Unreliable Freeview boxes

I bought a Panasonic box from Argos 3 weeks ago and apart from a not-perfect
picture it seemed to do the job - until Saturday when it decided to keep dropping
into standby (and was reluctant to power-on again).
On Monday I took it back to Argos and changed it for a Sagem ITD-61 (about the
only one they had in stock). It looked a big improvement (better picture quality
and much nicer on-screen graphics) but after just a few hours it started freezing
and rebooting every 15 minutes or so. Another trip to Argos ... !!

Are they all this bad?

"Bob Martin" wrote in message
...
!!

Are they all this bad?

No.
Is it your location or aerial installation?
Can you try a friends box?
Can you try your faulty box at another location?

--
Regards
David

Please reply to News Group

I bought a Panasonic box from Argos 3 weeks ago and apart from a
not-perfect
picture it seemed to do the job - until Saturday when it decided to keep
dropping
into standby (and was reluctant to power-on again).
On Monday I took it back to Argos and changed it for a Sagem ITD-61 (about
the
only one they had in stock). It looked a big improvement (better picture
quality
and much nicer on-screen graphics) but after just a few hours it started
freezing
and rebooting every 15 minutes or so. Another trip to Argos ... !!

Are they all this bad?

Are you sure they're not over heating?

in 204183 20060615 091836 "David" wrote:
"Bob Martin" wrote in message
...
!!

Are they all this bad?

No.
Is it your location or aerial installation?

Signal strength is 70% with "quality" of 95%

Can you try a friends box?
Can you try your faulty box at another location?

Tried it on two TVs with different aerials

in 204186 20060615 092138 "DB" wrote:
I bought a Panasonic box from Argos 3 weeks ago and apart from a
not-perfect
picture it seemed to do the job - until Saturday when it decided to keep
dropping
into standby (and was reluctant to power-on again).
On Monday I took it back to Argos and changed it for a Sagem ITD-61 (about
the
only one they had in stock). It looked a big improvement (better picture
quality
and much nicer on-screen graphics) but after just a few hours it started
freezing
and rebooting every 15 minutes or so. Another trip to Argos ... !!

Are they all this bad?

Are you sure they're not over heating?

Quite sure - it has more than adequate ventilation and feels cool.

On Thu, 15 Jun 2006 08:11:55 +0000, Bob Martin wrote:


I bought a Panasonic box from Argos 3 weeks ago and apart from a not-perfect
picture it seemed to do the job - until Saturday when it decided to keep dropping
into standby (and was reluctant to power-on again).
On Monday I took it back to Argos and changed it for a Sagem ITD-61 (about the
only one they had in stock). It looked a big improvement (better picture quality
and much nicer on-screen graphics) but after just a few hours it started freezing
and rebooting every 15 minutes or so. Another trip to Argos ... !!

Are they all this bad?
Dunno. They're made down to a price rather than up to a quality, for sure.
I bought a cheap Alba, which was faulty from switch on, replaced it
with a cheap Digilogic which always comes up in black and white for a
few minutes.

Maybe the only one left at Argos was a duffer returned by
someone else.

Steve

"Bob Martin" wrote in message
...

I bought a Panasonic box from Argos 3 weeks ago and apart from a
not-perfect
picture it seemed to do the job - until Saturday when it decided to keep
dropping
into standby (and was reluctant to power-on again).
On Monday I took it back to Argos and changed it for a Sagem ITD-61 (about
the
only one they had in stock). It looked a big improvement (better picture
quality
and much nicer on-screen graphics) but after just a few hours it started
freezing
and rebooting every 15 minutes or so. Another trip to Argos ... !!

Are they all this bad?

No, we have fitted loads of Sagem ITD-61 units. They are excellent and
much better than panasonic in lower signal areas.

"Bob Martin" wrote in message
...

I bought a Panasonic box from Argos 3 weeks ago and apart from a
not-perfect
picture it seemed to do the job - until Saturday when it decided to keep
dropping
into standby (and was reluctant to power-on again).
On Monday I took it back to Argos and changed it for a Sagem ITD-61 (about
the
only one they had in stock). It looked a big improvement (better picture
quality
and much nicer on-screen graphics) but after just a few hours it started
freezing
and rebooting every 15 minutes or so. Another trip to Argos ... !!

Are they all this bad?

No. My cheapo Ferguson has been running for about 18 months with no
problems at all. Don't have particularly dirty mains power do you? By
"dirty" I mean lots of mains spikes, interference etc. Seems unlikely that
it would be so bad that just digiboxes have problems but...

I have to agree with the other poster that it sounds like an overheating
issue. To test this, turn off the box, unwire it and leave it one a
table/shelf to cool down for about an hour. Now retry it. Same problems or
does it take a little time before they restart? Remember that most of the
box might feel cool but the processor/power supply might be cooking if you
are not getting good airflow around it.

If you suspect a cooling problem, let it cool again then try sitting it on
the floor away from other things. Will it now run "forever"? If so,
cooling it probably your problem.

Hope this helps,
Paul DS.

in 204201 20060615 104449 "Paul D.Smith" wrote:
"Bob Martin" wrote in message
...

I bought a Panasonic box from Argos 3 weeks ago and apart from a
not-perfect
picture it seemed to do the job - until Saturday when it decided to keep
dropping
into standby (and was reluctant to power-on again).
On Monday I took it back to Argos and changed it for a Sagem ITD-61 (about
the
only one they had in stock). It looked a big improvement (better picture
quality
and much nicer on-screen graphics) but after just a few hours it started
freezing
and rebooting every 15 minutes or so. Another trip to Argos ... !!

Are they all this bad?

No. My cheapo Ferguson has been running for about 18 months with no
problems at all. Don't have particularly dirty mains power do you? By
"dirty" I mean lots of mains spikes, interference etc. Seems unlikely that
it would be so bad that just digiboxes have problems but...

I have to agree with the other poster that it sounds like an overheating
issue. To test this, turn off the box, unwire it and leave it one a
table/shelf to cool down for about an hour. Now retry it. Same problems or
does it take a little time before they restart? Remember that most of the
box might feel cool but the processor/power supply might be cooking if you
are not getting good airflow around it.

If you suspect a cooling problem, let it cool again then try sitting it on
the floor away from other things. Will it now run "forever"? If so,
cooling it probably your problem.

Hope this helps,
Paul DS.

Thanks for the help - both Paul and Bill - but I'm sure it is not overheating.
I have it sitting on a shelf, near an open window but out of the sun, with a fan
playing cool air on it.
About every 20-30 minutes the picture freezes for about 10 seconds, then the
screen goes black for a few seconds (both red and green lights on the STB are
now out) then the green light comes on, the Sagem logo appears on the TV and
then BBC1 appears (whichever channel was on before).

....snip...

Thanks for the help - both Paul and Bill - but I'm sure it is not
overheating.
I have it sitting on a shelf, near an open window but out of the sun, with
a fan
playing cool air on it.
About every 20-30 minutes the picture freezes for about 10 seconds, then
the
screen goes black for a few seconds (both red and green lights on the STB
are
now out) then the green light comes on, the Sagem logo appears on the TV
and
then BBC1 appears (whichever channel was on before).



Don't know the Sagem box - does the LED glow "red" when it's on standby? If
the answer's "yes", then it does sound like the power going. What is it
plugged into? It's always possible that you have a faulty box but I wonder
whether you might have a poor mains supply which might be bad enough to
knock over a digi box (they have whimpy power supplies) but not enough to
cause a TV problems (bigger power supplies, capacitors etc).

I would suggest taking round to a friend/relatives house and trying it
there. If it works, then look at your mains supply. It might only be one
circuit in the house, or perhaps it's all of them. You're Hi-Fi doesn't
"blip" every 20-30 minutes does it - might be a spike from the fridge
kicking in but I've never heard of these completely rebooting digiboxes.

Paul DS.