Post Sky HD Installation problem

andrew1977

Hi .
My parents got sky HD installed last weekend, working fine no problem there.

However, Rte 1 has now vanished from their saorview TV's ( samsungs) in the house.
RTE2, TV3, T34 is there but no RTE1
Also on their saorview tv's they could pick up a lot of the English channels on the saorview tvs, these have now vanished also.
I have done rescans on the tvs every way possible, but RTE1 and the English channels wont come back.

I live next door and my saorview tv still picks up RTE1 and a full range of Uk channels also .

Any ideas on what the problem could be ?A new sky dish was installed beside the aerial on the roof, so would it be the sky engineer moved the aerial and has knocked off the alignment to pick up the signals ?

What way to solve this ?

Thanks a lot for any help.

Thurston?

andrew1977 wrote: »

A new sky dish was installed beside the aerial on the roof, so would it be the sky engineer moved the aerial and has knocked off the alignment to pick up the signals ?

Could be the case, or if the dish is very close to the aerial it would affect it.

Do you know is the output of the Sky box distributed to other TVs in the house, apart from the main one?

andrew1977

Thurston? wrote: »

Could be the case, or if the dish is very close to the aerial it would affect it.

Do you know is the output of the Sky box distributed to other TVs in the house, apart from the main one?

Hi, thanks for the reply.
The sky hd box in the sitting room also feeds into the tv in the kitchen ( I think this is what you mean ? , apologies I am clueless )

Any ideas how to solve it please ? I wont be venturing up to the roof or my elderly parents either.

Can I ask sky to send the sky engineer back to sort out ?

Thanks a lot.

Thurston?

andrew1977 wrote: »

The sky hd box in the sitting room also feeds into the tv in the kitchen ( I think this is what you mean ? , apologies I am clueless )

Any ideas how to solve it please ? I wont be venturing up to the roof .

If the Sky box is only connected to the kitchen TV, then it shouldn't be causing problems anywhere else, so I suppose we should look at the dish installation. Can you post a photo?

andrew1977

Thurston? wrote: »

If the Sky box is only connected to the kitchen TV, then it shouldn't be causing problems anywhere else, so I suppose we should look at the dish installation. Can you post a photo?

The sky box is connected to the sitting room TV,there is a feed running it through to kitchen so it picks it up sky on the TV in there.I could take a picture of the dish on the roof,not sure how to post it up on here though.
Thanks very much for your help with this,.
I guess I should ring sky and get them to send out the engineer.

andrew1977

Thurston? wrote: »

If the Sky box is only connected to the kitchen TV, then it shouldn't be causing problems anywhere else, so I suppose we should look at the dish installation. Can you post a photo?

The sky box is connected to the sitting room TV,there is a feed running it through to kitchen so it picks it up sky on the TV in there.I could take a picture of the dish on the roof,not sure how to post it up on here though.
Thanks very much for your help with this,.
I guess I should ring sky and get them to send out the engineer.

swoofer

the new sky hd box no longer has rf in and rf out, with an old system the roof aerial would go not rf1 and the lead to other tv's would go via rf 2. there is a way round this where you use a gadget called an i/o link but that is usually extra ie 25 euro. the installler should have spotted the cables at rear and explained this. can you have a look at bck of new box and see if cables to kitchen are connected?

look here at video that explains i/o link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrRYfvz2ixM

mind you if you are still getting a spicture from the new sky box in the kitchen then at least some connection has been made. if he put dish in front of aerial he is not a very good installer. to upload a photo yuu save it to pc ie desktop, then when you click on reply here, click go advanced and it guides you

blade1

Did you have rte1 or rte1 hd on saorview?

Thurston?

blade1 wrote: »

Did you have rte1 or rte1 hd on saorview?

There is only a HD version of RTE1 on Saorview. If you're getting an SD version from terrestrial transmission, it's the NImux that's transmitted from some Freeview sites in NI.

blade1

Thurston? wrote: »

There is only a HD version of RTE1 on Saorview. If you're getting an SD version from terrestrial transmission, it's the NImux that's transmitted from some Freeview sites in NI.

Just thought it might be worth a shot.

andrew1977

Hi.
Just checked the kitchen tv an no sky feed being picked up now.
I will try take some pictures tomorrow and post them up.
Will sky send the engineer back out to check what's gone wrong or my parents problem to rectify.?
Everything was fine until the sky installation.
Thanks again for all your replies

Thurston?

Are you sure the kitchen TV was the only 1 that was connected to the Sky box?

If they all had a feed & the installer didn't bother with an IO link on the new box, it's possible the aerial feed to all TVs is just lying there disconnected now. Could also be a distribution amplifier that would have been powered from the Sky box RF2 socket, so merely joining the cables that used to go into RF-in & RF2 may not be enough.

Would have to be a strong Saorview signal area though, for any of the Saorview services to be working without a proper aerial.

andrew1977

Thurston? wrote: »

Are you sure the kitchen TV was the only 1 that was connected to the Sky box?

If they all had a feed & the installer didn't bother with an IO link on the new box, it's possible the aerial feed to all TVs is just lying there disconnected now. Could also be a distribution amplifier that would have been powered from the Sky box RF2 socket, so merely joining the cables that used to go into RF-in & RF2 may not be enough.

Would have to be a strong Saorview signal area though, for any of the Saorview services to be working without a proper aerial.

I will check all the cables again tomorrow,I am no expert on this unfortunately.
The loss of rte1only on saorview is baffling.I live next door and mine is fine,so that has to be an aerial problem surely? What do you think?
Thanks again for your help
Will sky be helpful and send their engines back out?

Thurston?

andrew1977 wrote: »

The loss of rte1only on saorview is baffling.I live next door and mine is fine,so that has to be an aerial problem surely?

RTE1 is carried in a different channel to the Saorview services that are coming through, so could be affected differently by possible aerial problems, including the possibility that the aerial is completely disconnected from the TVs & the signal is just being picked up on cables.

I might have got a bit sidetracked in my last post: just to confirm, did your parents already have a Sky installation before this HD box?

andrew1977

Thurston? wrote: »

RTE1 is carried in a different channel to the Saorview services that are coming through, so could be affected differently by possible aerial problems, including the possibility that the aerial is completely disconnected from the TVs & the signal is just being picked up on cables.

I might have got a bit sidetracked in my last post: just to confirm, did your parents already have a Sky installation before this HD box?

Hi.
Yes they had a sky box before the hd upgrade.The sky installer put a new dish up on the roof beside the tv aerial.No problems before that,all Irish saorview stations and all the uk freeview channels picked up on both tv in the house,sky tv in the sitting room where the box is/was and sky picked up on the tv on the kitchen.

winston_1

Sky don't use engineers for installations so one did not cause this. You also won't get an engineer if you ask sky to send one.

madmaxvideo

Sounds more likely to be a problem at the aerial, maybe the engineer partially moved the cable at the aerial and the cables are not making full contact. If the new dish was installed in the same place as the old dish then it is more than likely an issue with the aerial, however if the dish was relocated near the aerial it could be interfering with the polarisation of the aerial. Only thing that sounds strange is that you are still picking up English stations and only loosing RTE 1. The unfortunate thing is sky won't want anything to do with this as its not their equipment, best bet would be to contact the engineer directly on the number he contacted you on and ask if he can come take a look, most of the lads won't have an issue with this.

Thurston?

andrew1977 wrote: »

... all Irish saorview stations and all the uk freeview channels picked up on both tv in the house,sky tv in the sitting room where the box is/was and sky picked up on the tv on the kitchen.

So there's only the 2 TVs in the house? I thought from your OP there were more.

swoofer

What you need to do sounds complex but its not, forget about the aerial for a moment.

1 If its a brand new Sky HD box then it wont have RF1 and RF2 inputs/ouputs, this means no way will signal get to second tv.

2. If there is a connection from RF1 and RF2 to second tv then it can be 3 issues.

a. the installer has plugged in aerial lead and tv lead wrong way round.

b. he did not turn on power to rf2 in the settings of the new box.

c. the rf channel that was used on the second tv is not the same as the one now in use in the new sky hd box.

So you have to establish if the box is old or new, look at the back of it, here are 2 images

The first image is the old sky box and has rf1 and rf2 and aerial in.

The second one is the new sky hd box and has no rf1 or rf2 or aerial in!!

Until we know which box we are stuck.

A tip to get to settings menu in the new SKy Hd box you press services on remote, options will be highlighted in yellow, then press 001 and ok, now you will see a new menu and look for RF, arrow across and press ok it will show the RF channel in use, ie 66 or 68. If you know the channel that is used for sky on the other tv, sometimes on the remote for that tv there may be an i button, press that and the RF channel may appear in one corner, like CH54, if its different from the one in the sky box then make the one in the sky box the same. go slow,

by the way did the installer take away the old box?

ps if you can say which county you are in I can check the soarview channels?

Thurston?

swoofer wrote: »

If its a brand new Sky HD box then it wont have RF1 and RF2 inputs/ouputs, this means no way will signal get to second tv.

It will if the installer put an IO link or other modulator on it.

swoofer wrote: »

he did not turn on power to rf2 in the settings of the new box.

Isn't that only to turn on the 9VDC power for TV link gear, like 'magic eyes'? Or does the IO link do nothing at all without being switched on in the menu?

More than likely the aerial-in & RF-out cables are just lying there & if the OP joins them together they can at least re-establish the aerial feed, & worry about getting Sky on the kitchen TV later.

Strange the installer didn't explain any of this.

Gerry Wicklow

winston_1 wrote: »

Sky don't use engineers for installations so one did not cause this. You also won't get an engineer if you ask sky to send one.

If you haven't got a useful comment to help the OP why do you insist in posting these smart comments?

winston_1

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

If you haven't got a useful comment to help the OP why do you insist in posting these smart comments?

Not smart, but true. The OP needed to know this. He can now get a real engineer out instead one of sky's installers who won't understand the issue.

obezyana

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

If you haven't got a useful comment to help the OP why do you insist in posting these smart comments?

I think dear old Winston likes being the person that seems to know everything and he just loves pointing that out. Best ignore his input as I think many on here (wisely) do already.

andrew1977

Hi
Attached pictures taken of the aerial/dish on the roof this morning and also the box.
2 tvs in the house, sitting room with HD box connected , previously it fed the sky signal into the kitchen TV.
On saorview now they have rte2, tv3, tg4,3e, rte nes now.. no RTE1.
Also missing is all the freeview Uk channels which they were picking up as I assume they are picking up the Northern Ireland signal also ( I live next door and none of my channels have been effected, both IE + UK channels working perfectly )

Fair enough if I have to buy a new piece of equipment to feed the sky into the kitchen tv, but the saorview channels both IE + UK should not have been effected by a sky installation surely ?

Thanks again to all for your help, really need to try get this sorted for them, 2 elderly people where the TV is a big plus for them during the day.

P.S doesn't look like my pictures have uploaded , will try again now

Thurston?

Right, the dish is well away from the aerial. I'll leave it for others to comment on the wisdom of bolting dishes to brick chimneys like that.

There's nothing connected to the IO or scart ports on that box, so no RF signal for the kitchen TV. The cable from the aerial & the cables feeding the RF-ins of the TVs will need to be connected together with a combiner/splitter to re-establish the aerial feed, & the already mentioned add-on will be needed if you want the Sky signal back in the kitchen.

andrew1977

Thurston? wrote: »

Right, the dish is well away from the aerial. I'll leave it for others to comment on the wisdom of bolting dishes to brick chimneys like that.

There's nothing connected to the IO or scart ports on that box, so no RF signal for the kitchen TV. The cable from the aerial & the cables feeding the RF-ins of the TVs will need to be connected together with a combiner/splitter to re-establish the aerial feed, & the already mentioned add-on will be needed if you want the Sky signal back in the kitchen.

Thank you Thurston, you have been very helpful.

So its nothing I can fix up myself for them, I shall try find a reliable TV installer/repair man in the Drogheda area, so my parent don't get ripped off.
(Anyone recommend anyone ?)

I presume the repair man will be able to re-establish RTE1 and all the Uk freeviews on both tvs in the house ?
I guess no point ringing sky/installer for their thoughts.
The installer seemed nice man according to my parents, he didn't tell them anything extra needed to be done or loss of channels. Is this the norm ?

Thurston?

The installer may have already connected at least 1 of the aerial feeds (kitchen would be the sensible option), especially since the RF2 would have had either a female connector or a female/female coupler on it already. Probably just didn't check how well it was working.

It's only a matter of plugging cables into the relevant piece of kit, no skill needed.

swoofer

did the guy take the old box?

Thurston?

Another thing to check: there appears to be a masthead amplifier on the aerial feed, the power supply of which is probably plugged in at the main TV. You could check that the installer didn't disturb this in any way.

swoofer

you need to look behind the tv and check if there is a white box like the image I have attached. whoever fitted the aerial knew what they were doing. take a pic and upload.

Its possible the cables for the amp were connected either with F or coaxial plugs. You need to check if aerial lead is still in situ as sky hd needs 2 feeds and your installer may have used the aerial lead! It does happen.

If its coaxial you can get a joiner in tesco for about a euro and u can link the 2 cables like the image in pic 2.

the joiner/coupler is as pic 3 this is gold plated but silver is ok.

At least if you join cables you will get RTE1 and UK channels back.

To get sky back back on other tv you will need that i/o coupler as shown in the video. Its about 25 euro.

You can do all this yourself and save a few bob.

That sky installer has not impressed me at all, especially as the people were elderly.

And if he took the box....

Thurston?

A version of the IO link with 2 RF-outs, like the Triax one, would suit the OP best.

Thurston?

swoofer wrote: »

You need to check if aerial lead is still in situ as sky hd needs 2 feeds and your installer may have used the aerial lead! It does happen.

Cable going to the LNB-ins looks like the thin version of twin 'shotgun' type, so I'd doubt the aerial cable was hijacked.

andrew1977

Hi

Spent an hour or so today trying to spot any bad set up or missing wires/wrongly connected wires, but no success ( I am not expert at all but done my best )
Hi Swoofer : No white box installed at back of tv.

The installer did not take the old sky box, it had been disconnected a while back so he didn't lay eyes on it to take it, that's if he wanted it.

I rang sky today on the off chance to air my views and they were ok about it, the person on the phone said I had called back within the 30 day installation guarantee and they would send an engineer/installer out within the next 10 days to see if they can help/rectify some problems.
Lets hope they can put some light on the situation.
I hope to be there when the sky person calls, so my elderly parents are not bamboozled.
I have no problem shelling out a few extra quid if I need connectors to give them sky in the kitchen, but I hope the sky man can help tidy up/fix the initial error.

Thanks again to you all for your help, any more help/suggestions greatly appreciated.

The Cush

For clarity, where does the aerial cable enter the house and on which TVs can you see the Saorview channels?

Thurston?

andrew1977 wrote: »

The installer did not take the old sky box, it had been disconnected a while back so he didn't lay eyes on it ...

He would have had no reason to touch any aerial cables if that's the case. Who disconnected & removed the old Sky box?

Also, just in case you didn't realise, the 'white box' is the masthead amplifier power supply I mentioned in an earlier post. It will be located somewhere along the aerial downlead, & could take the form of a distribution amplifier with line power on the aerial input, if the aerial installation is specced for more than 1 or 2 TVs.

Vic_08

From reading this I am wondering if it something as simple as the masthead amplifier may have been unplugged from the mains. Would certainly explain the loss of all low power terrestrial muxes and one of the sourviews, the other may be just strong enough to be received with the amp unpowered.

andrew1977 wrote: »

Hi

Spent an hour or so today trying to spot any bad set up or missing wires/wrongly connected wires, but no success ( I am not expert at all but done my best )
Hi Swoofer : No white box installed at back of tv.

The installer did not take the old sky box, it had been disconnected a while back so he didn't lay eyes on it to take it, that's if he wanted it.

I rang sky today on the off chance to air my views and they were ok about it, the person on the phone said I had called back within the 30 day installation guarantee and they would send an engineer/installer out within the next 10 days to see if they can help/rectify some problems.
Lets hope they can put some light on the situation.
I hope to be there when the sky person calls, so my elderly parents are not bamboozled.
I have no problem shelling out a few extra quid if I need connectors to give them sky in the kitchen, but I hope the sky man can help tidy up/fix the initial error.

Thanks again to you all for your help, any more help/suggestions greatly appreciated.

To sort the problem with the sourview and freeview channels you need to trace the aerial lead from where it enters the house.

You should have 3 cables entering the house, the 2 for the satellite which are connected to the sky box, the other one is from the aerial, find where this enters the house.
This should connect to a small box which will have a second cable attached as well as a power cable.
Make sure the power cable is plugged into the mains.
Then trace the cable exiting the box.
As you have multiple tvs in different rooms it will connect to a splitter.
This may or may not be powered, make sure it is also plugged in if it has a power cable.
One of the cables from the splitter is for your main TV, It should connect to the "aerial in" socket on the back of your TV.

These installations are often routed through attics with all the splitters and amplifiers placed there, if that is the case and the installer definitely did not go into the attic then the problem is likey not with that, if it easily accessible it is worth a quick check anyway.

If all this is in place then the problem is not inside the house, the installer may have disconnected or damaged part of the aerial installation on the roof.


Your second issue, having the sky box watchable in other rooms requires the output of the sky box to be fed into the aerial feed for the other rooms.

As you say this was operational with the original sky box before the new installation then the correct cabling should be there, although what exactly the installer did to it is anyone's guess. Seeing as you already had a functional sky installation I am at a loss as to why he would put a new dish on the roof. At the most it would have needed a new LNB and a second satellite cable feed for a sky+ in place of a standard sky box with no need to alter the rest of the cabling.


Looking at the picture you posted there is no way that box can feed more than one TV at present.
The older sky boxes had the necessary equipment to do this by routing the aerial feed through the box, your one does not.
To sort this a seperate box needs to be used to take the sky box feed and turn it into a tv signal that can be sent down the aerial cable to the other rooms, the installer should have noticed that a feed for extra rooms was in use and provided the link box or at least told you about the need for one.

Edit: You said the old sky box had been removed before the installer came. Why was it removed and by who?
What was done with the cables attached to the old sky box box at that point? If they had been removed or altered then it is possible the installer did not realise that a feed for other rooms was required.

More questions than answers with this I'm afraid.

Thurston?

Vic_08 wrote: »

I am at a loss as to why he would put a new dish on the roof. At the most it would have needed a new LNB and a second satellite cable feed for a sky+ in place of a standard sky box with no need to alter the rest of the cabling.

The dish & cables are included in the installation cost & guarantee? The old one was probably a bit 'tired' anyway. I don't know why he'd go onto the roof though, unless there was a specific need or request, or maybe the original dish was already up there.

andrew1977

Thurston? wrote: »

He would have had no reason to touch any aerial cables if that's the case. Who disconnected & removed the old Sky box?

Also, just in case you didn't realise, the 'white box' is the masthead amplifier power supply I mentioned in an earlier post. It will be located somewhere along the aerial downlead, & could take the form of a distribution amplifier with line power on the aerial input, if the aerial installation is specced for more than 1 or 2 TVs.

I removed the old sky box months ago , but the saorview still worked fine in the mean time.
Sky will be coming out Friday week to take a look and see what they can do to help my parents,
Thanks to all again for the help and advice with this, will update hopefully when its sorted soon.

Thurston?

andrew1977 wrote: »

I removed the old sky box months ago

If you had mentioned that earlier, we could have knocked the whole thing on the head about the installer & the RF cables.

Still, if he comes back he can at least re-establish the Sky feed to the kitchen. The Saorview/Freeview problems are probably nothing to do with the work he's already carried out though.

Dell2009

Have Sky+ Hd less than one month,bundled with Sky Talk and Sky Fibre. After numerous calls over 2 weeks to get my Sky Fibre up and running I was all sorted last Sat. However high winds appear to have played havoc with my sky TV and I am currently without TV for 3 days as i have lost satellite signal. After numerous calls to sky they eventually agreed to send an engineer but I will have to wait 8 days for him. To make things ever better they do not automatically reallocate engineers if one becomes available (upon cacellation) and I have to contact sky daily to try and get an earlier engineer apt.

I had UPC and Eircom for years and never had any issues. A constant battle with Sky.

winston_1

Dell2009 wrote: »

However high winds appear to have played havoc with my sky TV and I am currently without TV for 3 days as i have lost satellite signal. After numerous calls to sky they eventually agreed to send an engineer but I will have to wait 8 days for him. To make things ever better they do not automatically reallocate engineers if one becomes available (upon cacellation) and I have to contact sky daily to try and get an earlier engineer apt.

Wishful thinking. You will never get a sky engineer as sky don't use engineers. To be an engineer requires around 3 years at higher level university. Sky use fitters or installers.
Of course if they had used an engineer it would have been done properly and not moved in the wind.

I assume you will not be paying subs for the 8 or more days you don't have the service.
I personally would cancel the whole lot at this point as they have not provided the service paid for.
A company that requires you to contact them daily on a premium rate phone number to fix faults of their own making sucks.

swoofer

Once sky sign you up it can be a struggle, did you say you want to cancel? might concentrate their minds. Is the dish easily accessible, ie can you get at it and give it a twist. But if the dish moved on a new fitting less than a month old then it was not a very good job. those dishes if fitted correctly can withstand 100mph winds. Did you check all the cables at back of box, and looked in menu to see if there was a whiff of a signal, did you have a power cut and so on. say what checks you did.

Dell2009

swoofer wrote: »

Once sky sign you up it can be a struggle, did you say you want to cancel? might concentrate their minds. Is the dish easily accessible, ie can you get at it and give it a twist. But if the dish moved on a new fitting less than a month old then it was not a very good job. those dishes if fitted correctly can withstand 100mph winds. Did you check all the cables at back of box, and looked in menu to see if there was a whiff of a signal, did you have a power cut and so on. say what checks you did.

Dish appears to be okay, it doesn't look like there is any damage but I am no expert I have checked cables and completed a reset but nothing fixed issue. There is no signal at all and both not locked. My sky planner, on demand tv and recordings dont even work, nothing working at all.

Really disappointed with how Sky have handled the situation. They even overcharged me on my first bill with was paid on Monday.

I wish I had stayed with UPC or got eircom.

swoofer

dish only needs to move a fraction, all it needs is a tweak either right or left, it might even move on the bracket ie without any loosening, all you need is a signal until fitter(engineer!!) calls. If you can get at dish, set up menu on tv that shows signal strength, you will need two people, and see if you can get a lock. Mind you look carefully at lnb leads on dish they may have come loose in wind!

where are you located? a local guy could call and sort you quickly.

muffler

winston_1 wrote: »

You will never get a sky engineer as sky don't use engineers. To be an engineer requires around 3 years at higher level university. Sky use fitters or installers..

here Winston, troll make your way over here as there are numerous posts by Sky Reps who mention engineers. Get stuck into them and maybe we can get some respite from your constant whinging and nit picking.

Dell2009

I am located in Oranmore, Co Galway, a few miles outside city.

I don't know how confident id be to go up on a ladder and try to fix the satellite myself but thanks for advice.

I asked Sky could I get another subcontractor to fix it and send them the bill but they declined, they don't seem to care about getting me back up and running at all. I think that although I have only had it for one month, it is time to get rid of Sky. Their customer service is brutal.

Thurston?

Don't forget the 'Talk to ...' forum. Might be worth seeing what they have to say about the wait.

andrew1977

Update on the problem in my parents house : I rang sky who said they would send out an installer/enginer (whatever they are called ) to check the problem.

Sky installer arrived last Friday afternoon, (different guy to first installer ).
Most of the problems fixed, all saorview channels, both Uk and missing RTE 1 restored on both TV's, one in sitting room and one in kitchen.

Like many of you said, he could not fix /solve the problem of missing sky feed to the kitchen tv, but left details of what needs to be bought and where to link up the sky feed.
The guy was very helpful, apologised for the problems the first guy had caused.

So I have to say , thank you sky and especially the second sky installer who came back out to help rectify the problem. My elderly parents were very happy with how he sorted the majority of problems for him.

Thurston?

andrew1977 wrote: »

Sky installer arrived last Friday afternoon, (different guy to first installer ).
Most of the problems fixed, all saorview channels, both Uk and missing RTE 1 restored on both TV's, one in sitting room and one in kitchen

... The guy was very helpful, apologised for the problems the first guy had caused.

I still can't see why the 1st guy would have gone near the aerial cables if the old Sky box had already been removed.

Did the 2nd installer say what the problem was?

andrew1977

Thurston? wrote: »

I still can't see why the 1st guy would have gone near the aerial cables if the old Sky box had already been removed.

Did the 2nd installer say what the problem was?

He said that the 1st installer had not wired it up correctly, cant remember the full technical explanation, I am useless at things like this. He gave me his own number to call him back if any further problems within a month.