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If you find this information useful and want to thank me, why not buy one of my low-cost "eBooks" that you can download direct to your computer? My books can be read on-screen or printed out on paper. They are full of colour photos and illustrations. http://www.The-Cool-Book-Shop.co.uk | |||||
NewsApologies for the delay in uploading this newsletter. We had a great time in Athens but I've had a lot of "catching up" to do since our return. If anyone is interested in Greece, we can recommend the services of our Georgina, our Guide: While we were away, my car was converted to run on LPG. If you are interested, you'll find brief details and photos here: S.F. Writer, Sir Arthur C Clarke, dies at 90 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7304004.stm The idea of a geosynchronous satellite for communication purposes was first published in 1928 by Herman Poto?nik. The geostationary orbit was first popularised by science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke in 1945 as a useful orbit for communications satellites. As a result this is sometimes referred to as the Clarke orbit. Similarly, the Clarke Belt is the part of space approximately 35,786 km above mean sea level in the plane of the equator where near-geostationary orbits may be achieved. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geostationary BBC News 24 has moved:- From 10773 H 22 5/6 (Astra 2D) to 11954 H 27.5 2/3 (Astra 2A south beam) This has caused some receivers to "lose" the channel. Best advice is to reboot your Sky Digibox or to make your non-Sky receiver rescan. Full channel list here: http://www.flysat.com/tv-uk.php Foreign Interference Live near thr south coast? One installer reports as follows: "I was installing an aerial near Horsham today for a customer. The aerial was directed at Heathfield, but the Le Havre 8 KW digital mux on Ch 48 was completely wiping out Heathfield mux on the same channel." There's a PDF file here that shows the transmission pattern for each multiplex: http://www.csa.fr/pdf/LeHavre.pdf Digitalspy Widget Those of you who use an Apple Mac PC might be interested in the widget, which gives you the latest news from Digitalspy. You can download it from: http://www.davidjearly.com/DJE/Widgets2.html Several other "widgets" are available, including one for "New Scientist Magazine", "Digital Photography Review", "BBC News", "The New York Times" and "Engadget". Recession? Our sales have been great since Christmas but everyone is warning of a recession so what should you do? My advice is to hang on to what you've got and don't buy new equipment until you really need to. Standards are changing all the time. Even the Freeview receivers on sale now are likely to be made obsolete by the introduction of the MPEG4 standard (if and when it ever happens, of course!) Do you really need a High Definition TV set? A lot of people have bought these and been disappointed. I was reading, only yesterday, of a guy who took his Panasonic HDTV back for a refund. He's sticking with his old CRT Sony TV for now. The picture quality is simply better. So keep what you have. Repair it if it goes wrong (and if it's economical to do so). Save your money because you are going to need it. Oil is running out so everything that uses it - transport, plastics, drugs - is going to increase in price. In addition, land that should be growing crops is being set aside for growing oil- and ethanol-producing crops instead. This is an expensive way to make fuel so it's a double-whammy for the price of food which has to be transported. Support your local food markets - you are going to need them! Thomson DigiboxIt looks as if ALL Thomson Sky Digibox power supplies use "Capxon" capacitors, which, according to many reports, are failing after typically 15 months. Symptoms vary and include the clock time racing forward, poor pictures, picture break-up and failed "future recordings". We are now offering power supply repair kits for most standard Thomson Sky models and kits or complete rebuilt power supply units for all Thomson Sky+ and Sky-HD models. If you want to avoid these annoying symptoms or even a complete break in your viewing, you might consider fixing it before the problems begin! We use only the best available capacitors so we can give a 3 year guarantee on the rebuilt PSUs. http://www.satcure.com/accs/page12.htm#hd There's more discussion in our forum: Check there for updates. Please note: A few of our original "original replacement" Thomson power supplies are giving problems, with several appearing to be dead on arrival. I regret that we can't test these before sending so, if you get a dud, please simply ask for another to be sent. We plan to phase out these "original" power supplies, as soon as possible, in favour of the "Rebuilt" ones. (Turns out these "original" PSUs are actually refurbished by our Thomson spares supplier. They omitted to tell us that!) Our "Rebuilt" power supplies are proving very popular and buyers are reporting better pictures! (I suspect this is simply because the picture had been getting steadily worse as the old power supply capacitors deteriorated.) Because of the demand, you may have to wait several days for your power supply. Be assured that we are turning them around as quickly as possible. We can now supply a choice of original "rubber pins" (with long tails) or plastic nuts and screws to secure the fan. Also, one of our customers has kindly supplied fitting instructions, which you can download here: http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/thom_psu.htm Reported in July 2006 by "Jaycee Dove" Our Sky HD box (installed 23 May 2006) has worked reasonably well until the past few days. It has now crashed big time twice in three days. But there was a common denominator that I spotted that might be a useful clue for someone to sort this out and ensure I dont soon give up on HD altogether. Both times the crash happened when we were recording two programmes on the same channel that were on back to back...first Channel 4 (Countdown and Deal or No Deal) then last night the two Blue Planet screenings on BBC HD. At the same time we were watching a programme from the planner. The crash occurred exactly at the point when the two minute (added time on recordings) window would see the recordings briefly overlap. At that point the box went crazy - putting weird lines up freezing the image and crashing into standby in moments. Sky + could do this simple task with its eye shut. This box seems to find it too much of a strain. To recover I had to unplug everything, reboot the box and in one case do a full system reset and wait hours for it to come out of standby. I am not in any position to be willing or able to do this with regularity. On both occasions the programme being watched remained in the planner and could be watched again. The second programme set to record did record (though missing the first couple of minutes) but the first programme being recorded was shown as failed and unrecoverable, even though it was 99% recorded at the point when the problem occurred. Hopefully this will provide info to Sky engineers perusing this list. And if any of you have a way around this I would appreciate it as paying Sky extra for a box that seemingly has less functionality than we had before seems not exactly intelligent. (Sky replied that they were investigating .... don't hold your breath - it's now 2008.) You can (mostly) avoid this fault by setting your recordings for zero overlap. Not ideal but better than losing ALL of the programme and having to reboot! Am I a Con-man?This whole business reminds me of the time when I first started to supply repair kits for analogue receivers. I had a phone call from a dealer who wanted to complain about my kits. What was the problem? They were lasting too long. Turned out that he was doing repairs for an insurance company. Apparently, insurance companies don't like repairs to last too long, otherwise the customers won't renew their policies. Let's face it, if nothing that you bought ever went wrong, you wouldn't think of "wasting" your hard-earned cash on insurance. Anyway, this dealer wanted me to make up kits for him using low-grade capacitors. I refused - because I have a conscience. This is why I'll never be a millionaire. Call me stupid but I have certain moral values and I would never deliberately do a less-than-perfect job for any customer. I may have a short fuse and I certainly don't "tolerate fools gladly" but I'm not a thief or a con-man. New or Used?Quite a few people have asked me "How do I know if Sky/Ebay seller have given me a NEW Thomson box or a USED one?" Well, I suspect there's a clue in the version numbers (anyone know?) Also, I understand that USED ones often come in a brown box. You can tell for definite whether you've got a USED but REFURBISHED one by removing the cover and looking at the power supply. If it has been properly refurbished it will NOT have "CapXon" capacitors near the metal heat sink. Most likely it will have "Rubicon" capacitors. (Our own rebuilt ones use mostly Panasonic capacitors with a few Nichicons.) If your power supply has "CapXon" capacitors which are bulging, then not only is it a USED box but it has NOT been refurbished. Discussion here: http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=727333 New ProductsActually, this month we have some OLD products on offer. They are Global LNB switches. No good for "universal" LNBs but maybe someone can think of a use for them? Going cheap. (I have no technical information for these). Questions- a selection from this month's emails We recently purchased the Sky Freesat system and then had it removed because we could not watch one programme and tape another and we are not interested in a full Sky package. When the engineer deinstalled the equipment he left the dish. The card has been returned to Sky. We are currently on a communal aerial and the company that maintains it have advised that they no longer wish to maintain this so our terrestrial TV picture is downgrading almost by the minute. The freeview picture isn't bad but we get a lot pixelation. It is an analogue aerial and they have no intention of switching it over. Is there any way we can utilise the dish to pick up TV but also be able to record from other channels, so record CH4, whilst watching BBC1 for example. Would you have any equipment that would enable us to do this? Yes .... sort of. We have a Panasonic Plasma flat screen and a Panasonic HDD/DVD recorder and player. I look forward to hearing from you. Kind regards, Jo-Ann S To watch one programme, while recording another, you need two tuners. As you know, the Sky-Plus Digibox has two tuners and records on its internal Hard Drive. This system is ideal but you have to pay Sky £10 a month for the recording facility. An alternative is to have two separate Sky Digiboxes. (Buy used ones for about £25 each). One is connected to your TV set and one is connected to your recorder. You will have to buy a £20 "FreesatFromSky" card for each box if you want to watch CH4 and Five. BBC and ITV require no card. There are some potential problems with this method:- 1. You must change the LNB on your dish to a quad-output type. 2. Because both Digiboxes respond to the same remote control, you have to deal with this as follows:- a. Put them in separate rooms or b. Buy a standard Sky box and a Sky-Plus box (which have different remotes) or c. Use the switch system described here: http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/remote_doubler.htm There is also another consideration: in June, the BBC/ITV "freesat" consortium is promising to make available (for purchase) their own "freesat" satellite receivers. These will not be as cheap as a used Sky Digibox and they will not provide CH4 and Five (although they may do next year). They will not include any scrambled channels in their on-screen EPG (Electronic Programme Guide). It is not known what they will cost or what remote control they will use. A twin-tuner PVR version, which will do exactly what you want, should be available by Autumn. So those are the alternatives. You might also consider getting your building management company or landlord to appoint a different aerial installer (or appoint one yourselves, with the landlord's permission). It's likely that your present analogue signal comes from Hannington transmitter which requires a "Group E" aerial. Freeview requires a "Group B" aerial, which should be a simple swap. However, it sounds as if your cable and possibly the amplifier system will need to be replaced. You really need to get a couple of estimates then see if the residents are willing to share the cost. That would give you a good choice of Freeview receivers instead of (or as well as ) satellite. Hello, please could you answer two questions for me. One of them is technical and the other a stock enquiry. I have recently moved in a new home with what it seems is a new aerial but couldn't get a TV signal after some investigation it seems I have a Fringe WB1222 in the loft, but the previous home owner very kindly took the power supply leaving me scratching my head as to why I couldn't get a signal, anyway now I know that I need a Fringe P1235 power supply so the first question is do you have these in stock? You'll find the power supply here: http://www.satcure.com/accs/page11c.htm#masthead Availability: http://www.satcure.co.uk/useful/sales_help.htm#availability Second question is why would the installer have put a (Alltrade S1402DC) transformer after the P1222 and split the cable from there to go into a top floor bedroom and the other cable going downstairs into the lounge, why not just have the cable come out of the P1222 going downstairs and plug the power supply P1235 in there? My grandma was clairvoyant but, unfortunately, she's dead. ;-) Maybe he was an idiot? Maybe there was no power point and he wasn't qualified to install one? Also as I have two points of aerial now (one being top floor bedroom the other the lounge) is it best to plug in the power supply into the bedroom as this is closer to the P1222 or plug into downstairs. I don't know what a P1222 is. But the power supply can be connected at any convenient position in the cable between the amplifier and the TV. Want to move Virgin/NTL box, cable not long enough - Virgin want £75+ for a cable do you cable and a connector that will fit my Pace NTL box? Many Thanks Carole C. Yes: http://www.satcure.co.uk/accs/page8.htm#WF100 If the extension cable is very long, you may have to call out the Virgin technician to adjust your signal level. Hi I was going to get one of your Televes Dat 75 aerials,because of their signal rating. Looking at your list it says its no good for Crystal Palace? I can get Crystal Palace AND Guildford transmitters But both are bad reception with current 48 element aerial because of trees and town centre buildings ( have an SLX Gold 24db 8 way distribution amp in loft that helps freeview picture on Guildford- still lousy on terrestrial - but some freeview stations missing). Any advise on the Dat 75 or other type to buy from you ? Thanks, Dave
See the Freeview reception prediction for your location:- http://www.wolfbane.com/cgi-bin/tvd.exe?DX=L&HT=10&OS=GU21 For Crystal Palace you need a high-gain Group "A" aerial. For Guildford you need a high-gain Group "B" mounted with rods vertical. (This does not take into account analogue reception). However, as soon as you mention "trees", all predictions go out the window. You'll just have to experiment. A DAT75 is certainly NOT going to help since its poorest gain is in the Group "A" frequency range. I suggest you read the whole of the discussion here:- http://notonyourtelly.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4869 Model number on label or rear panel: TU-DSB30 Both my wife and myself are registered blind but have a little sight. For many years we have struggled with trying to programme VCRs. We have recently bought a 32" Sony HD TV and a Panasonic DVR. With the larger screen we found we could programme the Panasonic TU-DSB30 satellite receiver for autoview and by setting the DVR to Extlink it would start recording when the Sky box turned on. However we found that when we programme a sequence of consecutive shows on different channels (for instance Coronation Street, Eastenders and Coronation Street from 7:30 to 9:00 on Monday evening) all the shows will not always record. For instance, the 7:30 slot will be missed and the box doesn't turn on until Eastenders at 8:00 but then it will go on to record Coronation Street at 8:30 and turn off correctly. On another occasion, it recorded the correct programme at 7:30 but then stopped at 8:00 and missed the seconed programme. At first I thought I was doing something wrong with the new DVR but I have found that it always records correctly as long as the Sky box comes on. Sorry that this is so long but have you any ideas what I can do. I have tried a full reset of the Sky box and checked all the wiring. The Sky box is connected to the DVR via a scart cable. I know the system is set correctly because if I turn on Extlink on the Recorder it will start recording whenever I turn the Sky box on and will stop whenever I turn Sky off. Any suggestions? Graham Please post your replies here: http://notonyourtelly.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1450 RF Modulator Alternative I currently have a loftbox amp which I feed the sat RF2 back into to redistribute around the house. I also have a Sagem PVR with twin freeview tuner. My query is; - Currently the CCTV video signal is taken through a RF modulator and fed into the loft box, however I'm aware that future televisions will not have an analogue tuner so I need to connect the CCTV to a digital television scarts are not a solution since these are all in use and aswitcher just complcates it all further. Is there a device that can replicate the CCTV video signal into an unused digital channel so I can use the tele tuner to pick it up? If this is possible can I also use the same device to convert the RF2 signal from the sat box to also be found by the tele tuner? your help would be appreciated since no one else understands the question, but I canot be the only one facing this quandry. Philip A.
Hi, Philip. Yes, I believe that BBC Engineering uses a digital multiplexer such as you describe. Maybe they will tell you who manufactures it. Due to the complexity, I don't suppose you'll see much change out of £10k. There's a PDF file here that gives details: http://www.abe.it/PDF_Depliant/DME_1000-T_series_01-2004.pdf Bear in mind that current models use MPEG-2 +COFDM encoding and the Freeview standard may well change to MPEG4 in the future. A cheaper solution might be to use our "Milestone" system:- http://www.satcure.co.uk/accs/page4.htm#milestone Regarding Customer receipt (Keep-me): SAT024960 Outstanding service, items arrived within 24 hours of placing order and all correct. Thanks. Regards Geoff Yes, just occasionally, we find that First Class Post actually gets there on time! From Trevor H. Regarding Customer receipt (Keep-me): SAT 024888 You have excelled yourself, I had exspected a three day wait for my order and I received my goods in hours not days. Thank you, you are a firm that is better than its word. Mind you I had to have a good look to find how one said Thanks. Thanks, Trevor. If anyone else wants to say "thanks" about an order please go to: http://www.satcure.co.uk/sales.htm Alternatively, if you simply want to contact me personally to give some information (no questions, please) then you can go to: http://www.satcure.co.uk/email_martin.htm If you have a question, please go to: http://www.satcure.co.uk/form_choice.htm Please select the appropriate form then choose the question category. The forms are designed to extract from you the information we will need in order to answer your question accurately. If you select the wrong one, you won't get the most helpful reply. Regarding Customer receipt (Keep-me): SAT023779 I am most upset about having to write to you to thank you for your service. This is my second order with yourselves and once again your service has been impeccable. You have given me no cause for complaint whatsoever - and coming from a nation of complainers that is most frustrating. After placing an order I like to sit back and reflect on what I have ordered and then begin to look forward to receiving my goods. No chance! no sooner than I had made my last mouse click and theres a knock at the door - my goods - it certainly feels like that anyway. Seriously though THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR EXCELENT SERVICE ONCE AGAIN. I only wish other traders were as quick off the mark as you. I will be back Iorwerth Erm, right, thanks. :-) I am writing to say thank you for the kit you supplied me to repair my Thomson Sky+ 160 box. I have just fitted the capacitors today & the box is working again all for about £15.00, cheaper than calling out Sky just to get a refurb box! Good thing too is that I have not lost my recordings in carrying out the repair. I have bookmarked your site & I know where to come in the future should I have any further problems. Many thanks, Justin E Model number on label or rear panel: DRX180 Hi Martin, Just wanted to say thanks very much for the info on the caps for the DRX180 glitchy input-2 problem. Replaced them today (22p from Maplins) and it looks like it's done the job. I noticed the caps on input-2 are 6.3v (whereas the ones on input-1 are 10v) presumably so that they will physically fit under the fan. I figured 10v ones would fit anyway - and they do, with about 1mm to spare!! Hopefully they will last a bit longer. Anyway, thanks again - much appreciated. Best Regards, Martin W Order arrived today, brilliant service to say I also added items to the order. Many thanks Stuart |
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