My Humax Forum » Freeview HD » FVP 4000T, 5000T

Manual vs Auto Tuning some observations

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    GrahamRHK

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    In February I retuned using the SMART option because of transmitter channel changes. Yesterday I discovered missing channels and some duplicated on the same prog number (eg Prog14 showing against both Film4 and More4 - with no programme info in the guide). This morning I did an auto tune without the SMART option. I then observed no HD channels from COM4 and no channels from COM 7 or COM 8. A manual tune for Ch33 (COM4 - Sandy transmitter) showed no signal until I changed the modulation to DVB-T2 - then the missing HD channels were discovered. The same procedure worked eventually for COM 7 (Ch55) and COM 8 (Ch56) but I had to try DVB-T and DVB-T2 alternatives to get a signal. So not obvious!! I don't understand why the auto tune didn't find the missing multiplexes... unless I am also getting a signal from another transmitter (Sudbury toward the rear of the aerial) and when I select my local region (Cambs and Beds) the Sudbury channels are removed. I hope these observations might help those who have missing channels. I have never seen this on any other TV kit in the house (20 years here) and wondered whether any of the experts on this forum can explain why this happens with FVP5000T - and how it is possible for two different channels to appear against the same programme number - as I found before today's retune.

    | Wed 29 Apr 2020 15:31:49 #1 |
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    Martin Liddle

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    GrahamRHK - 1 hour ago  » 
    In February I retuned using the SMART option because of transmitter channel changes. Yesterday I discovered missing channels and some duplicated on the same prog number (eg Prog14 showing against both Film4 and More4 - with no programme info in the guide).

    That strikes me as an interesting observation. There are repeated complaints here about missing information in the guide; could this be the cause? My understanding is what the tuning process is doing is making entries in a database. Clearly it shouldn't be possible to have two entries for the same channel but it seems entirely possible that a flaw in the software might allow it to happen.

    This morning I did an auto tune without the SMART option. I then observed no HD channels from COM4 and no channels from COM 7 or COM 8. A manual tune for Ch33 (COM4 - Sandy transmitter) showed no signal until I changed the modulation to DVB-T2 - then the missing HD channels were discovered. The same procedure worked eventually for COM 7 (Ch55) and COM 8 (Ch56) but I had to try DVB-T and DVB-T2 alternatives to get a signal. So not obvious!!

    The manual tuning FAQ (note the first link in the FAQ is out of date and should now be https://www.freeview.co.uk/corporate/platform-management); this gives you the information to decide on whether to set Transmission to DVB-T or DVB-T2 for a particular frequency.

    I don't understand why the auto tune didn't find the missing multiplexes... unless I am also getting a signal from another transmitter (Sudbury toward the rear of the aerial) and when I select my local region (Cambs and Beds) the Sudbury channels are removed.

    Auto tuning has been a challenge for Humax since accurate recording was introduced. It is a bit better now but still frequently creates problems and I find it simpler to manually tune.

    | Wed 29 Apr 2020 17:47:45 #2 |
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    EEPhil

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    Martin Liddle - 36 mins ago  » 
    Clearly it shouldn't be possible to have two entries for the same channel but it seems entirely possible that a flaw in the software might allow it to happen.

    This has happened to me. I fiddled about with my aerial the other day and managed to pick up multiple regions. That put two different channels on the same LCN (in the 800s) and also made a right mess of trying to record three programmes.

    | Wed 29 Apr 2020 18:50:15 #3 |
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    A1944

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    COM4 is not an HD Mux. They are PSB 3, COM 7 & 8. So if you are seeing DVB-T2 on Ch 33, it is not from Sandy.

    | Wed 29 Apr 2020 22:39:16 #4 |
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    GrahamRHK

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    A1944 - 14 mins ago  » 
    COM4 is not an HD Mux. They are PSB 3, COM 7 & 8. So if you are seeing DVB-T2 on Ch 33, it is not from Sandy.

    You are quite right - my mistake in posting. I meant PSB3

    | Wed 29 Apr 2020 22:54:41 #5 |
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    A1944

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    Yes, but Ch 33 at Sandy is, as far as I know, COM 4, not PSB 3, so is DVB-T, not T2.

    | Wed 29 Apr 2020 23:01:59 #6 |
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    GrahamRHK

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    Yes, but Ch 33 at Sandy is, as far as I know, COM 4, not PSB 3, so is DVB-T, not T2.

    Again - my mistake - you are quite right. Sandy PSB3 is on Ch21. I was reading the wrong column in the table at https://www.freeview.co.uk/sites/default/files/2019-11/2020_Anglia_Date_Release.pdf.

    | Thu 30 Apr 2020 8:21:10 #7 |
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    GrahamRHK

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    Another quirk I have just discovered - Having performed an auto tune (not SMART) followed by the manual tuning steps I described, the media server power on timer had reset itself to OFF. I have had the server power timer ON for many months now and never touched that setting. May be a coincidence I suppose but I wonder if anyone else has seen this. The reason I run the media server is that it improves the speed of start up from standby and allows the FTP and SMB servers to run while the FVP is in standby. The only downside of running the media server is that Software update checks don't take place when the FVP runs its overnight housekeeping (between 3 and 5 am). So I have it set to run form 6:00 to 23:59.

    | Thu 30 Apr 2020 8:31:03 #8 |
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    GrahamRHK

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    Clearly it shouldn't be possible to have two entries for the same channel but it seems entirely possible that a flaw in the software might allow it to happen

    Perhaps the SMART retune doesn't work the way we expect and leaves "old" channels in their original LCN. There has always been a similar issue with my 9300 PVRs (two of them) whereby I always had to do a box reset before retuning or I got a double/duplicate set of available channels in the guide.

    | Thu 30 Apr 2020 8:41:18 #9 |
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    A1944

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    You might find this a handy source of information:
    https://www.freeview.co.uk/help/coverage-checker/detailed-view/anglia
    You then select Sandy and get it to the top of the list, or select an alternative region altogether.

    The above only seems to work on some devices. OK on my Windows laptop and Android tablet, but not my iPhone.

    | Thu 30 Apr 2020 8:47:33 #10 |

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