Freesat HD Install Woes/Humax Foxsat HDR

macman · 5 June 2010 at 12:30AM

I got my dish installed today and the installer tested it at the wall socket and confirmed that the signal was good. I had already agreed with him that he didn't need to set up the actual box as I would do that myself, so off he went.
The box then failed to find a signal and then wouldn't verify my postcode (or indeed any postcode-I tried several valid ones). The manual then recommends doing a manual tune, which worked to a degree, I ended up with about 50 German channels in non-freesat mode! But nothing at all when trying to do a Freesat tune, it just says 'no signal detected'. The signal strength and quality read zero and then briefly they go to 100% strength and 90% quality before it drops to zero again.
I have checked all the connections and all seems OK. The other weird thing is that it has a twin feed, but the box only recognises it as a single cable connection. Acording to the manual, a single feed requires a loop through connection, which of course isn't fitted.
Given that I can get plenty of non-freesat channels, does this indicates a fault with the box, or could it be with the LNB? I don't want to get the installer back if it's a faulty box as of course I'll be charged for the call out.
Any ideas please?
Maybe try to get hold of an old Sky box and test it with that to eliminate any fault on the LNB or cabling?

scotsbob · 5 June 2010 at 12:46AM

About 50 German channels?

Most of the German channels are on the Astra satellite at 19.2 degrees and if you want the channels associated with Freesat you should be on the Astra satellite at 28.2 degrees.

If you are getting lots of German channels check them against the list here and if you find them then you are tuned to the wrong satellite.

http://www.lyngsat.com/astra19.html

macman · 5 June 2010 at 12:56AM

No, I checked and the system diagnostics does show that it's tuned to Astra at 28.2 degrees. But the German (and what looks like some Polish) channels seem to be all it will pick up (in non-Freesat mode). Does the fact that I can get these at all rule out any problem with the LNB and cablng?
I was hoping to watch the World Cup in HD, a collection of German p0rn channels seems to be what I am going to get instead...

scotsbob · 5 June 2010 at 1:29AM

If you are accessing approx 50 channels then that rules out any fault with cable or LNB.

I don't have a Humax so can't help you there, however I would try a loop through connection because if the receiver thinks it only has a single feed then it will be expecting a feed from that input.

On the plus side you have nearly a week, before the World Cup begins, to sort it out!

Inactive · 5 June 2010 at 2:13AM

My money is on the installer aligning the dish on to the wrong satellite, there is no way you will get that many German channels on Astra 28.2 degrees.

I suspect that it is focused on to Astra 19.2 degrees.

macman · 5 June 2010 at 8:19AM

Thanks scotsbob and Inactive, yes I am getting a lot of the German and Austrian channels on the lyngsat.com list, so it has to be wrongly aligned. I was reading the diagnostic page wrongly. The twin feed must be working OK though, as I can record two channels at once (albeit both German ones), and there's a HD demo channel which appears to show that the HD is working too.
I can see that with the two being only 10 degrees apart it's easy to misalign it, but if so why didn't he insist on checking it? Presumably the meter he used doesn't tell him which satellite he's pointing at, just that there is a satellite there. Now to see if I can get him back on a weekend...

Inactive · 5 June 2010 at 11:32AM

macman wrote: »

I can see that with the two being only 10 degrees apart it's easy to misalign it, but if so why didn't he insist on checking it? Presumably the meter he used doesn't tell him which satellite he's pointing at, just that there is a satellite there. Now to see if I can get him back on a weekend...

Depending on the type of meter used, it should have shown him which satellite he was on.

Good luck.;)

macman · 5 June 2010 at 3:34PM

I spoke to him and he said he was sure it was correctly aligned and that he had never mis-aligned one yet. I said that I was sure he hadn't, but in that case how could he explain me getting all the channels that come from Astra 1H on 19.2, if it's pointed at 28.2? In the end he agreed to come out 'next Monday or Tuesday', I said that if he could show that the fault lay elsewhere then I would happily pay his call out fee.
I cannot see any possible fault with the box that would produce this effect, so I don't think I'll have to pay out.
Sorry, not sure what sort of meter he used, but it was a big one on a strap around his neck, not just a little hand held one.

macman · 11 June 2010 at 9:25AM

Just a follow-up. The installer finally came back yesterday and was still insisting it was a box problem and nothing to do with him. Plugged his meter into the cable at the box end and said it was 'spot on' 28.2. He wouldn't get his ladder off the van and first insisted on hooking up an old Sky box to test the signal on that. Nothing. Then tried with his own Freesat box-still nothing. Finally went up and realigned it as requested. He then said it must be his meter that was faulty, and not his error...
Now all working fine.
Just one question on the iPlayer side. I have connected it up to my router via 200Mbps Homeplugs and it will stream on demand OK on the standard resolution option However, the 'better quality' option seems to freeze and stutter after running less than a minute or so, as if the buffering is insufficient. Given that I'm getting a consistent 6-7Mbps service from O2, I thought that would be more than enough to run it on the higher quality setting. Any advice please?

almillar · 11 June 2010 at 12:41PM

What a stubborn installer! Glad you got it sorted.
I've got a 4mbps connection (with O2 too) and my Humax is fine with the higher quality iPlayer streams, really does look good. I'm usually using it on a Saturday afternoon however, and I can only suggest that your internet connection isn't the only place that could be slow. Your exchange, O2's network or BBC could be slow, especially at busy times. To isolate the Homeplugs, try getting the Humax beside the router (maybe a portable TV with SCART would be useful) and have a go at streaming there.
When I'm watching something on it, I usually start and immediately pause the stream for 5 mins (and get a cuppa!), to allow it to get plenty buffered.

Freesat HD Install Woes/Humax Foxsat HDR

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