ITV4,Film4 etc (ARQB) up the creek!

B

bellodiablo

New Member
Hello All,

After much brushing up using this forum i still can't resolve this problem so thought i'd post. I just can't see a solution so if anyone can shed any light on this i'll be AMAZED!

The problem is this:

After watching itv4 and film4 fine for years on my HDR Fox T2 the Tour de France coverage begins which ive really been looking forward to and it's suddenly just a bunch of mutilated pixels. Typical.

I've discovered that these channels are served by ARQ B.

The digitaluk.co.uk website suggests that where i live (so22) the Hannington transmitter should be my nearest station (north of me). It must be a new one, because we've always been served by Rowridge on the Isle of Wight (south of me).

ARQ B is currently set to channel28 at Rowridge and i'm getting nothing but a horrible messy picture. So i go to manual tune to channel47 (the Hannington transmitter) but the humax detects no channels. I'm assuming this is because my aerial points south and hannigton is north of here.

HOWEVER, my Sony Bravia tv in the other room tunes to ITV4 just fine, and upon checking i discover its just tuned to channel28 in Rowridge like normal!

So what's going on? Why does the Bravia like channel28 and the Humax hate it? They share the same aerial. I'd adjust the aerial direction but its communal. I love my hummy but its gone mad!

Thank you all in advance if you can get to the bottom of this..
 
Bite the bullet and do a manual retune on just that mux. Retunes have been known to solve the problem. Back up your recording schedule first just to be safe (not sure whether a retune of one broadcast channel kills it or not), if you are running the custom firmware it will have been automatically backed up within the last day.
 
That's part of the problem though: Manual tuning channel28 gets me what i already have - horrible reception, and tuning to channel47 which is allegedly the best one returns no channels at all.

One thing it could be: There's a transmitter called Rowridge and another called Rowridge VP. They both output ARQ B on channel 28. Maybe the Bravia is tuned to the VP version hence its decent signal? If so, how do i get the humax to also receive Rowridge VP specifically when they both transmit on the same channel? This is a nightmare!
 
Rowridge VP is Vertical Polarity as opposed to the normal Horizontal Polarity.
 
bellodiablo said:
ARQ B is currently set to channel28 at Rowridge and i'm getting nothing but a horrible messy picture.
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Please would you double check that you are tuned to channel 28 by the following method:

First switch to Film 4 (channel no. 15) or ITV4 (channel no. 24).
Then using your remote navigate the signal detection menu
MENU > Settings > System > Signal Detection.

What channel number does the signal detection screen show? Is it 28 for Rowridge or something else?

One more questions. When on the signal detection screen press the right arrow button on the silver circle to the right of the OK button. What are the channel numbers that it displays?
 
Hi Luke, Yes the signal detection screen does indeed show Ch28. Strength is at 10%. Quality fluctuates wildly from 90% all the way down to 10% in which case the picture just cuts out.

Hmmm. Thanks for taking the time to have a think about it anyway.
 
If you can persuade the ower of the communal aerial to turn the aerial 90 degrees to pick up the Rowridge VP transmission, everyone should get better reception as 1) Rowridge VP transmits all muxes at full power (200kW) whereas ARQ B in the horizontal polarisation is only at quarter power (50kW); 2) an aerial orientated to pick up the VP transmission will give better rejection against signals from other transmitters when we get high pressure over the UK. Your fluctuating quality in the signal check could be caused by interference. Also, if the problem has only happened in the last few days, it could be caused the scheduled engineering work which started on the 26/6.
 
bellodiablo said:
Why does the Bravia like channel28 and the Humax hate it? They share the same aerial.
Click to expand...
They may change the same aerial but some of the leads from the aerial to the Bravia/Humax are different.

Can you take the Humax to the same room as the Bravia and take the aerial lead out of the Bravia and plug it into the Humax instead? You'll of couse have to do something with the scart leads so that you can view the Humax picture or lack of.
 
Yes, it's just in the custom firmware. You can backup the raw databases through the hidden service menu but when you restore them you're back to where you were before the retune - i.e. the channel list will have reverted too.
 
Thanks for the really quick response Whaif I delete the channel.db and then restore (just the other two)?
 
Then the channel service IDs that are used to link the two will not necessarily match between your new channel.db and your old rsv.db
 
I think it will be easier just to list the schedule (Guide >> Yellow) and note it down (or photograph it).
 
Black Hole said:
I wonder if there are actually two aerials, one horizontal and the other vertical?
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Good thought even if that would make the set-up very odd indeed for a communal system. But at least if the Humax was tried in the Bravia room using the Bravia cables at the very least it would rule some sort of fault in the Humax or the Humax's configuration if it worked.
 
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