Tuner failure?

[MikeSh]

I'm sure this has come up before but I can't find anything using search.
Having swapped out our redundant 9200 for a second HDR Fox we now have the aerial input split to the two HDR inputs (where it was split between the HDR and 9200 before, so in theory no change).
On the output the HDMIs go into a cheapish 3-to-1 box (not the cheapest - I did look for a 1.4 unit whereas many were 1.3) and from there to the TV. Just the two HDRs on the input side.

This evening we found that recordings and live TV on one 'side' of the older box, not the new one, are suffering frequent glitching - breakup and dropouts every few to 15 seconds or so. Not really watchable. I've tried various permutations of playback and taken the HDMI box out of the equation without fixing it. I've not been able to swap the aerial connections yet as there are recordings running, but as 'half' the box is OK it seems unlikely that the aerial feed is the problem.

It looks to me like it may be a faulty tuner. But it's a BIG coincidence that it has happened just now, so I'm wondering if moving the aerial plugs has mechanically disturbed something.

The box is probably still in warranty, but I've got CFW on it (can be removed) and also taken the yellow filter out (can be put back, but seal is probably broken), so I'm wondering if it's worth getting the top off and checking for a bad connection near the tuners.

Suggestions for better diagnosis and possible fixes welcomed below

 

[Ezra Pound]

I presume by 'one side' of the older box you mean one of the two tuners, If so how do you know which tuner was in use at any one time?. You can check the Quality and signal strength of individual tuners by going to the Hidden Settings Menu (Details HERE) and then selecting Signal Test, this should tell you if one of the tuners is faulty

 

[DelftBlue]

Having swapped out our redundant 9200 for a second HDR Fox we now have the aerial input split to the two HDR inputs (where it was split between the HDR and 9200 before, so in theory no change).
This evening we found that recordings and live TV on one 'side' of the older box, not the new one, are suffering frequent glitching - breakup and dropouts every few to 15 seconds or so. Not really watchable. I've tried various permutations of playback and taken the HDMI box out of the equation without fixing it. I've not been able to swap the aerial connections yet as there are recordings running, but as 'half' the box is OK it seems unlikely that the aerial feed is the problem.

I'm sure you have done this already - but, just in case, its worth double double checking that the aerial connections are firmly and properly seated. We had an HDR with picture and sound glitches like those you describe - and I went 'all round the houses' of various solutions to fix it - and after everything ... it turned out to be simply that the aerial input wasn't seated as tightly as it needed to be.

 

[MikeSh]

Thank you very much both of you. I think it's sorted

I presume by 'one side' of the older box you mean one of the two tuners, If so how do you know which tuner was in use at any one time?. You can check the Quality and signal strength of individual tuners by going to the Hidden Settings Menu (Details HERE) and then selecting Signal Test, this should tell you if one of the tuners is faulty

The behaviour seemed to be that with two recordings in progress, one was glitchy and the other OK. I took that as suggesting one tuner was OK and one not.
However, following your info about the hidden menu I had a look and both tuners were showing ~80% strength but with the quality twitching from 100 down to 70 or 50 every few seconds. So I had a look at the signal strengths for each channel using the normal menu and found them all twitching except for the main HD/T2 mux, which was OK. Uh!? I have to guess that the HD system has better glitch suppression than the SD does.
The programmes that were recording OK last night were HD, so I guess that would explain why I got the wrong idea about it.

I'm sure you have done this already - but, just in case, its worth double double checking that the aerial connections are firmly and properly seated. We had an HDR with picture and sound glitches like those you describe - and I went 'all round the houses' of various solutions to fix it - and after everything ... it turned out to be simply that the aerial input wasn't seated as tightly as it needed to be.

Spot on I think. In the process of swapping the 9200 for the new HDR, the old HDR got the 9200's aerial lead and the new HDR got the one from the older HDR. Now I've swapped them over again and the signal strength/quality seem to have gone back to solid - on both boxes. I pulled the 'suspect' lead out to have a closer look at it and I also went to turn the splitter round to see if I could recreate the problem. Doing so I found that the outer ring of one of the plugs is only a loose fit on one of the splitter outputs. It's an all metal passive splitter and it seems one of the sprigs has been made a fraction smaller, so combined with a slightly looser plug there was a poor connection. I've got them permutated so the fits are all snug now, so fingers crossed it is all going to be fine. I've never needed to do it before but maybe sometime I'll also try and solder the wire cores into the hollow pins that are just a push fit at present, to make sure they don't give trouble at some point.

Thanks again both of you.

 

[DelftBlue]

Thank you very much both of you. I think it's sorted

That's good news!

On my set-up, I was relieved the fix turned out to be so easy, but exasperated that time had been wasted on chasing 'red herrings'.

It re-taught me a useful lesson ... that I should always double double triple check the basic elements

 

[TooDeep]

Appending to an old thread: I recently started experiencing a similar problem. When twin-recording from different muxes one of the recordings can be very break-upping suggesting that the drive is stressing one tuner. So off to the Hidden Settings Menu I go and promptly suffer a mind/body disconnect: my brain knows that switching muxes to test for tuner differences with recordings in progress can't be right but my fingers are insistent on the remote and the T2 rapidly crashes... 'Must be cleverer next time. Anyway, is drive-tuner interference a known thing?