Right, where to start?!?

I've been very happy with the service, and the On Demand is very good. Recently though, many little problems have been getting worse and very annoying. Since I can't seem to sign up or log in to the Tiscali forums, I thought I'd try here.

So first of all, we've been having a problem where the remote control is very very bad for a while when the box is first turned on. It can take up to (no exaggeration) 30 presses before it registers. This lasts for 10-20 minutes before the remote suddenly behaves normally.

Next problem: Crashes. Recently the box has started crashing, it will just turn off and won't turn back on without switching off at the back. This has happened every night this week and sometimes more than once. It can happen when watching TV or playing recordings.

Next: Pause & Rewind doesn't seem to work very well anymore on DSL channels. Sometimes it doesn't work at all, a couple of times I have paused and then resumed, and a few minutes later the programme started to fast forward of its own accord.

Next one: Sometimes catchup programmes are only a small section of the programme. Happened a couple of weeks ago with the hour long Casualty being 20mins long and a few times with Hollyoaks which are the main ones the missus watches.

Another problem: The DTT signal on some channels seems to drop out quite often, we usually don't notice until a recording clash comes up on DTT channels.

Last problem: It's quite hard to explain this one. Our BBC region is Yorkshire. There are two Yorkshire regions listed, 'Yorks/Lincs' and Yorkshire. Our BBC1 might be 'Yorks/Lincs' and come through the aerial one day, then it might change to DSL and I have to change it to 'Yorkshire' to get it through the aerial again. Then a while later it might change again, so I'm constantly having to switch between 'Yorks/Lincs' and 'Yorkshire' to get the DTT broadcast.

Phew, sorry about all that, but the problems are really starting to bug us, so I was wondering if anyone else have these problems (I know the crashing one is common) and if the MKs have any ideas. Thanks.

Hi,

Doesn't sound good to say the least, PM me your number and I'll take a look into this for you,


Regards

Chris

Hiya,

We have a similar problem as we receive channels from two transmitters equidistant from us, Rowridge in the South and Crystal Palace to the North East (ish).

I think that part of the problem lies with signal strength whereby the box detects that one transmitter is providing a stronger signal and decides that that is the one it wants to use - sometimes indeed not even recognising one of the two TXrs if the aerials are being blown around a lot (they are on quite a tall mast).

This can cause problems when you have allocated a DTT channel to be your local one - eg either ITV1 Meridian or London in our case and it then drops it due to signal strength/quality issues, leaving you with a gap in your EPG.

This is a particular problem if you have a regular series-linked show that you record.

Obviously I don't know what sort of an aerial you are using but it might be worth your while investing in a better quality digital one or looking into a masthead amplifier to boost the signal somewhat.

Anyway, hope you nail it - good luck.

David.

Thanks for your reply Ethel. We already have a decent aerial and we can use my old Freeview DVD-Recorder without losing signal.

I PM'ed you my number a few weeks ago, MK_Chris, any ideas?

Hmm - weird - although my old Thomson TopUpTV box seems to hang onto the DTT channels a lot better than the T+ too so maybe the Tiscali box is just that bit more sensitive as it knows it has the DSL feed to fall back on..?

Good luck getting it fixed anyway.

Regards,

Dave.