Hello,

Pretty much non-technical bod here.

Just before New Year decided to replace failing PACE tuner bought for On-Digital with a new £30.00 Freeview STB.

Checked what was available, and yup - ended up with a Toppy! (So much for saving money in teh New Year!)

Had it just over 2 weeks now and very impressed!

Still getting to grips with it, and need to get head round the TAPS thingey, but meanwhile I have noticed an annoying problem.

Not techie, so excuse the poor explanation

Not sure if it was there since day 1, but certainly in past week have become aware of hearing the audio from BBC1 in the background regardless of which channel I am watching, and also there if watching a recorded programme. Seems to be from the terrestial side too as I think it is a little in advance of what BBC1 digital audio is saying!

It's very quiet - like a 'whisper' and not directly affected by the volume level, in as much as the 'whisper' stays the same volume, although I can hear it more if I turn the digital volume down, or if the programme I am watching is quiet.

Any ideas please.

Thanks

Sarah

How have you arranged you aerial connections?

Are you using the same scart socket on the TV and scart cable that you used with your Pace box? If not try going back to them if you didn't have the problem before. I had a similar problem a few years ago and I think it was caused by a poor (but not especially cheap) scart cable.

Sounds like audio crosstalk. You either need to get better SCART leads (with each cable individually shielded) or take the cheap option and snip some wires at the TV end of the SCART. I had this problem a few weeks ago and solved it by using the Scrooge method (Christmas cost too much to go out buying expensive leads), details here.

It's not difficult to do, just follow the instructions closely. I only snipped the video wire as a precaution, it probably wasn't necessary.

Thanks people - though some of it sounds a bit technical for me!

Firstly, arial connections are :-

Real Arerial lead -> RF1 in
Little joiner bit RF1 out -> RF2 in
RF2 out -> VCR
VCR -> TV (via RF)

Scart cables are the same I used with the Pace - although I have a couple of new unused SCARTS (1 that came with the Toppy)

If I go 'snipping' wires in the TV SCART, will I 'lose' any ability to use the terrestial TV by itself (as my Channel 5 digital reception not the best at times, so sometimes I have to fall-back to watching the TV directly!)

I'll go and try changing the SCART cable now to see if that makes a difference (although grovelling around the back of my TV with all these bloomin' cables not my idea of fun!)

Thanks again,

Sarah

Thanks people!

Sorted!

Well certainly enough for me!

I just unplugged RF lead from TV. I can still watch terrestial C5 (and record it) through VCR if I want to, but annoying whisper gone!

(OK, if being very picky you could say there is a very slight hiss, but it is v.low, and not nearly as intrusive as vaguely heard mutterings!)

Now get to try and get my head round the TAPs stuff ....

... Or more to the point, can I be bothered to disconnect the Toppy and carry it upstairs to the PC which is 20 metres away as the wire would run! I assume I can do that i.e. all the Toppy would require is power when downloading TAPS?

Thanks again people for your quick and clear replies.

Sarah

This pretty much proves it's the audio out from the TV via the SCART that's causing the problem. By unplugging the aerial from the TV the TV can no longer tune into and channel and is hence outputting white noise via the SCART and so you are getting the hiss sound. To remove this probelm for sure you can try a good quality SCART lead (but that's not certain to cure it) or cheaper and easier is to cut or remove the audio out connections from the SCART plug in the back of your TV. You will not lose out anything unless you use your TV's tuner to record anything from, which you almost certainly don't.

Hee, hee - this assumes you are talking to someone who understands a bit about 'things-electric' - I can just about wire a 3-pin plug! (and there isn't much need for that these days).

This wrong-side-of-fifty lady is impresed that she managed to connect Toppy and get it working almost 1st go, but I don't think I'll start doctoring SCART cables just yet!

Removing the RF to the TV was a nice easy and acceptable solution for me.

Thanks people.

Sarah

Yes; you just connect the box up (make sure you install all the drivers) and you don't need a screen; press standby, and when a channel number appears on screen, you can connect with Altair on the PC and copy files across.

If you don't want to have to do it often, grab a load of taps that you might want to try and pop them in the ProgramFiles folder. They don't run automatically there, and you can try them out and delete them (or leave them for another time).

If you don't have an AutoStart folder within ProgramFiles, don't worry - it should be created the first time you run TAPs. You can move any there if you really like the look of them, and move them back out again, using the remote control.

Nigel.

Or turn off audio out to that scart socket (if poss on the sony)

Many thanks for this confirmation.

Job done!

OK, took me a while to find the right drivers and Altair bits .........

But as suggested just took Toppy to the PC (only had to disconnect two scarts and the arial feeds + power) and powered it up. Transfer very easy (did JAGS and MyStuff), just wish I'd read up a bit more about them first as I will now need to connect again to set up some of the options files etc. But that my own fault.......

So I'd say if Ms-non-techie here can manage, it shouldn't stop anyone else!

So I'll leave this thread alone now .......

Sarah