Was SBS signal stalling, now it's ABC (digital)

[Ian Robinson]

Newcastle , Mt Sugerloaf signal , Gateshead / Charlestown area.

The guy at HND TVs section says it's the coax from the antenna. I don't believe him , he's just trying to sell me a new booster, new antenna and new cables to go to the set top box (a TEAC) and from there to the (brand new Samsung ) analog DVD-R VCR combo and from there to the old 80cm NEC analgue TV.
The old NEC DVD VCR combo did the same thing with the ABC signal before the VCR part died.

ABC analog when I turn off the set top box is fine, but the picture and sound , while clear as it can be , is jurky and jumpy if I am watching ABC stations (analog and digital via the DAC set top box . Was fine a couple of weeks ago . Before I bought the DAC there were an issue with SBS for several weeks.

Like I said, not so long ago , it was SBS analog and digital that was doing this , but SBS is fine now.

The commercial stations analog and digital are fine.

Anyone else getting this problem via their set top box or digital TV tuner ?

Is ABC working on it's transmiitters or repeater network (in prep for ABC3 which comes on air soon I hear) ?

[alan meehan]

Hi Ian i did have the same problem as you exept for sbs which we had no problem ,i have since replaced all the coax cable from the antena to the set ,but just 2 weeks ago brought a new lcd tele with hd ready we now have all the digital stations and the best reception we ever had,we are also running a second tele with a set top box and this is working fine as well,so i guess replacing the coax has realy helped .
Alan

[jjjnettie]

Our TV man replaced our coax and the signal improved no end.

[jjjnettie]

That was after we replaced the booster and aerial ourselves.
Sometimes it saves you money to spend money.

[Redshift]

We get this problem at various times on all channels. When it's good it's good and when it's bad it's bad. Ten is the worst. There seems to be no pattern to it. At my dad's place he gets a clear unobstructed view of the transmitter across Brisbane Water, has a very short coax from antena to tv and still gets the same problem through the set top box. Again channel ten is sometimes unwatchable.:shrug:
What about piggybacking two antenae to double the signal?

[jjjnettie]

:lol: We still have times of very bad reception.
But that's only when there's heavy cloud cover and rain or when the sky is exceptionally clear and fine.
If the latter, you know it's a great time for planetary viewing.:thumbsup:
Funny that.:rofl:

[Waxing_Gibbous]

We has digital TV abot 10 years ago in London. It was appalling. Weather was a dominant factor, if there was a hint of a storm the image would pixellate, freeze, jump around or just go blank. Any fast movement was blurred. Hopefully its better here.
I don't hink your TV guy was tring to rip you off. I know several people around here who have upgraded their cable/booster/set-tops in one or another combo and all seems well. Start with the cheapest option and work up from there (Samsung are extremely good by the way, still made mostly in Japan).
I wish you luck!

[Kevnool]

Broken Hill is to poor for a HD signal upgrade.
I dont watch local TV anyway so it dont bother me.

But i do watch Central 7 out of Brisbane and Imparja.
As long as they keep broadcasting the way there going i,ll still be happy.

Cheers Kev.

[mithrandir]

I'm not sure how picky "OK" is meant to be. 100% of the time? 98%? Give me a definition and I'll vote.

Most of the time all the digital's are OK. Every TV in the house has builtin HD, except for the one that has an HD set-top and an HD PVR.

We can't get ABN2 because our VHF antenna is Band 3 only. Due to our location behind a ridge, UHF from the Sydney towers doesn't work. We get UHF from the Illawarra transmitters at Knights Hill. So our ABC analog is ABWN56 and SBS is SBS53(a) and SBS54(d).

All the Illawarra signals break up in bad weather (heavy rain is worst) and then the digitals are unwatchable, so if we want SBS it has to be analog. That is always fuzzy.

ABN12 breaks up in high winds. It doesn't seem to be our antenna because the breakups don't happen when the gusts hit us.

In total we get ATN6(d) and ATN7(a), TCN8(d) and TCN9(a), TEN10(a) and TEN11(d), ABN12(d), WIN36(d) and WIN59(a), CTC37(d) and CTC62(a), CBN38(d) and CBN65(a), ABWN51(d) and ABWN56(a), SBS53(a) and SBS54(d).

[Ian Robinson]

Well, Torchwood and Red Dwarf on ABC2 have been almost unwatchable for the last couple of weeks.

I turned off the set top box and reverted to analog only ABC1 to watch Midsummer Murders , still had picture, sound break up but not near as bad, at least it was watchable and the dialog understandable.

There is no problem currently with SBS , Nine , Seven , Ten , Go! , or One , via the DA set-top box.

If the problem was the coax cables or the antenna , I would have picture problems on all digital stations I would think , not just ABC only. I can only deduce the problem is at the other end (something wrong at the transmitter or in ABC's hardware).

[stephenb]

The eye and the human brain are more sensitive to any form of pixelation. We've accepted signal interuption on our TV reception for 50 years and whenever we get a slightest hint of the odd ghosting and electrical interference on analogue, the brain just ignores it. Now that digital TV is new, we expect perfect 100% reception and the slightest drop in pixel the brain detects it.

As a ex-TV MATV installer, I'd bet you need to improve your reception field strength - i.e. Start with the antenna.. always. I'm tippin' that's your problem.

[Redshift]

The trouble is that when digital "freezes" it really does freeze. The sound goes off and the picture stops moving or it just goes off the air completely.
And it always happens at the most crucial time in the programme.:mad2:
Digital is superior, most of the time, but when it's bad it sucks!

[multiweb]

That's interesting. I have had recent problems on and off with digital last couple of months. Analog is perfect though. I don't get ch10 or 9 anymore and the others are going real bad too now. I have a very old Antenna but I didn't think it mattered. Now I read this I'm probaly due for a field trip on the roof and replace the old "coat hanger" may be? :)

[Ian Robinson]

My antenna is the biggest and highest gain yagi - corner type I could get. It's a great long spikey contraption with more spikey prongs above and below than you poke a finger , it's 4ft long.



I don't have direct line of sight to Mt Sugerloaf , and Kotara repeater was not there when I bought the big Yagi - Corner . http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/XG91.html , has very high signal gain http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/comparing.html , I took a lot of bother to get the angle of the dangle right as well my compass bearing aim (from a map) right when I installed it many years ago.


If the problem was the antenna /cable , the pixcelated breakup and stalling would be on all stations would it not , since all my TV signals come from Mt Sugerloaf (near Cessnoc)

Pictures are perfect for every station except ABC (via DA and ADDA) .

[avandonk]

RF interference can really screw up a digital TV signal. If I take the side off my i7 computer the digital TV tuner in the other computer breaks up very badly. Even with the side leaning against the case is not good enough. I have very good signal strength as Mt Dandenong is close and have a clear line of sight.

Do you have a computer with a clear window or a side panel missing that is spraying RF everywhere?

Bert

[Ian Robinson]

Not getting any better .

Now it's :
ALL ABC STATIONS
+ 80 NBNHD
+ 88 GO!
+ 30 SBS2

:(

[Ian Robinson]

I've a Dell laptop on the coffee table , but it's never really effected the TV reception .

[GeoffW1]

Same for me, I replaced all the coax with RG6U quad shield cable and F-connectors all the way, and results were good. The old stuff was single shield and I found the cockies had chewed it.

If you have signal splitters and booster amps they should be low-loss digital quality, the techie is not fibbing about that.

Cheers

[Ian Robinson]

OK, I'll give a antenna man a call tomorrow and get him out next week to replace my coax cables., he might as well replace the old horizontal stacked dipoles antenna and check my monster yagi corner reflector antenna is aimed properly too.
Not sure how to deal with attaching plugs on the end of quadshield coax cable , else I do the job myself , my antennas are only about 4 ft off my roof so they are easy to get at.

No booster. Got rid of that when tall Sydney vertical stacked dipole antenna came down when Seven and Ten started transmitting from Mt Sugarloaf .

[Ian Robinson]

Well , the Waketts guy took his time getting here, waited all day .... not a call or any indication of a time until about 5 minutes before he showed up ....he never even showed up until 5:30pm , never even looked at my system , and when I showed him the reception on ABC , he said $1100 for a new antenna (got to be as tall as possible) , I challenged that and told him , the reception was perfect until two weeks ago and I was only interested replacing the cables , that I already have the biggest highest gain antenna available (my big Yaggi Corner array) .

He said , new coax will do nothing .... that's not what I've been told by other so called "experts".:rolleyes:

So I sent him on his way , he's trying to rip me off and sell me the most expensive product he can and I told I was not interested in spending $1100 to replace an antenna and mast and all the rest when it's not needed.

Guess I'll be calling another couple of antenna guys and asking for quotes.

[Ian Robinson]

I found the problem (accidentially).

I moved the set top box around so I could replace the coax and RCA cables between it and the DVDR VCR combo and hey presto !!! perfect reception on all ABC and others that had been getting unviewable the last couple of weeks .... all I did was move swimg the box around to allow axcess to the back , and nothing else, .... so much for the expert TV antenna guy knowing what the problem was , and so much for needing to spend $1100 to replace my antennas, my mast (to a tall one !! no less + a booster) .... unnecessary , unneeded.

Problem solved, cost $zero.

Was just a dodgey RCA or coax cable connection to the back of the set top box or maybe one of the cables in the RCA bundle or that particular coax has a break in it.
If the problem comes back I'll change the RCA and coax between the STB and the DVDR VCR combo.

Guess I should have checked that first.

[Rainingstar]

Hi Ian,
We had a similar problem a few months ago, SBS kept breaking up and wasn't watchable and ABC went off the air completely. We spoke to the TV repairers and they suggested doing a factory reset on the chanel selection (instructions are with your operators manual), it must have worked for us as we haven't had a problem since.
Cheers.

[Ian Robinson]

I changed the RCA cable just in case this morning.

I also dug out the manual for the TEAC set top box and discovered factory resetting. Did that.
Also did a rescan of the channels on the TEAC and changed the Video setting from 1080p to the next lower resolution , no HD 1080p TV , no point having too much info being sent up the RCA cables (may have been the part of the problem)

This solved the problem for SBS and Go, but ABC stations still hang (occasional momentary image freezing).
SBS (all) are now perfect.
Prime (all) are now perfect.
Ten (all) are now perfect.
Go is now perfect.
One is now perfect (despite a signal bar of 25%)
NBN (all) are now perfect.
Dig stations sound is now perfect.

I have noticed the yellow signal bar for ABC anal and digital is qulte low compared with all other stations which are all at least 50% and mostly better than 80%, some even 100% , while ABC1 , ABC2 and ABC3 are all under 30%.
I believe the problem is temporary transmission problems from Mt Sugerloaf. Buying a new antenna will solve nothing.