I would be grateful for some help and hope my explanation isn't too long winded.

I recently moved in with my elderly mother. She had a Sky box but was not watching any of the Sky programmes so I suggested, to save her money, that we cancel the subscription and fit my Humax PVR-9150T in its place.

The Humax worked perfectly in my previous house although since moving out it has been stored (boxed) for a few months in a garage.

It now works very spasmodically, when turning on the t.v. the screen has sometimes frozen. The guide often doesn't load and then only showing a couple of programmes. Sometimes the screen freezes and I have to turn the tv off. If I do manage to record anything it rarely records the whole programme.

We are getting conflicting "help" from friends, they either say replace the aerial or replace the Humax. Both expensive solutions. What if I replace the aerial and it still doesn't solve the problem?

I feel awful about this, in a genuine bid to save my mum money it's given us nothing but problems.

I would really appreciate some help, but please bear in mind I am not techie minded.

Thank you very much.

PS. It has been updated since the digital changeovers.
PPS. The tv is a Toshiba Regza.

Why not continue to use the Sky box without a subscription. Without a card it will still get all the free to air channels. Leaving the old card in will give you a few extra.

try the box at one of your friends, also i would do a factory reset of the box then retune.

Also take the tv out of the equation as well, direct connect see if that helps

Apologies if this sounds a patronising question but just to be clear about this.

The Humax is actually connected to an aerial and not the Sky dish isn't it? You didn't just chop of one of the screw on connectors on the lead attached to the Sky box and fit a push on aerial plug?

If you are using an aerial then are you sure it is still in good working order? After all if it hasn't been used for some time because of Sky being used then who knows what condition it is in? The cable could be damaged or the plug on the end of the lead is dodgy. If it plugs into a wall socket then the cable connection on the rear of the socket could be iffy.

So there are a few things you can check out easily. If you have a wall socket for the aerial then check the lead from that to the Humax. A cheap poorly made lead can degrade the signal badly. Also take the plate off the wall and check the cable connections behind it. Make sure they are OK and that the screen braid is neatly made off. Only takes a single stray strand to touch the inner conductor terminal to kill the signal level.

If you have just a bit of wire lying across the floor with a rewirable plug then take the plug apart and again check the screen braid is properly terminated and look for stray strands.

Depending on the cable run look for signs of damage if possible. If the cable runs up the outside of the wall then any damage could let rain in which will degrade it's performance. If you can get at the aerial safely then check it out as well. Not uncommon for the lid of the connector block to come adrift and let the rain in corroding the terminals. And again check the quality of the cable termination.

Those are the obvious steps you can try if the aerial is your preferred option. Or you could use the Sky box as advised above. Or if you want record functions a Freesat box might be an alternative and just plugs into the dish in place of the Sky box. The Humax recorder can even work reasonable well with just a single connection to the dish where others may need two.

Thanks for your replies.

I'll do a factory reset/re-tune tomorrow.

Don't worry about "patronising", I'm sure you'l've already guessed how clueless I am!

I had a tv man come to the house to remove the Sky box and connect the Humax. It worked fine whilst he was here, sods law.

If I turn the Humax off the tv just has a plain blue screen.

Yes it's connected to the aerial. I believe the aerial is about 16 years old.

I do want the record function, not sure what you mean by a Freesat box, how is that different to what I already have?

Thanks again and apologies for my ignorance.

The Sky box was yours (unless provided free for a minimum suscription (12 months ?) period) and would have continued to work without you doing anything.

An aerial that old may well have deteriorated or may no longer be suitable due to the move to digital transmissions.

If you are in an area that has not yet 'gone digital' then the signal strength will improve when this happens later this year.

Freesat is like freeview but through the satellite dish not the aerial.
You need to use a different type of receiver if you want to use freesat not freeview..

Freesat is through a satellite receiver and requires a freesat, old sky box or other free to air satellite receiver.

Freeview is through your TV aerial, you can use a freeview box or the inbuilt freeview tuner in your TV if you have one.

Humax make Freesat and Freeview versions of their boxes..

Fingers and toes crossed, doing a factory reset/retune seems to have really improved matters. I don't want to speak too soon but so far I am getting the tv guide up and managing to record ok.

I would like to thank you all very much for taking the time to reply to me, your help is much appreciated.