[Munstermac]

I bought a new Sky+ HD box as a family Xmas present to replace an ordinary sky digibox.

I had an existing ‘magic eye’ for the digibox which worked perfectly for the last 10 years in the bedroom.

When I set the new box up the magic eye initially worked but then started to work only intermittently.

I managed to borrow another magic eye and it had the same problem.

The curious thing is the magic eye seems to work perfectly at almost all times of the day EXCEPT the morning. I’ve done tests where I’ve tested it throughout the day and it works fine – gone to bed , wake up in the morning and it refuses to work.

Even when it doesn’t work the red power LED is on on the coaxial connection and the eye itself flickers when the buttons are pressed on the remote.

I’ve tested it connected directly to the Sky + box and at a junction in the attic and it works from both locations.

I've tried changing the RF channel and I've also tested it in the presence / absence of a mobile phone with no effect. There are no other devices in the bedroom or adjacent which could interfere.

I’ve also shortened the cable between the Sky + box and the bedroom as much as possible just in case this was a problem and redone / replaced all connections along the line.

Just to clarify the RF2 output is switched on in the Sky + box through the installers menu and I bought a new Sky + remote for the bedroom.

Anyone any ideas?

[anniebrion]

Have you tried moving the location of the Magic Eye?

Is the sunlight blinding the Magic Eye in the morning?

My mums Sky+HD box has problems with sunlight in the morning, if we close the curtains over slightly to shade the front of the box it works properly.

[Munstermac]

Thanks for the reply.

Light not a problem as we have timber shutters on the windows which are closed in the morning.

I will try moving the eye around anyway just to see if it makes a difference.

[big_hard_lad]

Originally Posted by Munstermac

Thanks for the reply.

Light not a problem as we have timber shutters on the windows which are closed in the morning.

I will try moving the eye around anyway just to see if it makes a difference.

Weird! I don't have my Magic Eye running to another room, it just means we can change the channel of the Sky box which is in a cupboard under the TV....but I swear sometimes when we switch the box on that it takes a while for the magic eye to "wake up". Just after switching on, it doesn't recognise remote presses....give it 30 secs to a minute and it works perfectly. Have you tried going to switch the box on and then trying it?

[Munstermac]

Have to admit we don't ever switch our box off.

[Nigel Goodwin]

Almost all magic eye problems are due to poor connections in the cabling - specifically coax plugs not soldered or crimped.

[Johnbyte]

Originally Posted by big_hard_lad

Just after switching on, it doesn't recognise remote presses....give it 30 secs to a minute and it works perfectly.

Probably the result of IR radiation from the TV: many LCD and particularly plasma TVs emit a lot of radiation for a couple of minutes after being switched on, which block the magic eye. The further away from the TV screen the eye is placed, the less likely it is to pick up the interference.

[Munstermac]

Originally Posted by Nigel Goodwin

Almost all magic eye problems are due to poor connections in the cabling - specifically coax plugs not soldered or crimped.

Yes but I've checked all my connections plus it wouldn't explain why it works perfectly 75% of the time.

Also I don't even have a coax plug in the bedroom. I ran the coax cable down the conduit, knocked out the coax connection on the socket, carried the cable through unbroken directly into the back of the TV.

[BOOTHY2905]

Originally Posted by Munstermac

knocked out the coax connection on the socket, TV.

Connection on the socket?? Exactly the same as a Coax connector. Can still have bed termination even though it's out of sight.

[big_hard_lad]

Originally Posted by Johnbyte

Probably the result of IR radiation from the TV: many LCD and particularly plasma TVs emit a lot of radiation for a couple of minutes after being switched on, which block the magic eye. The further away from the TV screen the eye is placed, the less likely it is to pick up the interference.

Interesting and a very likely explanation. The TV is mounted on the wall and the magic eye is on top of it. Can't put it anywhere else really because of the way all the cables are beautifully routed! Not that it's a problem particularly.

[Munstermac]

Originally Posted by BOOTHY2905

Connection on the socket?? Exactly the same as a Coax connector. Can still have bed termination even though it's out of sight.

What I meant was that rather bringing the coax cable down from the attic and terminating it in a coax socket and then getting another cable with a coax connection to connect it to the TV what I did was pass the cable through the socket directly into the TV.

This allowed me to have one break less in the coax cable coming from the SKY + box.

[Nigel Goodwin]

Originally Posted by Munstermac

What I meant was that rather bringing the coax cable down from the attic and terminating it in a coax socket and then getting another cable with a coax connection to connect it to the TV what I did was pass the cable through the socket directly into the TV.

This allowed me to have one break less in the coax cable coming from the SKY + box.

Which is always a good idea - however, you still need to make sure all coax plugs are either soldered or crimped, otherwise you get intermittent problems.

As I said befiore, this is massively the most common cause of magic eye problems.