Welsh digital switch over-Irish reception questions answered

Verso · 09-01-2010 03:26PM

Willby wrote: »

Hi Verso,
Back to the Humax I was told at work today by someone who recently got one for a present that she is getting some problems with the remote and when investigating further online she came across several bloggs with similar remote problems. Any comment appreciated?

Hi Willby,

I have had my Humax for about 5 months now and have had no problems with either the receiver or the remote. Certainly on looking at some of the blogs here on Boards there has been problems with the remote. I do find that it can be slow but mine still does the job.

Willby · 09-01-2010 05:55PM

Thanks Verso. Definitely going to get one. Richersounds.ie are offering it at 239 stg + 12 stg delivery. This is the best price I;ve seen even when currency difference is taken into account. Where did you purchase?
Rgds
Willby

Verso · 09-01-2010 06:21PM

Willby wrote: »

Thanks Verso. Definitely going to get one. Richersounds.ie are offering it at 239 stg + 12 stg delivery. This is the best price I;ve seen even when currency difference is taken into account. Where did you purchase?
Rgds
Willby

I purchased mine from an E-Bay Irish source for €325.00 including postage. You are getting a better deal from Richersounds.

Regards,

Verso

STB · 09-01-2010 06:24PM

Willby

Problems with the G10 and Irish DTT and Panasonic Freesat Combo products in general with Irish DTT.

Have a look at the LG LF7700 series (also a Freesat Combo). Work no problem with Irish DTT ands a fraction of the price.

20/20 · 11-01-2010 05:29AM

Willby I also have the Humax pvr and its fantastic for the freesat,very easy to use nice epg great picture quality. BUT the remote control is driving me mad.It was bought in May from Richersounds and before Christmas i inserted a thrid set of batteries in the hope it will make a difference.Sometimes remote works perfect (well like it supposed to) but other times you may have to keep pushing the buttons over and over again,and wave remote at the box,maybe even get off your arse to change manually from the box,and all of a sudden remote will work and jump forward 15 channels when you only want to go forward one,and you start same procedure all over again to go back down 14 channels. Good luck if you buy.

Willby · 12-01-2010 08:45PM

Tks Stb and 20/20.
Stb Dont know much about the LG. Are they any good?
I already have a 42" Panny plasma not full hd) and am ver pleased with it, hence my leanings towards the G10.

Willby · 12-01-2010 09:00PM

Hi 20/20. Glad to hear you are happy with the Humax Foxsat. Am waiting for Richersounds to get in new supply on Friday next.
Please forgive me if I am repeating something you have heard a dozen times but I was reading on avforums that if experiencing problems with the remote to ensure that you have removed the plastic cover on the ir sensor inside the flap in addition to the cover on the outside of the flap.
Rgds
Willby

20/20 · 12-01-2010 11:17PM

Thanks Willby i also read that and yes i had removed the protective plastic from inside and out.The box is great and remote works 85% of the time with no trouble.Just sometimes for no reason it acts up,and when it does it realy f**kin does.

bmaxi · 13-01-2010 12:05PM

20/20 wrote: »

Thanks Willby i also read that and yes i had removed the protective plastic from inside and out.The box is great and remote works 85% of the time with no trouble.Just sometimes for no reason it acts up,and when it does it realy f**kin does.

I know I may be stating the obvious but if the remote is faulty and it's still under guarantee, why not have them replace it?

aerial man · 24-02-2010 12:39AM

any ideas when rte might change their frequencies ? they are still knocking out the welsh digital stations. all we can get is about ten or so BBC + ITV +CH4/5 + all the radio

rte 1 , 2, news, TV3, TG4 , are beaming in perfectly with mpeg 4 but why did they choose nearly the same frequencies as the welsh!?!? its not as if there isnt a choice of same frequencies?? surely mt leinster is causing interference in wales?

Black Briar, how is your digital working???

24-02-2010 10:14AM

working well-same channels as you-Its better than paying for them

Have you tried blaenplwyf ?

marclt · 24-02-2010 11:46AM

Blaenplwyf really might be the way to go, if you can get a steady enough signal. But, many aerials in south wexford are pointed at Preseli, so if you do decide to change, be patient when looking for the best signal and that might not necessarily be where you aerial is currently located.

Good luck!

mrdtv2010 · 24-02-2010 12:48PM

There is a rather interesting discussion about Divis and Blaen-Plwyf in Section 3.2 of this report:

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radiocomms/ddr/documents/ch21.pdf

It is clear that when DSO finishes in the UK that Ofcom plans to auction the 600Mhz band (Chs 31-38) to create two new UK DTT networks. The report was delivered in March 2009 and as things have moved on it is likely that these would be set up as DVB-T2 SFN's as the spectrum is not available nationwide till 2012. Of course these allocations have to be agreed with Ireland and this report also alludes to the fact that Kippure and Three Rock will be changing DTT channels because of the EU wide 800Mhz mobile broadband plans. Finally Humax customer support confirmed to me that the Humax Fox T2 DVB-T2 receiver now widely available also works with MPEG4 T1 services.

Gerry Wicklow · 24-02-2010 07:36PM

aerial man wrote: »

any ideas when rte might change their frequencies ? they are still knocking out the welsh digital stations. all we can get is about ten or so BBC + ITV +CH4/5 + all the radio

rte 1 , 2, news, TV3, TG4 , are beaming in perfectly with mpeg 4 but why did they choose nearly the same frequencies as the welsh!?!? its not as if there isnt a choice of same frequencies?? surely mt leinster is causing interference in wales?

Black Briar, how is your digital working???

For what it's worth, Mt L disappeared around lunchtime and good ould Quest etc (CH42 + CH45) were back on form. Pity it wouldn't stay that way.
Surely if the bods in RTENL are monitoring this board they must know by now that they are making enemies in Wicklow / Wexford.

mrdtv2010 · 24-02-2010 08:37PM

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

For what it's worth, Mt L disappeared around lunchtime and good ould Quest etc (CH42 + CH45) were back on form. Pity it wouldn't stay that way.
Surely if the bods in RTENL are monitoring this board they must know by now that they are making enemies in Wicklow / Wexford.

I think they know that and there is a deep sense of ennui with the delays in rollout of Irish DTT. BP should be evaluated as this has no CCI relationship with Mount Leinster and is more powerful (+3dB and Group A). It will also have T2HD from March 10th: the first person getting a signal from there *AND* the Irish DTT trials on the T2 box will have established the futureproof system, also to be used in NI from 2012. Of course Preseli HD is coming in June just before the World Cup. I foresee a hodgepodge of cheapo Freeview receivers, combo boxes, T2 combo systems (these are in the works as well) and a huge new range of T2 LCDs as announced by the vendors this last week. Unfortunately all of these systems are primarily designed with the UK market in mind and will shove RTENL services into the LCN 800 range.

Sam Russell · 24-02-2010 10:12PM

mrdtv2010 wrote: »

Unfortunately all of these systems are primarily designed with the UK market in mind and will shove RTENL services into the LCN 800 range.

That would not be a problem if we only have 5 or so channels, might be difficult if we have 30.

Maybe RTENL could encode us as a part of the UK to avoid this.:D

aerial man · 24-02-2010 10:15PM

Deleted User wrote: »

Have you tried blaenplwyf ?

no i havent had a chance. will try it soon. seemly years ago, there was a high mast up aiming at blaenplwyf and it worked fine. it would of stopped working since they shielded the analog going west. is the digital shielded now?

yes gerry it would be great but we can never seem to get it right on good ol ireland!! id say they are aware of it alright. it will probably be tho resolved soon.

is there a reason for avoiding staying in group A??

25-02-2010 12:29AM

There are still some old blaenplwyf vhf aerials around.
Back in the day we had one here.

As a kid I remember one at home,it was the main service in wicklow and wexford and worked very well.
No shielding to the west with the new blaen digital except towards arklow but even at that I have 62% signal strength on it with my aerial pointed way off its beam and the wrong group.
I'm likely outside the arklow reduction though.
Gorey should definitely be.

mrdtv2010 · 26-02-2010 10:35AM

aerial man wrote: »

no i havent had a chance. will try it soon. seemly years ago, there was a high mast up aiming at blaenplwyf and it worked fine. it would of stopped working since they shielded the analog going west. is the digital shielded now?

yes gerry it would be great but we can never seem to get it right on good ol ireland!! id say they are aware of it alright. it will probably be tho resolved soon.

is there a reason for avoiding staying in group A??

There is a narrow restriction in the 275-285 degrees arc to 5kW, but it appears that the full 40kW fires to the NW and SW from Blaen-Plwyf. Note that Arfon is only 2kW. If you get a chance you could line up on BP before the 10th and use the analogue signals to peak the antenna: I would try either a log (Vision 40 etc) or Group A high performance both with mastheads. Group A transmitters have the best propagation characteristics, eg Divis.

Sam Russell · 04-03-2010 04:58PM

Success at last.

I tried to receive Blaenpwyf today and got 62 TV channels including the 5 Irish ones. Pointed a handheld grid WB antenna at BP and hey presto, 62 channels reported. Some were topup and paytv, but picture was rocksolid.

The aerial was at rooftop, and chimneypot level, in the centre of Bray, avoiding Bray Head. Unfortunately, I could not take any signal strength readings as I had to use a TV to get reception and it was a very temporary setup. (Arms get tired quickly.) Great day for it, weather was wonderful.

Let us hope it was a repeatable experience.

I will try in two weeks time with a more permanent setup.

:):):):):):):)

mrdtv2010 · 04-03-2010 05:39PM

Sam Russell wrote: »

Success at last.

I tried to receive Blaenpwyf today and got 62 TV channels including the 5 Irish ones. Pointed a handheld grid WB antenna at BP and hey presto, 62 channels reported. Some were topup and paytv, but picture was rocksolid.

The aerial was at rooftop, and chimneypot level, in the centre of Bray, avoiding Bray Head. Unfortunately, I could not take any signal strength readings as I had to use a TV to get reception and it was a very temporary setup. (Arms get tired quickly.) Great day for it, weather was wonderful.

Let us hope it was a repeatable experience.

I will try in two weeks time with a more permanent setup.

:):):):):):):)

Congratulations. Note that only one BP Mux is on full power today (the BBC one @ 40kW), the rest are low power until next Wednesday when the PSB muxes all go to 40kW and the COM muxes go to 10kW. Note that BP will be the first station in Wales to radiate HD from next Wednesday (new box needed for newbies on first time reading.)

From 10 March:

BBC A: Ch 27, 40kW, MPEG2 (On air now)
D3&4: Ch 24, 40kW, MPEG2
HD: Ch 21+, 40kW, MPEG4/DVB-T2

SDN: Ch 25, 10kW
Arqiva A: Ch 22+, 10kW
Arqiva B: Ch 28, 10kW

A most interesting result on a relatively straightforward setup

Sam Russell · 04-03-2010 05:58PM

mrdtv2010 wrote: »

A most interesting result on a relatively straightforward setup

Very Mickey Mouse indeed.

A wideband grid antenna, with a masthead amp feeding a LG tv with Mpeg4 decoder. The first channel it stopped on was 27 so that was all I got from BP, but I must have got a few others. No CH4 though, but SC4. Very pleased with the result. Just point and tune. No high mast or anything special. I will try in 10 days time with a bit more permanent setup, and try without the masthead, and with a Group A antenna, and maybe my 'joke' aerial.

It looks like goodbye Onevision, Goodbye UPC, and Goodbye Sky. Yahoo.:):):)

Well not for me actually, I have none of the above, only Freesat and Humax. But I will be trying for Freeview from my house in Dublin 4 in the near future.

04-03-2010 06:09PM

Sam Russell wrote: »

Success at last.

I tried to receive Blaenpwyf today and got 62 TV channels including the 5 Irish ones. Pointed a handheld grid WB antenna at BP and hey presto, 62 channels reported. Some were topup and paytv, but picture was rocksolid.

The aerial was at rooftop, and chimneypot level, in the centre of Bray, avoiding Bray Head. Unfortunately, I could not take any signal strength readings as I had to use a TV to get reception and it was a very temporary setup. (Arms get tired quickly.) Great day for it, weather was wonderful.

Let us hope it was a repeatable experience.

I will try in two weeks time with a more permanent setup.Excelent.
It wasn't a lift either as pressure is only 1028 now and probably lower when you were testing.

I'm hopefully testing saturday.

:):):):):):):)

Excelent.
It wasn't a lift either as pressure is only 1028 now and probably lower when you were testing.

I'm hopefully testing saturday.

mrdtv2010 · 04-03-2010 06:18PM

Sam Russell wrote: »

Very Mickey Mouse indeed.

A wideband grid antenna, with a masthead amp feeding a LG tv with Mpeg4 decoder. The first channel it stopped on was 27 so that was all I got from BP, but I must have got a few others. No CH4 though, but SC4. Very pleased with the result. Just point and tune. No high mast or anything special. I will try in 10 days time with a bit more permanent setup, and try without the masthead, and with a Group A antenna, and maybe my 'joke' aerial.

It looks like goodbye Onevision, Goodbye UPC, and Goodbye Sky. Yahoo.:):):)

Well not for me actually, I have none of the above, only Freesat and Humax. But I will be trying for Freeview from my house in Dublin 4 in the near future.

http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/postcodechecker/main/trade/SY23+4DZ/1/0

Note that this postcode prediction gives you the set of channel changes over the next few days: you clearly were picking up the high power BBC Mux and none of the low power muxes from BP. Ch 27 is the first of the new high power muxes. You were probably also getting Preseli as well! C4 comes next week with the D3+4 high power mux. As to Dublin 4 it depends on your location and CCI from Divis whose analogue channels are the same as BP high power. Next Wednesday is likely to be very interesting.

DigiDec · 04-03-2010 09:16PM

Picking up Preseli tonight, very stable. My location, Finglas on the nothside of Dublin City, setup - wideband attic aerial with masthead amp.

Im getting channels 41, 43, 44, 46

strenght 75%
quality 92%

marclt · 04-03-2010 09:48PM

great result there digi!

Arfon are 41, 44 and Preseli are 43, 46.

But, it might be lift conditions!

On the other side of the sea, I'm picking up TV3/TG4 analogue from Mullaghanish.

Also getting a pretty strong digital signal on Ch. 21... is that Mullaghanish too?

Picking up a weak RTE1 and 2 on Ch. 29 and 33... where might that be coming from? Bizarrely, Ch39 Mt. Leinster is wiped so are the analogues from Mt. Leinster - co-channel washing them out.

I normally find lift conditions work one way but not always the other, so interesting to see if people are picking up anything from further afield...

Huntshaw Cross maybe Ch. 59 and 62 are PSB muxes to look out for.

DigiDec · 04-03-2010 10:26PM

Picking up ch 48 now too, Film4 etc.

Your RTE1 and RTE2 are analogue on Chs 29 and 33 fron the Three Rock in the Dublin mountains.

Must be good lift conditions tonight!

04-03-2010 10:26PM

29 and 33 , I think are the low power uhf relay at mt leinster believe it or not.
I can get it here.
It might be 3 rock but I doubt it.
I thought the one I got here was 3 rock untill there were problems at mt Leinster during Xmas which also affected 29 and 33 here.

04-03-2010 10:35PM

Just checked all channels and theres no evidence of lift conditions at my location.
Presely is on the stronger side of normal with a signal strength of 86% and quality 100%
Arfon is up to 67%

fat-tony · 04-03-2010 10:36PM

Seems to be a lift on all right (pressure's high - 1033). I'm picking up CH58 and CH59 here in Greystones. My wideband aerial is pointed at Blaenplwyf (which I have failed to receive here at any stage). I suspect 58/59 is coming at me from the NorthEast rather than Wales, as I seem to be in a bit of a reception "dip" in that direction.

Welsh digital switch over-Irish reception questions answered

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