Channel 4 Freesat reception problem

[Gewitty]

I have two digiboxes, one is an older Grundig and the other a Panasonic Sky Digibox 2.1.W. Recently, I noticed that Channel 4 reception on the Panasonic is getting very poor, with lots of pixelation and picture freezes. However, the Grundig box is working fine.

I have just put a new Sky card in the Panasonic, as I've been getting lots of on-screen prompts that I needed to hand over £20 for a new card, failing which some channels would no longer be available. I had wondered if this might be the cause of the Channel 4 problem, but since putting the new card in there has been no improvement.

I've checked the signal and both the strength and quality bars are showing strong reception. I also checked the cable to the Panasonic, which looks OK. The dish ( a standard Sky mini-dish) also seems OK and hasn't been moved.

So I'm left somewhat baffled. If I'm getting a good signal and most of the other channels are coming in loud and clear, why is Channel 4 suddenly not working too well?

[PaulR]

It could be the first signs of the power supply in your Panny failing. These sort of random faults are very indicative of that.

[Tivù]

Yes, Power Supply (bulging Smoothing Capacitors) or possibly you need a Panafix Filter

_http://www.satcure.co.uk/filter.htm



As regards the Card, all it does now is get you access to Fiver, Five US and Sky Three, plus Postcode related BBC and ITV etc at the beginning of the EPG.

Channel 4 is FTA and there is an FTA version of Five than can be added in Add Channels (The version that appears on 105 only does so with a Card.

[Gewitty]

Channel 4 is FTA and there is an FTA version of Five than can be added in Add Channels (The version that appears on 105 only does so with a Card.

Thanks for that. It sounds as if I might have an excuse to go out and get a new Humax Foxsat HD PVR!

On the subject of receiving Five; I came across the following on a Spanish ex-pats site this afternoon. I gave it a try, but all I got, having set everything according to the instructions (using the Humax menu, rather than the Sky menu as described), was a green Sky screen and a pop-up message saying that the channel wasn't transmitting at this time.

Here are the instructions I found:

"Your regional version of Channel Five has now been mapped onto the Freesat version of Channel Five. In one way this is good as you can view this regional Channel Five without a Sky card. The bad news is that the frequency for this Freesat version of channel five is the same frequency as BBC2, therefore reception of this will not be available 24-7, even on a big 2.4m satellite dish.
However, it is still possible for you to access the stronger signal Channel Five:
On your Sky remote control:
Press Services -
Press 4 - Press 4 -
Type in the Frequency of 12422 H 27.5 2/3
And go to Find Channels and Press Select.
On this frequency sites the other 3 FIVE regions. Press the Yellow button and you will place a TICK next to the top FIVE. Press Select - and you get the channel line up complete.
You have now added a strong signal FIVE to your “Other Channels” list. To access this Press Services, and go to your Other Channels list and select FIVE."

Since it looked as if it worked and the 12422 H 27.5 2/3 settings listed Five amongst the available channels, I'm wondering why the Humax doesn't seem to receive the Channel.

I tried the same settings on a Panasonic Sky box and it worked just fine (which makes me cross that I just paid out £20 for a new card).

[Tivù]

The Humax will pick up the FTA version which is at 10773 H 22000 5/6

The version that article is about is FTV (Requiring a Card), and it is expressed rather badly: I read it several times and it isn't immediately clear that the Freesat mapped version is the 10773 (FTA) one, not the 12422 (FTV) one.

But you can, in the UK get the 10773 H 22000 5/6 FTA Five via "Add Channels" - It won't appear at 105 on the EPG, though and is selected via "Other Channels".

The problem in Spain is that many residents cannot reliably get the FTA version as it is on what for them is a restricted satellite beam, whereas the FTV variants are not.

Bottom line: Forget the article and scan 10773 on your Humax ...........