Lost Prime!

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MurrayM

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#114207 12-Feb-2013 10:16

Just in the last week we have moved into a new house in the Bayview, Auckland area. I have a Sony Bravia KDL40CX520 TV and a Magic TV 3600 for recording. There a Sky dish (unused) and a VHF aerial which I have plugged into the Magic TV and then another cable going from the Loop Out plug on the back of the Magic TV to the Aerial In plug on the back of the TV.

Everything was working really well and I was watching QI on Prime last night when all of a sudden the picture went and a "No Signal" message came up on the TV. Switching to TV1, TV2, TV3 showed that they all worked ok. But Maori TV was also not working, which suggests that I'm having trouble receiving the Kordia Mux.

If I switch over to viewing the Magic TV then I can view Prime and Maori TV just fine.

I did a rescan of channels on the TV but that didn't help.

If I go into Manual Tuning on the TV then I can see that TV2, channel 29, has a Signal Quality of 100 and Signal Strength of 99. TV3, channel 33, has a Signal Quality of 100 and Signal Strength of 97. Prime, channel 45, has a Signal Quality of 0 and Signal Strength of 93.

On the Magic TV I see Prime, channel 45, has a Signal Quality of 100 and Signal Strength of 78.

Does this suggest that maybe the cable between the Magic TV and the TV is faulty?

RunningMan

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#759961 12-Feb-2013 11:06

MurrayM: [snip]a VHF aerial which I have plugged into the Magic TV and then another cable going from the Loop Out plug on the back of the Magic TV to the Aerial In plug on the back of the TV.

The VHF antenna is probably the issue, and it's more good luck that you have been getting a signal. I'd ditch it, install a decent UHF antenna and a new run of cable and expect that will solve your issues.

B1GGLZ

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#760075 12-Feb-2013 13:47

Try the antenna direct to the TV. Should indicate if the short cable is the problem.
If Prime still the same then get a new antenna.

MurrayM

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#760191 12-Feb-2013 15:32

RunningMan:
MurrayM: [snip]a VHF aerial which I have plugged into the Magic TV and then another cable going from the Loop Out plug on the back of the Magic TV to the Aerial In plug on the back of the TV.

The VHF antenna is probably the issue, and it's more good luck that you have been getting a signal. I'd ditch it, install a decent UHF antenna and a new run of cable and expect that will solve your issues.

Umm, maybe it's not VHF, I just guessed that (naughty me). I can take a photo when I get home and then maybe someone can tell me what sort it is.

MurrayM

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#760195 12-Feb-2013 15:33

B1GGLZ: Try the antenna direct to the TV. Should indicate if the short cable is the problem.
If Prime still the same then get a new antenna.

Of course, silly me! I should have done that last night. I'll try when I get home and report the results.

RunningMan

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#760217 12-Feb-2013 15:44

MurrayM: I can take a photo when I get home and then maybe someone can tell me what sort it is.

Yep - good idea

bfginger

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#760341 12-Feb-2013 20:00

a VHF aerial which I have plugged into the Magic TV and then another cable going from the Loop Out plug on the back of the Magic TV to the Aerial In plug on the back of the TV.

This may be the problem if your Magic TV's Loop Out is as bad as mine.

Try splitting the cable before it plugs into the Magic TV.

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MurrayM

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#761591 13-Feb-2013 10:20

bfginger:
a VHF aerial which I have plugged into the Magic TV and then another cable going from the Loop Out plug on the back of the Magic TV to the Aerial In plug on the back of the TV.

This may be the problem if your Magic TV's Loop Out is as bad as mine.

Try splitting the cable before it plugs into the Magic TV.

Ah, interesting! I tried plugging the aerial straight into the TV and it worked fine, so that tells me that either the loop cable is no good or the Magic TV's Loop Out isn't very good. I don't see how a problem with either of these would affect only one mux and not the other two, but I guess my next step to try is another cable and / or splitting the cable before it hits the Magic TV.

Should a cheap cable from a $2 store do the trick, since it's such a small length? Or should I spend a bit more (The Warehouse have them for $6.99). Cheapest Dick Smith is $16.99.

B1GGLZ

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#761754 13-Feb-2013 14:23

Steer clear of cheap cables.
Some of those short cables are rubbish. I've had the odd one or two that didn't work even with analogue signals.
Best solution is to use a quality splitter with quality cables (RG6).
Like this
http://www.jaycar.co.nz/productView.asp?ID=LT3046&keywords=splitter&form=KEYWORD

MurrayM

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#761773 13-Feb-2013 14:55

B1GGLZ: Steer clear of cheap cables.
Some of those short cables are rubbish. I've had the odd one or two that didn't work even with analogue signals.
Best solution is to use a quality splitter with quality cables (RG6).
Like this
http://www.jaycar.co.nz/productView.asp?ID=LT3046&keywords=splitter&form=KEYWORD

Thanks for the advice, I've got a Jaycar just down the road so I'll pay them a visit in the weekend and get this sorted out.

MurrayM

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#762791 15-Feb-2013 09:20

A splitter and extra cable fixed the problem, thus bypassing the Magic TV Loop Through.

Thanks everyone for the advice!