Clarke Tech & Ch4 HD

scooter123

Hi
I have a problem that is driving me mad.
I use a Clarke Tech HD5000c to record HD programs I want to keep to hard drive. I then transfer the recording to my PC & burn an AVC HD DVD to use on a Blu Ray player.
I have a Sky subscription & card which I use with a T rex cam in the Clarke Tech.
My problem is I can watch & record Screen 2 & all the other HD channels I subscribe to exept Ch4 & Screen1 on 11798H. On this transponder the signal strength bar keeps bouncing up & down causing the signal to break up.
I am feeding the reciever from a 1.5m dish so signal strength should not be a problem but just to rule out the dish or lnb I have connected the reciever to my Sky dish but the signal is just the same. The Sky HD box works fine on this transponder using either dish.
Sods law says that films I want to keep such as the Italian Job are shown on screen1.
Can anyone tell me if this is a problem with the Clarke Tech or is there something else interfering with the signal. I noticed that Anytime is on this transponder. Could this be the cause of the problem.

TonyWhalley

Just moved over my S** card to a CT5000 and have the same problem with CH4 HD - for various reasons have not tried other Sky channels yet, but BBC HD and ITV HD plus 19.2E HD channels work just fine.
Everything is rock solid except see exactly your problem - have asked Clarke Tech if they have any ideas.

However, see reception comments regarding CH4 HD on other bulletin board posts - so not sure if this is purely CT problem.
Might try changingf my LNB to see if that helps.

TonyWhalley

However, forgot to say that I know somebody in the South England with your CAM setup and he receivers CH4 HD absolutely OK. What is your firmware level on the CT5000??? - his is lower than mine which might indicate a difference - higher is not always better!
However, as I do not use a CAM, I need the latest firmware.

josh2

True is me .

I put my money on it being either the frequency drifting out or a variation of the 6 percent signal quality issue that I've seen elsewhere. I suggested bracketing the frequency by adding in a new transponder frequency slightly up and down, tune in. I know you can do that and see whether it makes a difference.

I don't have any problems, this bit works like a dream least up to 1.38.

scooter123

Ive tried tuning slightly up & down from the frequency. The chanels are still found by the reciever but with the same problem. I was running firmware 133p but I have now updated with fw138p & then fw143p. Newer firmware has not fixed the problem.
What firmware version is known to work with these channels. Can anyone list what settings they are using so I can compare them to mine.

josh2

I just do the automatic tune using either of those software versions and it's stable as a rock. I did try to simulate the problem by tuning it off frequency but that didn't create the problem so, so much for my theory.

Are you sure it isn't beating with some other piece of equipment or it's not terrestrial interference or the LNB isn't stable [shock horror] or not aligned correctly. From what I've heard from Tony it triggers off every few minutes or so, so it's intermittent.

I did record the whole series of Skin on C4HD and I can say that, that was fine...

Still I have my own problem that 1.43p won't boot up my Buffalo Turbo 750GB drive when switching on. 1.38p is fine. I think the developers need to put extra delay in it while in the boot up phase, it's running too fast and hence won't work as a PVR. I probably said that above here... I'm saying everywhere on the basis that whoever writes the software might just change it !.

Getting back to your problem, if you have a spare LNB and can get to the dish then change it, or take the box around to someone else's house and try it there. That would rule out the LNB / set up issue, thou not local interference if you found it to work, but then you would know that it's not the box.

If it's a combo try parking the freesat channel on something else just in case that is introducing a problem. With that, I run out of ideas.

Analoguesat

If its kicking in every few minutes Id suggest that is a symptom of external interference. Look for obvious candidates first -

DECT phone equipment, BT Home Hubs etc. Unplug base units at the wall and see if the interference goes away. (Possibly coming from next door if you have thin partition walls as well!)

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josh2

Mind you I did tell Tony that on DECT phones etc....

There is a trick where you can tell it the cross over frequency is something else ?... so it shifts the channels around which can avoid the DECT signal as a test... least I think there is. Since I don't have the problem I'm not going to experiment.

TonyWhalley

Well for various reasons, I have this week changed LNB's (0.1), cables (4 way screened) and DiSeQc switch.
I have a far better signal (just lived through a thunder storm and no problems) but Ch4 still has the same problem!

Now my phones are 3 rooms away so that should not be a problem, but I guess it could be the neighbours underneath (I am on top) - when I power up my laptop the air goes blue with the number of routers in this block but I don't see that as the problem but you never know!

Oh well perhaps CT will come back from their monitoring - I emailed them earlier in the week?

Tony

Topper

It is where the base station is that is the crux of the problem, you will never know unless you power that down completely

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scooter123

I tried unpluging my router but this made no difference.
Ive tried using my sky dish on the clarke tech instead of the 1.5 motorised dish. This made no difference.
Ive tried the 1.5m dish on the sky box. This gets a perfect signal from both dishes.
The clarke tech can tune into that frequency (11798H) on other sats (astra 19e) & recieve a signal without interference so I dont think that is the problem.
Lets hope TonyWhalley's email to clarke tech results in a solution.

josh2

Well I was going to say then it looks like the CT then. I know Tony has a theory that it's the bit rate that it's being asked to do on C4HD. An alternative could be that the CT on Astra 2 with whatever the interference [if it's that] is beating with another frequency on Astra 2, so it's not totally cut and dry that if the box works on 11798H on one satellite but not on this then it's box, since you get harmonics... that's how stuff is mixed down . So if that mixing frequency isn't there on the other sat + the interference then you wouldn't get it.

Mind you Tony could right....