Tuner problem on build 4.2.005?

[twol]

The lnb is approx 3 years old , dish professionally installed , no issues with receiving channels from i.e 7e - 7w

Would be interested to know if you can tune the signal to improve the SNR, but ........ I guess it is also possible that you are getting too good a signal on 28.2E and swamping the tuner, depends on LNB and cable run.
Would explain why the others are OK (7E etc)
The only way round would be to stick an attentuator on the cable and play, but obviously this is fine on a fixed dish but would mess up your other sats on a motorised.

Life can be real fun with sat dishes I started with a 1 metre dish on the roof and now look what I have stuck up on the garage roof bolted down and with heavy concrete slabs as extra weight

[satnut2]

Would be interested to know if you can tune the signal to improve the SNR, but ........ I guess it is also possible that you are getting too good a signal on 28.2E and swamping the tuner, depends on LNB and cable run.
Would explain why the others are OK (7E etc)
The only way round would be to stick an attentuator on the cable and play, but obviously this is fine on a fixed dish but would mess up your other sats on a motorised.

Life can be real fun with sat dishes I started with a 1 metre dish on the roof and now look what I have stuck up on the garage roof bolted down and with heavy concrete slabs as extra weight

Your Gibertini must be a beast ! my 1.2m looks big enough !

Interestingly I get better signal on 28.e on my Technomate box than the Xtrend , all down to the tuner sensitivity I suppose

Not had any further issues so far , currently monitoring

[twol]

Your Gibertini must be a beast ! my 1.2m looks big enough !

Interestingly I get better signal on 28.e on my Technomate box than the Xtrend , all down to the tuner sensitivity I suppose

Not had any further issues so far , currently monitoring

You cannot compare snr figures between different receivers unfortunately ... its useful as a tuning guide but not much else
I went 1 metre 1.25 1.5 and each time it looked huge, but after a week quickly got used to it

[satnut2]

Well today I ran in a 3rd feed from my fixed Sky dish and I'm still having issues with blocky picture when recording

Tuner A - Fixed 28.2E AGC = 81% SNR 62%

Tuner B - Fixed 28.2E AGC = 75% SNR 62%

Tuner C - Fixed 28.2E AGC = 91% SNR 62%

Tuner D - Motorised 1.2m set to 28.2E AGC = 80% SNR 52% ( Looped through from Technomate 5402 HD M3 )

With tuner D disabled , If I try and record with every tuner available as many programs as possible , all starts recording fine , the more channels I record on the same transponder I reach breaking point then selected channels break up which where previously Ok when not recording

I then manually delete each active recording 1 by 1 and the problem does not resolve itself until all recordings stop. Picture then goes back to normal

With Tuner D enabled I get the same issue , its as if all is well but if I try and add to many recordings the picture just starts going blocky

When I scroll through channels I can see on the onscreen program subtitles which tuner is providing the picture i.e A B C D , I'm getting blocky picture on selected channels across all tuner combinations. Its as if certain transponders are giving blocky picture.

I bought this quad tuner box so I can record across 4 tuners without issues , and so far I have been unsuccessful

I have tried changing the priorities of tuners for recording and normal viewing , still cant pin point the issue

I know my SNR values are on the low side , however I had no issues with picture on my Solo2 or recording on the twin tuner with the fixed dish feeds

Also I know you cant compare SNR values between receivers but I have very strong SNR 98% + on my Technomate Receiver on 28.2e

Can anyone recommend a Satellite meter I can use to try and Improve my SNR on my fixed dish ?

If I had alignment issues wouldn't I have blocky pictures when not recording ? Picture is rock solid across all tuners when not recording

The more I think about the problem I'm thinking there must be a bug somewhere

Can any other Xtrend users who have 4 DVS-S2 tuners confirm if they have had issues ?

Any other suggestions guys ? Do you think my SNR are the problem ?

I may take a video of the problem to highlight the issue

[ccs]

How many recordings in total do you have running when the problems start showing?
There is a limit on any box, a "breaking point" or "too many recordings" to use your phrases.

[twol]

There are various apps on Android and Iphone that can connect to the receiver and display the current snr (some do both dB and %) .. then you can play to your hearts content watching the snr figure and adjusting the dish - but remember small (!) changes (I usually finger tap the dish up or down) plus of course the lnb skew (important for me, but shouldn,t be for you in the UK)
The snr figure is relative, so can be used for tuning a receiver.

As we head towards Late evening, my figures always drop for the fta services, but even so at the moment my lounge ET8500 is at Snr 79% 9.6dB for BBC2HD and this is a REALLY difficult signal for me.

I currently have 3 dvb-s2 tuners on my "office" box and never had any issues.
, but have to say your snr figures are really strange.

[satnut2]

How many recordings in total do you have running when the problems start showing?
There is a limit on any box, a "breaking point" or "too many recordings" to use your phrases.

At the moment , I get issues with 1 or 2 recordings , Ive taken some vids of the problem tonight

Currently uploading , will post asap

[twol]

So is the technomate fed from a different dish or how do you have them configured?
Also some receivers don,,t show a valid snr figure,,but have no idea if technomate falls into that category

[DaMacFunkin]

A Long Long time ago i swapped from a sly quad lnb to a Technomate Octo Gold Low Noise LNB, i fitted it to the dish, connected to it was 2 freesat TV's a solo2 a new duo2 and a Technomate Nano.
If i was recording on the solo2 and duo2 and changing channels on the solo2/duo2 i would get lots of glitches and some times pixelation on the resulting recording.
A deeper investigation, showed that turning on the freesat TV's and changing channels caused glitching on all the other connected devices except for the Technomate receiver, it never skipped a beat, never glitched, tried it on different connections incase the other feeds had shorts and it was perfect, all the others glitched and pixelated when tuning or recording on another.
I replaced the LNB with a Zinwell (sly) octo lnb and everything was fine.

[Joe_90]

For SKY dishes the SKY (Zinwell) LNBs work better as they are designed for the oval shape and focus pattern of the dish. "Normal" LNBs expect a conventional offset dish with a more circular focus.

[satnut2]

So is the technomate fed from a different dish or how do you have them configured?
Also some receivers don,,t show a valid snr figure,,but have no idea if technomate falls into that category

Yes the Technomate is fed from the motorised dish , no issues whatsoever

If I disconnect the motorised dish from the Xtrend I still get the problem using 3 feeds from the Sky dish , I get the problem with 2 feeds from the Sky dish

To summarize

1 - Purchased brand new Xtrend Quad tuner 2 weeks ago and have had recording issues since day 1
2 - Xtrend unit replaced a Solo2 Which was a twin tuner unit and worked flawlessly for 2 years + , the only reason I went with Xtrend was for more tuners
3 - All Satellite dishes have not changed , I have unplugged the Solo and plugged in the Xtrend and had issues
4 - If I had dish alignment issues , why does the blocky picture stop as soon as I stop recording ?
5 - Please see video links below of the problem , can you please let me know if the videos dont play , any comments appreciated
6 - Reluctant to start changing LNB's etc yet , my set up has worked fine prior to the Xtrend arriving , my tuner signals dont look that bad?

http://s50.photobucket.com/user/Xtre...khk3p.mp4.html
http://s50.photobucket.com/user/Xtre...bydzg.mp4.html

Thanks for all you responses so far guys , surely there is a bug somewhere ? or do you think I have a duff receiver ?

Should I raise an official support ticket ?

[twol]

1. your snr figures are poor and living in the UK , this should not happen.... until you sort this its difficult to say you have an issue
I know you are reluctant to do any dish re-alignment, but really you should try this.
2. set up the Xtrend with the 3 tuners and the 4th direct from the motor with the technomate looped thru from the Xtrend.... see what happens

[satnut2]

1. your snr figures are poor and living in the UK , this should not happen.... until you sort this its difficult to say you have an issue
I know you are reluctant to do any dish re-alignment, but really you should try this.
2. set up the Xtrend with the 3 tuners and the 4th direct from the motor with the technomate looped thru from the Xtrend.... see what happens

Ok , I'll look at the SNR next , If the low SNR are the root cause of the problem I dont understand why this causes issues with recordings ? wouldnt I get blocky pictures anyway without recording ?

Whats the minimum SNR values should I be getting ? are yours 90?+

[Sicilian]

I would do the following to test each tuner individually.

USE THE SAME COAX FEED FOR ALL TESTS.

Test with your fixed dish on Astra 28.2. Again I state the the exact same feed for all tests below.

1) Set each tuner to Simple > Single > Astra 28.2 > No. See attached screenshot.
2) Run a Manual Single Satellite Scan on each tuner (see attached scan settings screenshot). Menu > Setup > Service Searching > Manual Scan > First select 'Tuner A' at top and set 'Type of Scan' to 'Single Satellite' > Press OK and run the scan. Scan should find approx 930 ish services.
3) Run the above scan on ALL four tuners, EACH time using the same Coax feed. All tuner scans should find more or less the same amount of services.
4) If all scans run ok on each tuner, test recording on each tuner.
5) Start with Tuner A, connect the same feed to Tuner A. Zap to BBC One HD, press Record button > Select Add recording (enter recording duration), default is 5 and just press OK.
6) Zap to BBC Two while the recording is happening, that will be two services being accessed at the same time on the same transponder. Allow the recording to complete.
7) Once the recording is complete. Set Tuner A to not configured and move the coax feed to Tuner B.
8) Zap to BBC One HD, press Record button > Select Add recording (enter recording duration), default is 5 and just press OK.
9) Zap to BBC Two while the recording is happening, that will be two services being accessed at the same time on the same transponder. Allow the recording to complete.
10) Once the recording is complete. Set Tuner B ALSO to not configured and move the coax feed to Tuner C.
11) Zap to BBC One HD, press Record button > Select Add recording (enter recording duration), default is 5 and just press OK.
12) Zap to BBC Two while the recording is happening, that will be two services being accessed at the same time on the same transponder. Allow the recording to complete.
13) Once the recording is complete. Set Tuner C ALSO to not configured and move the coax feed to Tuner D.
14) Zap to BBC One HD, press Record button > Select Add recording (enter recording duration), default is 5 and just press OK.
15) Zap to BBC Two while the recording is happening, that will be two services being accessed at the same time on the same transponder. Allow the recording to complete.
16) Finally check all four recordings.

Post back results. The above should give a clue if there's an issue with one of the tuner modules.

[satnut2]

I would do the following to test each tuner individually.

USE THE SAME COAX FEED FOR ALL TESTS.

Test with your fixed dish on Astra 28.2. Again I state the the exact same feed for all tests below.

1) Set each tuner to Simple > Single > Astra 28.2 > No. See attached screenshot.
2) Run a Manual Single Satellite Scan on each tuner (see attached scan settings screenshot). Menu > Setup > Service Searching > Manual Scan > First select 'Tuner A' at top and set 'Type of Scan' to 'Single Satellite' > Press OK and run the scan. Scan should find 930 ish services.
3) Run the above scan on ALL four tuners, EACH time using the same Coax feed. All tuner scans should find more or less the same amount of services.
4) If all scans run ok on each tuner, test recording on each tuner.
5) Start with Tuner A, connect the same feed to Tuner A. Zap to BBC One HD, press Record button > Select Add recording (enter recording duration), default is 5 and just press OK.
6) Zap to BBC Two while the recording is happening, that will be two services being access at the same time on the same transponder. Allow the recording to complete.
7) Once the recording is complete. Set Tuner A to not configured and move the coax feed to Tuner B.
8) Zap to BBC One HD, press Record button > Select Add recording (enter recording duration), default is 5 and just press OK.
9) Zap to BBC Two while the recording is happening, that will be two services being access at the same time on the same transponder. Allow the recording to complete.
10) Once the recording is complete. Set Tuner B ALSO to not configured and move the coax feed to Tuner C.
11) Zap to BBC One HD, press Record button > Select Add recording (enter recording duration), default is 5 and just press OK.
12) Zap to BBC Two while the recording is happening, that will be two services being access at the same time on the same transponder. Allow the recording to complete.
13) Once the recording is complete. Set Tuner C ALSO to not configured and move the coax feed to Tuner D.
14) Zap to BBC One HD, press Record button > Select Add recording (enter recording duration), default is 5 and just press OK.
15) Zap to BBC Two while the recording is happening, that will be two services being access at the same time on the same transponder. Allow the recording to complete.
16) Finally check all four recordings.

Post back results. The above should give a clue if there's an issue with one of the tuner modules.

Thanks for the info , will carry out test and will report back asap