Bargain Alert: New Ferguson HD DTT/Sat Combo Box - €63 before postage

Gerry Wicklow · 01-09-2011 12:21PM

Tony wrote: »

Why does everyone jump to the conclusion that theres something wrong with the firmware ?

Terms like "bad workman", "blame" and "tools" spring to mind.:D

khumbu · 01-09-2011 12:46PM

If problem is real then the following will happen when muxII (with RTE2 on it) is running & a user is recording a channel on muxI

numbering when not recording
1 RTE1, 2 RTE2, 3 TV3, 4 TG4, 5 3e,

channel numbering while recording a muxI channel for example
1 RTE1, 2 TV3, 3 TG4, 4 3e.

Hopefully this won't the case when muxII commences.

Tony · 01-09-2011 01:04PM

When mux 2 is running users will not have the channels set to skip surely?

STB · 01-09-2011 01:26PM

khumbu wrote: »

If problem is real then the following will happen when muxII (with RTE2 on it) is running & a user is recording a channel on muxI

numbering when not recording
1 RTE1, 2 RTE2, 3 TV3, 4 TG4, 5 3e,

channel numbering while recording a muxI channel for example
1 RTE1, 2 TV3, 3 TG4, 4 3e.

Hopefully this won't the case when muxII commences.

For recording purposes (ONLY) you do realise that if recording off Mux 1, Mux 2 isnt visible. You would need a dual tuner for that functionality. Thats how Mux bouquets work on DVB-T and will apply to even the most expensive Technomate Triple tuner series in the 7100/7102s.

dulpit · 01-09-2011 02:13PM

Hey all, I've had this box about 2 weeks or so, love it. The picture on the HD is lovely, and it's nice to have my Irish channels watchable again...

I have noticed 2 issues:

1 - ITV1HD has a tiny sync issue between picture and sound, as far as I am aware this is an issue with the channel and not the box, right?
2 - My box has a tendency to freeze up. Initially I thought there was a big problem with the box, but I have now realised that the freezing only happens when I am watching Channel 4 HD or leave it on this channel overnight. Any ideas on this one?

Tony · 01-09-2011 02:15PM

dulpit wrote: »

Hey all, I've had this box about 2 weeks or so, love it. The picture on the HD is lovely, and it's nice to have my Irish channels watchable again...

I have noticed 2 issues:

1 - ITV1HD has a tiny sync issue between picture and sound, as far as I am aware this is an issue with the channel and not the box, right?

Try the ITV granada HD feed its usually spot on

dulpit wrote: »

2 - My box has a tendency to freeze up. Initially I thought there was a big problem with the box, but I have now realised that the freezing only happens when I am watching Channel 4 HD or leave it on this channel overnight. Any ideas on this one?

Ferguson have been made aware of this but it would be great if everyone emailed them with this issue to get more pressure on .

Hotwheels · 01-09-2011 03:25PM

Have the unit fitted almost two weeks now, and can only sing its praises, no problems with it, plugged in the house Arial and I was surprised to see how crystal clear the channels are. Most were snowy when it was plugged into the back of the TV. RTE1 RTE HD etc perfect...

Only change I made was to rescan and build my own channel/Sat list...

A worth while investment imo

khumbu · 01-09-2011 07:56PM

Tony wrote: »

When mux 2 is running users will not have the channels set to skip surely?

Ignore the fact I have some channels skipped.

When recording off one mux any channels in second mux are dropped from the epg channel list.

The problem I see is when recording a mux1 channel, you MAY end up with the following channel order.
1 RTE1, 2 TV3, 3 TG4, 4 3e.

danjo-xx · 01-09-2011 08:06PM

Very strange but I now have no signal on True movies 1 & 2 and True Entertainment, either in fav or all cnls. Signal still there on sky box in other room.

Tony · 01-09-2011 08:17PM

khumbu wrote: »

I you MAY end up with the following channel order.
1 RTE1, 2 TV3, 3 TG4, 4 3e.

MAY ? Lets stick with what really happens . Channels are greyed out from the list beacuse the cannot be viewed at that time if the tuner is already being used for recording purposes. I've seen no evidence of channels changing except when they are set to skip as you have set them to . If no channels are set to skip then I do not see any problem . This is not a firmware glitch and suggesting such on the basis of what "may" happen in the future is frankly misleading and irresponsible given that other readers of this forum rely on factual information and not speculation on what may happen in the future .

Tony · 01-09-2011 08:18PM

danjo-xx wrote: »

Very strange but I now have no signal on True movies 1 & 2 and True Entertainment, either in fav or all cnls. Signal still there on sky box in other room.

Are you aware of the transponder change discussed on another thread on the satellite forum ?

peace2804 · 01-09-2011 09:03PM

Tony wrote: »

Ok try a scart connection and see if the problem repeats

Well there is no issue with a scart connection in terms of sound. I would imagine that the problem comes from the HDMI cable or the HDMI connection in the box.
What do you think about that Tony? Thanks a million for your help.

danjo-xx · 01-09-2011 09:09PM

Tony wrote: »

Are you aware of the transponder change discussed on another thread on the satellite forum ?

nope

but am now thank you kindly sir!

apart from a bit of freezing, twice during the Dublin v Donegal match, unforgiveable this box is a nice piece of work.

Tony · 01-09-2011 09:23PM

danjo-xx wrote: »

nope but am now thank you kindly sir!

No problem, forgot to mention i have the freqs here http://www.satellite.ie/acatalog/Frequently_Asked_Questions.html

Tony · 01-09-2011 09:29PM

peace2804 wrote: »

Well there is no issue with a scart connection in terms of sound. I would imagine that the problem comes from the HDMI cable or the HDMI connection in the box.
What do you think about that Tony? Thanks a million for your help.

No problem i'm happy to help . From experience usually if there is a sound problem it appears at both the scart and the HDMI outputs . If there was a problem with your cable or the HDMI socket it would usually be present alll the time and on both sound and vision .

Is there any possibility you can try the box on another tv which has HDMI ? With a problem like this its really a case of eliminating each element in the chain one at a time, for example if it was ok with another tv with the same HDMI lead it would point at something else being the cause . As the problem occurs on both terr and sat you can be pretty sure neither the aerial or the dish are causing the problem.

Hope this make sense and gives you some pointers.

peace2804 · 01-09-2011 09:42PM

Thanks a lot for the quick reply, I'll try the box on another TV using the HDMI cable and I'll let you know

, thanks again.

apkb · 01-09-2011 11:22PM

Cant add the 179.00e DIY version to the cart on satelite.ie

, help tony?

and is the bigger the better when it comes to aerials?

60cm fine if i eventually get 3 boxes or will i have to upgrade?

Tony · 01-09-2011 11:36PM

apkb wrote: »

Cant add the 179.00e DIY version to the cart on satelite.ie , help tony?

and is the bigger the better when it comes to aerials?

60cm fine if i eventually get 3 boxes or will i have to upgrade?

Sorry about that , should be ok now .
60cm is fine for up to 8 boxes if you use a octo lnb. Bigger is usually better if its the correct aerial but it depends totally on what the signal strength is in your area . When using mutiple receivers an distribution amplifier works well for terrestrial once you have a good signal to start with.

apkb · 02-09-2011 02:05PM

Tony wrote: »

Bigger is usually better if its the correct aerial but it depends totally on what the signal strength is in your area .

Any way of knowing how good your signal is?
I dont know anybody else with the same box

Im 25mins east of Galway city, between Oranmore and Clarenbridge

Any chance you can adjust the price to include a bigger dish to be safe?

Tony · 02-09-2011 02:51PM

apkb wrote: »

Any way of knowing how good your signal is?
I dont know anybody else with the same box

Take a look at the coverage map on Saorview.ie

apkb wrote: »

Any chance you can adjust the price to include a bigger dish to be safe?

Thats not necessary 60 cm is fine but if you really want a bigger dish you can buy the receiver and dish separately

givecredit · 02-09-2011 03:33PM

apkb wrote: »

Any way of knowing how good your signal is?
I dont know anybody else with the same box

Im 25mins east of Galway city, between Oranmore and Clarenbridge

Any chance you can adjust the price to include a bigger dish to be safe?

I have installed a couple of these for friends in Galway City. The 60cm dish is perfect for satellite and you have a choice of picking up RTE from mAHERA or Turnabrooky(Galway City)( I know i have spelt that incorrectly). In the city an indoor aerial is fine. You will have no problem picking up all with this receiver.

dulpit · 02-09-2011 03:57PM

Tony wrote: »

Try the ITV granada HD feed its usually spot on

Will do as soon as I go home...

Tony wrote: »

Ferguson have been made aware of this but it would be great if everyone emailed them with this issue to get more pressure on .

Sorry for being annoying, but is there an email address floating around I could use? And is the issue specific to C4?

Chuck Stone · 02-09-2011 05:20PM

Bought one of these combo boxes today from Satellite.ie today.

Quick question lads.

Is it possible to split a digital cable signal? (currently running from sky dish to sky box out of subscription).

Zab · 02-09-2011 05:43PM

So, I have a 120 Combo upgraded to latest firmware from the Ferguson site, I live in Rathmines and I know what direction Three Rock is.

I also have something like this:

So far no luck getting DVB-T to work (I have the satellite working). If anybody can give me a tip that gets it working before the match kicks off that'd be amazing! I've had it recognise a few numbered (rather than named) channels a couple of times during the search, but there's just a whine on them when I tune them in. I'm a bit confused regarding how the aerial should be set up on what orientation it should have.

Under "Aerial Adjustment", does the Ch No matter? I see that sometimes it has CH00 - CH05 and sometimes they're missing.

It's too late to get a proper aerial for the match, but if I have to get one then that's what I'll do.

Chuck Stone · 02-09-2011 05:47PM

Chuck Stone wrote: »

Is it possible to split a digital cable signal? (currently running from sky dish to sky box out of subscription).

Just did a bit of googling and it appears that splitting the digital sat signal is inadvisable.

John mac · 02-09-2011 05:49PM

Zab wrote: »

So, I have a 120 Combo upgraded to latest firmware from the Ferguson site, I live in Rathmines and I know what direction Three Rock is.

I also have something like this:

So far no luck getting DVB-T to work (I have the satellite working). If anybody can give me a tip that gets it working before the match kicks off that'd be amazing! I've had it recognise a few numbered (rather than named) channels a couple of times during the search, but there's just a whine on them when I tune them in. I'm a bit confused regarding how the aerial should be set up on what orientation it should have.

Under "Aerial Adjustment", does the Ch No matter? I see that sometimes it has CH00 - CH05 and sometimes they're missing.

It's too late to get a proper aerial for the match, but if I have to get one then that's what I'll do.

try and get the aerial as close as pos to a south facing window.. you should have no trouble picking up a signal.

John mac · 02-09-2011 05:51PM

Chuck Stone wrote: »

Just did a bit of googling and it appears that splitting the digital sat signal is inadvisable.

you need a separate feed from the dish , using a quad lnb (twin will do )

Zab · 02-09-2011 05:57PM

John mac wrote: »

try and get the aerial as close as pos to a south facing window.. you should have no trouble picking up a signal.

Bam. Thanks man. I actually got it just before I read your reply. A little bit of height + south facing was the answer. I am now prepared for glorious HD football. What am I paying UPC for again?

Strawberry HillBilly · 02-09-2011 06:13PM

Got one of these boxes last weekend from Satellite.ie - service, as described by all before me, was seemless - well done Tony and team.

One problem I have is that if I tune in Manual DTT during the dayI get blank screen on RTE+1 in the evening and if I do manual tune in the evening I get blank screen on RTE Junior the following day - what am I doing wrong ??

STB · 02-09-2011 06:22PM

Strawberry HillBilly wrote: »

Got one of these boxes last weekend from Satellite.ie - service, as described by all before me, was seemless - well done Tony and team.

One problem I have is that if I tune in Manual DTT during the dayI get blank screen on RTE+1 in the evening and if I do manual tune in the evening I get blank screen on RTE Junior the following day - what am I doing wrong ??

The stations themselves only broadcast certain hours. For example. RTE1+1 only comes on at 7pm.

Bargain Alert: New Ferguson HD DTT/Sat Combo Box - €63 before postage

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