Channels Missing :Technician Calling : Advice Needed

jonski

My god , trying to come up with the right heading for this thread was a nightmare .

Start at the beginning , I have Chorus/UPC for years and never really had a problem that wasn't solved with a quick phone call and a signal boost .

Living in Janesboro so got the Digital early , when the guy came to install it he wanted to drill a hole in the wall but , given that the walls are mass concrete and prone to crumbling when drilled into , I wasn't too keen on this so he said we will try it using the original cable ( the white one which runs in through the attic and down through the house ) . It worked perfect , the signal was strong and all was good in the world .

Oooooh , shiney recording digital box , I'll have one of those thank you very much . Guy comes to install it , " oh , I can't use that cable I have to use this one ( black cable ) " , once more I explain the circumstances , he says we will try it with the existing cable , it works , signal strong , all is right with the world once more .

The week before last all the 4's ( e4 e4+1 more 4 more 4 +1 film 4 film 4 +1 and e3 ) start playing up . It was like the picture would pause and then go and then pause . Left it for a few days cause I thought maybe everyone was experiencing the same but that wasn't the case , made the phone call , they went through the usual reboot and when that didn't work passed it up the chain . Now I have a technician calling tomorrow .

After alllll that , my question is , even though it was working fine all along , will his first statement be " I will have to connect it using the proper cable all the way to the box " . In other words is it possible that this fault is to do witht he cable ??

Thanks for taking the morning off work to read this

John

Irishdudedave

It sounds like a connection problem alright. More than likely if its not an area wide fault he will insist on replacing the cable.

Alun

Each group of channels is on a different transport stream, each of which is on a different frequency on teh cable. So it could be that due to poor cabling, and/or local interference in a specific frequency band only a group of channels is affected.

One thing you might look at ... if you press the Menu button on the remote, and then press 1 7 8 9, after a short pause a diagnostics menu will come up. Press Page Down a few times (lot's of other interesting stuff on the way!), and you'll see a list of all the TSID's (Transport Stream ID's) with their corresponding signal quality and strength (note there are two pages of this). If there are any TSID's that show anything other than 100% Signal Quality and/or any that have a vastly different Signal Strength to the others (mine are all around the mid 60's) then that would possibly point to a cabling / interference problem.

To get out of the menu keep pressing Page Down until you get to the Remote Control Key Test page and press Back.

jonski

Right , went to the TSID page , it goes from 51 to 63 but there is no 59 . the quality is 100% the signal strength is from 56 to 62 .

I forgot to mention , that I do have more 4 +1

Alun

jonski wrote: »

Right , went to the TSID page , it goes from 51 to 63 but there is no 59 . the quality is 100% the signal strength is from 56 to 62 .

I forgot to mention , that I do have more 4 +1

On mine (in Dublin) the TSID's go from 1 to 13 (with 8 displayed first in the list for some reason).

Maybe try the same thing when the channels do play up again ... could be some kind of localised interference that only occurs at certain times. (If you get a chance before the guy comes that is).

jonski

The channels are constantly playing up , actully they haven't been right at all since they first acted up .

It is
e3 no
e4 yes
e4 +1 no
more 4 no
more 4 +1 yes
Film 4 no
Film 4 +1 no


Edit : just did a reboot there and TSID 59 came up , but it is only at 60% .

Alun

The 60% sounds OK, what's the Signal Quality like? The fact that that TSID disappears and then reappears would indicate somethings up, certainly. Could even be something up with UPC's equipment ... just because Customer Support tell you that no one else in your area has reported the same problem doesn't make that necessarily true.

Have you tried a reset to Factory Settings? Only problem here is that you'll need a 3 digit activation code for the Limerick area when you do this and I don't know what this is, only for Dublin. Someone on here might know though ...

jonski

Alun wrote: »

The 60% sounds OK, what's the Signal Quality like?

That is the signal quality , quality 60% , Strength 57% .

ynotdu

Irishdudedave wrote: »

It sounds like a connection problem alright. More than likely if its not an area wide fault he will insist on replacing the cable.

Hi Irishdude,
I am NO expert,What I DO know about black cable is it has three layers of wiring as opposed to Two in brown/white cable.
A tech guy told Me this allows MUCH less noise(interference)to cause interferance from outside signals.

Alun

jonski wrote: »

That is the signal quality , quality 60% , Strength 57% .

Ah, sorry about that misunderstanding ... well there's your problem then. Sounds like some kind of interference affecting just that one frequency / TS. Is there any (new) industry or anything like that opened up around you recently?

The UPC technicians carry around some kind of signal strength tester with them. I'm not sure how advanced they are, but it might be worthwhile your telling him about your findings, and ask him to specifically check the frequency that particular TS (59) is on.

ynotdu

Alun wrote: »

On mine (in Dublin) the TSID's go from 1 to 13 (with 8 displayed first in the list for some reason).

Maybe try the same thing when the channels do play up again ... could be some kind of localised interference that only occurs at certain times. (If you get a chance before the guy comes that is).

There are two Legit U P C box,s,as described on Channel 999(in Dublin,formely N T L in My case and still have the N T L card in use.
Sorry if I am slightly hijacking Your post but site is telling Me I cannot start a new thread until i have posted 25 posts(to prevent spammers)
Frustrating as the N T L half that became U P C,are Hellish

jonski

Tech called , needs to change the cable . Actually left me the cable and let me drop it myself , long story but it is really awkward and would be easier for me to drop it , and tidier .

And yes there was a change , the gardai have changed one of their frequencies and anyone with the old cable should/could be affected .

He is going to come back monday morning and connect it up . Very nice chap and very pleasent to deal with .

jonski

Threw the cable up myself , got into the attic and the black cable from the box outside was connected to the old white cable using one of the UPC connectors . I said no harm in trying it my self so I took out the old white one and put in the new black , then came down stairs and swapped them around under the telly . Heh presto , all channels working fine , intot he TSID and 59 is coming up at 100% ... result .

Anyone here know exactly how the attach the cable to the connectors , do the just push it in ? haven't done one of these before .


Thanks for all the replies and help .

John

Alun

jonski wrote: »

And yes there was a change , the gardai have changed one of their frequencies and anyone with the old cable should/could be affected .

Sounds like the new Tetra system then ... I know they're introducing it around the country at the moment. Good to know you got a result!

Mountjoy Mugger

ynotdu wrote: »

Hi Irishdude,
I am NO expert,What I DO know about black cable is it has three layers of wiring as opposed to Two in brown/white cable.
A tech guy told Me this allows MUCH less noise(interference)to cause interferance from outside signals.

Sorry for the mini-hijack, OP.

I'm wondering would this explain the random audio drops and pixelations I get on UPC digital?

Would switching from a white coax to a black coax be a possible solution?

steveon

You need a special crimping tool to put on those connectors...

jonski

steveon wrote: »

You need a special crimping tool to put on those connectors...

Thought that might be the case , thanks for the info . He will be around Monday morning to do it for me anyway and in the meantime by just pushing it in I have all my channels back .

John