B&Q Satellite - Ross freesat box and dish

[kacetwo]

Hi guys. First post and I am after help. I just bought the Ross HD unit from B&Q but I cannot get an image from the HDMI connection. The scart is fine and I have plenty of SD channels but without the HDMI I get no HD :-(

Does anyone know if I am missing something obvious?

I have tried having only the HDMI cable plugged in, having the TV set to the correct input before switching the box on and changing the screen resolution with the VP button but nothing yet.

I took one box back and I bought a new HDMI cable. My blu-ray player works fine through the same input and with the same cable!!!!

There have been other people posting in this thread with the same issue - I believe the HDMI port on the box was shown to be faulty. Is there a phone number for Ross customer support on your documentation? Might be worth calling them and going through some troubleshooting steps, then let them tell you to take it back to B&Q again (assuming that's where you got it) for another replacement, or a refund.

[kacetwo]

Thanks Chris.

I did a search but did not find this mentioned.

I will make the call and see what happens.

[kacetwo]

Well it's not the box it's my Sony Bravia. The HDMI output works fine on a 19 inch TV. So got to plan what I am going to do next.

[levi1989]

Just A quick question guys I'm new here, I've had the Ross FreeSat for round about 7 months now. Ive heared channel 4 hd is now out? as my bbc hd no longer works I wondered how I go about solving this? Do I need to update the software somehow or simply just do a re tune? thanks in advance for any answers.

[Data123]

Originally Posted by levi1989

Just A quick question guys I'm new here, I've had the Ross FreeSat for round about 7 months now. Ive heared channel 4 hd is now out? as my bbc hd no longer works I wondered how I go about solving this? Do I need to update the software somehow or simply just do a re tune? thanks in advance for any answers.

What box do you have?

if its the HDR-6110USB these a Firmware update at www.ross.co.uk

if you have the HDR-8130USB it should work OK you need to scan

10847 V
23000
for BBC One HD & BBC HD

and

12607 V
27500
for channel 4 HD

[paddy2011]

Just wondering if anyone has come across this proble. I set up the dish and had my tv up in the attic and was getting all the channels from Eurobird 1 & Astra 2A/2B/2D at 28.2°E fine there with the 10 metre cable supplied. I then had to put a joiner on that co-axial cable to bring it down to the sitting room (another 10 metres). There I am getting some of the channels (mostly the bbc's itv's and channel 4 stations) But i am getting a "weak signal" for most of the other channels. I put a signal booster on the join in the attic but still cant get the more "obscure" channels. Any suggestions?

[Kymmy]

Extra cable, joiners and even poor quality cable can attenuate the signal (not only down from the LNB but also the control signals/voltages back up to the LNB)

Always best to use one piece of co-ax and for it to be good quality co-ax.

[paddy2011]

I had to use a joiner as the builder had the cable to the sitting room already installed and I cant pull a new cable through the ducting- its too tight, and the wife wont let me have wires going up the walls inside. I am just wondering why I can not see all channels that i can get before joining the cable? Are they not all broadcast at the same strenght? Or has it anything to do with transponders?

[Kymmy]

Two things will effect the signal, transponder ERP and also the position of the sat. Think of Astra2 as three sats all moving inside of a box in space, if your dish is perfectly pointing towards the middle of the box you'll get a good signal from the inner sats and an OK signal from the sats near the edges of the box. If your dish is slightly out then the other sats will be even weaker.. Mix that with varying transponder ERP's and you then have an issue.

If you need to keep the join then you need to check that the cable is good and that the connectors are joined to the cable properly and securely.. A good connector might equate to adding 1m to a cable (same attenuation) where as a bad connector might be the same as adding 20m to the cable) Even then it might not be enough

[paddy2011]

Thanks for that. Just one other question. If I have to keep the join and cant change the cable as its in the walls is there different signal boosters that will overcome the problem? What would you recommend?

[Kymmy]

New co-ax is the only thing I would recommend.. If you boost a degraded signal then you're also boosting the noise. Only other option would to replace the LNB with a higher gain/lower noise rated LNB

---------- Post added at 15:19 ---------- Previous post was at 15:17 ----------

I would though firstly check the connectors and make sure that there's no shorts and also good and corrosion free joints..

[AZIMUTH]

hi kymmy,,,what is a transponder?

[Kymmy]

Transponder = Receiver/Transmitter (it receives the channel from the groundstation and retransmits it on the frequency that your receiver is tuned to)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transponder

[AZIMUTH]

sorry to be thick,,,but is the LNB the actual transponder?
is it in there?ive looked it up kymmy but dont understand what it actually is on the B&Q sat dish set up.by the way im getting good reception with the cheap SD version.