PVR keeps finding duplicate channels

[Mr_Onion]

This is driving my nuts. I do a 'factory Reset, full retune, and set the PVR. Then, all by its self the PVR will pick up another BBC1, BBC2, or ITV1 broadcast, and assign all of the PVR settings to the new broadcast.

So, I have set the PVR to record Dr Who on BBC1 Saturday evening, in the mean while the PVR has found another BBC one broadcast and assigned it 801 on the guide. The PVR then in its wisdom decided I meant to record 801 not 001, by then of course the signal has dropped in level so that I record nothing.

Skip the channel in the guide? No difference, it just finds it again.

Sony RDR HDX 995 Belmont mast receiving BBC Yorkshire and Lincs. The 'rogue' BBC1 is Yorkshire, presumably from another mast

There must be some way to stop this happening, but I am blowed if I can find it

[Anonymous]

Hello Mr_Onion

The reason why you are getting channels in the 800 range is because your aerial and RDR is picking up signals from another Freeview transmitter.  Your problem is further compounded by the RDR recorder automatically scanning the channels over night and it picks up the strongest signal.  Unfortunately due to atmospherics the signal at night could be stronger from a transmitter further away and therefore during the day its no longer the case.  I have looked into this issue before on the RDR recorders before and I cannot find a way to turn off this digital auto service update.

What I recommend you do though, is to fix this issue perminately and from source (your aerial).  Contact an aerial technician and get them to investigate.  More than likely they will put a filter on the aerial - probably something called a band-pass filter.

Cheers

[Mr_Onion]

Thanks. I'll look into that and see if it fixes it for me.

[Mr_Onion]

I've done some looking about and its not going to be that easy.

The channels I receive from Belmont are 22, 25, 30, 53, 60

The once that 'appear' are on Channels 44, 45, 47, 55, 59

So a notch or bandpass filter won't work as I the needed/un needed cross over twice.

As my signal from Belmont is fairly good, I have got a couple of attenuators (3db and 6db) which I can use singly or together to reduce the aerial gain to a point where the rogue channels are too weak to get picked up but the ones I want are still OK.

If that doesn't work then I'll have to re think.

[fg2143]

Hello Mr Onion

Firstly I am no expert on these things - however I absolutely understand your frustration.

I too have been having problems with my pvr since the digital retune at the beginning of September (mine is the 890) - two different transmitters causing epg/recording problems.

I have spent the last two weeks, trawling the Internet, trying various things, back and forth with emails to Sony support, who keep telling me to do a manual retune, although they don't provide any instructions and I can't find any.

Because I am also having problems with my Sony tv receiving signals from two different transmitters today, I called the freeview advice line. The lady I spoke to said they have had a lot of calls about this Duplication since the retune. They suggest a manual retune and if this does not solve the problem, then they advise to report this to the manufacturers because they need a software update or fix to resolve it.

Whether or not this is correct, someone might post a comment, but I've exhausted all other possibilities so I'm contacting Sony again to advise what Freeview are saying.

[Mr_Onion]

I have lost count of the 'hard resets' I have done. It clears them during the day, but come the early hours it finds them again and we are back to stage one.

I'll report back on the attenuators once I have played with them for a few days (obviously I have to wait until morning to see if todays 'fix' has worked)

To see if it might help in your situation you need to check the signal strength on the rogue channels.

Tune the PVR to the rogue channel then system menu>initial set up>digital tuner>signal check>ok>ok

It will give you a signal strength and quality. If they are very low, then the attenuator might work.

atm the Channels I want are giving 85%+ for strength and 100% for quality. The ones I don't want and giving no signal except for C44 which is giving 1% for strength and quality. Thats with a 3db attenuator between aerial and PVR. Fingers crossed thats it.

[Mr_Onion]

So far, so good. No 'extra' channels were found overnight. I'll check every morning and post next week if everything is still OK (but I'll post sooner if there is bad news)

[Anonymous]

@Mr_Onion 

Hi there

Just reading your potential fix.  Interesting indeed.  As you say, as you are getting a strong signal, attenuating the signal down abit may stop these other 'rouge' channels from picking up (lack of signal).

So thanks for that - this is probably a good fix (well at least for some people in high signal areas).

Cheers.

[Mr_Onion]

The problem with my, erm, problem was the crossover of wanted/unwanted channels.

In my situation there are no other transmitters 'line of sight' to my aerial, so everything I don't want is coming off the back (or maybe side) of the aerial.

I'm just going to leave the 3db in place and see if the problem repeats its self. If it does, I'll try the 6db. If not, then its a fix and I'll let you know.

[Mr_Onion]

It picked up ITV and ITV+1 on C56 overnight, so I am going to remove the 3db, insert the 6db and retune.

Watch this space