Works OK sometimes and fails the next
We are on our 2nd HD Box in 6 months - other than failing to record say 1 in 3 or 4 programs it is fine.
Always records on normal broadcasts - failing only on HD.
Is it the Sky box or my suspicions about the transponder on the dish?
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Are you using a dual LNB and is the box under warranty?
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When it fails, does it just not do anything at all, or is the program there but blank?
Is there not an activity log you can look in to see why recordings failed? V+ and TiVo both have one.
Should be having my new TiVo Virgin box delivered this afternoon - possibly the first regular customer in the country to get one! tivo.virginmedia.com/ , click Watch Demo
Last edited by: smokie on Wed 2 Feb 11 at 12:35
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Don't forget to give us a report on the Virgin TiVo - I'm on the waiting list!
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>> Are you using a dual LNB and is the box under warranty?
>>
Dual LNB, as I said it works OK except when I try HD recording - message on screen of recorded programmes said FAILED!
Sometimes changing channel it will give a blue screen on HD - up / down and normally it comes on.
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Have you ever 'defragged' the hard drive?
It's in the hidden Installer menu
Press 'Services 0 0 1 Select'
Then option 7, IIRC. (called planner rebuild)
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I thought it was 4 0 1, or is that just the old boxes?
Ignore any on screen info when doing this selection as it's 'secret'
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>> I thought it was 4 0 1,
Might well be. I googled the info on where to find the secret menu as I only have a Sky+ box, not HD.
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Funnily enough I Googled it a few minutes ago as well, blew a whole 7 quid on a Sky+ box in the local charity shop this morning, needed to work out how to match it to my card then hopefully I can record on it. Looks like I'll have to double my expenditure to buy a remote control first though.
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>> , needed to work out how to match it to my card then hopefully I can record on it.
I'm just a bit outside my area of knowledge, but unless I'm mistaken, you'll need to speak to $ky regarding pairing the $ky card and the $ky+ box.
Then you'll need to part with $ubscription to enable the recording facility on the box.
And some more $ubscription to get much more than a rudimentary choice of channels.
Hoping, I'm wrong about this.
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When i replaced my old sky box to a second hand sky+ box i had to ring them up and they talked me through the process of finding the model number and serial number it's in the services menu, They need that information to mate it to your card this takes approx 4hrs to set up and was working.
I still have all the channels yet only pay for entertainment package and been like this now over 10 years im amazed it still works but it does.!! :-)
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Thankfully(?) I've already got a subscription - what used to be the Family Pack - as I'm sure you're right in that you can't use the record facility unless you've got an active subscription. Nobody in Spamcan Towers is interested in sport. movies or HD so at least my sub. is well below the Sky average of 550 quid per year.
A couple of years back I 'upgraded' from a '97 vintage Digibox to a 2000 vintage one from a charity show, i think that one was eight quid, but it did include abrand new proper Sky remote with fresh batteries :-). I swapped the card over and all our channels worked in the newer box, but this doesn't work putting the card in this 'new' Sky+ box. I'm hoping that in the installer menu there's an option to do an automated card to box pairing using the phone line.
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Indeed a quick Google suggests selecting 'new install' via the 'hidden menu' will dial back to Sky and should match the card to the box without talking to the Sky 'help' line. maybe.
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Returning to the OP's question; if you check the signal quality - I think it's under system - signal test is it reporting reasonable levels, say 70% +, for both tuners?
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Could it be a problem with one of the LNBs and/or the connection to it from the box? Maybe it fails when a particular LNB is used and only when it's a particular channel (e.g. a particular polarisation of the LNB).
Is it always a particular set of channels by any chance? Can you reproduce the problem easily?
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What rtj70 says - it'll be the LNB.
They're simple devices but have separate probes for horizontal and vertical polarisation. With a dual LNB, the symptoms of one probe failing intermittently are apparently random failures to record, usually when attempting a dual recording or watching one channel while recording another.
If you can reach the dish, one solution is to try giving the LNB a motivational tap with the end of a broomstick, but realistically it's only a 5 minute job to replace it. It's essential you do this in the dry and with some paper tissues around to collect any condensation, as the cables tend to route vertically from the dish and a bit of water down the sheath will involve replacing the cable.
Don't forget to turn the box off while you do this, the co-ax core carries up to 18V. There's no hazard but you don't want to zap something delicate in the box.
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A cheap fix if it works is a new LNB. If it's not this then not much was spent. Get someone out to take a look on the other hand....
The intermittent bit sounds like LNB to me though and I 'no expert'.
On the other hand we had Sky newly installed in June 2010. It had some problems and it turns out we had a refurbished box! Complained and it was swapped and the new one works. It may have been firmware related because the original install took 5 minutes (existing dish/cables at new house) and the second one took longer because he upgraded the box.... but the first one was second hand mind.
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>> What rtj70 says - it'll be the LNB.
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I'm thinking along those lines, hence my query about signal quality; although the box only reports it for one mux, although the fact it's only ever HD recordings that fail would make it a very specific frequency fault in that case.
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I'm not hands-on familiar with the $ky boxes, but...
before you get the ladder out
If you can get a signal strength/quality display for both tuners, surely all you need to confirm the lnb and cabling is fine for both tuners is to select a mixture of channels which are H, V, on both the lower frequency range and the higher frequency range using the information here
www.lyngsat.com/28east.html
four options on each tuner, something like
best direct (12560 V)
peace tv uk (12560 H)
ITV Granada (HD) (10936 V)
ITV1 Wales (10832 H)
or some other combination that suits you, or even for the one(s) which fail....
Last edited by: AnotherJohnH on Thu 3 Feb 11 at 10:32
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Might be worth swapping the two input cables over on the back of your box. I had an engineer visit once because I kept getting certain hannels drop out but not others. Probelm was the same which confirmed it was a faulty box, but guy told me it was a quick check to see if it was a cable / llnb issue
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As a general tip, someone at Sky told me to unplug the box and unplug at least the scart (in my case) lead and ideally the aerial leads for a couple of minutes.
This to be done every month or two.
Something to do with discharging static build-up.
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SKY HD - fails when prog set to record - Perky Penguin
