Sky Signal and Quality Levels

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DaMo73

121 posts

Master Geek

#69562 11-Oct-2010 13:25

For a while I've been curious about the levels coming of D1 as it concerns my Sky decoder (not MySky HD-I)and I was wondering if these levels are typical of other users.

Sky say the levels are normal and that they receive similar results at Sky HQ but the quality level, as you'll see below, is a concern to me.

I also feel Sky are trying to fob me off by saying they're getting similar results which I think is rubbish.

Here is my info.

Satellite: Optus D1-NZ13L
Strength: 55-60
Level: 66
Quality: 20-25
BER: between 1.4 and 2.0E-03

I strongly feel, and I've even said this to Sky via customer help on their website, that the quality level should be higher that 20-25.

I have the standard 60cm dish with a dual throat LNB.

graemeh

2078 posts

Uber Geek

#390469 11-Oct-2010 14:03

Why is it a concern to you? Does the result affect your picture?

DaMo73

121 posts

Master Geek

#390482 11-Oct-2010 14:26

Well I've had a few drop outs because of the quality level and the weather at the time was okay and the other levels were exactly what I posted with no deviation while the outage occurred.

So I feel there's sufficient cause for concern.

graemeh

2078 posts

Uber Geek

#390498 11-Oct-2010 14:44

DaMo73: Well I've had a few drop outs because of the quality level and the weather at the time was okay and the other levels were exactly what I posted with no deviation while the outage occurred.

So I feel there's sufficient cause for concern.

OK, that makes some sense.

Does this mean you've rung sky to complain you are having drop outs? What do they say?

p.s. Shouldn't your issue raised with sky be about the dropouts, arguing about signal levels and quality settings doesn't seem to be getting you anywhere. The levels you are seeing are obviously OK if they work most of the time. It will be when they drop below that or your decoder decides to have a spaz or something else happens that you lose picture.

DaMo73

121 posts

Master Geek

#390505 11-Oct-2010 14:55

Well they said it was temporary and that it had nothing to do with the quality of my signal and that everyone else has around the same level and would therefore be experiencing the same down time as I did.

But I have a gut feeling that the quality level is the cause of it and I just wanted to see whether others have the same quality level I do.

And just recently I purchased a Freeview receiver and the levels with it are what I expect to see from my Sky decoder and I do realize that the two are completely different and that the levels will be different due to the inner workings of both.

DaMo73

121 posts

Master Geek

#390508 11-Oct-2010 14:59

graemeh:
DaMo73: Well I've had a few drop outs because of the quality level and the weather at the time was okay and the other levels were exactly what I posted with no deviation while the outage occurred.

So I feel there's sufficient cause for concern.

OK, that makes some sense.

Does this mean you've rung sky to complain you are having drop outs?? What do they say?

p.s. Shouldn't your issue raised with sky be about the dropouts, arguing about signal levels and quality settings doesn't seem to be getting you anywhere.? The levels you are seeing are obviously OK if they work most of the time.? It will be when they drop below that or your decoder decides to have a spaz or something else happens that you lose picture.

I have read the Motorola decoders can be a little buggy but this was from other forum sites dated some 2-3 years ago.

graemeh

2078 posts

Uber Geek

#390521 11-Oct-2010 15:19

DaMo73: Well they said it was temporary and that it had nothing to do with the quality of my signal and that everyone else has around the same level and would therefore be experiencing the same down time as I did.

But I have a gut feeling that the quality level is the cause of it and I just wanted to see whether others have the same quality level I do.

And just recently I purchased a Freeview receiver and the levels with it are what I expect to see from my Sky decoder and I do realize that the two are completely different and that the levels will be different due to the inner workings of both.

Good luck with that. If you have ongoing problems with picture loss you should be able to get it replaced. Of course only you know how often the picture loss is occurring ;)

Niel

3267 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#390530 11-Oct-2010 15:31

My signal strength and quality has always been at 100%. My STB was replaced at the same time as the recent firmware update error. Since then my signal strength is always 80% and signal strength fluctuates between 50% and 60% (might briefly jump to 70%). STB replacement was due to strange behaviour like randomly going to maximum volume or freezing and changing to the wrong channel. Turned out to be (another) software bug that affected the new box as well, magically resolved about 2 weeks later. I've got the small silver box.

To make a long story short, for the past couple of months my signal has been weak as well. Perhaps it is a current issue.

You can never have enough Volvos!