Sky installer - new to forum

Hi Franc,

I've been having some problems recently with my setup. I've got a Pace Sky+ box with the card slot in the middle and an old Pace digibox in one of the bedrooms. I've been losing some channels with lots of messages like No signal is being received and/or picture freezing and going blocky. However some channels appear to be fine. From a bit of research it looks like the horizontal channels are playing up. I tried another quad LNB that I took from my old house over 12 months back and it didn't make a difference. Both receivers show the same problems. My signal strength is only 50-60% and quality is right down to 20-30% at best. Currently input 2 isn't even locked. I do have a tree that is out the back which I can't attack but surely if it was the tree at fault it would affect all channels?

Any help appreciated, could my dish be off alignment?

Thanks,

Andy.
 
Leaves/branches on a tree can cause signal diffraction which affects some frequencies but not others. So I would not discount the tree.
 
One more for you Franc, copied from another thread :)

FRANTIC FRANC said:
Why don't you just put one aerial straight to the Sky box and then split rf2 with a tv link compatible booster box to the other tvs.the aerial pictures will be sent along with the sky picture in one cable. most booster boxes have the fm input too. That's what we do and the pictures tend to be spot on.
Cheers, Franc

I'm doing that, using an SLX booster - Ive lowered the RF setting on the Sky Box for RF2 to 42, but my picture quality is still terrible .

When I actually bypass the Sky Box, the picture improves dramatically on the feeds to the other TVs - does this indicate something else wrong in my Sky box? :confused:
 
AidenL said:
One more for you Franc, copied from another thread :)



I'm doing that, using an SLX booster - Ive lowered the RF setting on the Sky Box for RF2 to 42, but my picture quality is still terrible .

When I actually bypass the Sky Box, the picture improves dramatically on the feeds to the other TVs - does this indicate something else wrong in my Sky box? :confused:

How do you lower the RF setting os the sky box....as I am getting alot of inteference on my second TV which I am using with a magic eye and running from the RF2
 
FRANTIC FRANC said:
Hi, name is Franc and I've been a satellite installer for about 20 years & doing Sky digital since it came out. I don't know much about how these forums work but I will be on-line all night if anyone has problems :mad: then maybe I could give some advice. Cheers, Franc :thumbsup:




Hi Franc Welcome to the forum now for my rant:D

When sat/cable and now freeview had been anounced we were all told that a new era in picture
quality had started, no more poor reception:rotfl: no ghosting:rotfl:
outstanding picture quality:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
What we have got is mpeg artifacts:eek: fizzing,colour banding and
great 4king huge logos which seem to be getting bigger (Disney Channnel most music channels).
The problems even show up on my old 32" w/screen tv.
Thought when i got my plasma picture would be oustanding although
not and expensive model see pic, http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=375613
when watching a dvd its great:thumbsup: butthe quality of picture on a lot of sat channels
is worse than i have ever had(so is the content:eek: :rotfl: )
How do you feel and do many people complain to you about it.


Rab
 
RABG said:
great 4king huge logos which seem to be getting bigger (Disney Channnel most music channels).

Heh. Seen Scifi+1 recently?

Top left... big 'scifi' logo.
Top right.. big 'plus 1' logo.
Bottom left... *huge* *annoying* animated logo advertising a future programme every few minutes.

Somewhere in the middle is a programme I think... or it could just be a backdrop for the logos...

Oh and for the future? Sky are dropping the bitrates on HD so people are complaining of blocking, poor quality, etc... so much for 'feel everything'.
 
AndyMoody said:
Hi Franc,

My signal strength is only 50-60% and quality is right down to 20-30% at best. Currently input 2 isn't even locked. I do have a tree that is out the back which I can't attack but surely if it was the tree at fault it would affect all channels?

Andy.

Indeed, yes it can. High band channels can be affected differently to the low band channels as can the Horizontal compared to the vertical. We get loads of calls in summer due to leaves on trees! Usually when you put our meter on the cable we can see the signal quality drop dramastically as the branches sway in the wind! If both boxes are playing with the same faults then the problem is certainly dish related. The LNB could also be faulty and just not pulling in enough signal strength. The best thing you should do is get an engineer out to check the bands, he will be able to firstly replace the LNB to see if there is any difference and secondly advise you of a 'line of sight' problem, other than chop the tree back the only remedy is to resite the dish but be prepared to fork out dosh on a chimney lashing kit/t&k brackets and recabling.
Cheers, Franc
 
RABG said:
Hi Franc
Thought when i got my plasma picture would be oustanding although
not and expensive model see pic, http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=375613
when watching a dvd its great:thumbsup: butthe quality of picture on a lot of sat channels
is worse than i have ever had(so is the content:eek: :rotfl: )
How do you feel and do many people complain to you about it.


Rab

The trouble with a lot channels is the compression rate (bitrate). I suppose it is cheaper for the broadcaster to use a lower bitrate so they can squeeze more channels on at a cheaper pice. Your DVDs usually have a lot higher bitrate so that's why pictures are on the whole better.
Ghosting should definitely be a thing of the past. Make sure yout Digibox is set to RGB output and make sure the scart goes direct to your TV's enabled RGB scart (usually scart 1 except for Sharp tv's who use scart3). This should improve the picture vastly if the box is currently set to PAL standard.

I'm not a big fan of flat panel tv's as I mostly reckon the CRT (a good one!) still has the edge. I personally own a Philips pixel plus 32" crt. I have found the pixel plus setting gives a picture (in some cases) just as good as some of the HD boxes on many customer's plasma/lcd s and that's on a lot more channels than the 8 HD channels on the Sky HD box.

Cheers, Franc
 
Hi Franc,

I called Sky on Saturday and they sent out an engineer on Monday as a free callout as he told me it was only 1 day outside the warranty period and my problem had been ongoing for at least last 10 days. I didn't argue the point! Anyway he comes Monday morning checks everything and confirms the tree is the problem. After a bit of discussion he looks around the house and decides to raise the dish up the wall by about 6ft. He joined the existing cables and has put self-amalgamating tape round the connections. He didn't replace the LNB and said if the tree doesn't get chopped then obviously in time the tree will grow into the dish signal path again. Now I'm getting 70% signal and quality solid all the time on both inputs. Only other option is to get the specialist team in to relocate dish to the front of the house as it is a 3 storey town house. One of the neighbours has this but its a bit ugly. I'm already trying to find out about getting the tree cut back.

Andy.
 
Giggling over this.

When Sky put my dish up originally, it was November but directly in the line of sight (15 ft away) was a 60ft chestnut tree.

Soon as it hit April, no signal at all. Sky CS took the view that it wasn't their fault it grew leaves and their installer couldn't have foreseen it? Took me over 6 months to convince Sky CS that I couldn't chop my neighbours tree down and that it wasn't unreasonable for trees to grow leaves in spring. Dish is now on the roof
 
Applespider said:
Giggling over this.

Soon as it hit April, no signal at all. Sky CS took the view that it wasn't their fault it grew leaves and their installer couldn't have foreseen it? Took me over 6 months to convince Sky CS that I couldn't chop my neighbours tree down and that it wasn't unreasonable for trees to grow leaves in spring. Dish is now on the roof

It can be a guessing game when installing dishes in Winter but any senior engineer will know when a tree will block the signal and advise customers to get it put onto a pole or chimney at that point. The trouble is of course, that many customers think you are ripping them off when you say that so do end up forking out more in the long term.

There is the opposite of that scenerio of course, in that the engineer simply just doesn't care and fits it anywhere taking the attitude that it won't be his problem 3 months down the line! :lesson: Only Sky can be blamed for these rogue installers, if they really cared about you (the cutomer) they wouldn't allow sub contracting (and even sub sub contracting!!!) of their installs! If only it would go back to pre-digital days when you could ring your local installer up and get some real quality service and we could earn the money we deserve.

Cheers, Franc
 
Hi there Franc, I have a question if you have a moment.

I live in a semi-detactched 3 story house, however there is a single story garage on the side of the house. The dish is in the back of the house. We have Sky in the living room, with the cable litterally thrown over the single story garage (sloped roof), cable-tied down and drilled through the front of the house and into the lounge. No problems there.

I wanted multiroom, and phoned up SKY and arranged an installation. I didn't expect to have any problems as the first engineer fitted the downstairs installation without any issues. When the engineer arrived, he refused to do what the other engineer had done ie. throw the cable over the roof and tie it down - He reasoned that the cable would drift over the roof, get cut & I'd end up with water in the box. The thing is, dont I own the box ? I've paid SKY and have an invoice stating that I've bought an additional box, so if (IF!) water gets in the box then thats my problem surely and not grounds for him to refuse doing the job ? (The multiroom installation is 3 stories up by the way, a LONG way for water to travel up?)

The reason for me asking is that I was told to call the specialist installation team and they are arriving this Friday and I was wondering if I could say something if they said the same. I've been waiting all in all 4 weeks for this to get sorted and I dont want to wait any longer, if possible !

Thanks Franc, a reply is much appreciated. :thumbsup:

Jordan
 
b0redj0rd said:
(The multiroom installation is 3 stories up by the way, a LONG way for water to travel up?)

The reason for me asking is that I was told to call the specialist installation team and they are arriving this Friday and I was wondering if I could say something if they said the same. I've been waiting all in all 4 weeks for this to get sorted and I dont want to wait any longer, if possible !

Thanks Franc, a reply is much appreciated. :thumbsup:

Jordan

I think the special heights team will p*ss themselves with laughter if it is just a case of throwing the cable over the garage roof. The engineer could have just drilled the hole for the 3rd floor and pushed the cable out from inside until it was in reach of his ladder, thus not needing the special heights team at all.

b0redj0rd said:
When the engineer arrived, he refused to do what the other engineer had done ie. throw the cable over the roof and tie it down - He reasoned that the cable would drift over the roof, get cut & I'd end up with water in the box. Jordan

throwing cable over the roof CAN wear on the apex and rain penetration CAN occur. Use a T&K pole if it is a terrace house on the side of the house the TV is located. Keeping the cable straighter and shorter (with better signal strength) outweighs the possibility of water penetration in my opinion. Although we do not use tile clips so the cable IS free to move back & forth. I just offer the customer the choice pointing out that the cable may in time wear and that they will have to pay 50p per metre to replace it in the future if it does occur!

Cheers, Franc
 
Hi Franc

I've got an engineer coming this afternoon to checkout my HD box because it doesn't connect to a telephone line. If he needs to change it over, will it be a brand new box or will it be a reconditioned one. Also will he take away my current box, i ask this because some guys in here have been able to keep their faulty boxes.

If possible i'd like to keep the current box as it work well in every other respect. I just fear I may get a new HD box full of bugs.

Kind regards

Wil
 
The engineer must take the old box if it is a service call (otherwise he'll have to answer for it at the depot!). The only time we should leave the old box is if it an insurance claim and the insurance co. takes receipt of the damaged equipment.

It's hard to tell a recon Sky hd box from a new one as they all tend to come in the new boxes. Sometimes they are not recon'd but simply tried and removed for whatever reason. One sure way to tell is if it has the sticker on the front panel telling the engineer to perform a force software update.

Cheers, Franc
 
Thanks Franc

Well the box didn't have a force update sticker on the front of the HD box, but he said it was new. The latest software version was already on it.

There was a sticker on the cardboard box that he had to remove before opening it though.

I bet i've got a reconditioned one.:rolleyes:
 
FRANTIC FRANC said:
I think the special heights team will p*ss themselves with laughter if it is just a case of throwing the cable over the garage roof. The engineer could have just drilled the hole for the 3rd floor and pushed the cable out from inside until it was in reach of his ladder, thus not needing the special heights team at all.



throwing cable over the roof CAN wear on the apex and rain penetration CAN occur. Use a T&K pole if it is a terrace house on the side of the house the TV is located. Keeping the cable straighter and shorter (with better signal strength) outweighs the possibility of water penetration in my opinion. Although we do not use tile clips so the cable IS free to move back & forth. I just offer the customer the choice pointing out that the cable may in time wear and that they will have to pay 50p per metre to replace it in the future if it does occur!

Cheers, Franc


Hi Franc, I'm sorry to bother you again.

Well. Today was installation day. The engineer arrived at my house at half 8 this morning, with no phonecall or notice that he was coming. Unfortunatley, this person was the SAME engineer who'd come 3 weeks earlier and refused to do the install on the gounds that he wouldn't walk on the roof of the 1 story garage. He point blank refused to throw the cable over the roof and actually had a real go at my Mother who opened the door to him this morning (I could hear him *shouting* that he wasn't going to do the installation from the 3rd floor).

Now I'm REALLY :mad: annoyed. When he refused to do the installation last time, he said to get an independent in to do the bit he refused to do - After he told me this I rang the engineer who'd done the install last time and asked if he'd do it, he said he would, but if he did he'd basically be stealing my money as the 'specialist' team would do it for free. I thanked him for his honesty, and rang Sky and got a date for the specialist (the same guy, only I had to wait 3 weeks to have him here instead of 3 days, as was the last time) to come over.

Can an independent take over the whole installation Franc ? Intalling the box, and setting up multiroom etc or do I have to get an independent in to do the little bit he's refusing to do any THEN contact Sky and wait ?

Is there a complaints procedure I can follow regarding his attitude ? I've rang customer services and I'm told his manager will be ringing me later, but is there anything else I can do ?

I've waited 4 weeks for installation, I've paid for 2 boxes and my mother has been verbally abused :mad: - I've also had to take 2 days off work to meet this guy.

Any advice you can give is much appreciated Franc,

Jordan

*update* - no call from his manager yet, unsuprisingly. Sky = waste of time.
 
Hi Franc

I have just had an Amstrad Sky box fitted. I have connected a second tv to the box and the BBC1,BBC2,ITV and CH4 channels are crystal clear. However, the second tv will not find a sky picture and I'm also having trouble with getting the system to recognise the 'tv link' connector and receiver which I used in my old house.

any advice please?:)
 
You may need to change the RF output channel to something different, in the same menu you can turn on the power to RF2.( Services,4,0,1,select,4).Don't forget to save the new settings.
 
An independent can do the whole job.
 
Hi Frank
I've just had Sky+ installed and happy with the installation and no problems with the picture. The signal strength indicator is worrying me a bit though as it is well below 50%. The signal quality indicator however, is up around 80%. Should I be concerned???
 
Nothing to worry about. The signal strength reading is arbitrary and varies from make to make. The important thing is the quality - as this is an indication of BER (Bit Error Rate).

Chris Muriel, Manchester
 

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