slow channel change

mesaka

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I'm based in Frankfurt and have had my sky box for around 5 years (Pace box). When all of the BBC channels moved to 2d I had to install a bigger dish and since then I have some problems when changing from (for arguments sake) Paramount to BBC 1. The channel changes but it might take 3-5 minutes to actually "lock-in" and put up the picture ..... I have TIVO and it sends the codes to change the channel correctly - its just the switching that seems to be the problem.

I have made some tests and the problem seems to be when changing from a channel not on 2D to one that is on that satellite. If I go from BBC2 to BBC1 there is no issue.

Any ideas?
 

rolfw

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Interesting one, there is a well known problem with some Panasonic receivers, whereby the box generates a spurious 22khz tone and tricks the LNB into staying in high mode. Haven't heard of the same problem with a Pace box however, so not sure what to suggest, do you have access to another digibox or receiver to try?
 

PaulR

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If it's a late Pace box with a ZIF tuner it could be the first signs of failure.

Some friends of mine in France have a 2500 and they were getting problems going from C4 to ITV or BBC. The symptoms were exactly as described, a delay in recognising the channel - sometimes having to past the channel and back again to get it recognised.

At first I thought it might have been something to do with the difference in signal strengths between 2D and the other satellites but about 3 months later the tuner failed completely.

PaulR
 

PoloMint

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Could be a hi/low band switching problem, this explains why when you are on 2D (mostly low band) you can switch amongst them without problems but not from a high band to a low band channel.

I agree that it sounds like the tuner could be dying, but it could also be the LNB not switching properly, have you got another one you could try, or a friends dish you could try your box on?
 

mesaka

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Thanks for all of the ideas.

I tried a friends box this weekend. The situation was exactly the same. Therefore I discounted anything to do with the box. I additionally tried using the box on a shorter run of cable (its quite a long run now). Here I saw that the situation improved.

I then tried changing the skew. I improved the switching to 2D channels BUT at the expense of the non-2D (in some cases I could no longer get them at all!).

So I am at a bit of a loss to know how to deal with the issue - I am thinking about trying to add a signal booster in the run - but if it is a problem of hi/low switching rather than the signal run will this make things worse?
 

rolfw

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Try swapping out the LNB, the existing one may be faulty.
 
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