Unusual Oxford Ch 8 problem

I have an unusual problem. I have a Humax Freeview HD PVR downstairs and a TVonics Freeview HD PVR upstairs, off the SAME professionally installed roof aerial.

The Humax now tunes to the Oxford Test Transmission on Channel 8.

However, the TVonics box does not. It has BBC3 on 7 and BBC4 on 9 but manually selecting channel 8 reverts to BBC3 on ch 7?

I have updated all software for the TVonics box and factory resets as well as multiple clearing of channels and retuning. Nothing will bring the Ch 8 Oxford Test transmission up.

Any explanation would be welcomed, please

Vigman

On 11/02/2015 11:03, vigman wrote:
I have an unusual problem. I have a Humax Freeview HD PVR downstairs and a TVonics Freeview HD PVR upstairs, off the SAME professionally installed roof aerial.

The Humax now tunes to the Oxford Test Transmission on Channel 8.

However, the TVonics box does not. It has BBC3 on 7 and BBC4 on 9 but manually selecting channel 8 reverts to BBC3 on ch 7?

I have updated all software for the TVonics box and factory resets as well as multiple clearing of channels and retuning. Nothing will bring the Ch 8 Oxford Test transmission up.

Any explanation would be welcomed, please

The local TV muxes use QPSK, rather than 16 or 64QAM, so that might be a
factor, it can't see QPSK signals ? What does a manual scan on UHF ch
29 reveal ?

Can you see the other two channels on the mux, QVC Extra on LCN 57 and
POP on LCN 121 ?


--
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.

In article ,
vigman wrote:

The Humax now tunes to the Oxford Test Transmission on Channel 8.

However, the TVonics box does not.

Does it get the other channels on the same multiplex? They seem
to be Pop on 125 and QVC Extra on 57.

-- Richard

On Wednesday, February 11, 2015 at 11:20:02 AM UTC, Richard Tobin wrote:
In article ,
vigman wrote:

The Humax now tunes to the Oxford Test Transmission on Channel 8.

However, the TVonics box does not.

Does it get the other channels on the same multiplex? They seem
to be Pop on 125 and QVC Extra on 57.

-- Richard

Hi

No, it can't see anything on 29 (often wrongly advertised as 51). If I take the aerial out of the PVR and put it in the attached Freeview HD TV, those channels come up on 29 so can't be a signal strength issue!?

I'm wondering if this is going to be low level like the Vestel chip boxes that needed the firmware update via laptop and serial cable because they couldn't see muxes after the last big change?

I have not only done factory resets on the TVonics box, but also the tuning in with the aerial unplugged and retuning manually and automatically. It just doesn't want to see the channels on that mux????

Vigman

On 11/02/2015 11:03, vigman wrote:
I have an unusual problem. I have a Humax Freeview HD PVR downstairs and a TVonics Freeview HD PVR upstairs, off the SAME professionally installed roof aerial.

The Humax now tunes to the Oxford Test Transmission on Channel 8.

However, the TVonics box does not. It has BBC3 on 7 and BBC4 on 9 but manually selecting channel 8 reverts to BBC3 on ch 7?

I have updated all software for the TVonics box and factory resets as well as multiple clearing of channels and retuning. Nothing will bring the Ch 8 Oxford Test transmission up.

Any explanation would be welcomed, please

Vigman

I wonder if the signal is too weak.

I can see the local Bristol Ch8 via Mendip on my TV after retuning, but
not on my Panasonic PVR. The quality is intermittent, sometimes OK,
sometime freezing and pixillated. The signal strength and signal
quality of most of the channels registers as 70+ but CH8 registers at
around 10.

Perhaps it is the same characteristic on Oxford?

Jim

On 11/02/2015 15:58, Indy Jess John wrote:

I wonder if the signal is too weak.

I can see the local Bristol Ch8 via Mendip on my TV after retuning, but
not on my Panasonic PVR. The quality is intermittent, sometimes OK,
sometime freezing and pixillated. The signal strength and signal
quality of most of the channels registers as 70+ but CH8 registers at
around 10.

Perhaps it is the same characteristic on Oxford?

Most of the local TV coverage areas are a great deal smaller than the
main mux coverage, and Oxford is no exception

http://licensing.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/tv/local-tv/coverage/coverage-note.pdf




--
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.

On 11/02/2015 16:33, Mark Carver wrote:
On 11/02/2015 15:58, Indy Jess John wrote:

I wonder if the signal is too weak.

I can see the local Bristol Ch8 via Mendip on my TV after retuning, but
not on my Panasonic PVR. The quality is intermittent, sometimes OK,
sometime freezing and pixillated. The signal strength and signal
quality of most of the channels registers as 70+ but CH8 registers at
around 10.

Perhaps it is the same characteristic on Oxford?

Most of the local TV coverage areas are a great deal smaller than the
main mux coverage, and Oxford is no exception

http://licensing.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/tv/local-tv/coverage/coverage-note.pdf




An interesting document. If, as is recommended, the local transmissions
are from an aerial lower on the mast, it would explain why my signal
levels are lower. The line of sight from my aerial to the top of the
transmitter has a hill in between and my reception just skims the top of
the hill. According to their map, I should be just outside the reception
area for the local broadcast, so I suppose I ought to consider myself
lucky to receive anything at all. And I suppose well done to my TV for
managing on a 10% signal strength.

Jim

On Wednesday, February 11, 2015 at 3:58:00 PM UTC, Indy Jess John wrote:
On 11/02/2015 11:03, vigman wrote:
I have an unusual problem. I have a Humax Freeview HD PVR downstairs and a TVonics Freeview HD PVR upstairs, off the SAME professionally installed roof aerial.

The Humax now tunes to the Oxford Test Transmission on Channel 8.

However, the TVonics box does not. It has BBC3 on 7 and BBC4 on 9 but manually selecting channel 8 reverts to BBC3 on ch 7?

I have updated all software for the TVonics box and factory resets as well as multiple clearing of channels and retuning. Nothing will bring the Ch 8 Oxford Test transmission up.

Any explanation would be welcomed, please

Vigman

I wonder if the signal is too weak.

I can see the local Bristol Ch8 via Mendip on my TV after retuning, but
not on my Panasonic PVR. The quality is intermittent, sometimes OK,
sometime freezing and pixillated. The signal strength and signal
quality of most of the channels registers as 70+ but CH8 registers at
around 10.

Perhaps it is the same characteristic on Oxford?

Jim

So our TVs (and the Humax box)are somehow more sensitive to the lower signal than the Panasonic or TVonic PVRs?

On manual tune on the TVonic there is no signal and no channels showing on 29 whereas on the TV which picks up the signal (same aerial) it shows a reduced signal but the 3 channels on that mux appear??

Vigman

On 11/02/2015 18:32, Indy Jess John wrote:

An interesting document. If, as is recommended, the local transmissions
are from an aerial lower on the mast, it would explain why my signal
levels are lower. The line of sight from my aerial to the top of the
transmitter has a hill in between and my reception just skims the top of
the hill. According to their map, I should be just outside the reception
area for the local broadcast, so I suppose I ought to consider myself
lucky to receive anything at all. And I suppose well done to my TV for
managing on a 10% signal strength.

The aerials are indeed lower in most cases, and far more directional,
and, much lower power too, Mendip is 10kW, Oxford is 4kW, compared with
100kW for the main muxes. However, in real terms the difference is not
as significant as would appear, because QPSK, is more robust than 64QAM,
so requires less signal for reliable decoding.



--
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.

Mark Carver wrote:

The aerials are indeed lower in most cases, and far more directional,
and, much lower power too, Mendip is 10kW, Oxford is 4kW, compared with
100kW for the main muxes. However, in real terms the difference is not
as significant as would appear, because QPSK, is more robust than 64QAM,
so requires less signal for reliable decoding.

Very much less, it seems.

Bill