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Poor reception some channels |
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#1 |
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Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: London UK
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Poor reception some channels
Hello all, my first time here and need advice/suggestions please!
I have tv, fta satellite and dvd-vcr combi. (Recent purchase was the dvd-vcr combi and got rid of old seperate dvd and vcr) So - scart connects dvd-vcr to tv(av1) - scart connects dvd-vcr to fta satellite(av2) - coaxial tv to dvd-cvr - coaxial dvd-vcr to fta sat - aerial out of fta sat Problem is when the fta sat is on my itv and channel4 have all sorts of patterns running thru them whether on their own channels or thru the av channel. What can I try? Many thanks. |
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#2 |
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Join Date: May 2004
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The satellite receiver and DVD/VCR units probably have RF modulators on board. (for the uninitiated this takes the raw video and audio output from the unit and "converts" it into a TV signal that can be picked up on the aerial connection of the TV).
If these modulators are set incorrectly they can cause interference to other channels. Or as in this case where you have two in line there is a possibility that they can interfere with each other ( ) which in turn causes interference to other channels. That might explain why the interference goes if one of the two units is switched off.As you are using SCART to connect everything up there is no real need for you to be using them. Time to dive into the set-up menu for the satellite receiver and DVD/VCR and look for something along the lines of RF OUTPUT or UHF CHANNEL. Usually setting them to 0 switches them off if there isn't an explicit ON-OFF setting. But if not set them to a channel number above 40 (if you receive from Crystal Palace and not one of it's relays) and make sure they are at least 5 channel numbers apart. Alternatively if you do't use the RF output from the satellite then simply take it out of the loop altogether. ie plug the aerial directly into the DVD/VCR and the TV into the DVD/VCR and have no connections at all to the satellite RF input and output. Last edited by chrisjr : 18-12-2006 at 13:48. |
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#3 |
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Thanks for your reply mate, I'll give that a go. I only set it up like that as thats how it was shown in the manual of the dvd-vcr.
One other really dumb question but how do I know if I am or not using the RF output? |
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#4 |
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Quote:
Originally Posted by campioni06
One other really dumb question but how do I know if I am or not using the RF output?
Unplug the aerial lead from the back of the telly and see what dies. Another pair of clues.... Turn on the TV with the satellite receiver and DVD/VCR both in standby. Select BBC1 on the TV. Now turn on the satellite receiver. Does the picture switch automatically to the satellite? Similarly if you play a DVD or video does the picture switch to the DVD/video? This indicates you are watching via SCART. When you start watching satellite or a DVD/Video does something like AV1 flash up on screen briefly? Many TVs have an onscreen display that shows what channel you are watching, for instance flashing up BBC1 or ITV when watching these channels via the aerial. AV1 (or AUX or Ext) indicates a SCART connection (or some other "non-RF" input if you have loads of sockets round the back of the telly to play with). |
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#5 |
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"Turn on the TV with the satellite receiver and DVD/VCR both in standby. Select BBC1 on the TV. Now turn on the satellite receiver. Does the picture switch automatically to the satellite?"
No it stays on channel 1 2 etc. "Similarly if you play a DVD or video does the picture switch to the DVD/video? " Yes this goes to AV1. Satellite is thru channel 6. Sorry I'm just so unsure about all these diff cables/leads everywhere. Anyhow shall try it out tonight and let you know. Thanks. |
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#6 |
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Ahhhhhhh
Sounds very much as if you are using SCART for the DVD/VCR and RF for the Satellite. Right so....... Unplug everything and start again. This assumes your satellite receiver has the more or less bog standard two SCART sockets labelled "TV" and "VCR" on the back. SCART Leads TV AV1 SCART --> Satellite "TV" SCART Satellite "VCR" SCART --> DVD/VCR AV1 SCART RF Leads Aerial --> DVD/VCR RF IN DVD/VCR RF OUT --> TV aerial socket You don't need a connection from the DVD/VCR to the TV as the satellite receiver will pass through the DVD/Video you are playing. I suspect at the moment you have the DVD/VCR connected to the "VCR" SCART on the satellite receiver and nothing in the "TV" SCART. The "TV" SCART is probably the only one that has the switching signal that is used by the TV to auto-select the AV input. If this were connected to the DVD/VCR it should pass through the DVD/VCR (when it is in standby) and make the TV switch to AV1 as well when you turn on the satellite receiver. You could simply try moving the satellite SCART connection over to the "TV" SCART and see what happens. If the DVD/VCR supports SCART pass through then switching on the satellite should make the TV switch to AV1 to watch satellite. The downside to this is that in all probabliity if you set the VCR to record an analogue TV channel (ie via the aerial) then all you will be able to watch on the TV is whatever channel the VCR is set to. But if you connect as above you can watch satellite TV and record analogue TV at the same time without one getting in the way of the other. |
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#7 |
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The dvd/vcr definitely has 2 scart connections. TV certainly only has one and I think the Sat only has 1 too, its a Fortec Star for fta channels. I'll check it all tonight, thanks for your advice so far.
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#8 |
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Would the satellite receiver be any of the ones on this page?
http://www.fortecstar.com/estore/sto...D=4&RegionID=2 Looking at a random sample of their specs it looks as though all of them have two SCART sockets. |
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#9 |
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Looks like the 5400 but wouldnt swear on it though theres always the chance I'm being a muppet
and it has got 2 scarts. I just wanna get home and check it now....
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#10 |
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chrisjr
Would the satellite receiver be any of the ones on this page?
http://www.fortecstar.com/estore/sto...D=4&RegionID=2 Looking at a random sample of their specs it looks as though all of them have two SCART sockets. You were spot-on, had a look at it has got 2 scarts on the back (fortecstar 5000). Unfortunately I'd had a few beers by the time I'd got home so didnt change the cables over but will do so tonight and let you know how I got on. Many thanks again.
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#11 |
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[quote=chrisjr]Ahhhhhhh
Unplug everything and start again. This assumes your satellite receiver has the more or less bog standard two SCART sockets labelled "TV" and "VCR" on the back. SCART Leads TV AV1 SCART --> Satellite "TV" SCART Satellite "VCR" SCART --> DVD/VCR AV1 SCART RF Leads Aerial --> DVD/VCR RF IN DVD/VCR RF OUT --> TV aerial socket You don't need a connection from the DVD/VCR to the TV as the satellite receiver will pass through the DVD/Video you are playing. Hi, did as suggested above and all the pictures are 100% but....theres always a but...now I have the following problems - - My satellite shows only on AV1 so I cant record vhs to dvd while watching satellite - I've lost stereo sound on satellite but gained it on normal channels - If I have tv / dvdr / satellite all switched on then AV defaults to Satellite and wont show terrestial tv Sorry about all this, any ideas? |
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#12 |
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Sounds like the SCART pin 8 switching is the problem. On the VCR for example when you press play it puts a voltage on pin 8 of the SCART which signals to the TV that you want to watch a video so it switches to the AV input automatically.
Similarly with the satellite. It puts a voltage on pin 8 when it comes out of standby so the TV switches to it. And if it sees a voltage on pin 8 of the "VCR" SCART it assumes you want to watch a video so switches the "VCR" SCART through to the "TV" SCART. It would seem that the VCR/DVD puts this pin 8 signal on when you are copying a video to DVD. So the satellite receiver thinks you actually want to watch the video and obligingly switches over. Similarly the TV sees the pin 8 signal and switches to AV1. But you should always have the option to override this switching. I couldn't find the exact model of satellite receiver you have on the Fortecstar website but the one I did look at (even though I had to download the French manual!) showed a "SAT/TV" button on the remote. If your's has one as well then try pressing that when the VCR is active. It is many more years than I care to admit to since I did French O'Level at school but this button should switch the feed to the TV between what is on the "VCR" SCART of the box and the satellite output. So at least you should be able to switch back to watching satellite TV while copying videos.As for the TV. That may well have a similar function. Although many TV's simply allow you to press one of the number buttons to go back to watching analogue TV. But there may be a button labelled AV or INPUT or SOURCE (the more common varients I've seen) which switches between "normal" TV and the AV inputs. Again pressing this should override the automatic switching on the SCART. Not sure about the mono stereo problem. If you were watching satellite via RF previously then it would have been mono only anyway. I can't think of a single device that has a built-in NICAM stereo encoder which would be required for stereo via RF. SCART has left and right stereo audio so you should now be getting stereo from that. Or by "mono" do you mean only the left or right speaker is working? As a professional broadcast engineer it annoys me when people get this wrong* . If that is the case then you may have a faulty SCART lead or simply not plugged the lead in securely.*[RANT MODE=ON]mono means ONE channel carrying audio data or two channels in a nominally stereo system carrying identical data on both channels. One channel only of a stereo pair carrying data means it's broken [RANT MODE=OFF ]
Last edited by chrisjr : 20-12-2006 at 10:34. |
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#13 |
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Crikey
Ok will check for the SAT/TV etc buttons on the remotes this evening. Defo a Fortecstar 5000, now if the manual was in Italian I'd have happily translated. With regards your audio rant - with the previous seperate dvd and vcr set-up it was the same mono sound coming out both speakers but when I swapped out for the combo and cabled it as per the manual I was defo getting stereo.Will update you tomorrow!! Thanks again. If I still dont get it all ok, long shot but I'd be happy to pay you for your time if you could come down South London and take a look at it. |
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#14 |
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Ok here goes after last nights tinkering, I'll try and keep it brief.
When I connected as per your instructions I found that if I had all 3 units switched and hit the tv/sat button on the satellite remote it would bounce to terrestial for a second then leave me with a blank screen. Your instructions pretty much mirror whats shown in the satellite set-up manual, but differ from the dvdr/vcr manual. So played around a bit and at the moment have the following - - scart from tv --> dvdr/vcr "av1 tv scart" - scart from dvdr/vcr "av2" --> satellite "tv scart" - rf cable tv aerial --> dvdr/vcr "tv out" - rf cable dvdr/vcr "aeriel in" --> satellite t-connection "rf modu male" - the aerial comes out of satellite "rf modu female" This has pretty much everything as I want it, satellite on 6 and av, terrestial on with nicam stereo thru the av channel. But.... with all 3 units on bbc1 bbc2 and channel4 get a terrible reception. The satellite is Fortecstar FTA5000 v2 - 2 scart The dvdr/vcr is Samsung DVD-VR330 with nicam stereo - 2 scart TV is Wharfdale M2126 - 1 scart Could it be something as simple as needing a better aerial or too many cables just shoved round the back getting in the way of each other?? Thanks for reading and sorry to keep banging on. |
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#15 |
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Ok the latest is I got an LG LCD tv/monitor (1 scart connection) over xmas, hooked it up and initially made things worse. However last night decided to stick an argos catalogue under it (until I get a slightly taller stand) and hey presto all the channels are clear as! Any ideas? Would it be something as simple as that the screen is a few inches further up from the sat box/dvd?
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) which in turn causes interference to other channels. That might explain why the interference goes if one of the two units is switched off.
so didnt change the cables over but will do so tonight and let you know how I got on. Many thanks again.
but this button should switch the feed to the TV between what is on the "VCR" SCART of the box and the satellite output. So at least you should be able to switch back to watching satellite TV while copying videos.