Watching Sky in Latvia

[wombat57]

Hello, haven't been on here for a while!

I've been happily watching Sky in Latvia with a one-metre dish - but suddenly the reception has got worse, most obviously in that recordings aren't working properly (sound and vision breaking up), for no obvious reason. It's not the weather, I don't think, as it's been happening for about two weeks now. Just did a complete planner rebuild (so lost all the recordings) but it's still the same. Recordings now are next to useless - the sound goes on and off and picture jumps. For the previous six months or so all was fine - no problems at all except perhaps in thunderstorms, which I'd expect ...

Watching live is usually just about bearable, with a bit of jumping and sound loss, but still not as good as it was in March. But recording now a dead loss :-(

The signal test showws about 50% signal strength on both inputs, and slightly higher than that for picture quality, which is about the same as always ...

Any suggestions please?

Thanks!

 

[RimaNTSS]

@wombat57 Welcome to Latvia! As we spoke more than 2 years ago small dishes for 28,2*E in Latvia are not so welcome anymore
If you have possibility, install bigger dish and at least part of your problems will be solved. Bot some channels from 28,2*E will not be receivable at all (on reasonable size of dish).

 

[wombat57]

Thanks for that. We have got a bigger dish than we had (1 metre now I think). Until March everything worked perfectly - now it's not. Can you think of a reason for that?

Thanks

Wombat57

 

[RimaNTSS]

1 meter is still very small dish. I think 120cm or even 150cm is minimum for stable receiving some channels from 28,2*E (but, again, some channels will never be receivable, just forget about them). Which exactly frequencies (or names of channels) are you looking for? I can probably check for you whether they receivable on small dishes.

 

[Captain Jack]

You say recordings are breaking up...What about when watching live? There was a post yesterday about some receivers being affected due to some firmware bug.

 

[skomedal]

Many changes on Sly digital this month.

Rescan might help depending on stb type.

• Astra 2E, 28.2°E
• (06h29) Sky Digital: Sky Box Office has left 10876.00MHz, pol.V (DVB-S SID:4830 PID:512/640 English)
• (06h29) Sky Digital: Sky Box Office has left 10876.00MHz, pol.V (DVB-S SID:4926 PID:513/641 English)

• Eutelsat 28A, 28.2°E
• (06h27) Sky Digital: New frequency for Food Network: 11426.00MHz, pol.V (DVB-S SR:27500 FEC:2/3 SID:52500 PID:2313/2314 English- Clear).
• (06h27) Sky Digital: New frequency for CBS Reality: 11426.00MHz, pol.V (DVB-S SR:27500 FEC:2/3 SID:52505 PID:2307/2308 English- Clear).
• (06h28) Sky Digital: New frequency for Food Network +1: 11426.00MHz, pol.V (DVB-S SR:27500 FEC:2/3 SID:52510 PID:2317/2318 English- Clear).
• (06h29) Freesat & Sky Digital: Food Network has left 11344.00MHz, pol.H (DVB-S SID:53260 PID:2309/2310 English)
• (06h29) Freesat & Sky Digital: Food Network +1 has left 11344.00MHz, pol.H (DVB-S SID:53270 PID:2316/2317 English)
• (06h29) Sky Digital: CBS Reality has left 11344.00MHz, pol.H (DVB-S SID:53275 PID:2325/2326 English)

2015-04-27

• Astra 2E, 28.2°E
• Sky Digital: Sky Modern Greats is back on 11836.00MHz, pol.H SR:27500 FEC:5/6 SID:5650 after a break ( PID:516/684 nar,664
  
  English,644 English - VideoGuard).
• Sky Digital: Sky Superhero has left 11836.00MHz, pol.H (DVB-S SID:5650 PID:516/684 nar,664
  
  English,644 English), it is no longer transmitted by satellite in Europe.

• Astra 2F, 28.2°E
• Sky Digital: Sky Modern Greats HD is back on 12168.00MHz, pol.V SR:29500 FEC:3/4 SID:3815 after a break ( PID:515[MPEG-4]
  
  /643 nar,663
  
  English - VideoGuard).
• Sky Digital: Sky Superhero HD has left 12168.00MHz, pol.V (DVB-S2 SID:3815 PID:515[MPEG-4]
  
  /643 nar,663
  
  English), it is no longer transmitted by satellite in Europe.

2015-04-26

• Astra 2E, 28.2°E
• Sky Digital: New frequency for Sky Arts 1: 12110.00MHz, pol.H (DVB-S SR:27500 FEC:5/6 SID:5719 PID:523/651 English,671 nar- VideoGuard).
• Sky Digital: New frequency for Sky Showcase: 12110.00MHz, pol.H (DVB-S SR:27500 FEC:5/6 SID:5720 PID:524/672 nar,692
  
  English,652 English- VideoGuard).

• Astra 2F, 28.2°E
• Sky Digital: Sky Showcase has left 12285.00MHz, pol.V (DVB-S SID:4602 PID:518/646 English,666
  
  English,686 English)
• Sky Digital: Sky Arts 1 has left 12285.00MHz, pol.V (DVB-S SID:4604 PID:514/642 English)

2015-04-24

• Astra 2E, 28.2°E
• Sky Digital: New frequency for Sky One: 12110.00MHz, pol.H (DVB-S SR:27500 FEC:5/6 SID:4701 PID:522/670 nar,650 English- VideoGuard).
• Sky Digital: XXX mature content has left 10921.00MHz, pol.H (DVB-S SID:4616 PID:520/648 English), it is no longer transmitted by satellite in Europe.
• Sky Digital: XXX Mums has left 10921.00MHz, pol.H (DVB-S SID:9353 PID:519/647 English), it is no longer transmitted by satellite in Europe.

• Astra 2F, 28.2°E
• Sky Digital: New frequency for Sky Living: 12207.00MHz, pol.V (DVB-S SR:27500 FEC:5/6 SID:5715 PID:524/672 nar,652 English- VideoGuard).
• Sky Digital: New frequency for Lifetime: 12207.00MHz, pol.V (DVB-S SR:27500 FEC:5/6 SID:5716 PID:525/653 English- VideoGuard).
• Sky Digital: New frequency for Chelsea TV: 12207.00MHz, pol.V (DVB-S SR:27500 FEC:5/6 SID:5717 PID:526/654 English- VideoGuard).
• Sky Digital: New frequency for MUTV HD: 12522.00MHz, pol.V (DVB-S SR:22000 FEC:5/6 SID:50290 PID:2324[MPEG-4]
  
  /2326 English,2325
  
  English- VideoGuard).
• Sky Digital: Sky One has left 12285.00MHz, pol.V (DVB-S SID:4703 PID:513/641 English,661 English)
• Sky Digital: Sky Living has left 12285.00MHz, pol.V (DVB-S SID:6028 PID:519/647 English,667 English)
• Sky Digital: Chelsea TV has left 12285.00MHz, pol.V (DVB-S SID:6042 PID:521/649 English)
• Sky Digital: Lifetime has left 12285.00MHz, pol.V (DVB-S SID:4320 PID:520/648 English), it is no longer transmitted by satellite in Europe.

• Eutelsat 28A, 28.2°E
• Sky Digital: MUTV HD has left 11426.00MHz, pol.V (DVB-S SID:52585 PID:2307[MPEG-4]
  
  /2309,2308
  
  English), it is no longer transmitted by satellite in Europe.
• LBP TV has left 11428.00MHz, pol.H (DVB-S SID:10554 PID:4141/4142 English), it is no longer transmitted by satellite in Europe.

http://en.kingofsat.net/news28.2E.php

Regards

 

[Analoguesat]

You say recordings are breaking up...What about when watching live? There was a post yesterday about some receivers being affected due to some firmware bug.

One of my posts - it only affects two types of old Amstrad white SD boxes.

https://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/threads/problems-with-some-old-amstrad-white-sd-boxes.165101/

If you have either of these models then you have to wait for Sky to fix it - or change your sky box.

 

[Analoguesat]

If live tv is affected to then its more likely to be the 5/6 fec change on various transponders kicking in.

 

[RimaNTSS]

There is list of frequencies and signal levels received in Riga on 1,8m dish. List is 2 month old. So, if you can find your favorite frequency you can get get an idea. BTW, do you have limitations of maximum size of dish can be installed at your place?

 

[timo_w2s]

As Analoguesat says, if it's also live TV that is breaking up it is most likely the recent change to FEC 5/6 on the Sky owned transponders. This means you now need an extra 2dB of signal to get a stable picture compared with a few weeks ago.

SD channels like Watch, Dave, Alibi, The Discovery channels, the MTV channels have not changed (but who knows if they plan to in the future).

SD channels like Sky 1, Sky 2, Sky News, Pick, Comedy Central UK, Comedy Central Extra UK, Sky Living, Sky Arts 1 & 2, Sky Atlantic have all changed and need extra signal levels to decode properly.

 

[Analoguesat]

As Analoguesat says, if it's also live TV that is breaking up it is most likely the recent change to FEC 5/6 on the Sky owned transponders. This means you now need an extra 2dB of signal to get a stable picture compared with a few weeks ago.

SD channels like Watch, Dave, Alibi, The Discovery channels, the MTV channels have not changed (but who knows if they plan to in the future).

SD channels like Sky 1, Sky 2, Sky News, Pick, Comedy Central UK, Comedy Central Extra UK, Sky Living, Sky Arts 1 & 2, Sky Atlantic have all changed and need extra signal levels to decode properly.

So if this is the problem & you watch these either you need to move west a few hundred miles - or put a bigger dish up. (Although Sky Arts 2 wont be a problem much longer as its being closed down over the summer.)

 

[wombat57]

Thanks very much for those. The main ones I want are the Sky Sports channels, and after that the movie channels for the kids! Anything else is a bonus really.

It's a bit odd at the moment as yesterday afternoon I tried recording something and it was unwatchable on both inputs, but not much later on everything worked perfectly - recording played with no glitches whatsoever. Strange!

Maybe it is this recent change to FEC 5/6 as mentioned above - for the six months or so leading up to March everything worked fine. The signal strength and quality looks about the same to me.

No restriction on size of dish here, other than finding somewhere to put anything bigger than a metre or so!

Thanks all

Wombat57

 

[timo_w2s]

All the Sky Sports and Movies channels also switched to 5/6 so that probably explains the problem.

The change to FEC 5/6 won't change the signal level you are receiving from last month, it just means the receiver needs more of the same signal to get a complete picture than before.

However, the satellite signal levels vary on a 24 hours basis at the fringes so some parts of the day the signal will be stronger. If you are just on the edge of reception with a dish that is a bit too small you'll see breakup or no signal during those weaker signal times.

 

[Captain Jack]

I am still unclear on whether this only affects recordings only or live TV as well. And what box you're using?

 

[wombat57]

It's been worse on recordings, but affects live TV as well, only slightly less. It's a new (well, one year old or so) Amstrad box - says DV3 on the front

 

[Captain Jack]

Hm, so it's one of those affected by the bug - http://www.sky.com/mysky/latestnews...upport-issues/?DCMP=AFC-78888&affiliate=true#

I suspect it's a combination of things; the FEC change and the bug.

 

[timo_w2s]

It's been worse on recordings, but affects live TV as well, only slightly less. It's a new (well, one year old or so) Amstrad box - says DV3 on the front

I think that's DVB, to signify it's capable of decoding digital signals.

If you notice a slight difference between recordings and live it might just be you where looking at them through different LNB inputs at the time and one might be very slightly better than the other. I doubt the recording would be much different otherwise.

Critical things now are to make sure the dish is aligned exactly to the satellite, every last mm counts, and to check the skew of the LNB. Again, a fraction of a turn could make a difference and give you a few more minutes or hours of reception.

Also the type of LNB is critical. I got good results using an Opticum LQP 04H quad LNB on my 85cm dish, beating the Black Ultra twin and quad.

But nothing beats getting a bigger dish in the long run.

 

[timo_w2s]

Hm, so it's one of those affected by the bug - http://www.sky.com/mysky/latestnews...upport-issues/?DCMP=AFC-78888&affiliate=true#

I suspect it's a combination of things; the FEC change and the bug.

That bug is just for a couple of very old Sky+ boxes.

 

[Captain Jack]

Oh, I typed in DV3 Amstrad Sky box in Google and it came up with a picture of a white one. Didn't click that it's actually DVB Ignore my reply above...

 

[wombat57]

Aha yes looks like it's one of the affected boxes - version number is 4F2103. The Sky thing says F21s are affected. So I hope they fix it soon :-)