No Signal!!!!!

[wilf1234]

Hi guys

We‘ve had a Panasonic DMR BS750 which up until now has been a brilliant Freesat viewer and HD PVR. Since it was installed last December we’ve had Signal Strength & Quality at 10/10 from day one. (I fitted it and an Ariel guy came and lined it up as I found the basic satellite finder rubbish!)

Then a couple of weeks ago we lost signal completely – ‘Faulty dish’ appeared on screen a couple of times, but then after 12ish hrs the signal came back.

Then yesterday (Sunday 5th June) we had no signal and checking on a couple of films which we recording on Saturday night, they both appear to have cut out around midnight!!.

Today (6th June @ 1800hrs) – we still have no signal.

I’ve tried switching the thing of for a few minutes and there is no obvious sign of dish movement or problem with the cables or connectors.

Having a quick look round the forums, someone mentioned that a couple of the HD channels would need re-tuning on 6th June – is this just a simple case of me needing to re-tune or something more sinister? (I’m guessing it’s not a re-tune as it would still show some signal coming in!!)

Any ideas gratefully received.

Cheers

W

 

[Huevos]

If you lost signal and then it came back it is unlikely it is alignment. It could be faulty LNB, receiver or cable but you going to need either a meter or some duplicate hardware to help you track it down.

 

[Chris76]

Was it BBC hd that you where recording? The changed over last night at 12 sharp a rescan will bring these channels back in for you.

 

[wilf1234]

thanks guys - it was bbc hd I was recording, but i can't get any channels at all - will the re-scan work even though the box is saying zero signal?

cheers

W

 

[satelliteman]

Take a look here > http://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/fortecstar-hd/191797-bbc1hd-bbchd-off-air.html
http://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/sky-hd-bskyb-hdtv-astra-28-2e/191719-bbc-hd-tp-switch-dvb-s2.html

If you can, try a rescan on the single transponder.

 

[HDTV Hobby]

I have the same Panasoinc DMR 750 and seeing exactly the same problem.

However, I also have a Panasonic TV PX-G50-10B which have inbuilt HD satellite decoder. This is connected to the same dish with a quad out LNB and hence effectively sharing the same feed with the DMR 750. The TV FreeSat settings survived the change and still showing BBC HD & BBC 1 HD without problem. But the "Other satellite" settings initially suffered the same problem as the DMR 750. When I checked the tuning details, the FreeSat setting shows 10847MHz, V, 23000kS/s, but the problematic "other satellite" setting shows 10847MHz, V, 22001kS/s. Upon re-scanning the "Other satellite" I got the BBC HD & BBC 1 HD back working, and of course showing a the baud rate of 23000kS/s.

However, repeated re-scan on the DMR 750 did not solve the problem.

This demonstrated that it has nothing to do with you dish or LNB and so don't touch them! I've even swapped the cable between the TV & the DMR 750, and the TV still showing BBC HD fine, but no improvement to the DMR 750. This absolutely eliminated the remote possibility that some of the quad output from the same LNB is faulty, or even faulty cable.

I think it may be down to the fact that the DMR 750 only supports symbol rates of 22000, 27500, 29500 (you can find out from the menu SetUp - ... - Other Satellite Tuning - Manual SetUp) only but not the now required 23000kS/s. So may be it's a case of contacting Panasonic support to see if that's a software upgrade fix or hardware work. Hope they'll take up the problem seeing as the unit was sold as FreeSat HD Recorder.

Will update you if I hear anything from them.

 

[Analoguesat]

Some of ther Panny IDTV's are having problems & require a factory reset before they will get the new BBC transmission format.

Might be worth doing the same with these receivers.

 

[HDTV Hobby]

Got official reply from Panasonic UK support:

In response, you may need to run the recorder through its shipping conditions in order to restore the channels. Shipping conditions will not affect the contents of the HDD. In order to run shipping conditions you will need to do the following once the unit is powered up:

Press the FUNCTION MENU button
Go down to the option called OTHERS and press OK
Go down to the option called SETUP and press OK
Go down to the option called OTHERS and press OK
Go down to the option called INITALIZE and press OK
Select the SHIPPING CONDITIONS option and confirm by highlighting YES and pressing OK

You will then need to follow the on screen instructions and once shipping conditions has completed it will retune the unit which should then restore the channels.

I tried it, and it worked magic. Both the BBC & BBC 1 HD channels are back after the automatic FreeSat scanning upon switching the DMR 750 after the reset to "shipping condition".

So it should solve your problem as well. Good luck.

 

[wilf1234]

hi hobby,

thanks for this advice, will try it this evening - although my problem is slightly different to yours.

I didn't lose just the HD channels, I lost evertything, and then mysterioulsy after 36hrs they all came back on again!!

then yesterday (sunday 19th) when I switched on for the first time, the 'Faulty Dish' message came up again, no channels and checking the signal strenght we were back to zero again.

I took the power lead out for a couple of minutes, but no joy - I then disappered for the afternoon and when I came back the channels were all back again (signal stenght 9 or 10).

does this sound like the same thing you were suffering?

cheers

W

 

[kip]

Do you have another receiver you could use to see if there is a signal there? Or maybe try your box on a neighbors dish. This way you could rule out the receiver. If it's not the receiver then it's probably the LNB or cable

 

[wilf1234]

hi guys

tried the restore to shipping conditions things and NO JOY! Still zero signal quality and strength for 24-48hrs, and obviously no channels, then it mysteriously goes back up to full strength signal. At the moment the signal has been down for 24hrs

This is majorly frustrating - I don't have any other kit I can get hold off to plug into my Dish and LNB to confirm that they are OK, but the fact that it's such a sporadic problem makes me think it must be the receiver, rather than LNB etc.

anyone had a similar problem?

cheers

W

 

[Lazarus]

Suggests to me it isn't the Receiver, but a dodgy cable connection or something else in the feed chain.

A marginal connection can demonstrate intermittency as the result of eg Temperature changes, wind displacement etc.

 

[wilf1234]

I am but a very dodgy amateur but surely it can't be a dodgy connection - if it was I'd lose one input not both. plus, it can't be a coincidence that this happened at the time of a channel change with BBC Hd etc. Also, it;s odd that the signal comes back so strongly each time - if it was a dodgy connector or alignment problem ,surely the signal would be on the fringe all the time.

Any how I've just had a look at all the connector and they look fine, plus I've swapped over the cables in the quad lnb (from the inner two to the outer two) - and still no joy!!

pint of scrumpy for the one who solves this one!!

W

 

[Lazarus]

Ok, thanks for reporting all those checks ............... can you describe the cable run: ie Is it separate cables or is it "shotgun" cable? Does it have sharp bends? Are there any joints eg Wall Faceplates? Does it run across a roof? ............

 

[wilf1234]

thanks for your help on this.

cables are separate with f-connectors on both end. no majorly sharp turns. Cables run straight down into the floor void (through floorboards), out through an air brick and up the wall to the dish. no joints

I've pulled the slack through from under the floor void and they seem fine although one reasonably hard kink in one of the cbales (looks like the sort of thing where it might have been bent quite frimly pre-installation) - sorry for the lack of any further detail.

cheers

W

 

[sonnetpete]

I suppose there's a very outside chance of it being a rodent chewing the cables as they run through a void? Not enough to sever the cables but sufficient to cause an intermittent problem.................

...................if it is, mines a Guiness!!

 

[Huevos]

Have you checked the dish is tight. Could be the wind pushes it one way and it works and then pushes it the other and it stops. Other than that I would guess the receiver or LNB is faulty, probably the receiver.

 

[Mick T]

Hi guys

We‘ve had a Panasonic DMR BS750 which up until now has been a brilliant Freesat viewer and HD PVR. Since it was installed last December we’ve had Signal Strength & Quality at 10/10 from day one. (I fitted it and an Ariel guy came and lined it up as I found the basic satellite finder rubbish!)

Then a couple of weeks ago we lost signal completely – ‘Faulty dish’ appeared on screen a couple of times, but then after 12ish hrs the signal came back.

Then yesterday (Sunday 5th June) we had no signal and checking on a couple of films which we recording on Saturday night, they both appear to have cut out around midnight!!.

Today (6th June @ 1800hrs) – we still have no signal.

I’ve tried switching the thing of for a few minutes and there is no obvious sign of dish movement or problem with the cables or connectors.

Having a quick look round the forums, someone mentioned that a couple of the HD channels would need re-tuning on 6th June – is this just a simple case of me needing to re-tune or something more sinister? (I’m guessing it’s not a re-tune as it would still show some signal coming in!!)

Any ideas gratefully received.

Cheers

W

Hi Will,

I have got the identical machine with the exact same problem. I have done the factory reset and checked the connection and LNB and all are fine but still no signal.

Did you ever get yours fixed and if so what was the solution?

Regards

Mick

 

[ralphmagno]

hello, if you are sure that you have changed the lnb and checked the cable and the problem is still there.
then there is a problem on the mother board of the box.
the box sends out 14 v and 18 v dc on both outputs.
there could be a cold solder joint.
if you did not change the lnb then its the lnb.
if you have another box and use one ouf the outputs and get the same problem then we know for sure its the lnb.
ralph

 

[Mick T]

Hi Ralph,

Many thanks for the speedy reply and suggestion. I have not changed the LNB but I have plugged an old Sky satellite receiver into the wire leading from the LNB. This is the wire I had connected to the DMR BS750 and which now when connected to the DMR BS750 says 'NO SIGNAL'. However when connected to the Sky receiver there is a signal.

I have done an internet search and typed in the words "Panasonic DMR BS-750" "No Signal" and quite a few people have had the same problem with this unit. Do you think it might be possible that this model has an inherent fault with the inbuilt Freesat receiver?

Regards

Mick