Sky+ playback problems

Hi all. I was wondering if anyone could help me with some problems
I've been having with my Sky+ service lately.

Quite often I get a momentarily jammed screen, or a brief breakdown in
sound. This is normally followed by a few seconds where the sound and
vision are not in synch. Essentially it appears like a bad signal,
however I've checked the signal strengh and there is no problem.

The problem is worse when playing a recorded program. Also when I
start recording one channel and watching another, this sometimes seems
to effect the channel I'm watching suggesting the problem is with one
of the two inputs aerials.

For some reason the problem is worse with some stations than others
(e.g. Sky One, Paramount).

I am now at a new address with a new satelite dish and cabling and I
still have the same problem, so I fear the problem may be my Sky+ box
itself.

Grateful if anyone can offer any advice, or has suffered the same
problem.

Thank-you in advance.

Grant

Graz wrote:

Quite often I get a momentarily jammed screen, or a brief breakdown in
sound. This is normally followed by a few seconds where the sound and
vision are not in synch. Essentially it appears like a bad signal,
however I've checked the signal strengh and there is no problem.

The problem is worse when playing a recorded program.

Try swapping the two LNB cables at the back of the Sky+.

If there is an LNB problem then you will notice a difference straight
away. If there is a tuner problem then you will not.

You should also test your Sky+ on another (quad) dish that is known to
be working. If it works fine there then your LNB is probably faulty
and you can use one or both of the unused outputs on your quad LNB to
replace the duff ones.

If the problem is the same on the other dish then you have a bad
tuner, and it must be fixed by a professional or the box must be
replaced.

If none of this makes any difference then do the following:

Try a planner rebuild.

Try a firmware reload.

If these don't help then try a full format. This will erase all your
recordings.

If none of these help then your drive is probably dying.

--
Digibox problem? : A reboot solves 90% of these.
The Sky Digital FAQ: http://tinyurl.com/8vef5
UK TV overseas: http://tinyurl.com/6p73
BBC reception questions? ; http://www.astra2d.com/
Fed up with on-screen logos? : http://logofreetv.org/
----
Only the truth as I see it.
No monies return'd. ;-)

I had tried swapping the cables, and there is minimal (and only
temporary) improvement. This is the second dish I've used the box on
too, so it looks like a tuner problem (unless both LNBs are faulty?).

Thanks for your help Jomtien

Jomtien wrote:
Graz wrote:

Quite often I get a momentarily jammed screen, or a brief breakdown in
sound. This is normally followed by a few seconds where the sound and
vision are not in synch. Essentially it appears like a bad signal,
however I've checked the signal strengh and there is no problem.

The problem is worse when playing a recorded program.

Try swapping the two LNB cables at the back of the Sky+.

If there is an LNB problem then you will notice a difference straight
away. If there is a tuner problem then you will not.

You should also test your Sky+ on another (quad) dish that is known to
be working. If it works fine there then your LNB is probably faulty
and you can use one or both of the unused outputs on your quad LNB to
replace the duff ones.

If the problem is the same on the other dish then you have a bad
tuner, and it must be fixed by a professional or the box must be
replaced.

If none of this makes any difference then do the following:

Try a planner rebuild.

Try a firmware reload.

If these don't help then try a full format. This will erase all your
recordings.

If none of these help then your drive is probably dying.

--
Digibox problem? : A reboot solves 90% of these.
The Sky Digital FAQ: http://tinyurl.com/8vef5
UK TV overseas: http://tinyurl.com/6p73
BBC reception questions? ; http://www.astra2d.com/
Fed up with on-screen logos? : http://logofreetv.org/
----
Only the truth as I see it.
No monies return'd. ;-)

"Graz" wrote in message
oups.com...
I had tried swapping the cables, and there is minimal (and only
temporary) improvement. This is the second dish I've used the box on
too, so it looks like a tuner problem (unless both LNBs are faulty?).

Thanks for your help Jomtien

Jomtien wrote:
Graz wrote:

Quite often I get a momentarily jammed screen, or a brief breakdown in
sound. This is normally followed by a few seconds where the sound and
vision are not in synch. Essentially it appears like a bad signal,
however I've checked the signal strengh and there is no problem.

The problem is worse when playing a recorded program.

Try swapping the two LNB cables at the back of the Sky+.

If there is an LNB problem then you will notice a difference straight
away. If there is a tuner problem then you will not.

You should also test your Sky+ on another (quad) dish that is known to
be working. If it works fine there then your LNB is probably faulty
and you can use one or both of the unused outputs on your quad LNB to
replace the duff ones.

If the problem is the same on the other dish then you have a bad
tuner, and it must be fixed by a professional or the box must be
replaced.

If none of this makes any difference then do the following:

Try a planner rebuild.

Try a firmware reload.

If these don't help then try a full format. This will erase all your
recordings.

If none of these help then your drive is probably dying.

--
Digibox problem? : A reboot solves 90% of these.
The Sky Digital FAQ: http://tinyurl.com/8vef5
UK TV overseas: http://tinyurl.com/6p73
BBC reception questions? ; http://www.astra2d.com/
Fed up with on-screen logos? : http://logofreetv.org/
----
Only the truth as I see it.
No monies return'd. ;-)


This is exactly the problem I was having with my Amstrad box.; 7 seconds of
freezing picture and picture break-up plus out of synch sound on recordings
etc. It too seemed to occur on particular channels and sometimes was worse
when both recording and watching another channel at the same time. I did as
Jomtien suggested and swapped the LNB cables but to no avail.

My signal strengths showed as about 40 to 60%

As the box was out of warranty anyway, I bought a new Pace box and the
problem disappeared completely. That was a couple of months ago and I have
had no break-up problems at all.

Note the signal strength is still 40 to 60% but I have seen it suggested
elsewhere that the Pace box can handle a weaker signal better than the
Amstrad. I have no regrets about replacing the Amstrad.

Good luck,

Robin

Robin Bendall wrote:

My signal strengths showed as about 40 to 60%

The strength is largely irrelevant. The quality is the important
reading.

40% quality is low.

--
Digibox problem? : A reboot solves 90% of these.
The Sky Digital FAQ: http://tinyurl.com/8vef5
UK TV overseas: http://tinyurl.com/6p73
BBC reception questions? ; http://www.astra2d.com/
Fed up with on-screen logos? : http://logofreetv.org/
----
Only the truth as I see it.
No monies return'd. ;-)

Graz wrote:

I had tried swapping the cables, and there is minimal (and only
temporary) improvement. This is the second dish I've used the box on
too, so it looks like a tuner problem

Looks that way.

Try the drive format but I don't hold out much hope.

Remember that you can usually negotiate a free service
call/replacement from Sky no matter how old the box is.

--
Digibox problem? : A reboot solves 90% of these.
The Sky Digital FAQ: http://tinyurl.com/8vef5
UK TV overseas: http://tinyurl.com/6p73
BBC reception questions? ; http://www.astra2d.com/
Fed up with on-screen logos? : http://logofreetv.org/
----
Only the truth as I see it.
No monies return'd. ;-)

"Graz" wrote in message
oups.com...
I had tried swapping the cables, and there is minimal (and only
temporary) improvement. This is the second dish I've used the box on
too, so it looks like a tuner problem (unless both LNBs are faulty?).

Thanks for your help Jomtien

Jomtien wrote:
Graz wrote:

Quite often I get a momentarily jammed screen, or a brief breakdown in
sound. This is normally followed by a few seconds where the sound and
vision are not in synch. Essentially it appears like a bad signal,
however I've checked the signal strengh and there is no problem.

The problem is worse when playing a recorded program.

Try swapping the two LNB cables at the back of the Sky+.

If there is an LNB problem then you will notice a difference straight
away. If there is a tuner problem then you will not.

You should also test your Sky+ on another (quad) dish that is known to
be working. If it works fine there then your LNB is probably faulty
and you can use one or both of the unused outputs on your quad LNB to
replace the duff ones.

If the problem is the same on the other dish then you have a bad
tuner, and it must be fixed by a professional or the box must be
replaced.

If none of this makes any difference then do the following:

Try a planner rebuild.

Try a firmware reload.

If these don't help then try a full format. This will erase all your
recordings.

If none of these help then your drive is probably dying.

--
Digibox problem? : A reboot solves 90% of these.
The Sky Digital FAQ: http://tinyurl.com/8vef5
UK TV overseas: http://tinyurl.com/6p73
BBC reception questions? ; http://www.astra2d.com/
Fed up with on-screen logos? : http://logofreetv.org/
----
Only the truth as I see it.
No monies return'd. ;-)


This is exactly the problem I was having with my Amstrad box.; 7 seconds of
freezing picture and picture break-up plus out of synch sound on recordings
etc. It too seemed to occur on particular channels and sometimes was worse
when both recording and watching another channel at the same time. I did as
Jomtien suggested and swapped the LNB cables but to no avail.

My signal strengths showed as about 40 to 60%

As the box was out of warranty anyway, I bought a new Pace box and the
problem disappeared completely. That was a couple of months ago and I have
had no break-up problems at all.

Note the signal strength is still 40 to 60% but I have seen it suggested
elsewhere that the Pace box can handle a weaker signal better than the
Amstrad. I have no regrets about replacing the Amstrad.

Good luck,

Robin



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"Jomtien" wrote in message
...
Robin Bendall wrote:

My signal strengths showed as about 40 to 60%

The strength is largely irrelevant. The quality is the important
reading.
Agreed but it probably shows that the system will suffer more readily from
from bad weather. My three children's sytems are all showing close to 100%
signal strength, can't remember the quality but it is good in all cases and
they rarely get freezing on their Amstrad boxes.

40% quality is low.
The quality is about 60% on my system

--
Digibox problem? : A reboot solves 90% of these.
The Sky Digital FAQ: http://tinyurl.com/8vef5
UK TV overseas: http://tinyurl.com/6p73
BBC reception questions? ; http://www.astra2d.com/
Fed up with on-screen logos? : http://logofreetv.org/
----
Only the truth as I see it.
No monies return'd. ;-)

The message
from "Robin Bendall" contains these words:

====snip====

Note the signal strength is still 40 to 60% but I have seen it suggested
elsewhere that the Pace box can handle a weaker signal better than the

Amstrad. I have no regrets about replacing the Amstrad.

And with very good reason! The 'Alan Shugar'(spelling?) sketch in the
recent 'Dead Ringers' show summed it up nicely. :-)

--
Regards, John.

Please remove the "ohggcyht" before replying.
The address has been munged to reject Spam-bots.

"Jomtien" wrote in message
...
Robin Bendall wrote:

My signal strengths showed as about 40 to 60%

The strength is largely irrelevant. The quality is the important
reading.
Agreed but it probably shows that the system will suffer more readily from
from bad weather. My three children's sytems are all showing close to 100%
signal strength, can't remember the quality but it is good in all cases and
they rarely get freezing on their Amstrad boxes.

40% quality is low.
The quality is about 60% on my system

--
Digibox problem? : A reboot solves 90% of these.
The Sky Digital FAQ: http://tinyurl.com/8vef5
UK TV overseas: http://tinyurl.com/6p73
BBC reception questions? ; http://www.astra2d.com/
Fed up with on-screen logos? : http://logofreetv.org/
----
Only the truth as I see it.
No monies return'd. ;-)



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