Walker STB Problems

cabledude

Hi All.

I have 2 Walker STB here is a link.

One in the kitchen/living room and one in the sitting room.

The box in the Kitchen is fine.No problems. The box is the sitting room is causing serious difficulty. 10-20 minutes after switching box on to use it will begin to glitch. Then the picture will start stalling. Not long after it becomes intolerable and we have to switch it off.

The first thing I did was to swap the boxes. The problem remains. So it's not a fault on the original box. I then checked the connections in the attic. They seem sound. The aerial is in the attic. Not boosted by a mast head or amp distributor.

What I was wondering is this. The sitting room has a solid fuel stove. I'm wondering is the box overheating? There seems to be no heat sink like a laptop of Sky? box seem to have. Would/Could this be causing my problems. Also, weirdly this problem seems to be worse on RTE 1 & RTE 2. TV3 seems not to be as bad.

Anyone come across this before? Any solutions?

steveon

What way is the signal split to the two rooms? i.e. an amplifier or a splitter and if a splitter is it a plastic coax one or a f splitter type?

Have you tried removing the second room to see if it works ok?
Also what kind of cabling is feeding the second room? Could be old style cabling and therefore poorly screened?

STB

Its not the stove if you only swapped the box and it is immediately apparent. Unless you had the box ontop of the stove. Is there a DECT phone in that sitting room. How about a Sky box with an RF modulator ? Dodgy Cabling otherwise.

cabledude

steveon wrote: »

What way is the signal split to the two rooms? i.e. an amplifier or a splitter and if a splitter is it a plastic coax one or a f splitter type?

Have you tried removing the second room to see if it works ok?
Also what kind of cabling is feeding the second room? Could be old style cabling and therefore poorly screened?

Thanks for the reply.

It's split with a 'cheap' white plastic coax splitter. I have tried turning off the box in the kitchen and it has not improved the situation. The cable is new, well bought this time last year when we got the Saorview installed. It is screened with silver paper.

I posted this thread after turning off the box in the sitting room. Now that it's been plugged out for 40 odd minutes I decided to retry it. No improvement.

What is baffling me is the fact that RTE 1 & RTE 2 are sh1te, TV3 TG4 and 3E are pretty ok. Same complaint on RTE 1+1

Could this have anything to do with the aerial being in the attic?

cabledude

STB wrote: »

Its not the stove if you only swapped the box and it is immediately apparent. Unless you had the box ontop of the stove. Is there a DECT phone in that sitting room. How about a Sky box with an RF modulator ? Dodgy Cabling otherwise.

No on the DECT phone. Yes on the Sky box. Not sure about an RF modulator? What is this?

EDIT : Something to do with Magic Eye?

steveon

cabledude wrote: »

Thanks for the reply.

It's split with a 'cheap' white plastic coax splitter. I have tried turning off the box in the kitchen and it has not improved the situation. The cable is new, well bought this time last year when we got the Saorview installed. It is screened with silver paper.

I posted this thread after turning off the box in the sitting room. Now that it's been plugged out for 40 odd minutes I decided to retry it. No improvement.

What is baffling me is the fact that RTE 1 & RTE 2 are sh1te, TV3 TG4 and 3E are pretty ok. Same complaint on RTE 1+1

Could this have anything to do with the aerial being in the attic?

Firstly get rid of the plastic splitter they are rubbish remove the cable going to the second room and join the signal direct to it to see if it works if it does then...get an f-type splitter..
Secondly are you sure the box is tuned to the rite transmitter?

cabledude

steveon wrote: »

Firstly get rid of the plastic splitter they are rubbish remove the cable going to the second room and join the signal direct to it to see if it works if it does then...get an f-type splitter..
Secondly are you sure the box is tuned to the rite transmitter?

I'll go and get on of those splitters tomorrow on the way home from work.

We had a mouse in the attic/crawl space a couple weeks ago. I wonder is the after having a feast on PVC?

WRT the transmitter I'm tuned to. The aerial is turned to Mt. Leinster. The other option I had at the time of install was Forth Mountain, but the installer got a better signal from Mt. Leinster.

STB

cabledude wrote: »

No on the DECT phone. Yes on the Sky box. Not sure about an RF modulator? What is this? EDIT : Something to do with Magic Eye?

So you are using a magic eye ? To watch Sky in another room ? You need to change the RF channel on the Sky box. Its what sends the SKy signal around the house on the UHF channel. If that UHF channel being usec by the Sky RF modulator is near the Saorview frequency it will wipe it out. Mt Leinster: Make sure the RF modulator on the Sky box is not set to CH 23 or CH 26 or anywhere near it.... move it up to a higher channel.

steveon

Definetly worth removing the plastic splitter and feed signal to the room giving you problems first to see if it resolves it...also check that the box is actually tuned to the rite frequencies as doing auto tune will sometimes lock onto the wrong transmitter so I always suggest manually tuning.

STB

steveon wrote: »

Hes using 2 saorview boxes not a sky box!!?

He also has a Sky box. Bet you the RF modulator is set to CH 25/6.

cabledude

STB wrote: »

So you are using a magic eye ? To watch Sky in another room ? You need to change the RF channel on the Sky box. Its what sends the SKy signal around the house on the UHF channel. If that UHF channel being usec by the Sky RF modulator is near the Saorview frequency it will wipe it out. Mt Leinster: Make sure the RF modulator on the Sky box is not set to CH 23 or CH 26 or anywhere near it.... move it up to a higher channel.

I'm not using the Sky box with a magic eye. Its standalone. Even when I power off the Sky box the problem remains.

cabledude

steveon wrote: »

Definetly worth removing the plastic splitter and feed signal to the room giving you problems first to see if it resolves it...also check that the box is actually tuned to the rite frequencies as doing auto tune will sometimes lock onto the wrong transmitter so I always suggest manually tuning.

What setting should I be using/aiming for in manual tune. I have used autotune only on this box.

steveon

cabledude wrote: »

What setting should I be using/aiming for in manual tune. I have used autotune only on this box.

Make sure to tune ch23 and ch 26 for mount leinster

St Senan

steveon wrote: »

Definetly worth removing the plastic splitter and feed signal to the room giving you problems first to see if it resolves it...also check that the box is actually tuned to the rite frequencies as doing auto tune will sometimes lock onto the wrong transmitter so I always suggest manually tuning.

Doing a manual tune wont be much good now since the launch of the 2nd mux today. The Op mentioned Forth Mt that tells me he is in south wexford. He will be receiving ch 23 ch 26 both from Mt Leinster and if he is close to or in line of sight of Forth Mt he will receive ch 52 and ch 56. I see a lot of aerials in Rosslare pointing at either transmitter and picking up both even tho they are on different polarization.

cabledude

Navarre wrote: »

Doing a manual tune wont be much good now since the launch of the 2nd mux today. The Op mentioned Forth Mt that tells me he is in south wexford. He will be receiving ch 23 ch 26 both from Mt Leinster and if he is close to or in line of sight of Forth Mt he will receive ch 52 and ch 56. I see a lot of aerials in Rosslare pointing at either transmitter and picking up both even tho they are on different polarization.

Correct. I'm about 6 miles from Forth but do not have LOS.

St Senan

when you go into manual terrestrial tune on the box what number comes up in the channel search.

STB

Navarre wrote: »

when you go into manual terrestrial tune on the box what number comes up in the channel search.

You should really go down and sort this issue out for him Navarre. Only down the road.....:)

St Senan

STB wrote: »

You should really go down and sort this issue out for him Navarre. Only down the road.....:)

I am getting a few calls down that way lately. Its mad down there as i said Aerials are pointing all over place. I reckon What must have happened last year (when anyone who could climb a ladder became an installer) was Aerials were threw up on houses and probably aligned up with 1 of those cheap red LED bleepers to a signal from Forth Mt ch 52 (vertical) and the boxes were auto tuned and picked up MT Leinster 45 or 23 (horizontal). first.

We will know more if the OP comes back and tells us what Ch his boxes are tuned to.

steveon

Navarre wrote: »

I am getting a few calls down that way lately. Its mad down there as i said Aerials are pointing all over place. I reckon What must have happened last year (when an one who could climb a ladder became an installer) was Aerials were threw up on houses and probably aligned up with 1 of those cheap red LED bleepers to a signal from Forth Mt ch 52 (vertical) and the boxes were auto tuned and picked up MT Leinster 45 or 23 (horizontal).

We will know more if the OP comes back and tells us what Ch is his boxes tuned to.

I think we all have them so said installers all over the country...when saorview came in suddenly even taxi drivers were installing here in Limerick....and we are expected to clean up the mess

St Senan

STB. I was at an install down the Templetown Hook direction a few weeks ago. The house where i was installing was only able to receive Suir Valley ch 52 Vertical yet the neighbour about 200yards away had an Aerial pointing at Mt leinster. And the house i was at was listed on the saorview map as getting signal from Mt leinster.

St Senan

steveon wrote: »

I think we all have them so said installers all over the country...when saorview came in suddenly even taxi drivers were installing here in Limerick....and we are expected to clean up the mess

Another problem was TV shops and hardware shops sold those cheap crap 48 element phillex Slx aerials with the piss poor bracket along with the cheap mpeg4 boxes to people who hadn't a clue. And the cute hoors who had a clue bought them cheaply and installed them.

cabledude

Navarre wrote: »

when you go into manual terrestrial tune on the box what number comes up in the channel search.

26 for RTE 1 and 23 for RTE 2. I'm only getting 45-55%signal strength. Whereas I'm getting 75% in the kitchen where there are no problems. Same aerial services both.

EDIT : 75% is pretty good, right?

cabledude

STB wrote: »

He also has a Sky box. Bet you the RF modulator is set to CH 25/6.

RF modulators set to 68 but turned off.......

Peter Rhea

The modulator can't be turned off, only the power for tv link equipment (such as 'magic eyes'). It won't have any bearing on your problem anyway, unless the aerial feed is combined with the RF output of the Sky box, usually by plugging the aerial into the Sky box RF-in.

Does the Walker box in the sitting room have a satellite feed? If so, is it a separate cable all the way to the dish? What way is the kitchen box fed Saorview & satellite signals?

cabledude

Peter Rhea wrote: »

The modulator can't be turned off, only the power for tv link equipment (such as 'magic eyes'). It won't have any bearing on your problem anyway, unless the aerial feed is combined with the RF output of the Sky box, usually by plugging the aerial into the Sky box RF-in.

Does the Walker box in the sitting room have a satellite feed? If so, is it a separate cable all the way to the dish? What way is the kitchen box fed Saorview & satellite signals?

No magic eyes in use.

The Walker box is a standalone Saorview. Not a combi box. The box in the kitchen is fed by with single co-ax from the aerial. As is the one in the sitting room.

The Sky boxes I have are fed separately from a dish I have at the back of the house.

Peter Rhea

The link in your OP shows the Walker WP645TSHD satellite/terrestrial combi receiver.

cabledude

Peter Rhea wrote: »

The link in your OP shows the Walker WP645TSHD satellite/terrestrial combi receiver.

Sorry, its a standalone. Single tuner. With PVR. I've edited the link in the O.P.

Peter Rhea

I'd be inclined to share what I suspect is also the verdict of the others who replied here, that the problem is caused by a poor aerial installation.

You shouldn't notice any difference in performance between RTE2 & TV3, as these are both still on the same mux. (on ch. 23). RTE1 is now on mux. 2 (ch. 26).

cabledude

Peter Rhea wrote: »

I'd be inclined to share what I suspect is also the verdict of the others who replied here, that the problem is caused by a poor aerial installation.

You shouldn't notice any difference in performance between RTE2 & TV3, as these are both still on the same mux. (on ch. 23). RTE1 is now on mux. 2 (ch. 26).

Yea, seems logical. Another poster recommended an F Type splitter. I'll do that and also run a replacement cable from the aerial. I referred to signal strength earlier in the thread. As I type I'm looking at my kitchen box settings and I'm getting Signal Quality 100% and Signal level 67% on RTE 1 and Signal Quality 100% and Signal Level 70% on RTE 2. These would be pretty good, yea?

Peter Rhea

A lot of receivers with basic signal quality displays seem to go from 100 to 0% with very little provocation.

The splitter should be changed as a matter of course, though I'd doubt there is much point changing the cable, unless it's damaged. Moving the aerial to a decent outdoor location would be the surest way of gaining here.

STB

cabledude wrote: »

Yea, seems logical. Another poster recommended an F Type splitter. I'll do that and also run a replacement cable from the aerial. I referred to signal strength earlier in the thread. As I type I'm looking at my kitchen box settings and I'm getting Signal Quality 100% and Signal level 67% on RTE 1 and Signal Quality 100% and Signal Level 70% on RTE 2. These would be pretty good, yea?

Kitchen Box settings

Is this a different box you have in the Kitchen ?

Have you tried the Walker in the Kitchen ?

Whats the signal strength like on the walker in the kitchen ?

this will rule out issues with the Walker Box.

cabledude

STB wrote: »

Kitchen Box settings

Is this a different box you have in the Kitchen ?

Have you tried the Walker in the Kitchen ?

Whats the signal strength like on the walker in the kitchen ?

this will rule out issues with the Walker Box.

Hi STB. I already did this to eliminate the box as being the issue. Identical boxes.

Anyway heres what I did to remedy the situation.

F-Type splitter in the attic instead of the 'cheap' plastic one. This made no difference at all.

So this morning I decided to run a new cable to the aeriel from the sitting room. I joined up the new cable to the old one and pulled it, very slowly and carefully, back to the splitter in the atttic. Hooked it up to the splitter and went down and hooked a co-ax connector to the other end. Plugged it into the box and 'No channels added came up'......Oh sh1te, whats wrong here? So I went into the installation menu and did an Automatic scan. Hey presto!!

As I said earlier in the thread, we had a mouse, a couple actually, get into the crawl space. One of them obviously had a feast on the TV cables. Problem solves.

Thanks for all the input lads.

Peter Rhea

How far did the mouse manage to eat through the cable?

cabledude

Peter Rhea wrote: »

How far did the mouse manage to eat through the cable?

I don't know Peter. I didn't actually pull out the entirety of the old cable. A lot of it was twisting and turning in joists under ply that was nailed down. I pull through the conduit until I was above the ceiling and then ran the new cable and tacked it to the roof joists up to the splitter. But, for a finish yesterday, I could get no signal at all. So he must have gone through a fair distance. Obviously, I cannot prove it was Mr. Mouse, but I cannot come up with any other reason for the breakdown.

I'm now getting 100% Signal quality and 70% signal strength.

steveon

cabledude wrote: »

Hi STB. I already did this to eliminate the box as being the issue. Identical boxes.

Anyway heres what I did to remedy the situation.

F-Type splitter in the attic instead of the 'cheap' plastic one. This made no difference at all.

So this morning I decided to run a new cable to the aeriel from the sitting room. I joined up the new cable to the old one and pulled it, very slowly and carefully, back to the splitter in the atttic. Hooked it up to the splitter and went down and hooked a co-ax connector to the other end. Plugged it into the box and 'No channels added came up'......Oh sh1te, whats wrong here? So I went into the installation menu and did an Automatic scan. Hey presto!!

As I said earlier in the thread, we had a mouse, a couple actually, get into the crawl space. One of them obviously had a feast on the TV cables. Problem solves.

Thanks for all the input lads.

Glad you got it sorted mate :-)

STB

cabledude wrote: »

As I said earlier in the thread, we had a mouse, a couple actually, get into the crawl space. One of them obviously had a feast on the TV cables. Problem solves.

Thanks for all the input lads.

You really should leave some cheese out, mice cannot survive on coax and screening alone...:)

cabledude

STB wrote: »

You really should leave some cheese out, mice cannot survive on coax and screening alone...:)

I know, how inconsiderate of me. Wildly off topic, they seem more attracted to chocolate than cheese. The cheese thing is an unfair stereotype :0

Anyway I also found out where the little buggers were getting in. The guy who fitted my Sky dish used a quad LNB and I ran in cables from the 2 spare ports. We ran them in through an insect screen and we had inadvertently made the opening larger, thereby laying a little red carpet for them. Half a roll of insulating tape later and problem solved.......