) wait 30 seconds;
4) plug Freeview box (or idTV) mains back in;
5) do a complete scan for channels - it will fail without the aerial. (This may be in the installation or initialization menu, and is distinct from any 'add channels option'). Once this is done your channel line up should be empty;
6) reinsert aerial by reconnecting to the 'RF in' connection;
7) do a complete scan for channels again.
The Freeview channel line-up provided by six "multiplexes" - each of which carry five or more TV channels, radio channels, text services and EPG data. In this diagram each ROW represents a multiplex. If you are still missing a whole multiplex (ie everything on the row) you may need to replace your aerial with a wideband type, purchase a larger aerial or you may have interference from a VCR, games console, Sky Digibox or similar.
All questions
In this section
Sunday, 13 May 2012
D
David12:12 PM
Peterborough
I have a Digifusion FRT103, postcode is PE8 6YJ
It said to retune a couple of days ago which I did and it only picked up 32 chasnnels from 2 multiplexs.
I tried to clear the channel list by unplugging the aeriel and rescanning but it did not delete the existing channels (must only do so when it finds something ?) so I then deleted the channels manually, unplugged the box and rescanned with no aerial.
Plugged everything back in and it still had the original 32 channels !
Any ideas or should I just give up on thgis box ?
REgards,
David
| link to this comment |
David's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
K
KMJ,Derby1:59 PM
David: I am guessing that you are able to receive Mux BBCA and D3+4, which leads me to ask if your aerial is a group "A" which is identified (usually) by a red stopper at the end of the boom. If this is the case, the frequency now used by SDN is out of range for the aerial, as are C48 and C52 as used by the other COM muxes. You will unfortunately require a wideband aerial to receive all frequencies in use at Sandy Heath. Have you tried doing a manual tune, if this option is available? Autoscan could possibly find an unreliable signal from Waltham on C29, which could lead to the S/H signal on C51 being overlooked. With regard to the deleting of channels, there are some boxes which retain the existing channel line up when doing an auto scan, if no signal is present it all stays the same, otherwise any channels found with regional differences or a different mode being stored in the 800's or other vacant positions. Doing a factory reset solves the problem (but also changes any settings you might have entered into the memory). Alternatively,using the channel delete facility removes the channels whilst leaving your other settings in place.
| link to this comment |
Tuesday, 15 May 2012
S
stuart smith8:34 AM
Penrith
we live in CA11 0TG greystoke cumbria, served by Caldbeck transmitter and have a loft ariel.
We have problems not being able to get all Freeview channels we only have 21 channels. All ITV channels Ch5 etc are very pixelated and lose sound and vision. I have run reset as described above still no change.Is there any other remedies to gain all the channels and clear the problems? Thank you. Stuart Smith
| link to this comment |
stuart's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb3810:42 AM
stuart smith: The reception predictions seen for your area indicate reasonably OK as far as the PSB channels are concerned albeit in reality that you are having problems with their reception, so if your aerial is in the loft then I would suggest that you try some experiments by moving the aerial to different positions within the loft, as its frequently found that by moving an aerial from one side to the other "in stages" can result in quite large differences in signal strengths, this being one of the benefits of a loft mounted aerial as its something that cannot be done with a roof mounted one for the obvious reasons.
By the way if you are able to do as suggested, I would leave the TV on its signal check screen so that you can get instant feedback on the results of your actions.
Do you use an aerial amplifier in the loft? as if you do not then one rated about 10db minimum would likely be found to improve things by keeping the signal at a higher level.
Maybe you could also provide the model number of your TV or box, as I notice that every channel on the Caldbeck transmitter has a negative offset on its frequency, and some devices can have problems with this situation.
I don't know if you can presently receive any of the three commercial channels from Caldbeck as they are indicated as being poor for reception in your area, but if you are receiving them then they do not increase in power until October 24th.
| link to this comment |
J
jb3810:53 AM
stuart smith: I missed out the footnote concerning the power increase on the commercials, insomuch that although the power goes up from 15kw to 50kw the actual reception predictions being given for Oct 24th onwards has not really improved any, and indeed is a fraction worse.
| link to this comment |
stuart smith: I don't think that you've got any chance of getting more channels until 24th October, and even then I don't think that your chances are tremendous, particularly with the loft aerial.
There re two types of broadcaster multiplex (signal): Public Service Broadcasters (PSBs) and these carry BBC, ITV1, ITV1+1, ITV2, C4, C4+1, E4, More 4, C5 and the four HD services from BBC, ITV1 and C4. The rest are Commercial broadcasters (COMs).
The transmission power of the PSBs from Caldbeck are 100kW and the COMs are currently at 15kW. The power of the COMs will go up to their full final power of 50kW on 24th October when Divis vacates those channels at its switchover. Divis is serves the eastern side of Northern Ireland.
On the basis that one of the 100kW PSBs is a bit hit and miss with your current aerial (in its current location), then I don't think that you could pick up the 15kW COMs.
I used the tool on the Megalithia website to get an idea of how your line of sight to the transmitter is affected. See the plot here:
Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location
This assumes that your receive aerial is 10m of the ground, although the exact figure is probably not that important. What it does show is that the ground a mile away from you is around 100m above line of sight.
If you are looking at a different aerial, I would definately go with a Group A one. All Caldbeck's channels are Group A and wideband yagi aerial' gain drops off at Group A channels. See here for some traces that illustrate my point:
Gain (curves), Again
My sympathy goes out to you. You can replace your aerial (or move your aerial, e.g. to outside) now so as to get good reception of ITV1, C4, C5 etc, but you have no way of knowing whether it will be sufficient to pick up the COMs come October and you may therefore have to set too again at that time in an attempt to get them.
Alternatively, you may move your aerial outside (for example) and find that you can pick up the COMs now on an intermittant basis. You may read into that that when the power increase comes in October that the aerial will (fingers crossed) be sufficient to pull them in reliably.
I'm not an aerial installer; I'm just a technically minded person giving my thoughts and observations.
| link to this comment |
stuart smith: There may be another possibility and that is that you may be able to receive from the Greystoke relay transmitter. This carries PSB channels only, but you will be no worse off, not at least until October. It's only really low power of 2.3W, so if you don't have line of sight, then you really don't have a chance. You will need your aerial to be vertical. If it is a wideband aerial it will be suitable.
It may also be worth checking that your receiver isn't tuned to Greystoke even though the aerial faces Caldbeck. That is, that you aren't thinking that you're receiving Caldbeck when in fact you're picking up Greystoke.
You do this by viewing the signal strength screen. On BBC One for Caldbeck it will be tuned to C25 and Greystoke C60. For ITV1 Caldbeck is C28 and Greystoke C53.
The reason I came across Greystoke transmitter is because I looked on Google Streetview. The Google car has not been along the roads in your post code, but only along the main roads in Greystoke (Icold Road, Berrier Road etc). I spotted vertical aerials and wondered at what transmitter they are pointing.
As I say, Greystoke transmitter is so low power that if you can't see it, you aren't likely to be able to receive from it. You may have a better idea whether you can or can't see it from where you are.
| link to this comment |
Wednesday, 16 May 2012
F
Frank Johnson1:54 PM
Hello,
I was getting good reception from the Selkirk transmitter with a full channel list. But in the recent bad weather in the Borders region I was unable some of the channels (eg Film4). I re-tuned and now I am receiving transmission from East Borders, with a very restrricted channel list. Is the Selkirk transmitter not sending out its signals with the same power? I have a new aerial, correctly mounted, and have been receiving channels from the Selkirk transmitter for about a year until the recent change in reception. What should I do to regain service from the Selkir transmitter?
| link to this comment |
Thursday, 17 May 2012
T
Tony Wycherley2:09 PM
Northampton
I have a TV/Radio tuner in my Hewlett Packard PC (Model Media PC M7530 UK)which has worked perfectly until I retuned the system after the 9th May. Now I cannot receive BBC1 and BBC2. I have followed the recommended procedure of running the tuning programme with the aerial disconnected and then retuning after reconnecting the aerial. My post code is NN6 6EG - signal from Sandy Heath. I have a roof mounted aerial which was changed several months ago to improve freeview digital signals. I do not have this problem with my Panasonic TV. As there is no way in which I can manually tune the system, what do you recommend?
| link to this comment |
Tony's: mapT's Freeview map terrainT's terrain plot wavesT's frequency data T's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Saturday, 19 May 2012
F
Frank Johnson12:57 PM
Finally cracked it! The problem was that the aerial lead went first to my hard-drive recorder. Once I changed the aerial straight to the TV I received all the channels from East Borders (same as Selkirk I discovered).
Put the aerial back into the recorder and for good measure used a new aerial lead from the recorder to the TV and now everything works fine. Hope this helps anyone experiencing the same problem.
| link to this comment |
Select more comments
Your comment please