DMR EX85, i need some help with tuning and set up.

Ivor_Biggern

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Hi, hopefully Gavtech or one of you will be able to help me with this.

I have tried to autotune my DMR EX85 but which ever way i do it i can`t get channel 5 in in synch with the rest of the programnmes, it goes BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channel 4 and then ITV2.

If i press the number 5 button on its own it comes up as a blank black page with the info bar saying no signal, i can get channel 5 but its right up the top of the channels at 905 which i think is an anolgue channel as its also got the other standard terrestrial channels below it at 904, 903, 902 and 901 etc.

Any ideas why its not showing a channel 5 digital channel on my listings ?

Also a slight other problem, can someone tell me the best way to set up a sky+ box, a DMR EX85 which are connected to a Panasonic 42PZ70. At the min when i turn on my sky+ box channel 5 on my main television goes all funny with blocky coloured bars appearing and the sound goes like a dalek, channel 5 is fine through sky but the problem is with normal channel 5 when the sky+ box is switched on. I must have the cables slightly wrong somewhere, i followed the 42PZ70 manual on how to connect external devices to the tv.
 
sounds as if your sky box rf channel is set to a frequency that is in use by your terrestrial tv , sky tend to leave it on channel 68 by default, so I suggest you enter the sky box engineering menu and set the rf channel to an unused one between 21 and 69 , suitable for your transmitter area

or dont have the sky box aerial side plugged in if you dont want the sky rf channel at all
 
Hi, hopefully Gavtech or one of you will be able to help me with this.

I have tried to autotune my DMR EX85 but which ever way i do it i can`t get channel 5 in in synch with the rest of the programnmes, it goes BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channel 4 and then ITV2.

If i press the number 5 button on its own it comes up as a blank black page with the info bar saying no signal, i can get channel 5 but its right up the top of the channels at 905 which i think is an anolgue channel as its also got the other standard terrestrial channels below it at 904, 903, 902 and 901 etc.

Any ideas why its not showing a channel 5 digital channel on my listings ?

It presumably means that you are not, or cannot receive Mutiplex A at your location... [ And yes - 905 is an analogue channel 5 ]

Have a look at the list of channels on each Mutliplex in this list linked below.
If you can receive any of the other channels listed under Mutliplex A - then you are receiving Mux A and should be able to receive channel 5 - but I suspect you will get none of them.

http://www.dtg.org.uk/retailer/dtt_channels.html
Also a slight other problem, can someone tell me the best way to set up a sky+ box, a DMR EX85 which are connected to a Panasonic 42PZ70. At the min when i turn on my sky+ box channel 5 on my main television goes all funny with blocky coloured bars appearing and the sound goes like a dalek, channel 5 is fine through sky but the problem is with normal channel 5 when the sky+ box is switched on. I must have the cables slightly wrong somewhere, i followed the 42PZ70 manual on how to connect external devices to the tv.

Firstly - to clear the interference problem - This is not a wiring problem.

The problem is that the modulator in the sky+ unit is outputting on an RF channel that is too close or the same channel that your TV channel 5 button is tuned to.

You need to check in the sky+ manual to see how to move the channel, or better still switch it off altogether as I don't think you require it.


The standard wiring configuration is:

Scart from Sky+ [TV output] scart to EX85 bottom scart [ AV2 ]

Scart from EX85 AV1 [ Top scart ] to AV1 of the TV.

Optional - On EX85, go to Functions / To others / Setup / Connections and change AV1 output from RGB2 to RGB1.

This tends to give more favourable switching behaviour.
 
Thanks to you both for quality replies and advice.

Gavtech, i cannot recieve any of the other channels in Multiplex A through the freeview tuner in the EX85, what does this mean to me ? Will i be able to get channel 5 on digital at any point soon through my DMR EX 85 ?

I`ll have to look into that sky tuning thing tomorow as i can`t find the manual at the min. My connection set up is the same as you shown above.

On my television built in freeview tuner i can get some of those channels in Multiplex A, strange one ... I can get things like QVC, Bid tv , five US etc just to use as examples, whats strange again is when i turn on my sky+ box QVC went all blocky and the sound stuttery.
 
To change the Digibox RF channel goto..

Services-4-0-1-Select-RF Outlets

and change the RF channel number as Ramjet suggests in Post#2. Don't forget to save the changes.
 
do as adrian_f says above

this topic is not covered in the sky manual as its part of the hidden engineering menu as I said earlier and is normally set ( or not set ) by the sky engineer when he installs the box

also , as I said earlier , if you dont want this analogue rf channel then dont connect the aerial sockets of the sky box into the circuit at all , you could just unplug them both from the sky box , connect the 2 leads together and test the rest of the channels and systems

if you do want this analogue rf channel , then alter it to a suitable unused rf channel for your area , between 21 and 69

this is an age old analogue problem with an age old solution , which is why I spotted it in post 1 and answered it in post 2. the same would also apply if you had a vcr in the equation too ( same problem , same solution , except the vcr default is usually ch36 )
 
Gavtech, i cannot recieve any of the other channels in Multiplex A through the freeview tuner in the EX85, what does this mean to me ? Will i be able to get channel 5 on digital at any point soon through my DMR EX 85 ?

Can you send me your postcode via private mail so that I can look into your reception expectations?
 
Just an update of where i am at, Gav knows through the private message he asked me to send with my postcode.

Gav suggested to me to try connecting the outside aerial direct into my EX85 dvd recorder as you can get a lot of interference with the aerial going through various sources, i did this and then did the auto set up and i now have channel 5 through my digital tuner on the DMR EX85.

Also with the aerial not going anywhere near the sky+ box i am no longer getting any interference on channel 5 on the main television, i can now turn on my sky+ box and so far it doesn`t seem to interfere with anything.

My sky+ seems to work perfect with a fully wired Thor scart lead going from the sky+ box into the DMR EX85 and then another fully wired Thor scart lead going from the DMR EX85 into AV1 on the television.

All i need clarifying now is that is my set up fine with the aerial not going into the sky+ box and with the way i have it above, it all seems to work spot on so far.... touch wood lol
 
All i need clarifying now is that is my set up fine with the aerial not going into the sky+ box

Yes, that's fine.
The only time you need to have your aerial plugged in to the Sky box is if you want to distribute the terrestrial channels and the Sky signal to a TV in another room via the RF2 out.
If you don't need this just leave it out of the loop...it's one less thing that can affect the signal.
 
Yes, that's fine.
The only time you need to have your aerial plugged in to the Sky box is if you want to distribute the terrestrial channels and the Sky signal to a TV in another room via the RF2 out.
If you don't need this just leave it out of the loop...it's one less thing that can affect the signal.

JayCee, all this came about because Panasonic tell you in the DMR EX85 manual to connect your outdoor aerial into your satellite box, then into your dvd recorder with the lead provided and then into the tv again with the lead provided.

As a standard set up you would think that they would be telling people to feed the main aerial into the dvd recorder and then into the tv, do they do any testing at Panasonic as i`m sure plenty of people had the same probs i have highlighted by following their manual and instructions.

Got their in the end though with thanks to Gavtech and ramjet and the other contributions.:smashin:
 
That's good news about your progress.

Thanks for the postcode.

It's not surprising that you are having trouble with Mux A.

You receive from the Winter Hill transmitter which is North-Northeast of you.

It is transmitting Mux A on channel 68 which is the last channel on the band where aerial response always tails off.
Added to that, mux A is being transmitted at a particularly low power to avoid interference with existing channels.

Your reception should improve in the future.

The analogue switch off for you area occurs in 17 months time [ 1 Nov 2009 ]
At that point, the power from the transmitter will be increased 10 fold and all six muxes will be moved to concentrate them into the central response of your aerial.

You will not need to make any aerial changes either.
 
same transmitter as me , which is why we always get problems due to the sky box being left on ch68 all the time , the solution is as I said , but only if you need that rf channel , and he appears not to need it , so you dont include it in the wiring

the panasonic manual is probably assuming it is set correctly for the area you are in , so you wont have any problems
its not panasonic,s job to ensure your sky box is set correctly for your transmitter area

30 , 40 or 51 are 3 good channels he can set it to , any one of which will suffice , or leave it out of the loop if its not needed

I didnt realise that the power would be increased by that amount , or that they will improve the muxes as well , sounds good news for that changeover :)
 
I didnt realise that the power would be increased by that amount , or that they will improve the muxes as well , sounds good news for that changeover :)

Each mast is different in terms of the power increase, but indeed there should be a massive improvement in reception once the [ complete] switch-off occurs.

The anticipated reach is 90% of the population for all six muxes and 98% reach for the three main Public Service Broadcasting muxes... which aint bad.
 

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