Q? New NTL Broadband causes TV problems.

ozmo

This is more a TV question with a bit of broadband - but as its a technical q hope its not too out of place on this forum.


Just got NTL 3M broadband and its awesome compared to the already good Eircom 2M connection I had .... and its a tenner cheaper too.

But to do this they replaced the NTL Digital TV DIGI Box from the large NTL box I used to have to a newer tiny Pace DC221KN decoder - and its messed up a few things.

Teletext doesnt work anymore and when switching channels to a 4:3 - the decoder causes the tv to go into some stretch mode clipping a large portion of the top and bottom of the screen so much you cannot see the channel top header border showing channel names etc.

Is this normal for this type of decoder - the older larger decoder didnt do this.

TV is a Sony Widescreen.

MartMax

i won't be sure if they really needed to change the decoder.

as far as i know, my ntl wires are split into two; one to the cable modem and one to the decoder. and the decoder i have is the one i'm using since 2001. yes it is big and black/dark grey...

ozmo

mart_max wrote:

i won't be sure if they really needed to change the decoder.

as far as i know, my ntl wires are split into two; one to the cable modem and one to the decoder. and the decoder i have is the one i'm using since 2001. yes it is big and black/dark grey...

Yeah it shouldnt have been necessary - but the inclusion of the new splitter caused some stations to be a little stuttery while using the old box so in his hunt to get it working he replaced the tv box as well.

Does anyone have the new type box and is happy with it?
I tried asking NTL customer support - but they didnt know of any problems.

bk

ozmo wrote:

Does anyone have the new type box and is happy with it?

I have it and it works just fine, in fact I believe it is considered better then the old box.

You don't get Teletext through Digital, but you should still be able to get teletext through the analogue service.

I also have a Sony Widescreen. I have the NTL box set to 16:4, this means that if the show is transmitted in widescreen the TV will switch to widescreen mode, if it isn't then it will go back to the TV's standard mode (Smart mode in my case).

You can change this behaviour in the settings if you like.

GerardKeating

bk wrote:

You don't get Teletext through Digital, but you should still be able to get teletext through the analogue service.

you do for the basic chanell, like RTE/BBC/ITV

bk

GerardKeating wrote:

you do for the basic chanell, like RTE/BBC/ITV

BUT how, there is no button for it on the NTL remote.

Maybe there was on the old NTL remotes. I can only get the Teletext on my TV tuned from the NTL analogue service.

cgarvey

I have the tiny pace box and every 2nd night get a card error, which is annoying.

Dunno about the pace box, but the older pace boxes certainly do teletext on the base stations. bk, you just put your NTL digital to, say, RTE1, and your TV should pick up the teletext signal the same as it does on an analogue channel.

.cg

ozmo

bk wrote:

i also have a Sony widescreen. I have the NTL box set to 16:4, this means that if the show is
transmitted in widescreen the TV vi11 switch to widescreen mode, if it isn’t then it will go back to the TV
standard mode (smart mode in my case).

My settings are NTL box to 16:9 and I tried all combinations on tv. TV currently set to Not switch formats but it
still does - keeps going to zoom mode (not my perfered 4:3 or even smart which isnt too bad)

Picture tells a 1000 words or something:

widescreen works fine:


switching to a 4:3 channel (RTE here)

Loses top of screen including the whole of the NIL channel name etc. This Didnt happen with the old larger box.

only relavent settings on TV:



Is this what you ntl guys see?
cheers,
oz.

bk

cgarvey wrote:

I have the tiny pace box and every 2nd night get a card error, which is annoying.

You can say that again, it is particularly annoying when you have a Tivo (PVR like Sky+) and you never watch TV live, instead you let the TV record it for you. It is incredibly irratating to come home to find the Tivo has only recorded the damn error message :mad:

cgarvey wrote:

Dunno about the pace box, but the older pace boxes certainly do teletext on the base stations. bk, you just put your NTL digital to, say, RTE1, and your TV should pick up the teletext signal the same as it does on an analogue channel.

Doesn't work on my TV, I simply get the message "No Text Available" on the TV. Maybe it is just my TV, but I don't think so. However I don't see how you could use your TV remote to control Teletext, since the digital box is connected to the TV via the Scart lead.

bk

Forget what I said above, I've just realised that my setup is probably fairly unique and therefore uncomparable with other people. I have:

NTL -> Scart -> Composite -> Tivo -> Composite -> Scart -> TV

That is why the Teletext probably isn't working the Tivo blocks it. Also the Tivo stops me from seeing the wierd format changing that ozmo gets.

Sorry for any confusion.

cdebru

I have exactly the same problem with NTL digital

I have a philips widescreen TV and the small pace box it changes to Zoom 16:9 so the information bar at the top and bottom disappear it does it on some channels but not on others
I rang NTL and the girl on the phone tried to fob me off with some bull**** about it was the way that station was broadcasting and out of NTLs control despite the fact that no station I know of broadcasts in Zoom 16:9
Anyway I argued with her and asked to speak to someone else she then offered to send out a tech so out he came Unfortunately I was not here when he came he set the pace box to pan and scan 4:3 which at least stopped the zoom 16:9 change however it is not a solution as it still takes a huge chunk out of the Picture
I have changed it back to 16:9 and manually change the TV back to widescreen everytime it happens which is really annoying
The NTL guy said that it was a conflict between the TV and the pace box both trying to display in widescreen and making the tv go to zoom

NTL are lying if they said they dont know about this issue as the Guy who came out said he is called out for this problem a few times every week

cdebru

Also does anyone else have the problem of channels on the pace box just going black for several minutes at a time

ozmo

cdebru wrote:

I have exactly the same problem with NTL digital
... Guy who came out said he is called out for this problem a few times every week

So its not just me so. I tried that Pan&Scan trick he did for you - and it does help - but it makes everyone appear slightly squashed and you do loose some screen.

I rang them and asked for my old box back. That one worked perfectly. I'll post how i get on later this week when ntl guy arrives.

patrickmooney

I'm still on a 4:3 TV here, have the same digibox, and I too am having soo many werid new "problems". Pan and Scan is giving me letterbox on non-widescreen channels. The only way to fix it is to set it to "widescreen". Both subtitles and teletext are lost too.

Cuauhtemoc

My Setup is New Pace box, 1MB broadband and a sony widescreen.
Can't say i have the picture size or the text problems. But the quality of the analogue stations was affected. Still watchable but not great.

cdebru

ozmo wrote:

So its not just me so. I tried that Pan&Scan trick he did for you - and it does help - but it makes everyone appear slightly squashed and you do loose some screen.

I rang them and asked for my old box back. That one worked perfectly. I'll post how i get on later this week when ntl guy arrives.

Yeah the pan scan things stops the ratio changing but it leaves a horrible shape picture so it is no solution really

Tells us how you got on if they give you your old box or a new one