Conspiracy theory regarding Sky HD signal strength

[CSnoddon]

I have had Sky HD installed for just over 2 years now and until about 6 months ago it was perfect. I was contacted by Sky and asked if I wanted to take the extended warranty but I politely declined this. In the last 6 months I have been experiencing viewing problems through Sky with any terrestrial channels and any other broadcasts that would be shown on freeview etc where it shows on screen that "No Signal is being received".All SKY channels have been working perfectly. At first switching the system off and on cured this but it got progressively worse where through the day this would happen regularly although in the evening and at night it worked perfectly. So now the World cup is now upon us I have had a total headache trying to watch any football due to this problem now rearing its head as soon as the football starts and then miraculously as soon as the England match finishes last night the channel starts working perfectly again.
I contacted Sky 3 times yesterday and changed the settings slightly on the first attempt which fixed the problem for 10 minutes,done a system reboot on the second attempt which didnt work at all then went through the settings and checked the connections on the third which turned the total signal off until i then reset the settings myself. I was also advised at this point that I would need to pay £65 for an engineer to call or alternatively take out the SKY warranty and I could get the box fixed.At this point I accepted this and asked to re arrange the engineer call out so that i could seek some further advice. Bearing in ming my sons SKY+ box receives everything with no interference I knew it wasnt a dish problem but I couldnt help thinking last night that if the channels all broadcast perfectly at certain times of the day why wouldnt they broadcast all of the time.
Can SKY control the signal strength in such a way to non warranty holders as to cause them to believe their equipment is broken and either replace or pay to have it fixed/buy an extended warranty?
Any assistance on this would be greatly appreciated!

 

[jdp1962]

Can SKY control the signal strength in such a way to non warranty holders as to cause them to believe their equipment is broken and either replace or pay to have it fixed/buy an extended warranty?
Any assistance on this would be greatly appreciated!

I think it is very unlikely they could do this. The signal is beamed to the satellite, and then beamed back down to earth where it is bounced off a dish to the LNB receiver, fed down the cable and into the set-top box. If I have a warranty, and my next-door neighbour does not, I do not see how Sky would have the means to send differing strength signals to each of our dishes.

I think you are worrying unnecessarily.

 

[Paul_p1]

A wee tip for the future, never pay for their extended warranty or their engineer visit. Just ask them to put you through to cancelations, see how fast they come out to fix it/replace your box. I've done it a few times now.

 

[JH4]

The Satellites @28Deg East transmit the same strength signal to the whole of the UK.
The "Occams Razor" principle applies here. Check the most obvious things first:
eg. dish, trees in the way, set top box, LNB, cables, etc, etc.
There is no conspiracy here !

 

[CSnoddon]

I remember one instance where my sons sky sports was not working correctly and i telephoned them and they resent a signal that corrected the problem within 5 minutes but the fact that sometimes(especially in the evening) the broadcast is great but at others it just doesnt work at all leads me to believe that it is signal strength as opposed to the equipment.
I really am at a loss with this and am so annoyed that it happens just as the World Cup has started and i cant watch the BBC channel in HD

 

[CSnoddon]

A wee tip for the future, never pay for their extended warranty or their engineer visit. Just ask them to put you through to cancelations, see how fast they come out to fix it/replace your box. I've done it a few times now.

Thanks Paul that may just be next on the list

 

[kenedin]

I think you probably have a Thomson HD digibox, and the capacitors therein are failing. This may be what's causing your signal problems, and if you search this forum for 'Thomson PSU' you will find a stack of posts on this very well-known problem, and also that the solution is generally to replace the capacitors on the PSU.

 

[Tight Git]

I remember one instance where my son's sky sports was not working correctly and I telephoned them and they resent a signal that corrected the problem within 5 minutes...

That would have been a message to the card in your Son's digibox to allow Sky Sports.

The actual broadcast, by definition, goes to everyone.

 

[jasonf01]

I wonder if youre looking in the right place here. It might be power related, Sky receivers have a relatively average PSU inside, one which after 12-18 months can tend to start having problems especially in higher ambient heat (afternoon/evening for instance).

As well as the "no sat signal being received" messages, do you also get occasional picture breakup when its on? If so I would definately look towards having a PSU replacement or cap kit installed. The PSU replacement is obvious, a brand new replacement. The "cap kit" is a small collection of capacitors (and maybe some other bits) to replace on the power supply board, and is cheaper as long as you know which end of a soldering iron to hold

Jas.