For fringe recepion HUMAX VS BUSH HD

Rd100

I have tested the HUMAX FOXSAT-HD against the BUSH FREESAT HD and the bush has a better tuner for fringe reception if i attenuate the signal through my spectrum analyzer to the point where the signal drops out on the humax and the screen goes black then switch over to the bush the bush still working fine with no brake ups , But i am not surprised by this as the firmware and hardware int he bush are made by echostar ,

Hedley

Thanks for the info. RD100. It's a Bush for me if I get one. I live in the Canary Islands and I am wondering if a Freesat box connected to my 3.1m dish will open up any additional channels to the ones I currently get on my Pace 2600c1. Down here I get some BBC and ITV regions, but not all, but alas cannot get ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4. Would I be correct in thinking that the Beeb are still only sending one signal down which is picked up by both the Sky box and the Freesat box rather than a dedicated signal to each. If this is the case I doubt the Freesat box will bring many benefits except the remote chance of getting HD TV. Any advice or experiences with Freesat in the Canaries would be appreciated. Plus does anyone know if there is any chance of receiving the HD channels this far South.

Expat

Thanks for that, I have been wondering which HD receiver would be best for us out here on the fringes. Thanks again Praise be Echostar!

Robbo

It's the same signal to Sky boxes,FTA boxes and Freesat boxes.

Can you get 10847V? this is where BBC HD is according to lyngsat. If you can get the other channels on that transponder I would have thought that it would be possible to get BBC HD.

Hedley

Unfortunately no satellite signal is received on 10847V so it looks like SD TV for me. Horizontal channels, for some reason, are received easier than vertical ones on my set up.

stevenpc

can the Bush BFSAT01HD freesat be used to view fta on other satellites like the humax foxsat ?

cjgall

I believe you can add channels by going to the service menu and entering '2846'. I haven't tried this yet so I don't know if it actually works. There will be a firmware upgrade in the near future that will add a manual tuning option to the settings menu.

Btw. the Bush's tuner is much more sensitive than my Pace 430N. I get 100% signal strength an 90% signal quality hear in the Netherlands, about the same as my Topfield. The Pace is usually at 40-50% quality & strength. The interactive text is much faster than on any Sky box I have used.

All in all not a bad little HD receiver for the price (Argos 119,- including HDMI cable) if you can live without the component and composite outputs that the Humax has.

Gunner

Bush Receiver. Can you add channels ???.

cjgall

It looks like it. I typed in ' 2846' from the settings menu, it brings up a hidden screen titled 'Manual Scan - Digital Satellite' from which you can scan frequenties etc. I haven't tried it but it looks promising. Bush will be updating the firmware soon to officially support adding extra channels.

snap

The test above does not exactly replicate real world reception in fringe areas. In these areas, typically a large dish is being used which will give very strong signals on some beams, such as ( In Iberia) the south beam. A good receiver will be able to reject the interference caused by strong signals on differing polarities.
What most people are looking for on the fringe is good ITV and BBC reception from Astra 2D. Someone in the south of Spain has tested the Humax HD receiver on 2D and found it better than the Pace 2600 CI, previously regarded as having the best tuner.

FD12

Whilst having repeated attempts at the above yesterday, I switched to my program list to find a software download in progress.

My box is a Grundig HD, but this should apply to all the Alba tuners.

Within 30 minutes I was able to add channels via the manual set-up.
Channel details from Flysat.

Sound and picture control much improved. You have to swap between channel lists - non-Freesat starting at 3000 in whatever order you want to load them.

I did pick the Grundig so that my 90 year old Mum could use it, when I really wanted a Humax, which seemed too complicated for her. Turns out to be a good choice after all.

cjgall

I have installed the latest software to the Bush, there is now an option to add none freesat channels. my first impressions are not very positive.

It scans only one frequency at a time and then adds the whole bouquet. you cannot scan a whole satellite.
No DiSEqC support
Deleting channels requires pin code for each channel you want to delete
No way of rearranging or sorting channel order
Crashed when trying to scan 10729 V and had to be unplugged from the mains before it wold work again. I gave up after that but i will try again when I have more time

Expat

Been using a Humax HD receiver, works fine here in Copenhagen, Denmark. Infact it is better than my old Panasonic 30 and never crashes!

cos32

Do you have any problems in insterting a UK post code
in the set up procedure as mine will not accept any
post code.

Cos32

apepper

Another thread on this board Humax Freesat postcode? has looked at this. The problem is that the EPG and postcode database comes from Eurobird 1; unless you can receive from Eurobird 1 then the postcode can't be entered and the EPG won't work.

-Andrew

Hedley

Just tested a Humax HD Freesat box in direct comparison with sky pace 2600c1 box. Reception is almost identical. However I cannot receive BBC HD probably due to being so far south. I am hooked up to a 3.1m dish and Invacom quad LNB. BBC1 and ITV1 coming through perefectly.

FRINGE

Interested in your comments Hedley. I have a 3m Laminas offset dish, a 3B Electronics quad LNB (don't blame me - it came with the dish) and a Humax Foxsat PVR. Can receive BBC HD programs OK whenever prompted by the on-screen option (to view in HD or SD). However have just started to get problems with most channels later at night - about 21:30. For some reason the signal quality on BBC1, BBC2, Chanel 5, Chanel 4, More4+1 etc, just drops off to zero but still manage to get ITV Meridian South - just. So I had the dish realigned but no change and I simply do not understand why it was OK 4 weeks ago but not now. Will be getting a new quad Invacom C120 with matching Laminas feed horn soon as I suspect the 3B Electronics LNB is not one of the best to be found on the planet.

Channel Hopper

If the Freesat EPG is of utmost importance then this thread is worth persuing, but many other HD receivers (some with hard drive installed, or at least have connectivity capability) out there have more sensitive tuners to those posted by the o/p 18 months ago.

There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness"

Hedley

Hi Fringe, I have had the same problem. I have had a 3m dish for 5 years now, three of them!. The first one, a metal one, lost the signal totally for 20 mins. each day at approx. 21:30 in late October and also in March. Now I have a fibreglass dish and a Grundig quad LNB and the reception is better but I think it is down to dish alignment. I am now viewing via a Dreambox which gives individual signal strengths on each channel. During the morning signal strength on BBC1 is currently upto 52% but by 21:30 this has dropped to 38% and the picture starts pixelating however within 15 minutes the signal strength is back upto 52%. The main issue, apart from being so far South, is the suns position washing out the already weak signal. Also with the very quick recovery in signal strength maybe Astra are moving Astra 2d or changing something?
As far as your dish is concerned I would recommend attaching 2 wires, one each side of the dish, with an adjuster to tighten/loosen the tension, readily available at your local ferrateria. Just half a turn on the adjuster, the equivalent of pressing gently on one side of the dish, can vary the signal strength by 10%. Then have a play with varying the tension i.e pulling the dish one side or another and optimise the dish. Repeat this exercise with the LNB left/right & in/out to maximise the signal strength hopefully to such a level that when the sun weakens the signal you still have enough strength to prevent pixelation. I hope this helps but if you need any more advice I would be pleased to try and help.

FRINGE

Many thanks for the advice Hedley. I have the installers back out tomorrow evening and will talk to them about the tensioner's you suggested. Understand what you are alluding to - it may help for fine adjustment. What I can say is that the dish is very rigid and sturdy so flex or any other movement is virtually none existent. Have also seen reports that suggest its one of the best available offset's available.

Returning to the Humax. Here are some readings taken today at 13:00.

Channel Strength % Quality %
BBC1 London 90 70
Channel 4 85 70
Meridian South 90 70
Five 85 70
ITV 4+1 90 70
More 4+1 85 70


So I am very happy with these and daytime picture quality is perfect. Obviously I do not know how 'accurate' the readings are, I guess its down to how the box interprets the signal that it gets. So that should be taken into account with any comparison to your Dreambox data. Also, we may have different dishes, we do have different LNB's and we do not live next door to each other so any direct comparison (Humax v Dreambox) is very much open to debate. Having said all of that, it is of interest. You mention signal strengths in your reply, what's the quality like? or did you mean quality.

Out of interest, I also tried two other receivers (Pace DS430N and a new but unknown German FTA box left by the installers) at night to see if they would restore reception but none did and I have found that daytime reception is better for me on the Humax.

Have read many feeds and comments on the net regarding loss of reception in fringe areas. Now I am no expert but some (no most) just do not add up to me. Wobble of the earth, satellite batteries, equinox, etc, etc. None of this stands up to explain why signal quality is fine for many months (24/7) but not the next, especially when it deteriorates after 21:00 only to return again in the early hours of the following day.

My new Invacom C120 LNB should arrive in the next 2 weeks and I will post the results from this change. Now that will be a good direct comparison. I just hope that the earth does not stop wobbling in the meantime because that would bugger up any worthwhile conclusions !!!!

Hedley

Hi Fringe, You are correct I meant quality. I think your readings are mis-leading as I suspect your box does what Sky boxes do when you check signal strength and quality and default to test a north beam signal hence the flattering numbers. The best sky box for fringe areas is definitely a pace 2600C1 which looks like the 430 but has a much finer tuner. As you say we may never know the reason for the drop of signal at night down here at certain times of year but have to work around it.
Like you my dish is well secured but literally just pressing the dish on one side is the difference between getting a signal and no signal, it is that fine!! Hence anything you can do to optimise your signal will see big results. I do recommend the tensioning wires are you can then play around to get the best signal, best in the morning as any difference shows up more easily. With the tensioners best get inox (stainless steel) ones as when the signal falls away in the Spring you will be able to adjust your dish without scraping off the rust. Let us know how your realignment goes. It is very much trail and error but worth it in the end for a home from home, UK TV, in the sun!!