All posts by Tim Peel
Below are all of Tim Peel's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
It does rather, David.
I have just had to purchase a new Full HD TV for my Mother (due to her previous set 'crashing' at the first stage of DSO on 17th Aug. - and less than one year old!), but was told if she wanted to watch HD, I would still need to buy an HD receiver (for DVB-T2 reception) seperate from that in the TV. Totally pointless, and shortsighted on the part of Manufacturers.
Either that, or even though these latest full HD sets have been manufactured well after it was known a different transmission protocol was to be used for HD, yet more equipment would be necessary. It does rather smell' of profiteering on the part of manufacturers, requireing yet more sales of their equipment.
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Switchover doesn't start until midnight - ie, HD on Waltham isn't yet available!
BBC1, etc, might be breaking up because, having moved at the first stage of DSO on 17th August, it is (so I understand) now at Full Power (unlike all other Muxs). You can get breakup for too much signal, just as you can for too little signal. Once other Muxs are Full Power after tonight's final stage of DSO (except for SDN Mux, which remains low power until October), then remove any amplification, or insert an attenuator to reduce excessive signal strength. This hopefully will remedy the problem.
Also, after 06:00 am, the BBC HD Mux should be in place, in which case, you will then receive a good HD signal. If you received an HD signal before tonight, then it wasn't from Waltham! (Nottingham Transmitter went fully digital back in March).
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Hi.
I thought DSO had gone fairly well for our house-hold personally, but that was until trying to get the new HD channels.
Both our TVs were supposed to be Full HD, but as they could not have been DVB-T2 complient, a seoerate STB has had to be purchased to get HD Mux BBC B.
Tuned the new box in fine, and a strength of 85%, or thereabouts, was indicated for the HD Stations. The TVs displayed a full 1080p picture on HD (stable, and with good reception), for approx. 2 mins. After this, the box 'crashed', gave a CRC error, and then re-booted. SD was fine on all channels.
This happened repeatedly. I have two identical boxes, so is this a box error, a TV error, or a case of too much signal? Please could anyone with a similar problem say what they did to resolve the issue.
I usually watch TV on a PC, for recording purposes, but found it needed a new card for DVB-T2 reception. This means I have yet to sample the delight of trying to get an HD signal on a PC.
I have to agree with John. To say the DSO period has been well over four years in the implimentation, the whole episode has been an unmitigated disaster! There has been a total lack of co-ordination between Suppliers, Broadcasters, and Manufacturers. Just how my poor elderly Mother would have coped on her own, I do not know. I have had expense upon expense over the past few years, trying to get a decent Digital signal. Now we have no choice, it becomes even more complex. It looks as though we will have to be contented with just five SD Muxs in future. Let's hope Ofcom can step sought the problems out!!!
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Hi.
Apparently the boxs I bought Friday to get the HD channels, has a Firmware issue which causes the box to crash after a couple of minutes in HD.
An update exists, which hopefully I can now download and update.
Can I also take this opportunity to thank warmly the hard work put in by the 'experts' Mick Dimmick, and of course, Brian Butterworth. It is only through constant contact with this site, and their invaluable information which has given me such a smooth passage through switchover. Thank you so much to you both for all your tireless work - very, very greatly appreciated!!! (Smiley Face applicable here, if it were possible).
Kindest regards,
Tim.
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High Carla.
Apparently, Challenge has moved from it's current Mux Frequency, to a new one (Arq A, I believe), along with Dave, Sky News etc, replacing Pick TV+1, which ceases from today on Freeview.
I discovered this after my recording of Takeshi's Castle failed this evening. I do so wish these changes were better advertised.
Challenge has moved from SDN (C29) to ArqA (C56 - 754 MHz) as of 2:00 pm today.
This in theory should be easier to get (higher power), and makes it 24/7 all over the UK, including Wales (where it was only for 13 hours a day).
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Sorry Brian, I wasn't moaning at this forum - far, far from it - this forum has helped tremendously at keeping up to date with all things digital. No, I was bemoaning BSkyB/Challenge themselves for not advertising the change. I got the news from the Digital Spy forum, and after a retune, confirmed the details to be accurate.
It was interesting to note that viewers thought the picture was sharper and clearer than when on the SDN Mux.
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Hi Brian.
As Roger posted above, I assume the listed changes to the Waltham transmitter, take place tomorrow, 25th October 2011. Thank you for the 'warning'.
In addition, my Mother has had problems with the MHEG 5 Text service. Some pages fail to load, and just say 'loading...' then freezes the TV. The only way out is to turn off the TV, and start again. This only affects a very small number of pages (one or two a week at most), but I was wondering if it is a general problem experienced by others (such as a CRC error), or just a problem with the firmware in this particular TV.
Would be glad to hear if anyone else has had a similar problem with pages loading.
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Soemthing happened at the Waltham transmitter today at approx' 11:00am, as my recording software 'crashed' (and just kept recording continuously for the next few hours!) - I now know why.
Thank you for the information above re BBC signal quality today - it helped solve the 'mystery' of why the software crashed (which is usually very stable).
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David,
You said Channel 5+1 started on Freeview yesterday - what Mux is that on? Is it with the current Channel 5 Mux, or, as with 5*, %USA, on the SDN Mux?
Thank you,
Tim.
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Wednesday 17 August 2011 11:19PM
I will try the TV with other input types (such as a PC through the VGA D-sub) and see if a picture appears then. If it does, I guess signal strenth is suspect.
Since I have multiple tuner cards, a distributor is essential. With Waltham being so low in power, sometimes two levels of amplification was needed. This I have realised was too much for more sensative receivers, and I inserted an Attenuator before the Amp., to reduce the strength. I did wonder how everything would cope when the power was increased by 5 times! The distance the cable to upstairs, and Mum's TV is probably some 10-15 metres of cable, but as you say, this shouldn,t pose a problem now the signal strengths are due to increase.