First of all Hi everyone.

This is my last attempt at trying to find out if there is an answer to my problem before I just rip the HDD out and re-use it somewhere else.

The PVR in question is a few years old, it was bought by my dad but he only used it twice and since then it has been sitting in the loft.

I connected it up to our TV yesterday but when it auto scanned it stopped on channel 23 and remained there. The little circle on the right stopped turning and the box froze. I tried again and the same thing happened only this time it reset and said no signal. This was strange seeing as the TV has freeview and the signal bar on that is showing 80% across most channels. I then went searching on the web.

The things I have tried so far are:-

Factory reset approx 5 times.
Run it through with no aerial to clear the channels.
Replaced the "Bridge" between the two tuners.
Run the aerial just in and out of tuner one.No bridge.
Swapped the tuners.
Swapped them back.
Upgraded to twin record thinking this might shift something.

And it still gets stuck on Channel 23 and the box freezes. Freeview on the TV works fine, no glitching and no sound issues.

I'm thinking the tuners have somehow been knackered because when my dad did use it he recorded a film and that was with an indoor aerial !!!

Short of trying a sledge hammer to shift something I'm wondering if anybody has any suggestions ?

Thanks

Hmmm... I think you've more or less covered everything .

What happened with no aerial attached at all? Did it still freeze, or did it stop scanning and not find any channels (obviously).

Presumably, you did try connecting from your aerial socket straight to the PVR (and not going via DVD/VCR or anything else)?

The Vestel PVRs really do need a good signal compared to other tuners, so it may just be that yours is not good enough. Or, conversely, your signal might be too strong, although I'd think that's unlikely as your TV works ok and shows 80%.

Other than that, I can't think of anything else to suggest to help .

Pending your answer to the question of no-aerial scanning, try scanning without the aerial until you pass ch.23, then put it in again to continue above ch.23.

Also (assuming it has it) try manual scanning for each mux.

BTW how old can a PVR160 be? I thought there were only PVR80s a few years ago?

18 months, I suppose. IIRC, that's when the T810 first appeared in the Argos catalogue - both the Digihome PVR80 and PVR160. So, not quite a few years ago, although it kinda feels like it in a way .

Thanks for the replies.

To answer the questions, the aerial is straight into the PVR, without the aerial it will scan the whole range, If I start a scan with the aerial out and wait till it passes 23 then put the aerial in the box freezes and when I try a manual scanning it says no signal, not sure exactly sure which channels I scanned as I cannot find the piece of paper that I had them written on, D'oh. If someone could post the channels there is supposed to be something on I will give it another go.

18 months !!! sheesh is that all.

Depends on which transmitter you're using - see http://www.dtg.org.uk/retailer/transmitters.html for the mux channel numbers.

Are you using the rf loopthrough to feed the aerial signal to the tv? That would rule out cable faults, and would imply the rf splitters are ok.

Just looked at the channels (Thanks for the link) and funny enough BBC1 is Channel 23.....Hmmmmmmm

Using the loopthrough the signal to the TV is the same, if however I unplug the PVR the TV loses the signal....

Just off to check again with manual tune...although it's looking like the computer driven jukebox I'm building is going to get a new drive....

Ok Just done a manual scan.

On all the channels that there is supposed to be something on, the box just froze. Interesting thing when I entered one channel number (28) the signal level was near the top and the signal quality said very good but the box as stated froze and I could not press the OK button to search. I tried 28 again after a reboot and it showed no signal and froze....

The channels with nothing on allowed me to press the OK button to search, but obviously came up with nothing.

Ok I got bored.....

PVR is now in pieces. Just checked for any blown Caps or broken traces and it looks OK.

You were right about the 18 months, the HDD was manufactured in May 2006.

Very, Very, VERY last ditch attempt, I'm going to put it all back together and downgrade to single record 4.9(UK) and if it's still a no go I'll just keep the HDD.

Another long shot would be to check the tuners are seated properly in the edge connectors on the main PCB. Or perhaps the Vestel units just don't like being stored in cold/damp conditions, so the stint in the loft broke something.

The only other thing that I can think of, as I mentioned earlier, is that your signal might be too strong, in which case an attenuator might help. That said, although the strength of my signal completely floors my old Nokia Mediamaster box (will not find any channels), the Digihome has had no such trouble.

Well I tried it after I put it back together and it was the same.

Downgraded to 4.9 and tried a manual scan. When I entered a known channel it just reset to a disk check and then back to an installation screen.

It does that 3 times and then freezes at disk ok....

I did check the tuners were seated correctly and checked the components to make sure they were not bent over and touching the PCB as some of them looked rather close.

Well anyway I think the HDD is going to be introduced to some AC/DC and some Led Zep...

Thanks for the replies and the suggestions I had a feeling it was FUBAR but I just thought I'd ask...

Cheers and all the best...