| News Sky-Plus SPECIAL This month's news letter is a "Sky-Plus Special". Thanks to those who contributed. Freeview News BBC Radio 1, 2, 3, 4 on Freeview (digital terrestrial television). On the morning of Wednesday 3 October, following the installation of new equipment, BBC Radio 1, 2, 3 and 4 on Freeview are moving into the same space as the other BBC radio services - from multiplex A to multiplex B. Channel numbers are not changing, but you will need to rescan your Freeview receiver to make sure you can continue to hear these networks. No other services or other platforms are affected.
Satellite channels missing Lots of people are reporting "loss of channels" on one Sky bouquet. This is often caused by the close proximity of a wireless router or DECT portable phone base station. Easy to diagnose: simply disconnect the power from the suspect. If that fixes the "fault", move the equipment further apart and make sure that all coaxial cable is double-shielded - including any short "fly leads". Example: - Channels on 11642 V
- B4 -w- 2310 2311 Eng 52300
- Bliss -w- 2319 2320 Eng 52305
- Scuzz -w- 2321 2322 Eng 52310
- Flaunt -w- 2323 2324 Eng 52315
- True movies -w- 2306 2307 Eng 52320
- True movies 2 -w- 2308 2309 Eng 52325
- Pop -w- 2316 2317 Eng 52340
- Tiny Pop +1 -w- 2325 2326 Eng 50345
- Pop +1 -w- 2333 2336 Eng 52351
- The Vault 2328 2329 52355
- Anime Central (22-07) -w- 2312 2313 Eng 52360
- Pop Girls (07-22) 2318 2327 Eng 52361
- Chart Show TV
Bear in mind that it could be equipment in the house next door causing your problem. A similar effect can be caused by a cable fault - a kink, joint, bad connection, water ingress, or a poorly designed wall plate. If you have Freeview channels missing, click here.
Your Sky+ Reports Thanks to those who responded.
Make/model: PACE BSKYB3100 = PVR2 - [9F21nn] Name: Chris Davies SKY PLUS REPORT I must say that recently my box has been almost trouble free except for the odd lock up requiring a reset. The box did fail after 12 months and a few weeks but sky very kindly repaired it although strictly speaking it was out of warranty. I have since taken out sky repair contract which is very expensive but I thought that some goodwill was due from me as they had shown some by repairing the unit out of warranty. My video recorder has been somewhat redundant since I got sky+ and having looked at some of the alternatives from other suppliers I cannot see how it can be bettered. I will guess that some other people will have had horror stories to tell but I think that it is one of the best products I have ever used and have recommended it to many of my friends and family who are also pleased with it.
Make/model: None Name: Clive Savage SKY PLUS REPORT I was tempted when the £10 recording fee was abolished, but my trusty TIVO is still doing an excellent job of recording from my Sky Box. Maybe someone would like to do a comparison of the user interfaces? I will do this myself if some wants to send me a Sky+ box for testing... ;)
Make/model: PACE BSKYB3100 = PVR2 - [9F21nn] Name: Simon Styles SKY PLUS REPORT I find my box with the larger 140GB disk added very good indeed. The occasional freeze up but nothing to worry about. Really am very happy. Simon
Sky+ 160 not replaceable I phoned Sky Technical Support re. a fault in my Sky+ system and was told that if it proves necessary to replace my Sky+ 160 box, the new box will probably be a Sky+ 80 model as the 160 version "is not popular" and has been withdrawn. It was later admitted that a 160 version is available for the Sky HD box (presumably more disk space per hour for HD). Apart from the usual irritation on being told there is no demand for something I want, i.e. for which there is a demonstrable demand, I feel like someone who has paid extra for the 3 litre version of a car, but then collected it from service with a 1.5 litre engine in place. Is this downgrading a common practice? Any ideas what I could do about it? JPL
Hi Martin Sorry about not replying sooner re the Sky+ but as you were good enough to amuse me with your holiday trials I will tell you what I think of Sky+. I have had Sky+ for about 10 months now and have nothing but praise for it. It does everything I want. It records what I want when I want (haven't missed anything yet ) its got loads of room for recordings; it works well with my Sony Bravia 32" hdtv. The only grumbles I have is - and this is probably because I'm doing something wrong! - when I set a programme to record, it records about 5 mins before the start. Given that the box knows exactly when the prog starts why can't it record from the start. Most irksome of all is when I fast forward through the ads; sometimes it skips all the way to the end, then I have to go back to the start and fast forward to where I was. (probably finger trouble!). Apart from those blown out of all proportion grumbles the whole setup is great. Also think the site is very good - has probably saved me about £500.00 so far; keep up the great work. Rod
Martin, We went for Sky+ fairly early on and hence had the original Mk1 box. It was generally reliable - would occasionally lock up but powering off on the wall and repowering always brought it back to life. After a year or so I upgraded the original HD for a larger Maxtor one - 120GB I think. We then started hitting the recording problem that happened to many upgraded Mk1 boxes - you'd get so far into a recording and then it'd hang. This eventually went away with an over-air firmware/software upgrade. The 120GB drive died about 18 months ago so I put the original back in and then ordered Sky HD. The old box is now doing service at my parent's and working flawlessly. Sky+ HD is great - only problem we have is that occasionally one of the tuners decides to sulk - you usually only find this out when you are recording something and want to watch another channel (or more annoying, two things down to record and hence one fails). A power off/on cycle does the trick to cure it. We've found the EPG generally excellent - only gripes are that a) the series link can occasionally get too enthusiastic and end up scheduling and recording repeats (sometimes of a previous series!) - a minor irritant - and b) it will sometimes fail to schedule the next recording (or more bizarrely, schedule it and then lose it from the planner before the programme is on) - this is a more major irritant obviously. Nick
Recent Sky+ Installation I have just recently had Sky+ installed and I must say how impressed I am with the ease of use. I don't think that the functionality can be improved on much. Now, I know that Sky have just cancelled the £10 per month subscription and the installation cost was reduced to £30, but I must admit that I was a bit miffed when I came home to find that they hadn't replaced my dish (which now must be over 3 years old); they just changed the LNB to a dual one, and they reused my single co-ax cable which is again 3 years old. Does anyone know if this is normal practice, I certainly don't think it should be so. When I buy a new system I expect a new system not part of a new system!! Dave A "dual" LNB is one that picks up signals from two separate satellite positions. In your case the Sky installer will have fitted a quad-output LNB. See http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/page10.htm I'm sure it is usual for the installer to use the existing dish. After all, the steel doesn't wear out and, unless it's showing signs of serious rusting across its surface, it will work as well as it did when new. The single coax cable is probably better than the twin "shotgun" that would otherwise have been used. Correctly installed cable (not kinked and not flapping about) should last for many years. The installation cost barely covers the installer's wage - never mind Digibox, LNB and fuel for his van - so you got more than you paid for. (How often do you get a British Telecom engineer calling round to replace your phone line and give you a brand new telephone with fax and answering machine built in?)
Sky+ report I have had Sky+ with Multiroom fitted for a few years now and, after a few changed boxes in the first year, my system has settled down apart from infrequent lockups, perhaps once a month that just needs a switch off and switch on to cure it. To be honest, Sky+ is a most amazing system and has changed the way we watch TV in our house. We no longer wait in to watch that important documentary; no searching through the video tape for a programme; just a couple of clicks on the planner and then you can watch your programmes when you have time to do so. The ability to "series link" means I don't miss my beloved Coronation Street and the "live pause" means that I can pause the football while my wife gives me a telling off and then continue without missing the vital goal. I would not want to be without the sky+ system now. I am hooked. As I said, initially I had problems, the first box was an Amstrad which developed multiple faults; the next a Pace, which just stopped working and then another Amstrad that made a noise like Concord taking off and finally. for the last two years. a Thomson which is excellent. I am more than happy with it and can recommend it to anyone. Chris
Sky + Sky + is fantastic when it works. Unfortunately this is not always the case. We are now on our third box in as many months. Box 1 developed a fault which was hard to diagnose (as a box problem). We experienced audio visual breakup on Channel 4 and, to a lesser extent, ITV1. The box was replaced by Sky (no charge) on a second visit after a first visit (£65 call out) when they realigned the dish and replaced the quad LNB. Box 2 recordings have failed and the box was replaced. (no charge) Box 3 wind back does not function. (Still to report fault, hoping it settles down.) To be fair, Sky has responded quickly to my calls. I have not been charged beyond the first £65 call out. The subsequent call outs were covered under the 3 month warranty. I understand from the Sky technicians that the replacement boxes are reconditioned, which suggests a problem with their supplier's quality control.* As I said at first, Sky + is fantastic when it works but losing recordings is heartbreaking. Of course with each box replacement you lose all earlier recordings on the hard disk. A digital output would help as you could transfer recordings to another storage media. Hope this is of interest. PS By the way I liked your holiday report, your experiences seemed very familiar. Phil * This is a sore point with me! I was involved with repairs and Quality Assurance for many years. It is clearly not financially viable to "soak test" every Sky+ Digibox for a month in order to ensure that all functions work correctly. In fact you are lucky if you can afford to test them for a single hour. What this means is that the reliability of the "repair" is dependent on the skill and judgement of the technician and on the quality of the fault report from the customer. Unfortunately, most equipment comes in to the repair shop with a helpful note that says "FAULTY!" or no note at all. It is very rare to see a comprehensive report such as "fails to fast-forward when warm". I've even known field technicians refuse a fault report from the customer on the basis that "it doesn't matter". Bear this in mind next time you return equipment as "faulty". It will be given a cursory glance by the repair technician, run through its paces for five minutes, then passed on as "NFF" (no fault found). Been there; done that. It's soul-destroying because he knows that the equipment will be back in a fortnight with a helpful note that says "FAULTY!"
Your Sky+ Special Issue Hi Martin, I meant to send this to you last month but, well, I forgot!! Suitably guilt-ridden after reading that you only got 3 replies has made me send it to you now! I have had my Thomson Sky+ with a 160GB hard drive for a couple of years now and I am overall very pleased with it. My original one was replaced by Sky after about 3 weeks but I have had no problems since. The ability to pause live TV and watch my own slow motion replays of the football or cricket when I want to is a real bonus! So is the series link option which enables a whole series to be recorded without having to remember to record it each week but it does have some drawbacks. If a weekly programme has a break one week for the football, Eurovision or some other one-off TV programme, then Sky+ will not record any more of that series. This is because the TV guide only shows the next 7 days programmes and in this instance the next episode will be 2 weeks away! Sky have said in the past that the programme guide will be extended to 2 weeks but we're still waiting! I can also record 2 programmes at the same time while watching one I recorded earlier. Again there is a drawback in that recording 2 programmes that finish at 8pm and starting another that starts at 8pm will probably not work because Sky+ adds a few minutes on to each recording to ensure you don't miss the end so at 8pm there would be 3 programmes recording which doersn't work! This option to add time on can be switched off but obviously then there is a chance of not getting all of the programme - you take your choice! Recorded programmes can be recorded onto VCR or a DVD recorder if you are running out of room on the disc but only in real time which is a bit of a nuisance. My Sky+ box does have a USB port but at the moment it doesn't appear to do anything. Perhaps in the future I will be able to transfer programmes onto a PC and then put them on DVD without having to record in real time onto DVD from the Sky+ box. All in all, I am very satisfied with Sky+ - I know it has some drawbacks but it is far superior to the VCR that I had before! Geoff
You asked for experiences re Sky + but as I done have it I cannot comment. However, I thought I, a non-techie with regards to stuff like this, might write to ask things . This follows 2 sky digiboxes, Pace, Amstrad, not working, getting Sky engineers in and costs of £55 then £65 and now back with a Pacebox, not working. All 'guaranteed for a very long 90 days. Someone suggested that a Sky + box would have been a better bet, as it only costs £99 and is 'guaranteed for a year!. So having struggled - and failed- to get the VHS wired in and then a DVD and not being able to work out how to record VHS as it now does not work with the automatic punch in the number from the newspaper to automatically programme the programme in, am I now going to struggle with another gizmo, or does it make both obsolete? Can I play DVD's on it, CD's with stored digital camera photos and MP£ songs etc. if I ever work out how to do so and even but a player and throw out my hi fi box of tricks. Whats the limitations of the hard disk in the thingy? What happens if I want to keep the film I eventually manage to store? Can I 'burn' it onto a DVD? How much heat does it generate and should I therefore throw away the glass door on the cabinet? Is there aan on screen display that tells me what I am doing via the remote - oh by the way is it ANOTHER remote anyway. Can I get sky on another TV through it? At least if nothing else this might start a topic regards Ian, President Victor Meldrew Fan Club MP: Anyone care to answer this?
(top) Questions Pace 3100 Poor Remote Sensitivity. I have a Pace 3100 V2 Sky+ 40Gb over the last few months the sensitivity of the remote has reduced dramatically to such a point that it now only works from about 5 feet away from the box. It's not the remote as I have 2 others for the bedroom and the kitchen which only work from about 5 feet as well, but all the remotes function from normal distances when using the magic eyes in the other rooms. I am guessing that the infra red receiver diode could be the problem but as there is no service information on these boxes can anyone suggest a replacement diode. One other thing I have cleaned the diode surface with isopropyl alcohol in case it was fogged up. Has anyone encountered this problem on this model of box or can anyone suggest any other fix. Ray We can supply a replacement IR sensor: www.satcure.co.uk/accs/page12.htm#sky+ 215-0223610 Infra-red sensor for BSKYB3100 £3.95
I just hope it cures the fault! Martin Installed replacement IR sensor and the receiver is working normally again with front IR cover back on. Thanks for everyone's help especially the Satcure gang for sourcing the part. Ray
I appreciate that it is always best to use a single run rather than join Coax but if there is absolutely no option is it better to solder the join or use F-Connectors and a coupler? Which method results in the least loss and reflections? Cheers, Nigel The correct size F plugs, correctly fitted, used with a threaded coupler. You can't solder coaxial cable together and I'm not aware of any solderable plugs that will do the job better at 2GHz frequency.
Poor pictures I have a set up which distributes both analogue and sky signals around the house via a an 8 way SLX booster box in the loft. The aerial input goes into the Panasonic TU-DSB30 sky box and then goes to the loft booster. I am having problems with "ghosting" on analogue TV images. I think it may be that the sky aerial wire and the cable coming out from the RF output are too close together as I only remember the problem occuring after an extension was completed and these wires were run in by the builders. Additionaly the analogue signal is poor on any of the TV's fed from the booster box. Oddly this problem seems to have got progressively worse over the last 9/10 months but I can't think why as nothing has been done to the wiring set up. In a fit of pique last night I tried swapping all cables over at the back of the TV and, and this is the bit that really confuses me, I seem to have made the freeview signal worse (some DVB channels get no signal which had worked before) but the analogue picture better!?! I don't understand how this is possible as the freeview receiver is in the TV and they are both fed by exactly the same aerial? Not sure if you can give me any guidance but it would be appreciated. I am happy to consider re-wiring the whole lot if neccesary but would also be interested in a quote from you to come and look at it if you are prepared to travel up to Warrington? Thanks - Steve I visited Steve in Warrington and we investigated the problems together. The aerial was well above the roof and appeared to be a high-gain wideband type, which was fine for the Winter Hill transmitter. The cable from the aerial was connected to an "Antiference CS1000" in the loft. I didn't know what this was at the time so I left it alone. (Later I discovered that it is a wideband splitter. Since it was doing nothing other than reducing the signal by at least 50%, I advised Steve to remove it and join the cable with two plugs and a coupler). 
The analogue picture on the main (large) TV set was only slightly grainy, indicating that the signal was borderline but acceptable. Freeview picture was fine, as was Sky. The aerial drop-cable was plastered into the wall and appeared at a plate in the living room. A fly-lead connected it to the Sky Digibox and another fly lead took the RF2 return feed to another wall socket which was cabled back to the loft and into a Philex SLx8B (8-way distribution amplifier). I'm not a great fan of Philex products but this one seemed to be working OK. The analogue pictures on the kitchen and conservatory TVs were very grainy with lots of diagonal interference lines. The conservatory analogue picture was very bad and the Freeview box was unable to hold a steady picture. We connected a temporary double-screened coax cable directly from the Sky RF2 output to the conservatory TV. This resulted in much better analogue pictures but the Sky picture was still awful. Disconnecting the aerial from the Sky Digibox input cured this so we reset the Sky RF ouput from its default channel 68 to UHF channel 30, retuned the TV and the picture was as good as it gets. Replacing the original fly lead from the wall socket to the conservatory TV put the pictures back to "abysmal" so we replaced both fly leads (wall socket -> Freeview -> TV) with a single double-screened cable from the wall plate to the TV and there was a good improvement, but not perfect. 
I advised Steve to replace the horrible, cheap "clothes-line" fly leads (make your own) and also the cheap uncreened wall plates. 
In addition, I recommended he replace the drop cable from the loft amplifier to the conservatory with a much shorter double-screened cable. That, and the removal of the splitter in the loft, should result in excellent pictures.
Hi satcure Help! Spent many days now, trying to improve picture quality on 2-8 tv's outlets. Set up: SAT DISH-2xLNB -Triax DDU112 - DDU OUTLET 304114- 2X COAX SAT+ COAX TV -SKY+ -TV GOOD PICTURE, GOOD SIGNAL + QUALITY GOOD-- RETURN COAX - DDU OUTLET - DDU 112 - COAX TO TV -V POOR PICTURE. TESTS CARRIED OUT - CIRCUIT TESTS TO ENSURE CONTINUITY.
- CONNECT TEST TV TO RETURN COAX FROM SKY + GOOD PICTURE.
- CONNECT TEST TV TO UP/DOWN LINK COAX FROM DDU OUTLET-POOR PICTURE.
- CONNECT TEST TV TO DDU112 R/TV1-8 POOR PICTURE.
? DDU OUTLET 304114 FAULTY. Cable runs as per directed on info sheet. Cable run distance from sky + to DDU112 box 1.5 metres. All electrical supplies well away from cables. Quality cables used (shielded ) picture descrition- grey no colour very grained sound poor & broken. Can you suggest a remedy to the problem? Many thanks Mike W Hi, Mike. I see that you bought the DDU several months ago so presumably this fault has developed recently? In which case you need to look for what may have changed. "Fly leads" going to wall sockets are favourites for causing this problem. In fact I visited a customer this morning who had exactly that problem. He'd spent thousands of pounds on a huge TV set, new aerial, Sky system and distribution, then finished it off with a 50p fly-lead from B&Q! However, loft boxes can and do fail (rare) so, if you have eliminated every other possibility (make sure it's receiving power) then contact Sales for a replacement. Best Wishes, Martin
New Products | 
| Coloured WF100 coming very soon! | | 
| When I was age ten I developed an interest in electronics, which remained my hobby for many years. So I'm quite excited to announce our new range of hobby electronic kits, developed by ME! | | These kits require NO SOLDERING and can literally be assembled "on the kitchen table" and put away when you've finished. They are great fun to play with and a welcome distraction from the boring repeats on TV. (When I have time I'll be introducing additional kits). | | 
| For more advanced "beginners" we are also offering a range of kits which need to be soldered. How about this cable tester? | | 
| Plastic trunking - curved and stylish - with adhesive backing for easy installation. No need to thread the cable through - the curved section unclips from the rear section. | |
| | 
| DENSO TAPE Used by British Gas for sealing underground joints against moisture. This 2" wide tape must be the most disgusting stuff on earth. Imagine soaking a bandage in cow poo and you are getting close to its texture. Thankfully, the petroleum-based goo smells more like the oil-smeared pit in your local garage than cow poo, so you won't need a peg. But you WILL need polythene gloves and old clothes because this sticky stuff gets everywhere! So what use is it? See More Info |
Happy Customers Hi Martin, Thank you very much for the final installation of your "Digital Installer" e-course, and the 'mention in despatches'. I've enjoyed the entrepreneurial approach in which it has been presented and you seem to have overcome many problems to deliver the course in a practical and pragmatic way. Over the years I've had course to use your services from time to time and your consistently high quality products and service has led me to recommend you many time to the engineering and non-engineering fraternity of friends and colleagues alike and it says something when none of them have had anything but praise for your assistance with products and advice. Hopefully, I shall make use of the information that I've learnt whilst subscribing to this course and maybe even make some money from it! Very best wishes for the future, Alan
Order number SAT020380 I just wondered if you were going for the world record for the quickest and most out-of-hours reply to a question? I placed my order at 11:59pm, with a question in the 'notes' field, and had a reply in under 10 minutes, which is amazing as I didn't even spend all that much. So thank you, Martin. I hope the delivery is equally impressive, the rugby world cup starts this Friday after all! Riki
Regarding Customer receipt (Keep-me): SAT020082 Very quick delivery - desoldered old components & soldered new ones - now works perfectly. Thanks very much. Paul (Actually, we had a lot of unhappy customers in August because Nicola went on holiday and we had temporary staff handling the orders but using Nicola's email address. This resulted in much confusion and distress - especially for me because I didn't even know she was away! Anyway, I hope those affected will accept my apologies for the chaos.)
Regarding Customer receipt (Keep-me): SAT020377 A quick note to express my appreciation of your service. The Digibox repair kit arrived very promptly, contained everything needed, and your instructions were clear. And despite my having no previous experience of repairing PCBs, the Digibox now works perfectly again! Thanks, Peter W
Martin Thanks for your reply in connection with my shopping cart problems. I have resolved the issue by diabling zone alarm firewall settings, thanks for your advice. I have now sucessfully placed a multi-item order. By the way the item I ordered yesterday afternoon arrived safely this lunch time, very good service. Best wishes Paul
(top) Latest eBooks (The introductory offer prices have now ended.) How to Fit Extra TV Points - All eBooks have been moved to a more reliable secure server which requires a username and password. If you can't access it, please contact us (wherever you bought it - SatCure or The Cool Book Shop) with your proof of purchase and ask for the new download information, stating exactly which eBook(s) you purchased and the EBK number(s).
http://www.The-Cool-Book-Shop.co.uk | 
"Installing a Sky Minidish" tutorial on DVD. Click 
