Stuttering picture and sound

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Stuttering picture and sound

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chickenlegs

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For a few months now we have been experiencing broadcast issues with our Humax PVR (FVP-5000T).

At random times and on most Freeview channels we get a momentarily frozen picture with stuttering sound, the picture and sound recover and then within a second freeze again for less time, there is then a long pause before it happens again. This pause can be minutes or tens of minutes; there is no real pattern. It always does two interruptions, one very quickly after the other with the first being longer than the second. It’s not confined to any particular channel.

Our external aerial is in the same orientation as it always has been and there are no new obstructions (that we know about) between here and our transmitter.

We have checked the signal strength of the channels on which it happens and these are showing 100% signal strength. The PVR has over 75% left on its internal hard drive.

The external aerial is connected to a signal booster in the loft and the cable from that is connected to our PVR and then looped out to the aerial socket on the TV. The TV is a Philips 55OLED806 and is a recent purchase.

In order to narrow down the problem, I have disconnected the PVR from the external aerial and reconnected this directly to the socket on the TV. Although this has meant some missed recordings, the problem does not reappear when the PVR is not part of the aerial chain.

Has anyone come across this issue before and can you suggest a solution to this annoying problem?

| Wed 14 Aug 2024 13:40:34 #1 |
EEPhil

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I'm not clear about the problem you describe.
Are you, with the aerial connected to the Humax then the TV, trying to watch live TV using the TV tuner or the Humax tuner. That is, is it the TV tuner that's stuttering or the Humax one?
If it's the TV tuner, do the problems occur when the Humax goes in or out of standby (recordings?)? Some Humaxes, I can't remember which, seem to disturb the through connection on the aerial when moving in/out standby even when the settings might suggest otherwise. Assuming you had a similar setup with a previous TV and the Humax and no problems this would seem unlikely - but not impossible.
Suggestions: Make sure your TV is tuned to the correct transmitter, split the aerial so that the signal doesn't pass through the Humax, leave the Humax switched on whilst you watch TV. No idea whether any of them will make a difference.

| Wed 14 Aug 2024 14:00:46 #2 |
Martin Liddle

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chickenlegs - 16 mins ago »
We have checked the signal strength of the channels on which it happens and these are showing 100% signal strength.
The external aerial is connected to a signal booster in the loft and the cable from that is connected to our PVR and then looped out to the aerial socket on the TV. The TV is a Philips 55OLED806 and is a recent purchase.

100% signal strength is, in my experience, too high. If the signal booster has variable amplification try turning down the amplification; if it doesn't then either try disconnecting it or using a variable attenuator in the aerial feed to the PVR eg Link to eBay. Aim for a signal strength between 80% and 90%.

| Wed 14 Aug 2024 14:06:26 #3 |
chickenlegs

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Sorry for not being clear enough. The issue seems to appear when we are watching live TV via the TV tuner. At this time the Humax is in standby mode. Interestingly, the stutter is never picked up on any recordings, it only appears when we are watching live TV via the TV. I would need to experiment watching TV through the Humax to see if the stutter happens with this setup. We very rarely watch TV via the Humax tuner so I can't be sure if it would or wouldn't, but my guess is that it probably wouldn't. I would also need to experiment with watching TV via the TV tuner and the Humax switched on.
Perhaps this is a different issue, but I don't understand why the Humax uses channel 802 for BBC 1 and the TV uses 101 for the same channel. Could the two bits of equipment be tuned to different transmitters and could this be the source of the problem?
I cannot vary the amplification of the booster; we inherited the box when we moved here. I will try disconnecting it and see if we receive channels at the TV. Who would have thought that 100% was too good! I am obviously relying on a tiny graphic on the TV to tell me what the signal strength is. Without employing someone to test each channel, I can't be 100% sure.

| Wed 14 Aug 2024 15:36:13 #4 |
Martin Liddle

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chickenlegs - 4 hours ago »
Perhaps this is a different issue, but I don't understand why the Humax uses channel 802 for BBC 1 and the TV uses 101 for the same channel. Could the two bits of equipment be tuned to different transmitters and could this be the source of the problem?

You are correct that the Humax using channel 802 is likely to be a source of problems. You need to do an automatic retune with the Smart option turned off.

I cannot vary the amplification of the booster; we inherited the box when we moved here. I will try disconnecting it and see if we receive channels at the TV. Who would have thought that 100% was too good! I am obviously relying on a tiny graphic on the TV to tell me what the signal strength is. Without employing someone to test each channel, I can't be 100% sure.

You can get signal strength from the Humax vis the Signal Test option in the channel settings. My previous comment on signal strength was based on the assumption that you were quoting data from the Humax.

| Wed 14 Aug 2024 20:35:50 #5 |
chickenlegs

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Thank you all for your helpful suggestions.
I experimented last night and, although the test probably needs to be more comprehensive, I found:
1. the TV picture stutters when watching live TV through the TV tuner with the Humax in standby mode
2. the TV picture stutters when watching live TV through the TV tuner with the Humax switched on
3. the TV picture does not stutter when watching live TV through the Humax tuner

I think it might be a good idea to try an aerial splitter so that the TV has a direct connection to the roof aerial. Can I ask, should I get a simple two-way coax splitter or an F-Type splitter? I am not really sure what the latter does that the simple one doesn't!

I have a response from Humax who suggest doing a factory reset on the box. I could do this, but would rather try a retune and splitter first.

| Fri 16 Aug 2024 9:17:35 #6 |
EEPhil

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Maybe worth checking that your TV and Humax are tuned to the same transmitter. Automatic tuning on different devices can behave differently. What resetting the Humax is going to do with the signal passed to the TV I don't know!
I don't know about the types of splitter. I do use a simple two way splitter to stop one Humax interfering with another. That mostly works if I have enough signal to start with.

| Fri 16 Aug 2024 9:47:16 #7 |
trog

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chickenlegs - 27 mins ago »
Thank you all for your helpful suggestions.
I experimented last night and, although the test probably needs to be more comprehensive, I found:
1. the TV picture stutters when watching live TV through the TV tuner with the Humax in standby mode
2. the TV picture stutters when watching live TV through the TV tuner with the Humax switched on
3. the TV picture does not stutter when watching live TV through the Humax tuner
I think it might be a good idea to try an aerial splitter so that the TV has a direct connection to the roof aerial. Can I ask, should I get a simple two-way coax splitter or an F-Type splitter? I am not really sure what the latter does that the simple one doesn't!
I have a response from Humax who suggest doing a factory reset on the box. I could do this, but would rather try a retune and splitter first.

Have you considered that it may be a HDMI issue and not RF? Maybe try repeating your test with the Humax on but it's HDMI disconnected.

| Fri 16 Aug 2024 9:50:53 #8 |
chickenlegs

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How do I check that the TV and Humax are using the same transmitter?
I decided to do a factory reset and went through the channel installation process with the 'Smart' option deselected and I now have channel 101 for BBC 1 HD with no sign of channel 802.
However, even though this seems to have sorted the channel list, when I turn on the TV with the Humax in standby, the TV now tells me that 'no channels are installed' even though they appear in EPG. The only way to get the TV to view channels is to switch the Humax on. Could this be an HDMI issue?

| Fri 16 Aug 2024 13:01:48 #9 |
Martin Liddle

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chickenlegs - 1 hour ago »
However, even though this seems to have sorted the channel list, when I turn on the TV with the Humax in standby, the TV now tells me that 'no channels are installed' even though they appear in EPG. The only way to get the TV to view channels is to switch the Humax on. Could this be an HDMI issue?

In System Settings > Power Management check whether you have power saving set to on; if you have set it to off to enable signal pass through.

| Fri 16 Aug 2024 14:12:53 #10 |