Magic eye - problems getting perfect picture (had it before)

flyaway

Hi,

Had set up sky with magic eye to kitchen all going good.
Had to move tv the other night and plug out the cable and sky eye.

Put it all back together an can't get a perfect signal on the tv. Replaced as best I could the plugs at both end and still not perfect. I can control the sky box and that.
So I routed out an old 14inch portable a good 20 years old and the signal tuned in perfectly.

Is this telling me that my tv in the the kitchen has a problem? Is was fine before I plugged everything out, can it just go like that? It is a small samsung just over 3 years old from argos.

Any ideas would be great.

steveon

Does the light on the magic eye light up/????

If so only taught that comes to mind is to check the sound frequency the tv is tuned to, by entering the manual tuning and ensuring Pal I is selected. If this is rite try changing the freq the sky box is coming out at and retuning the tv again.

flyaway

Steveon thanks for that,

ya the light is lit on the magic eye.

I changed the frequency as you suggested and that defo led to a better picture but it is still not perfect.

Any other ideas?

(Is it unlikely that the tv isnt working properly? would it be either working perfect or not at all? )

steveon

Can you bring the tv into the room where the sky box is??? If so try and connect it with a video lead(Male to female) directly to the sky box rf2 or a short male to male lead using a back to back connection. IF picture is ok then its likely that there is something wrong with your exsiting cable that is going to the secondary room.

Also try removing the magic eye and see if it improves the picture without it. I have often experienced problems with magic eyes not fitting into lcds properly and used a video lead to connect it to a tv to take off the strain etc when inserting it into the tv's tuner.

Sam Radford

Never plug a magic eye directly into a TV without a flexible lead; it can damage the TV tuner.
Download instructions: http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/tvlink2.htm

flyaway

Thanks for help so far guys,

- signal still not perfect without the magic eye.

it is difficult to move the tv from the kitchen so I ran another lead (admittedly a light/cheap 4metre one) just across the floor from the sky box to the kitchen tv and the signal still wasn't perfect. I then used this same cable to connect to the main tv and the picture was fine.

Any ideas?

IrishHomer

I am currently having the same problem for the past week.

I also have an outdoor aerial that is powered with a booster and i think the fine weather is making the aerial signal too powerfull and is overpowering the reception coming from the magic eye as i recall when my installer fitted the aerial he was doing a kind of balancing act between the aerial power as not to be overpowering the sky singal but this i think is inevitable during fine weather as during this weather periood my analogue aerial picks up all the English terrestrial channels crystal clear and i am in offaly.

steveon

IrishHomer wrote: »

I am currently having the same problem for the past week.

I also have an outdoor aerial that is powered with a booster and i think the fine weather is making the aerial signal too powerfull and is overpowering the reception coming from the magic eye as i recall when my installer fitted the aerial he was doing a kind of balancing act between the aerial power as not to be overpowering the sky singal but this i think is inevitable during fine weather as during this weather periood my analogue aerial picks up all the English terrestrial channels crystal clear and i am in offaly.

You will either need to try a variable mast head to turn down the gain on the aerial...or an easier option might be to try a variable attenuator.

http://www.vanjak.com/product_details.php?category_id=0&manf=41&page=2&item_id=246

steveon

flyaway wrote: »

Thanks for help so far guys,

- signal still not perfect without the magic eye.

it is difficult to move the tv from the kitchen so I ran another lead (admittedly a light/cheap 4metre one) just across the floor from the sky box to the kitchen tv and the signal still wasn't perfect. I then used this same cable to connect to the main tv and the picture was fine.

Any ideas?

Have a look at the tuner on the tv and see if the centre pin is 2 wide should look something like this () in the dead centre if its much wider something like this ( ) then it might be possible that its not making a good connection...

Unplug the television and using some thing small like a tweezers or long nose pliers gently squeeze it together....not too hard or u might damage it further...

After that its likely that you somehow damaged the tuner when moving it originally and might need the internal connections resoldered....not 2 sure how much this would be likely to cost to repair...

Sam Radford

steveon wrote: »

After that its likely that you somehow damaged the tuner

As I explained, above.

flyaway

steveon wrote: »

Have a look at the tuner on the tv and see if the centre pin is 2 wide should look something like this () in the dead centre if its much wider something like this ( ) then it might be possible that its not making a good connection...

Unplug the television and using some thing small like a tweezers or long nose pliers gently squeeze it together....not too hard or u might damage it further...

After that its likely that you somehow damaged the tuner when moving it originally and might need the internal connections resoldered....not 2 sure how much this would be likely to cost to repair...

Ok guys looks like I may have damaged the tuner (the advice on not direct was a couple of years too late for me, so hopefully it can help others), any ideas on a rough ballpark figure that I would be looking at to get it repaired??

For the moment I have set up a digisender that I had from a few years ago and this seems to be ok. (some teething problems with the broadband interfering with signal ........ never just a simple solution to these things )

steveon

I havent personally repaired a tv for some years but in the old analog sets where the tuner was easily accessible I would repair a tuner for €20- €30 so I would expect to pay at least double that for repair to a tuner in an Lcd tv.. if some1 was willing to take it on but Id get a quote before you hand it in anywhere..

IrishHomer

steveon wrote: »

You will either need to try a variable mast head to turn down the gain on the aerial...or an easier option might be to try a variable attenuator.

http://www.vanjak.com/product_details.php?category_id=0&manf=41&page=2&item_id=246

I bought one of these "variable attenuators" and i havent a clue where it goes

Any advise where to put it greatly appreciated