New to MySky - failed recordings

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ChristineNZL

242 posts

Master Geek

#104982 24-Jun-2012 15:12

Normally I post on the Telstra forums and moan about our T-Box but we finally had enough with the T-Box and on Friday got MySky installed. We were out last night and had 3 programmes set to record (one at 6.30 pm, one at 8.30 pm and one at 9.30 pm). The first two failed and the reason given on screen was Failed: no signal (21). We've rung Sky and they said it could either be due to the weather or due to a loose connection and to keep an eye on it to see if it fails when the weather is not bad. It was windy last night and raining but not that bad. Is this sort of failure common on MySky with bad weather? I sure hope not - we live in Wellington! After putting up with so many problems with our T-Box I thought our problems were over so to say we are disappointed is an understatement.

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#645424 24-Jun-2012 15:36

We had Sky in our old house, then built a new house on the same section and removed the old house. With 2 full installs with new dishes/cabling done at the same address by 2 installers I had a significant difference in signal strength with no obvious explanation other than the effort in aligning the dish. Current setup is not great, but still we get rain fade only when it is raining really hard so you should not have had an issue last night. And usually rain fade lasts for no longer than 10 minutes, it should have prevent 3 bookings to record.

The installers get paid very little and it comes down to how busy and how committed/dedicated they are.

I've never had any joy with any calls to the call centre other than for booking a PPV movie (no phone line), and that is automated. When calling with a problem despite telling the operator you have already done the basics of rebooting the box, wiping clean the card contacts, etc., you are told to do it again because that is the procedure you need to go through. Last time I called I pretended to go through the steps and still had a problem, so they sent out a technician who replaced the box. The issue I had was "rain fade" a number of times on a sunny day...

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JimmyH

2886 posts

Uber Geek

#645436 24-Jun-2012 15:52

I had a similar problem, with increasingly frequent "rain fade" issues when they shouldn't have been happening. It turned out to be caused by water getting into the LNB. Sky swapped it (at no charge) and then I was fine.

Small tweaks such as the dish being slightly out of alignment can also have a big impact, particularly if it's a smaller dish. I suggest you call sky and get a tech out, they should be able to put a meter on the dish and determine very quickly whether it is functioning properly.

Personally, I have never had any issues with the call centre. Maybe I just got lucky, but I managed to get people who knew what they were doing and didn't make me needlessly jump through scripted hoops that weren't going to fix anything.

ChristineNZL

242 posts

Master Geek

#645456 24-Jun-2012 16:14

My husband has just gone and asked a neighbour who has Sky and they had rain fade last night so that must have been the problem. We are in Wainuiomata and watching Sky at a different house over the hill in Lower Hutt and it was fine there but the weather must have been worse here. Does wind also play a part? I didn't think the rain was too heavy but it certainly was very windy.

grant_k

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#645462 24-Jun-2012 16:27

If your dish is correctly aligned, and you have a newish LNB, you should almost never get rain fade. Until 2007 it was a common occurrence with the old satellite, but now we are on Optus D1 and it has much higher transmitter power. Here in the Far North we get some torrential downpours, but I've never had rain fade again since I replaced the LNB, and adjusted the skew.

Unfortunately, Series Link on MySky sometimes does have problems, and you don't know about it until afterwards. It's not that common though, so perhaps you may have had a Timer Clash? MySky usually records a few minutes prior to the start and a few minutes after the end of a programme to avoid missing out the start or (more commonly) the ending because the schedule is running late. Sometimes this can cause a clash you weren't aware of -- if you record a programme on a different channel immediately before or after another recording.

ChristineNZL

242 posts

Master Geek

#645463 24-Jun-2012 16:32

I've set it up to not record extra at the start but to add 5 minutes at the end. None of the programmes would have overlapped anyway (the 8.30 pm show actually started at 8.20 pm so would have finished before the 9.30 pm show). The 6.30 pm show that failed was not a series linked one. I think another call to Sky might be in order as our LNB is new I assume (I don't actually know what a LNB is to be honest but as it was installed 2 days ago I assume everything is new).

cyril7

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#645468 24-Jun-2012 16:51

Hi, it sounds to me like you need to ask sky back to check the dish alignment, I dont recall any rain last evening that was so hard that it should have caused rain fade, normally if its hard enough to cause that then its also likely you cannot hear yourself think due to the noise on the roof.

Cyril

Oh and the LNB is the little thing on the end of the dish arm that contains an active amplifier and down converter, if it or the dish itself is not optimally aligned then you can get rain fade even when it really is no the case.

It is a new dish install, so although not a great outcome if its not aligned properly still reasonable to give them chance to have it sorted.

We have had Sky for over 15yrs, in that time I can only remember a few minutes of rain fade, and since the satellite was upgraded to D1 about 5yrs ago rain fade is a very minor issue. I should also point out I used to install satellite systems so have some experience at this.

ChristineNZL

242 posts

Master Geek

#645644 25-Jun-2012 07:40

Okay we now know it is definitely not rain fade as it happened again last night on a perfect weather day plus I was watching another channel when it happened. Had set it up to record one show that started at 6.30 pm and one that started at 7 pm. Noticed at 6.30 pm the little red light was not on and when I went in to the planner it did not say the show was recording. Also the live pause was not working. At 7 pm the light came on and it started recording. In the planner for the failed recording we have the same reason: failed no signal (21). There definitely was a signal as I was watching TV at the time! Will have to ring Sky again. Maybe we have a dodgy box?

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cyril7

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#645654 25-Jun-2012 08:02

Hi, yes now you have described more it sounds like either a faulty tuner (there are four of them in the box) or bad multi switch that feeds all the tuners, I must point out this is not business as usual, these boxs are typically very reliable, so I would say its more a new box with DOA situation, but not found till one of the tuners was called into use.

Cyril

ChristineNZL

242 posts

Master Geek

#645656 25-Jun-2012 08:11

Just spoken to Sky and they have advised to do a reset and see if it happens again. Not overly happy as while this is happening we are missing out on our shows that we like to watch - 3 down so far! I think I will set it up today to record various shows while I am work that I don't care about to see if they record before I lose something I really want to see!

tkr001

416 posts

Ultimate Geek

#645669 25-Jun-2012 08:40

I had this type of issue especially when it was windy. Turned out the crimping of the f-type at the LNB end was faulty and one strand was shorting periodically (when the wind blew the coax about a bit).

ChristineNZL

242 posts

Master Geek

#645679 25-Jun-2012 09:08

It wasn't windy when it happened last night so not sure what is going on.

cyril7

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#646575 26-Jun-2012 19:10

Hi Christine, did this get resolved.

Cyril

ChristineNZL

242 posts

Master Geek

#646623 26-Jun-2012 20:14

Hi Cyril

It all seems to be operating well since the reset on Monday morning so fingers crossed that is the end of our woes.

Christine

haywardb

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#648625 30-Jun-2012 13:04

I myself had a MySky+ installed yesterday and had the same problem. I did noticed that when it was first plugged in by the installer, it done a software update and then a soft reboot. Had trouble getting the unit to do anything with recording until I powered it off at the wall and then back on. Goes well now.

Picking that a reset wasn't enough but full restart was.

mattwnz

20141 posts

Uber Geek

#648627 30-Jun-2012 13:15

This is an expensive paid service, so it should work. Rain fade is also not normal, it shouldn't occur if the dish is aligned properly and large enough. Get the provider out to fix it or say you will cancel the service.

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