NTL electronic program guide not working.

quenching

The electronic program guide on NTL digital has stopped working correctly in the last few days, we can only see the current program listed together with the following one underneath (when you press "browse"). This is the same for all channels and no programme summaries are displayed either. I've reset the box using the yellow remote button and by unplugging from the power, I've removed and reinserted the viewing card but nothing makes any difference. Is it just my box or has anyone else had the same problem? I'm in the Dublin 16 area.

A call to NTL eventually got a girl who suggested my remote batteries needed replacing, and that sometimes the remotes "get a bit tired". Thick as a very short plank does not even begin to decribe her, but nothing more than you'd expect from NTL "customer service".

Any adivce appreciated.

GerardKeating

quenching wrote:

The electronic program guide on NTL digital has stopped working correctly in the last few days, we can only see the current program listed together with the following one underneath (when you press "browse"). This is the same for all channels and no programme summaries are displayed either. I've reset the box using the yellow remote button and by unplugging from the power, I've removed and reinserted the viewing card but nothing makes any difference. Is it just my box or has anyone else had the same problem? I'm in the Dublin 16 area.

A call to NTL eventually got a girl who suggested my remote batteries needed replacing, and that sometimes the remotes "get a bit tired". Thick as a very short plank does not even begin to decribe her, but nothing more than you'd expect from NTL "customer service".

Any adivce appreciated.

It does that a lot...

BendiBus

I had the same problem for about 30 minutes last night. And no program information was available either.

The NTL EPG is utter crap. This sort of thing happens all the time. Not to mention the service freezing, screens going blank on some channels for hours on end.

There's a lot wrong with NTL. Don't know if UPC will change things.

belmulletman

actually... Digital dropped the other night (either monday or tuesday) about 1am, and didn't come back till the morning, and when it did i was getting the same problem as mentioned above.
it was some update because instead of saying "Intermission", it now says "Channel Off Air"... i've not noticed any other changes, but one thing that really really bugs me is ABC1... i do like that station, but after 6pm, it constantly says "Channel Off Air" (it used to say Intermission)... this has been like this for months and months, when ABC1 first launched, it was fine, but then went like this...

Ah well, here hoping that when UPC do finally get their act together and rebarnd and sort the s^"t out that it can only improve, 'cause it really can't go any lower!!

Enigma365

Yeah, why do they not provide an epg for abc1 between the hours of 6pm and 6am. Its really weird. They list it as off air for those hours, even though its a 24 hour channel.

Mossy Monk

odd that they are using the Freeview EPG listings for ABC1

rogue-entity

NTL though have never had a decent platform for their digital service, colour scheme asside, their software makes AOL look like Linux. Their EPG never really worked for us anyway and it lacks so many good features that Sky has, like the ability to view the EPG of other channels without having to use the browse feature.

quad_red

in my girlfriends last place was consistently wrong ever since they got it installed over a year ago.

Programme listings would always be one or two hours off (at best) and the totally wrong days (at worst).

Or it just wouldn't work.

Sarsfield

They've also got Bravo and Bravo+1 the wrong way around now :rolleyes: Things just get better & better!

TwistsAndTurns

Can anyone tell me are they having any problems with NTL digital, in the last week or so the picture seems to freeze for a second and jump, it returns to the exact stage of the progamme and I`am not missing anything but this is getting more frequent and annoying. I`am in the south east region and no help from NTL.

The tax man

Press the "help" button on your remote,have a look at no.4(should read)0.0E+0-0.0E+0
Then check no.5(should read) mid 30's.
Best bet is to check these when the problem starts happening and post your readings.You may need to keep an eye on no.4 for a minute or so to see if it changes value.
These are just basic signs of signal strength and quality.There are plenty of other things besides the signal that can cause a problem like yours.

TwistsAndTurns

No 4 reading same as you say with no changes

No 5 reading 33.0 (moving between 33.0 and 34.9 wed morning)

Being watching for a while and no change but having said that not as much interference as they were @ around 10pm when I came in and was told that it was happening all night.
Will keep an eye early tomorrow and see if any changes on 4 or 5. Cheers for reply The tax man.

gerryo

The tax man wrote:

Press the "help" button on your remote,have a look at no.4(should read)0.0E+0-0.0E+0
Then check no.5(should read) mid 30's.
Best bet is to check these when the problem starts happening and post your readings.You may need to keep an eye on no.4 for a minute or so to see if it changes value.
These are just basic signs of signal strength and quality.There are plenty of other things besides the signal that can cause a problem like yours.

These vary slightly from channel to channel.

I've never seen a value of 0.0E+0-0.0E+0 for no.4, it always jumps up/down. an NTL engineer once told me it's only going to be a problem when the "+0" portion is greater than 0.

I'm also seeing the same issues as eirebhoys, frozen pictures, pixelation.
Strangely, the sound carries on as normal, then the picture catches up. Happens infrequently, but BBC1 & Ch4 are very affected, but have seen it on RTE also.

ciaran76

I have had frozen screens and had to get the box changed in 1 year. But have to admit I don't have much problems with the EPG being slow or behind except for Bravo at the moment.

Could this be because I am in a new estate and all new wires etc etc ?

My parents live not far away less then 2kms and theirs is always crashing and freezing etc etc.

Anyone know why we get total different results ?

muppetkiller

Guys I've had the same issues as you all and it's really begining to wreck my head. I only watch TV in the evenings and their tech support is always gone home ... Surley something has to be done. Mine has been like this for 4 months now. I've called during the day and found the usual replies too "reset your box" your batteries are dead" blah blah blah...they really think the general public are muppets.

JDxtra

It simply doesn't work correctly, the issue is bad programming with very little (or poor) QA testing - simple as that. The software running on the small silver Pace boxes is even more unstable and unpredictable.

Over the last few days it has been getting worse. I've now had to reset my box two days in a row.... and I can't see it getting better anytime soon.

...time to move to Sky I think.

The tax man

gerryo wrote:

These vary slightly from channel to channel.

I've never seen a value of 0.0E+0-0.0E+0 for no.4, it always jumps up/down. an NTL engineer once told me it's only going to be a problem when the "+0" portion is greater than 0.

LOL.:rolleyes: Foward error correction You can also google Bit error rates or Reed Solomon. It'll give you an insight to what goes on.(highly riveting reading:D )

If those figures are jumping all over the place you've a poor(quality) signal arriving at the set top box.They are showing pre RS errors and post RS errors.The box has some foward correction so it can sort out small+brief errors on the incoming signal.(first lot of zeros might flicker every now and again but the second lot of zeros stay put,hence no picture break up or freezing)
If you have a constant stream of errors arriving at the box it can't handle it and so the post RS reading goes mad and so does the picture.
That signal needs to be checked properly.

Now I've had my own box lock up and the sound continue or just freeze completely while all the signal readings were fine. I'd put these down to box/software issues but like others it's starting to get worse over the past two weeks.
Don't know about anyone else but my Bravo\Bravo+1 listings are sorted now.

@eirebhoys, they sound about normal. Mid 30's are fine.

cgarvey

If you've a high strength/quality signal, you'll also experience the disappearing channels, lockups, wrong time (and therefore diary/EPG), and missing EPG. Sure, there are signal issues for some users.. but I think software is the bigger issue here.

Sarsfield

They managed another cock-up to annoy me the other night. They gave the wrong episiode description for CSI on Living TV on Sunday I think. I thought I'd seen it before so didn't tune in. However while channel hopping through Living TV (or +1 probably) I realised it was an entirely different episode and one I'd never seen before :mad:

batman2000

Hi, I reply to the NTL saga. The errors that are seen on the 'Help' No.4 depend if your on MMDS or Cable. On cable there should no errors on the code. However with MMDS there are errors coming due to other wireless i.e. IBB in the air. So some error codes are acceptable on the first half of the line. BUT none should be on the second half. My EPG has also gone to pot, i'm on MMDS in North Dublin. NTL crap--Go Sky Go!

redman

I have found my small Pace box also going to pot lately and needing to be reset typically 2/3 times a weeks.

Would move to sky but want CH4....

TinCool

Sarsfield wrote:

They managed another cock-up to annoy me the other night. They gave the wrong episiode description for CSI on Living TV on Sunday I think. I thought I'd seen it before so didn't tune in. However while channel hopping through Living TV (or +1 probably) I realised it was an entirely different episode and one I'd never seen before :mad:

Oh my god, you'd better bring NTL to court for that fallicy

PS. My NTL Digibox has been acting up the last few weeks, no picture, only resetting sorts it out for a couple of days.

quad_red

TinCool wrote:

PS. My NTL Digibox has been acting up the last few weeks, no picture, only resetting sorts it out for a couple of days.

Same thing happens to our (brand new) box. Except resetting doesn't work. You have to pull the card in and out.

Which can't be good for it.

GerardKeating

Sarsfield wrote:

They managed another cock-up to annoy me the other night. They gave the wrong episiode description for CSI on Living TV on Sunday I think. I thought I'd seen it before so didn't tune in. However while channel hopping through Living TV (or +1 probably) I realised it was an entirely different episode and one I'd never seen before :mad:

Why do you assume it was NTL's fault, most likly they were sent the wrong info my Living...

Sarsfield

GerardKeating wrote:

Why do you assume it was NTL's fault, most likly they were sent the wrong info my Living...

Because this is the 'pick on NTL' thread. If I find a 'pick on Living TV' thread I'll have a go at them too

fme

Just to add my tuppence worth, I switched to ntls digital select 2 months ago and am not impressed.
The picture pixilates several times during almost every program - UTV was especially bad last night - and then the sounds get out of synch too.
The EPG response time of over 1 second per button push is very annoying.
Add to this that they charged me for installation and for the first 3 months despite it being a 'free' promotion ( After 30 mins waiting, support promised it will be fixed in the next bill).
Finally to add insult to injury, the picture quality of the analogue channels is very bad since digital was installed.

Incidentally, when the guy was installing it, he said to call if there were picture quality problems (obviously he knows its dodgy) and he mentioned something about then getting a second 'black box' installed to improve things - anyone know anything about this second box?

gerryo

fme wrote:

Just to add my tuppence worth, I switched to ntls digital select 2 months ago and am not impressed.
The picture pixilates several times during almost every program - UTV was especially bad last night - and then the sounds get out of synch too.

I get the pixillation problem, but the only sound problem I've seen is when the picture freezes & the sound carries on, this usually lasts for 1~2 seconds.

fme wrote:

Finally to add insult to injury, the picture quality of the analogue channels is very bad since digital was installed.

Incidentally, when the guy was installing it, he said to call if there were picture quality problems (obviously he knows its dodgy) and he mentioned something about then getting a second 'black box' installed to improve things - anyone know anything about this second box?

When I got MMDS installed years ago, back when it was analogue, the installer put in some sort of bandpass filter, it was a black box. Not sure if this is what he was talking about, but I also got a diplexer installed, which combined my terrestrial channels with the output from the MMDS aerial onto one downlead.

You don't say how you get the analogue pictures, but maybe he put in a splitter/combiner & it's degrading the signal from your regular aerial. I installed a masthead amplifier before the combiner & my analogue pictures are OK

muppetkiller

I'm just after contacting NTL to complain about the same issue along with the poor picture quality. Firstly their tech support is useless as they never pickup and also I had ordered Prem plus season ticket and now it's gone off my account ? the skysports and setanta packages I ordered are still there but the picture is so bad that they are unwatchable.

Now here's the funny part .I rang up to cancel skysports and setantaand they said I can't as I am not the account holder ?
To which i replied that i had ordered them in the first place. The guy on the phone said that anyone can order any channels on your account once they have your account number and address. So I think everyone should oder all the channels and deny they ever ordered them...say someone must have found my bill and called you guys up
How is that even legal ?

quad_red

digibox was replaced yesterday cos we lost loads of channels.

All our channels are back and to my surprise
1) The picture is noticeably better - no more pixelation every few mins
and
2) The programme guide loads instantly and appears to be spot on!

Now, I understand the picture element. But why a new box would solve all the programme guide issues I don't know.

Tech guy echoed whats been said here - they buy the units in bulk and they've a very high failure/fault rate.

Anyway, we're sorted now. Happy days.