Intermittent pixilation on some channels for a couple of weeks

Forums › Freeview (DVB-T/DVB-S) › Intermittent pixilation on some channels for a couple of weeks

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

296 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1648000 9-Oct-2016 14:41

I'm near the centre of town, Christchurch East. Is that close enough? Is it possible that I have to much signal? Could this cause the pixilation? Keep in mind I had no problem a few months ago.

RustyViewer

296 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1654633 19-Oct-2016 19:36

My problem may have stemmed from having an external hard drive directly beneath the T2100, and both items being on the floor outside the cabinet and perhaps to close to the 5-way amplified splitter.

I have removed my VHS player from the cabinet, which I don't use now and doesn't work properly in any case, and have put the two aforementioned items side by side within the cabinet.

The pixilation has now all but gone. an occasional glitch which may simply be a coincidence but the major problems I've been having have disappeared and I have gone back to the original power supply for the T2100.

richms

28168 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1654699 19-Oct-2016 20:36

Oh, amplified splitter.

Those are a source of no end of problems for digital. Cheaply made crappy non linear amplifiers with terrible intermodulation and poor filtering will cause all sorts of problems with reception.

Richard rich.ms

RustyViewer

296 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1654971 20-Oct-2016 10:48

I'm STILL getting problems with TV3. Yikes!

Spyware

3761 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1654986 20-Oct-2016 10:57

Why won't you provide any details re: amplified splitter/distribution amp. Given your proximity to Sugarloaf I can't see any necessity for any amps.

P.S. And if it dates from analog days it belongs in the bin anyway.

Spark Max Fibre using Mikrotik CCR1009-8G-1S-1S+, CRS125-24G-1S, Unifi UAP, U6-Pro, UAP-AC-M-Pro, Apple TV 4K (2022), Apple TV 4K (2017), iPad Air 1st gen, iPad Air 4th gen, iPhone 13, SkyNZ3151 (the white box). If it doesn't move then it's data cabled.

B1GGLZ

1961 posts

Uber Geek

#1655071 20-Oct-2016 12:52

Spyware:

Why won't you provide any details re: amplified splitter/distribution amp. Given your proximity to Sugarloaf I can't see any necessity for any amps.

P.S. And if it dates from analog days it belongs in the bin anyway.

How about some photos and drawings of your setup? As I said before, you are trying to run too much equipment off one antenna.

Disconnect everything and start afresh by running single cable from antenna to TV. If that works OK go via the Recorder i.e. Antenna to recorder and daisy chained to TV. If still OK work from there.

There's no need for amps if you are near centre of Christchurch. If you MUST run so many things off one antenna then invest in a decent distribution system something like this.

http://www.matchmaster.co.nz/amplifiers-and-modulators/10mm-dda24/

Would be cheaper in the long run to use multiple antennae and limit each antenna to 2 pieces of equipment. Even experiment with an indoor antenna for some of your TVs

Good probability it would work in Chch

RustyViewer

296 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1682960 5-Dec-2016 20:55

I tried an unamplified 4-way splitter. Definitely not enough signal which made me remember why I bought an amplified one in the first place.

Moving my T2100 and External HD from the carpet into the cabinet, and not having them on top of each other, helped considerably. I still get glitches but they are minor. They appear to happen late afternoon-early evening and mainly on TV3 and TV3+1. I suspect someone has a device nearby that they are using around that time but I'm only guessing. I may still have to go on the roof and check the antenna for any anomalies.

Equinox IT

Cloud spending continues to surge globally, but most organisations haven’t made the changes necessary to maximise the value and cost-efficiency benefits of their cloud investments. Download the whitepaper From Overspend to Advantage now.

Rikkitic

Awrrr
18657 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1682969 5-Dec-2016 21:19

I sometimes have intermittent pixilation on certain UHF channels. Traced it to my cat. It likes to sit on the STB to get warm and this sometimes disturbs the antenna connector internally, which is a little iffy. Wiggling it around usually fixes the problem.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

RustyViewer

296 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1756682 5-Apr-2017 03:21

Well, this is embarrassing. I just discovered that the main aerial going into the splitter was loose, so loose it almost fell out! I can't believe I didn't notice it before. I've screwed it back in and hopefully that will solve the problems I've been having.

RustyViewer

296 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1768651 21-Apr-2017 23:22

No answer, problem continued worse than ever, tightening the aerial connector didn't help.

Finally decided to ring some aerial people. They've heard all this before and said the aerial was too old (20 years). The replaced it and did some re-cabling; apparently there were at least 10 faults and they didn't know how it was even working. They also said we should NEVER use a signal amplifier; that you can split 100 ways without any problem.

So everything has been streamlined and things are so much better in general, no daisy chaining, everything with its own link, no amplifier; FM radio now works superb too.

BUT...would you believe - the pixilation is still there! It is ONLY on my Panasonic recorder (DMR-BW850) which I bought in 2009 when it first came out. When I look at the signal strength, it is steady but the quality suddenly drops from 10 and then back up again; sometimes it pixelates without the quality dropping; this is my main recorder. What could be interfering with it? Is it possible it has developed a fault in the way it interprets a signal? And as usual, it is only SOMETIMES that it plays up. Almost guarantee if I get the aerial guys back in it will be running fine then. This is truly bizarre.

Rikkitic

Awrrr
18657 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1768692 22-Apr-2017 08:49

That must be very frustrating. If you can plug the aerial directly into the TV and you get a consistently good picture, then the problem is not in the aerial system. I would look at any cables between the Panasonic and the TV, and also try jiggling the antenna input to the Panasonic. It is certainly possible that the problem is in the Panasonic itself but this sounds like a bad connection to me. I have had something similar with my devices in the past. Try replugging the aerial when the problem occurs. If you can do anything that affects the problem, then you ought to be able to pinpoint the cause. Try tapping on the Panasonic in different places, not hard enough to damage anything (like the hard drive), but just to see if that affects the picture.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

Apsattv

2388 posts

Uber Geek

#1769111 23-Apr-2017 01:11

Have you asked Panasonic if there is a newer firmware? for the DMR-BW850 or a known issue

RustyViewer

296 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1769439 23-Apr-2017 22:40

Apsattv:

Have you asked Panasonic if there is a newer firmware? for the DMR-BW850 or a known issue

Checked but update is automatic. However, I think I've fixed the problem.

You're not going to believe this but I changed my Wi-Fi channel from 1 to 13. Since then everything, to the best of my knowledge, has been picture perfect. I recorded The Bachelor and not a single technical fault. It could be a coincidence and it's early days but does that actually make any sense that a Wi-Fi channel could affect a PVR?

Apsattv

2388 posts

Uber Geek

#1769460 23-Apr-2017 23:34

How close is your router?

The chance of a spurious out of band signal image effecting your UHF reception would be pretty small. Unless the Panasonic is very poorly shielded around the tuner.

Just see how it goes

I saw this too

https://forums.digitalspy.com/discussion/1196989/wireless-router-by-tv-interference

richms

28168 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1769461 23-Apr-2017 23:38

channel 13 will not work with heaps of devices that only want to deal with US legal channels, so if you find things not on wifi after the change, try taking it to 11 instead.

Richard rich.ms

1 | 2 | 3 | 4