Some channels fuzzy?

[003294]

I have 3 cable box in my house 2 KV and 1 sub, all boxes working fine for ages no probs. Since last 2 days only certain indian channels (Star Plus) picture is jumping as if cable is loose.

This problem only affecst subd box but all other channels on subd box work fine such as bbc, zee tv etc..

I re-boot the subd box no luck
I check the wiring right back the splitters and remove and tighten no luck
I ring VM they go frequency is high on the channels in question (Star Plus & Star Gold) therefore wiring needs to be tight.

Conclusion they are sending a engineer which I am reluctant for obvious reasons.

Both KV boxes work fine and subd box works as well its just a few channels the picture is fuzzy/jumpy as if cable is loose. I have had the subd box for 3 months no problems last 2 days this is first time. I'm located in leicester

Any advice welcome. I have 4 connections in total in my house 3 tv boxes 1 of which is sub box and one for the net

[chris31560]

just hide the other two boxes before vermin get there, then when there gone connect them up again,,,pst..hide all wireing that should not be there as well...c

[003294]

Virmin have been round and claim to have increased signal from green box but cheeky sod has removed my 3 way splitter and put a 2 way splitter. Result no TV in my front room. Easy fix I changed 2 way splitter back to a 3 way but picture keeps freezing now in the front tele which suggests to me still got a signal issue in the house. Would a signal booster/amplifier resolve this? has anyone got positive exp using these boosters?

[chris31560]

hi, the only thing i can think of is the vermin engineer has not increased your sig input and just thought the three way splitter was the fault, see these vermin guys r monkeys and they have no idea ,, wot i would try is removing the three way splitter and put 2 two way splitters on instead, ive got three boxes in my house and a vermin supper hub and i dont have any trouble with my sig leval, as for cable boosters i dont rate them as when i had one it just sent my equipment daft, let me know how u get on and i will try and give u more advice..chris.

[TheCoder]

Each time you add a splitter you reduce the signal to all devices. For a 2 way splitter you effectively 1/2 the signal whilst for a three way you 1/3rd it. If you are ok with a 2 way but have problems with a three way then that would imply your signal level is going too low because of the splitting.

In many areas vm installers 'tune' the signal levels for the number of fitted devices rather than the maximum permissable devices so signals tend to be on the low end.

For these situations, everytime, its best to get your signal gain increased in the cabinet but vm have a reluctance to do this for some reason where extra unauthorised devices are concerned. In these cases a local cable amplifier MAY help as long as your signal/noise ratio is good. Any amplifier should be fitted at the cable entry point (first connector, before any splitters etc) and should be designed for cable (not sat or terrestrial) amplification with an integrated 'return' path. Set any slope to around 10-20% and the gain of the amplifier to be as low as possible with good results (around 3dB in your case should make your 3-way have around the same signal as an unamplified 2 way).

[003294]

Thanks for this, As mentioned VM claimed to have increased signal from green box but I doubt that very much cos last time I looked inside it all slots were full! Hopefully amp should sort it

I can go down the sat route for TV but I really can't be asked wiring a 3 storey 5 bedroom victorian house just cos one tele is glitching a bit, but they way KV is performing I will have to do it sooner rather then later!

Is there another cable box that is more stable then KV and SV?

[TheCoder]

Is there another cable box that is more stable then KV and SV?

There are a few small servers working for dreambox type boxes but its more a dedicated hobbyist thing rather than commercial due to the difficulty in obtaining pairing codes. Mostly, sharers are people with 'older' boxes that have something called a DT08 tier on their card which can be decrypted easily enough to get the required keys. The majority of boxes require flash dumps to get these keys

[003294]

There are a few small servers working for dreambox type boxes but its more a dedicated hobbyist thing rather than commercial due to the difficulty in obtaining pairing codes. Mostly, sharers are people with 'older' boxes that have something called a DT08 tier on their card which can be decrypted easily enough to get the required keys. The majority of boxes require flash dumps to get these keys

Problem fixed signal booster sorted it, as for above who do I get into touch with if I want to play with a dreambox as a hobby as well..?

[TheCoder]

The dreambox end is pretty much similar to sat dreambox so is fairly easy. The hard part is finding a 'hobbyist' willing to allow you to connect to their server. It tends to be friends/family & invite only.

Actually setting up your own server can be both pretty complex and costly usually requiring some expensive equipment and a fair degree of skill to remove/read/replace the flash chips from your sub box. Even if you manage this sucessfully you can only 'share' the channels actually authorised to your card.

[satsmo]

And off course you should never mess with a subbed box, that's our official line. However I am sure there are one or two forums still around that allow further discussions on this particular topic.