Could this be a set top box issue ?

[karthik316_1999]

I'm facing a bit of a weird issue on my videocon d2h connection. Most often especially during evening prime-time/weekends, a few channels start to stutter/freeze/display "no signal available'" message. I experience this with the channels Polimer News (Channel 583 , Sun Music SD 571, Peppers TV 559, Isaiaruvi 583 , etc. Upon checking the signal quality/strength under satellite management, I noticed that there is a terrible fluctuation in the signal strength of these channels and all of these channels are on the same transponder - TP 11546 (Both V/H)

The signal quality would fluctuate between grey color and green color once every 5-10 seconds and the signal strength would be around 80% in green. Once past late night around 12 AM, these channels would no longer freeze and be okay to watch "though the signal quality would still" keep fluctuating between grey and green color.

Now the weird part, I have installed two connections (multi-room) and this issue occurs only on one of the STB's (HD 2244 RF) while there is no such issue on the other room.

Since it is happening on only one of the two STB's connected to the same dish, I wanted advice if the above is a possible indication of a failing STB ? Or is there a possibility of any alignment issue / LNBF hardware issue ?

This issue is very bothering and I shall await your help.. Thanks for your inputs people.

 

[SVK]

Since you mentioned 2 STBs, and only 1 has issue. So it may be STB issue. Tuner in STB may become weak after long usage and it is not able to decode data from weak signal. Since channels from particular transponder frequency is having issue, so it may be case that transponder signal is already weak, and STB tuner failing to detect and decode it further.
You can call technician and ask to check both dish alignment as well as STB. Also if cable coming to particular STB may also be loosely connected or damaged, then also signal loss can happen.
I had similar issue on some channels on Airtel DTH. After dish was aligned properly, issue was resolved.

 

[Zexen]

first thing first. have you tried turning it off and unplugging everything. If you have already did this just call CC and register a complaint.

 

[karthik316_1999]

Since you mentioned 2 STBs, and only 1 has issue. So it may be STB issue. Tuner in STB may become weak after long usage and it is not able to decode data from weak signal. Since channels from particular transponder frequency is having issue, so it may be case that transponder signal is already weak, and STB tuner failing to detect and decode it further.
You can call technician and ask to check both dish alignment as well as STB. Also if cable coming to particular STB may also be loosely connected or damaged, then also signal loss can happen.
I had similar issue on some channels on Airtel DTH. After dish was aligned properly, issue was resolved.

Thanks for the quick and prompt response, SVK - that was exactly the kind of technical explanation I was looking for. Since you brought up the cabling issue, I had the STB's interchanged and it was the same 2244 RF STB that is just about 2 years old causing that issue in the other room too. The 2nd STB (rock solid about 5 year old Satellite HDBOX2011) did not show any signal issue when connected to the same cable that was earlier showing the problem.

Further, I remember during the initial fixing/alignment that the hand held signal meter of the technician which would normally give a continuous beep sound was giving "broken beep sounds" exactly in the same manner how the signal quality bar on the TV now fluctuates with my 2244 RF STB. I did check with the guy at that time and he gave a reason that his meter was faulty. Since the meter is usually connected to the LNBF for testing, is it possible that my LNBF is faulty ? In fact, the technician was wrapping layers of electrical insulation tape around the mount of the LNBF and when questioned - stated that it was 'weak'.

With all these said, several questions are on my mind now. Was the technician's meter really faulty ? Is there really a problem with my dual LNBF? Is one of my relatively newer STB weak too ?

first thing first. have you tried turning it off and unplugging everything. If you have already did this just call CC and register a complaint.

Well, that's exactly the problem. With my connection post the 1 year warranty period, the technician's every single visit is going to be chargeable and neighbors in our society here really have a bad experience with DTH technicians (not only videocon) 'forcing multiple visits for the same issue again and again' before fixing it for real on the n'th visit (The issue would temporarily get solved when the technician visits only to resume back again in a couple of weeks and the visit would again be charged). Hence I wanted to get all possible opinions from the helping community out here 🙂

 

[Zexen]

oh yes the chargers are their in my case Videocon DTH problem was solved on first visit itself never to return again. I too had signal issue where the channel suddenly would throw no signal error. Thing only they can do the dish alignment. So we have to bear with them. This reason and DTH going to shit in rainy or cloudy weather made me switch to a LCO.

 

[karthik316_1999]

Well, since LCO's are yet to provide good quality level digital service in my place - guess I'm kind of holding on to d2h until then.

So, any further thoughts anyone after my additional inputs above ?

Would a factory reset of the STB prove helpful ? Or am I left with no other alternative other than to replace the STB at a high cost ?

 

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[SVK]

Since this seems to be hardware issue, factory reset may not help.

 

[karthik316_1999]

Any thoughts on why the technician's hand held signal meter behaved that way ?

And is there a way for me to rule out a possible LNBF problem ?