Symptoms of bad aerial signal?

[JohnyMedia]

I posted this in xbmc forum, but think it might be more relevant here...

I have been getting strange things happening with recorded shows lately. The show might read as 17 hours or so long, and the play bar reflects this. All is well for say 40 mins, then picture begins to break up and make those squiting sounds that digital does. Length of recording changes, and so does the current time played in the recording. Eventually the whole thing grinds to halt - or if trying to skip an add you timewarp to somewhere much later.
I don't have any signal problem when just watching on the tv via its own tuner though. And previously I have used a signal checking program that revealed nothing of interest on the pc in question. All else I can do is put my osciloscope on the aerial one time.
Has anyone else experienced these symptoms and am I correct in suspecting signal? Ot could it be codecs etc?
It was all working swimingly for a while, too

thanks,

[ACTCMS]

Do these recordings play OK outside nPVR (using something like VLC) or do they exhibit the same problems?

Alex

[JohnyMedia]

I was using xbmc to play - just checked now with vlc and it's a similar thing. In this case it doesnt give anything for program length or current position, and plays ok for a bit until the picture and sound break up and it gets stuck. So, I think the recorded file is corupted.

[ACTCMS]

I was using xbmc to play - just checked now with vlc and it's a similar thing. In this case it doesnt give anything for program length or current position, and plays ok for a bit until the picture and sound break up and it gets stuck. So, I think the recorded file is corupted.

Yep - Looks like it's antenna, cable or connector problem(s) - can you test the signal on another device - maybe a TV with a suitable tuner?

Alex

[Lao Pan]

freetoair on this thread http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...ng-service has been having signal problems in the London Area recently he thought it could be 4G interference, but the powers that be don't think it is likely - they may be wrong!
They have started testing the new Freeview second HD mux on Crystal Palace TX that could also be causing problems.

[JohnyMedia]

oh yeh... forgot about that. I'm not too far from Crstal Palace, though being in a bit of a dip the freeview signal often shows as not good, if I look at one of those post code checkers. So maybe with a weakish signal, and strong interference, that's it. I heard a bit about this some time ago and frankly couldn't belive the powers that be were gonna muck up freeview already
I haven't noticed interference watching straight on the tv, but then again I only do that on the rare occassion when both tuners on the media centre are tied up recording.... and even when they are I'm usually playing something back or from file, so I guess I wouldn't be sure how the tv tuner is performing...
Right I'm off to see if I can get some filters...

[JohnyMedia]

Just spoke to the at800 freeview people, who were not overly concerned, and suggested I contact the freeview advice line

[ACTCMS]

Have you tried ScanChannels_UK from here to see what your signal quality is like?

Alex

[JohnyMedia]

I've used this in the past (I'm not in a very good reception area anyway, and have experienced some problems in the past) and it showed everything as ok.

Just spoken to freeview, and they advise that works are currently happening at crystal palace and that the transmitter will be operating at a lower power... guess that's it!

Wouldn't it be nice if they told us these things?

[ACTCMS]

Wouldn't it be nice if they told us these things?

It's never going to happen... but you could keep a regular eye here...

I use it for my own transmitter - it doesn't give much detail though...

Alex