Walker WP12DTB-R Saorview Box

jujamax

Anyone had any issues with slightly frozen picture or sound at times?

Opinicus

Have a friend who installed one of these boxes with the same problem. It intermittently freezes for no reason. Reception is perfect with nothing in his way of Line of Sight to the transmitter.

Did anyone ever solve this problem? Firmware update or Over the Air update?

jujamax

Thanks for your feedback

The Cush

Never had one of those receivers so can't verify.

Problem could also be down to the aerial, co-ax cable, interference, too much signal, too little signal. Any masthead or distribution amplifier in the installation?

Without sticking a meter on it, it's difficult to diagnose.

Opinicus

I was installing a different brand box for the grandparents yesterday and it had the same problem so I just tried changing the coax from the socket to the box. Hey presto! That fixed it. Thanks.

jujamax

On channel 54 & 58, I'm getting readings of 100% signal strength whereas the signal quality hops between 60%-68%. The aerial was installed in the loft by a pro using a meter.

The problem seems not to be so apparent of late. I'm just wondering if there was any work being done to the Dublin transmitter a few weeks ago?

Opinicus

You might find the answer to that in this thread.

whizbang

I have a Walker TV in the bedroom for herself, but i get to play with it sometimes. I ranted about this before sussing the problem.
I found the digital receiver is far more sensitive than the analog side (5 times?) compared to other units.
But most telling is the digital rx overloads very easily causing freezing and breakup.
you quite possibly have too good a signal! -get an attenuator if you can, otherwise check ss and quality in poor conditions and see if things improve.

jujamax

Thanks very much for your reply.

The funny thing is the signal strenght is always 100% no matter what the weather conditions are. The poorer the weather, the signal quality improves by 2 to 3% - strange but good!

Will take your advice and contact the professional installer if the problem persists.

Many thanks again for your help.

The Cush

jujamax wrote: »

The funny thing is the signal strenght is always 100% no matter what the weather conditions are. The poorer the weather, the signal quality improves by 2 to 3%

For digital tv the important figure is the signal quality reading. Too much or too little signal strength can be damaging to the digital signal. When measuring digital TV signals, the Bit to Error Ratio (BER) reading is the only method of knowing the real quality of the signal.

Do you have an amplifier on the aerial feed? The low signal quality could also be down to the location of the aerial, an external aerial may be required to improve the signal quality reading. Could also be down to co-ax cable to the TV.

jujamax

There’s no amplifier on the aerial feed. The cable is fed through the house internally and is quite long (approx. 20 metres) with 4 joints. The professional installer used an analogue meter at time of aerial positioning. Maybe an amplifier is the way to steady the system. We had to fit the aerial in the loft due to planning constraints.

The Cush

jujamax wrote: »

The professional installer used an analogue meter at time of aerial positioning. Maybe an amplifier is the way to steady the system. We had to fit the aerial in the loft due to planning constraints.

An analogue meter isn't good enough for a professional DTT install. The meter should be capable of measuring DVB-T Cofdm signal strength and BER/MER signal quality. The rest of us manage on signal strength alone but if you had a Sony TV it displays BER at the aerial input.

Maybe an amp would work if the signal quality is good at the aerial and reduced because of the joins, length of cable or quality of cable.

hot buttered scones

I bought one of these today and was quite pleased initially. The picture quality is great and the setup was simple. However I do have two issues.

1. Timeshift function.
The box will pause, but when I press play it doesn't pick up from where I paused it, it just starts playing live.
2. Recording function.
The box will record. I was under the impression that because all the stations were coming in on the same mux, I would be able to record one station and watch another. The box will not allow me to do this.

Has anyone else had these issues, and if so were they able to resolve them?

Also, this is not my ideal box. I would rather a decent combo box, with both PVR and MHEG5 functionality. I've been reading through some of the threads here where the MHEG5 thing is dismissed, but I'd rather have it.

jujamax

I've tried the pause button, it never works. There's a USB 160GB drive fitted too. It'll record one channel but one cannot watch another simultaneously.

holidaysong

Can anyone confirm if this box has an RF loop through so I can also feed the aerial signal into my TV?

Opinicus

I haven't used it but it has an "aerial out" coax connection on the back

TheGreaterFool

Recently fitted one of these on a relatively new TV we have at the same time as setting up a new Walker Saorview TV in another room.

Aside from a rare bit of freezing/pixelizing, the most annoying thing is the Aertel is regularly hours and hours behind that on the new TV in the guest room.

Is this a signal issue (as described above) or does anyone know what else it might be?