problems with my freeview box during the evening

ARTHUR

I am having problems with my freeview set top box - my old free view box broke down (it was a Goodman’s one and it was about 5 year old) so I replaced it with a new Goodman’s freeview box, at first everything went fine but every night at about 9 pm most of the channels stopped working they would keep freezing and unfreezing or lost picture and sound completely, but it was fine again during the day this would only happen at night time, I returned the box back to the shop for a refund and borrowed my sisters spare freeview box (durabrand) but the same thing is happening with this, it works without a hitch during the day but at night many of the channels are unwatchable, it cant be my outside aerial because if it was this would affect it during the day not just at night, and I never had this problem with my old box so it shouldn't be a blocked signal, also I live in the Glasgow area so I should have a strong signal
Any ideas?

scotsbob

I am not familiar with the the Goodmans receiver but does it download the EPG at the same time each day? Possibly 9pm?

You may want to check on the manufacturers site or on a Goodman's forum, because it sounds as though the download can be causing the problem.

The Inverto branded receiver has this problem and it is cured by switching the receiver off for 5 minutes after the EPG download.

ARTHUR

nowretiredandlazingaround wrote: »

Could someone or something be causing interference? Is it at exactly the same time every night and is it every night or just some nights?

Also is it your aerial or a communal aerial?

Jim

I live in a old fashioned tenement building so I have neighbours either side of me and above me but as the building is so high I dont have access to my aerial which is fixed to the roof, it doesn't happen at exacally the same time every night it happens around 9pm to about 11pm, but it seems funny that this all started after my old box broke and I bought a replacement.

ARTHUR

scotsbob wrote: »

I am not familiar with the the Goodmans receiver but does it download the EPG at the same time each day? Possibly 9pm?

You may want to check on the manufacturers site or on a Goodman's forum, because it sounds as though the download can be causing the problem.

The Inverto branded receiver has this problem and it is cured by switching the receiver off for 5 minutes after the EPG download.

I have returned the new goodmans box and got a refund from argos, I am now using my sisters spare box (durabrand) and the same thing is happening with that one too,the durabrand doesn't download an update automatically you have to do a manual search, I have tried unplugging it but it doesnt make any difference - I was wondering if there was a problem with the glasgow freeview transmitter but I dont know their website - I think my area is serviced by the blackhill transmitter in glasgow (well it was the blackhill transmitter for the anologue signal) I should mention that when the box freezes only the bbc channels work - bbc1, bbc2, bbc3, bbc4 dont know if that makes a difference

ARTHUR

nowretiredandlazingaround wrote: »

Have you fallen out with a neighbour lately?

Could someone be interfering with the aerial or downlead?

Are the aerial and downlead exclusively yours.

There are some strange people who live in a Glasgow tenement.

Jim

the aerial and wire leading from it belongs to me exclusively, I haven’t fallen out with any neighbours and we are all on first name terms, but as I have three neighbours directly above me perhaps foul play is involved, but I would like to exclude all other possibilities before accusing neighbours – I will try and keep an eye on my down lead at night in case anyone is messing around with

ARTHUR

I found this advice on a forum last night I followed all the steps and so far my freeview box is still working and the time is 11.00pm, this is the first time in weeks that my freeview box is fully working at this time, Although its only the first night things look good, I will keep you posted
FAQs: Freeview and aerials
Question
My Freeview box has no EPG, is blank on FIVE, ITV3, ITV4, ITV2+1, has no sound or the channel line up is wrong
Answer
To deal with the problem you must clear the channel list completely and then rescan - if your box has it in the menus, please the 'installation menu' to do an initial scan or a reset to factory settings or First Time Installation. You MUST delete the entire existing list of channels. On most boxes this technique can be also be used:

Try this:

1) unplug your Freeview box (or idTV) from the mains;
2) unplug the aerial from the Freeview box by disconnecting the cable from the 'RF in' socket;
3) wait 30 seconds;
4) plug Freeview box (or idTV) mains back in;
5) do a complete scan for channels - it will fail without the aerial. (This may be in the installation or initialization menu, and is distinct from any 'add channels option'). Once this is done your channel line up should be empty;
6) reinsert aerial by reconnecting to the 'RF in' connection;
7) do a complete scan for channels again.
The Freeview channel line-up provided by six "multiplexes" - each of which carry five or more TV channels, radio channels, text services and EPG data. In this diagram each ROW represents a multiplex. If you are still missing a whole multiplex (ie everything on the row) you may need to replace your aerial with a wideband type, purchase a larger aerial or you may have interference from a VCR, games console, Sky Digibox or similar.

gary38uk

sounds like an aerial / cable issue.
as when it gets dark, it gets damp outside.
so water has gotten in somewhere and is causing a short.
had exact same issue with a satellite system and was water in the lnb.

ARTHUR

ARTHUR wrote: »

Try this:

1) unplug your Freeview box (or idTV) from the mains;
2) unplug the aerial from the Freeview box by disconnecting the cable from the 'RF in' socket;
3) wait 30 seconds;
4) plug Freeview box (or idTV) mains back in;
5) do a complete scan for channels - it will fail without the aerial. (This may be in the installation or initialization menu, and is distinct from any 'add channels option'). Once this is done your channel line up should be empty;
6) reinsert aerial by reconnecting to the 'RF in' connection;
7) do a complete scan for channels again.
The Freeview channel line-up provided by six "multiplexes" - each of which carry five or more TV channels, radio channels, text services and EPG data. In this diagram each ROW represents a multiplex. If you are still missing a whole multiplex (ie everything on the row) you may need to replace your aerial with a wideband type, purchase a larger aerial or you may have interference from a VCR, games console, Sky Digibox or similar.

My freeview box seems to be behaving itself since I completely wiped the channels and then did a rescan (see above), its funny because I did a rescan when I installed it - although I didn’t wipe the old channels first.
If anyone else has any problems with their freeview (or digital) boxes then give this a try first before assuming it’s broken

udprdjm

hi there just wondering if anyone else was having poor freeview quality on bbc 1 and bbc2 tonight between 9 and 10

douglas

makemedebtfreeplease

Is anyone else having problems with their freeview reception in the evenings? Mine works fine all day until about 9/9.30 and then it is just a nightmare!!!