digibox remote control
 

Hello,

Some of you may know me from the Sir Patrick Moore
thread I just chimed in on. Otherwise hello, it's my first
time in a uk.tech.* group and I have a question I'd like
a down-to-earth answer to regarding something that
happened earlier this evening.

I bought a digibox as a present for someone a couple
of years ago now. They moved somewhere else where
there's a cable/satellite feed and then somewhere else
where someone already had a digibox. So I kind of
ended up with it on a "permanent loan". Then again,
it's only a very basic one so perhaps I'm on the sharp
end of a tactful GFY with it 8?).

As a result of this I didn't do the original install. I did
try but hadn't anything with SCART.

I did manage, however, to source an old VCR with a
SCART throughput and now run the AUDIO OUT via
phono jacks through a stereo by way of some speakers
which, AFAICT, may either have been rescued from a
skip after a cinema decomissioning job a mate did or
are stage monitors from a PA.

Mmmm. Lovely sound.

Anyway. I'm just beginning to realise that when a
channel suddenly disappears it doesn't mean it's
been pulled. It means quite the opposite. It means
that a few more channels have been added and
due to the signal compression algorithms in use
in terrestrial digital TV there tend to be a few now
occupying one traditional UHF channel. As such
all the box "knows" is that the channel it used to
have in a particular slot is no longer there so it
defaults to not receiving anything.

At least I think that's what happens and would
appreciate a more technically accurate explanation
if this is some departure from logical inference on my
part.

I have a copy of neat little bit of ASCII art generating
freeware (ASCGEN) which so far as I can tell should also
reverse-generate an illustration from ASCII art input if
that makes the diagrammatic side of things any easier.

However this is just for interest. The actual question
I'm hoping somebody might (still) be willing to answer
in the light of my introductory "Hey! Stop knocking
Dr Who! oh, and hi group BTW..." post earlier is this.

I had cause to rescan the box this evening. I did this
shortly after 6PM. Maybe 18:30. It all settled down
and went fine. I've to rename all the channels again
to reflect the branding of the DOGs as they appear
on screen as a) I'm like that because I used to sell
consumer electrical goods for a living and this is the
kind of detail that gives the edge over the competition
and b) the mast just chucks them out in all caps which
is an abhorrence to my aesthetic sensibilities.

Anyway, by the time twilight was creeping down, it
was certainly after Holby City had started airing so
the box had been stable for about an hour at least,
I turned the lights on.

I run a couple of screw-in energy savers in spot
mountings on a rail. The lights are powered by a
dedicted lighting circuit. The sockets are powered
by a dedicated ring main circuit. I'm not on the
ground floor.

Anyone who's used domestic energy savers will
know that there is a slight delay of a second or
so until they glow and they then start off dim and
get brighter.

I was stood still at the switch. And at a rough guess
I was about 7 or 8 feet - 2M - from the remote.

The minute I switched the lights on the unit went
into "guide" mode.

This has never happened before with any kind of
activity pertaining to the lighting circuit, although
turning basically anything else on or off, whether
it is the tele' or the VCR or plugging a phone
charger into the 4-gang socket the stereo is fed
from (but which doesn't power the digibox) does
affect the sound momentarily.

Nothing other than the sound has ever been in
any way affected (i.e. suppressed) before.

The plastic cover on the remote appears to be
red so I assume it's an IR but am told it could
be any one of about three different systems,
including magnetic (which is why I'm posting
here, where heopefully people will know more
about such things).

Is there any good, solid down-to-earth reason
it would do this?

As I say, the unit works acceptably.

The destructions state it should rescan of its
own accord at some early hour in the morning
provided it's left on standby and not to change
the channel names as that prevents this happening.

It never has. Well, not SFAICT.

I always return it to factory default before a rescan
and use the automatic scanning option for a fresh
install.

As I say, I rescanned it this evening and have
done naught else with it. And when I turned the
lights on the minute I flicked the switch it went
into "guide" mode. This is "guide" mode and not
"information" mode. It doesn't have PiP in "guide"
mode but you can check the next 3 days' or so
schedules.

"information" mode just brings up the subtitle
for the channel you're watching, over the top
of the channel, like when you change channel.
you can flick up and down through it a bit.

It's never happened before. I was some way
away from the remote. The remote didn't move
as it was on the floor already. And when I hit
the light switch it went into "guide" mode.

I can't think of anything else that might be in
the slightest bit relevant and appreciate I've
probably supplied information which is in no
wise anything to do with what happened.

I probably should make better use of numbered
subsections but thanks for sticking with me and,
of course...

....thanks in advance for your time and trouble.

G DAEB

COPYRIGHT (C) 2007 SIPSTON
--

digibox remote control
 

FCS wrote:
Hello,

Some of you may know me from the Sir Patrick Moore
thread I just chimed in on. Otherwise hello, it's my first
time in a uk.tech.* group and I have a question I'd like
a down-to-earth answer to regarding something that
happened earlier this evening.

I bought a digibox as a present for someone a couple
of years ago now. They moved somewhere else where
there's a cable/satellite feed and then somewhere else
where someone already had a digibox. So I kind of
ended up with it on a "permanent loan". Then again,
it's only a very basic one so perhaps I'm on the sharp
end of a tactful GFY with it 8?).

As a result of this I didn't do the original install. I did
try but hadn't anything with SCART.

I did manage, however, to source an old VCR with a
SCART throughput and now run the AUDIO OUT via
phono jacks through a stereo by way of some speakers
which, AFAICT, may either have been rescued from a
skip after a cinema decomissioning job a mate did or
are stage monitors from a PA.

Mmmm. Lovely sound.

Anyway. I'm just beginning to realise that when a
channel suddenly disappears it doesn't mean it's
been pulled. It means quite the opposite. It means
that a few more channels have been added and
due to the signal compression algorithms in use
in terrestrial digital TV there tend to be a few now
occupying one traditional UHF channel. As such
all the box "knows" is that the channel it used to
have in a particular slot is no longer there so it
defaults to not receiving anything.

At least I think that's what happens and would
appreciate a more technically accurate explanation
if this is some departure from logical inference on my
part.

I have a copy of neat little bit of ASCII art generating
freeware (ASCGEN) which so far as I can tell should also
reverse-generate an illustration from ASCII art input if
that makes the diagrammatic side of things any easier.

However this is just for interest. The actual question
I'm hoping somebody might (still) be willing to answer
in the light of my introductory "Hey! Stop knocking
Dr Who! oh, and hi group BTW..." post earlier is this.

I had cause to rescan the box this evening. I did this
shortly after 6PM. Maybe 18:30. It all settled down
and went fine. I've to rename all the channels again
to reflect the branding of the DOGs as they appear
on screen as a) I'm like that because I used to sell
consumer electrical goods for a living and this is the
kind of detail that gives the edge over the competition
and b) the mast just chucks them out in all caps which
is an abhorrence to my aesthetic sensibilities.

Anyway, by the time twilight was creeping down, it
was certainly after Holby City had started airing so
the box had been stable for about an hour at least,
I turned the lights on.

I run a couple of screw-in energy savers in spot
mountings on a rail. The lights are powered by a
dedicted lighting circuit. The sockets are powered
by a dedicated ring main circuit. I'm not on the
ground floor.

Anyone who's used domestic energy savers will
know that there is a slight delay of a second or
so until they glow and they then start off dim and
get brighter.

I was stood still at the switch. And at a rough guess
I was about 7 or 8 feet - 2M - from the remote.

The minute I switched the lights on the unit went
into "guide" mode.

This has never happened before with any kind of
activity pertaining to the lighting circuit, although
turning basically anything else on or off, whether
it is the tele' or the VCR or plugging a phone
charger into the 4-gang socket the stereo is fed
from (but which doesn't power the digibox) does
affect the sound momentarily.

Nothing other than the sound has ever been in
any way affected (i.e. suppressed) before.

The plastic cover on the remote appears to be
red so I assume it's an IR but am told it could
be any one of about three different systems,
including magnetic (which is why I'm posting
here, where heopefully people will know more
about such things).

Is there any good, solid down-to-earth reason
it would do this?

As I say, the unit works acceptably.

The destructions state it should rescan of its
own accord at some early hour in the morning
provided it's left on standby and not to change
the channel names as that prevents this happening.

It never has. Well, not SFAICT.

I always return it to factory default before a rescan
and use the automatic scanning option for a fresh
install.

As I say, I rescanned it this evening and have
done naught else with it. And when I turned the
lights on the minute I flicked the switch it went
into "guide" mode. This is "guide" mode and not
"information" mode. It doesn't have PiP in "guide"
mode but you can check the next 3 days' or so
schedules.

"information" mode just brings up the subtitle
for the channel you're watching, over the top
of the channel, like when you change channel.
you can flick up and down through it a bit.

It's never happened before. I was some way
away from the remote. The remote didn't move
as it was on the floor already. And when I hit
the light switch it went into "guide" mode.

I can't think of anything else that might be in
the slightest bit relevant and appreciate I've
probably supplied information which is in no
wise anything to do with what happened.

I probably should make better use of numbered
subsections but thanks for sticking with me and,
of course...

...thanks in advance for your time and trouble.

G DAEB

COPYRIGHT (C) 2007 SIPSTON
--



Is this one of those random text generating robot programs?

digibox remote control
 

....snip...

Is this one of those random text generating robot programs?


Probably not, but dumping an "train of thought" AND then putting a COPYRIGHT
statement on it won't endear the OP to anyone!

Paul DS.

digibox remote control
 

"Paul D.Smith" wrote in message

...snip...

Is this one of those random text generating robot programs?


Probably not, but dumping an "train of thought" AND then putting a
COPYRIGHT statement on it won't endear the OP to anyone!

Has anyone worked out when/whether he gets to the matter described in the
subject line?

--
Max Demian

digibox remote control
 

FCS wrote:

SNIP


I run a couple of screw-in energy savers in spot
mountings on a rail.

SNIP again


The minute I switched the lights on the unit went
into "guide" mode.

SNIP rest

Wow that was a long ramble just to ask a simple question.

Anyway - basically "energy saving" lights are compact flourescent. They
emit light in IR wavelengths as well as visible. They can also emit UV
light (which is why special versions are used in sunbeds etc) or as
"black light" tubes in discos etc.

The IR they emit can "confuse" devices that can be controlled by an
infra red remote.

Or sometimes they just "swamp" the receiver thereby much reducing the
range at which the remote will operate.

digibox remote control
 

Paul D.Smith wrote:
...snip...

Is this one of those random text generating robot programs?


Probably not, but dumping an "train of thought" AND then putting a
COPYRIGHT statement on it won't endear the OP to anyone!

Paul DS.

Already killfiled.

digibox remote control
 

On May 11, 4:30 pm, funkmish wrote:
FCS wrote:

SNIP



I run a couple of screw-in energy savers in spot
mountings on a rail.

SNIP again



The minute I switched the lights on the unit went
into "guide" mode.

SNIP rest

Wow that was a long ramble just to ask a simple question.

Anyway - basically "energy saving" lights are compact flourescent. They
emit light in IR wavelengths as well as visible. They can also emit UV
light (which is why special versions are used in sunbeds etc) or as
"black light" tubes in discos etc.

The IR they emit can "confuse" devices that can be controlled by an
infra red remote.

Or sometimes they just "swamp" the receiver thereby much reducing the
range at which the remote will operate.

Thankyou.

digibox remote control
 

On May 11, 4:30 pm, funkmish wrote:
FCS wrote:

SNIP



I run a couple of screw-in energy savers in spot
mountings on a rail.

SNIP again



The minute I switched the lights on the unit went
into "guide" mode.

SNIP rest

Wow that was a long ramble just to ask a simple question.

Anyway - basically "energy saving" lights are compact flourescent. They
emit light in IR wavelengths as well as visible. They can also emit UV
light (which is why special versions are used in sunbeds etc) or as
"black light" tubes in discos etc.

The IR they emit can "confuse" devices that can be controlled by an
infra red remote.

Or sometimes they just "swamp" the receiver thereby much reducing the
range at which the remote will operate.

As there were several "questions" it could've been
it's nice to know it's probably what I thought it was.

How common is this BTW? It's only happened once
in about a year. Is it possible it could have anything to
do with "net" IR luminescence at dawn/dusk?

It wasn't a particularly glorious sundown that I recall.

G DAEB

COPYRIGHT (C) 2007 SIPSTON
--

digibox remote control
 

On May 11, 12:24 pm, "Max Demian" wrote:
"Paul D.Smith" wrote in message



...snip...

Is this one of those random text generating robot programs?

Probably not, but dumping an "train of thought" AND then putting a
COPYRIGHT statement on it won't endear the OP to anyone!

Has anyone worked out when/whether he gets to the matter described in the
subject line?

--
Max Demian

I don't suppose Adrian or yourself will be
able to comment on when the Clyde1
patch will be removed from over 3C then?

digibox remote control
 

"FCS" wrote in message
ps.com
On May 11, 12:24 pm, "Max Demian" wrote:
"Paul D.Smith" wrote in message



...snip...

Is this one of those random text generating robot programs?

Probably not, but dumping an "train of thought" AND then putting a
COPYRIGHT statement on it won't endear the OP to anyone!

Has anyone worked out when/whether he gets to the matter described
in the subject line?

I don't suppose Adrian or yourself will be
able to comment on when the Clyde1
patch will be removed from over 3C then?

What patch? AFAIK 3C is gone, but the people who 'own' the channel haven't
decided what to do with it finally.

--
Max Demian