New Install... Buzzing Box

netwhizkid

I got Sky Installed yesterday as I outlined in this thread. I ended up paying the €70 + €10 PRF WEEE tax Total €80, other retailers were charging more so I bit the bullet and payed it.

My installer came out and did an excellent and super efficient job, getting well over 95% signal strength. No complaints there, but I knew I'd find a flaw and it is one big flipping annoying flaw.

Anyway, my installer gave me the PACE DS440N Digibox like this one
I don't know whether it is just me or not or if I am cracking up but the bloody thing is constantly buzzing and it is really irritating like so much as I'd rather be doing anything but watching TV.

The noise ruins the experience unless I turn up the sound to levels where my self and the local garda would be getting familiar. My father says he can't hear nothing and the installer said such noise is normal. It also seems to alternate between the channels you watch with the likes of RTE making hardly no noise and the History channel being amongst the noisiest.

It reminds me very much of that secret hidden ringtone that apparently old people couldn't hear that was developed from some sort of anti-loitering device that shopkeepers in England use to keep teenage Chavs from loitering around the doors with a very high pitched that tone over 25's cannot hear.

I am really p1ssed off with it as the box is really cool and super fast on the EPG but the buzzing is way annoying, it even buzzes on standby.

Anybody else have this or do I need to see as ear specialist?

scart

Its been well documented that this particular box suffers from a Power Supply Unit problem resulting in a buzzing noise coming from the box. Pace & Sky have received lots of complaints regarding this problem.
Probably due to sky making pace supply the receiver at a cheap price so corners have been cut.
Call sky and complain as you have a 12month warranty with the equipment they supplied. Insist with them that the box is faulty and your not prepared to accept it.
If they send out an 'engineer' he may have a refurbished older pace with him like the 2600c1 or DS430N. These boxes are fast and reliable and suffer no problems(except the deletion of other stored channels in the case of the DS430N). No corners cut with these models. The new Thompson flow box has got decent reviews and dosent suffer from the Pace PSU problem.

watty

Because Thomson Satellite is essentially Grundig :-) Well they took over Grundig,

I'm glad you put 'engineer' in Quotes becuase few are qualified as Technicians and I doubt anyone has sent an Engineer for a home visit in 40 years.

Our man in Havana

There should be a law against the misuse of titles such as engineer.

byte

The known flaw with the Thomson boxes, is it cannot use callback if the landline has eircom call-answering service enabled! Of course, some may see this as a good thing! Otherwise it's a great box, as is the Pace 430N.

netwhizkid

scart wrote:

Its been well documented that this particular box suffers from a Power Supply Unit problem resulting in a buzzing noise coming from the box. Pace & Sky have received lots of complaints regarding this problem.
Probably due to sky making pace supply the receiver at a cheap price so corners have been cut.
Call sky and complain as you have a 12month warranty with the equipment they supplied. Insist with them that the box is faulty and your not prepared to accept it.
If they send out an 'engineer' he may have a refurbished older pace with him like the 2600c1 or DS430N. These boxes are fast and reliable and suffer no problems(except the deletion of other stored channels in the case of the DS430N). No corners cut with these models. The new Thompson flow box has got decent reviews and dosent suffer from the Pace PSU problem.

Thanks for the feedback people. 36hrs into having Sky and I now have two problems firstly the noisy box and now none of my premium channels have come through, instead I am getting this is the wrong card for the box despite it been on 36hours straight and having a forced software download by my installer. pfft... Why did I even bother with Sky ?? :rolleyes:

The Pace DS430N is a nice tidy box and an uncle of mine has it, I will try get them to change it for this tractor of a thing. It seems that Pace put the emphasis on looks with my box (it been similar to the HD box) as of they but the emphasis on reliability on the DS430N bit like a Toyota really, horrid looks but reliable as heck.

Thanks for the feedback people, $ky and I am dissatisfied from the very beginning huh? I wonder is it a new record? Although I suppose people have been screwed by them before they ever got it installed.

watty

Sky need the Box serial number and your card number to pair them for premium channels. My orignal box was paired, but replacement never was so I get the wrong card message, but I don't sub to any premium channel so I have nevedr bothered to ring and fix it.

byte

Are you sure the PRF was €10? As PRF on a sat receiver is €1 and 50c I think on an LNB.

netwhizkid

byte wrote:

Are you sure the PRF was €10? As PRF on a sat receiver is €1 and 50c I think on an LNB.

Yes the price payable to the retailer was €70 + €10 PRF (Producer Recycling Fund) for the Digibox (which will be recycled soon) and for the Dish and Remote + cabling I assume.

Although €10 was a bit dear as I have sometimes been charged say €2 on a DVD Player (not much difference between it and a digibox). The whole thing is a mess anyway and the way they do that is sneaky a bt like the American taxes. Something is $9.99 until you go to the till where it becomes €12.55 or whatever. The PRF should be integrated into pricing the same way as our VAT is with most things you buy.

However it has made getting rid of old electrical junk so much easier, before youhad to pay like €30 or €40 to get rid of a fridge etc. Myself and my father took about 7 fridges that had been accumulated over the years due to this tax by ourselves and members of the extended family who would take the old fridge/TV etc. to one spot which invariably became an old electrical goods graveyard where things were mothballed. A few trips to the waste transfer station for free and we had 30yrs of old good got rid of for about €5 worth of Diesel.

The PRF should be integrated into pricing like VAT though.