High signal strength, yet poor picture quality

  • Thread starter Thread starter achalupka
  • Start date Start date
A

achalupka

Guest
Hello,

Starting last Sunday while trying to watch a football game, I noticed a strange phenomenon. Every so often (sometimes 2-3 times per minute, other times not at all), the picture would become pixelated, audio would stutter, and sometimes the signal would drop all together ("standby for satellite signal").

Checking my signal strength, I was consistently getting 80-100% on all transponders. A few are in the 70s, but most are well above 80%. However, if I watched the signal meter long enough, the meter at the bottom would suddenly go red, and it would say "Wrong Sat" (still with an 80-90% signal strength), then a fraction of a second later, blip back to normal with the "Locked - Bell ExpressVu 91" message.

This continued for several days, then it was fine for most of the week, but now its back.

Any ideas on what's causing this? If my dish was misaligned I assume I would have poor picture quality all the time, and I would see low signal strength, no?

My main receiver is a 5+ year old 5100 PVR. I see similar behavior on my even older 3100 receiver. Maybe they are both somehow dying at the same time?
 
Is it raining where you are today? Perhaps you are getting moisture in a cable. There were intermittent dropouts reported last week by others though.
 
Do you have any kind of switch in your system.?

5100's had problems with a connexant chip that would fail, causing signal loss, maybe that is dying.
 
I agree with Pinza. I've seen it a lot on 5100s. I think it is a likely cause

But I see it on my 3100 as well. Are you saying they could both be dying from the same cause?

I'm thinking it might be some issue with the cabling. I don't mind getting up on the roof to take a look, I'm just not sure what I'm looking for...
 
Do you have any kind of switch in your system.?

Nope, no switch. The two cables from the dish go directly into my basement, and from there they are patched into the receivers using the existing coax in the house.
 
Check all connectors. The copper center should be clean, and free of corrosion. Also look for anything touching the center conductor like an aluminum braid.
 
If it is happening on both the 5100 and the 3100,it is not likely the cabling as they should both be on different lines. The only common point between both is the dish/LNB. Unless the line of sight is obstructed at times, it sounds like a LNB issue.
 
Unless the internal existing wiring is old RG59, then it could be causing problems as well.

There are quite a high number of 3100 failing recently with signal strength problems, maybe it is just a coincidence they are dying together.
 
it wud be too much of a coincidence that both receivers dying out at the same time and with the same kind of a problem...if u r saying that both receivers are directly connected to the lnbf separately then it got to be the LNBF faulty...or if there is a obstruction like a tree whose branches hav grown recently obstructs the line of site whenever a wind blows at it...
 
I would be checking out the wiring, connectors and LNBF.

Alright, this is what I've checked so far:

- Moved my PVR into the basement, and connected the cable coming directly from the dish (to eliminate the internal wiring from the equation). Still have the issue.
- Went up to the roof and trimmed back some branches that were close to being an obstruction. Still have the issue (although, I did gain a few percentage points in signal strength)
- Took the LNBF off and inspected it - looks OK, no visible damage - connectors on the LNBF look fine, as are the connectors on the coax which connect to the LNBF.

So I guess this means the LNBF is probably toast?

At this point, I can try to find a replacement LNBF. Or, since I'm probably going to buy an HDTV in the next few months, go ahead and upgrade to a 9242 PVR (I think this requires a new dish/LNBF, no?). Either that, or call Rogers and see if they can give me a good deal... ;)
 
Is the tree in front, or to the side of the dish?
I had a tree that would affect our signal on windy days. It didn't even have to be very windy, just enough to blow the tree into the line of sight. Seeing as you stated you gained signal by trimming the branches, I would guess that the tree is the culprit, as all it takes is a bit of wind, to move the branches, and then you have no tv...:mad:
Do you own a chainsaw?
 
If you decide to upgrade to an HD PVR, the installation would be free if you do not currently have any programming from 82 degrees.

That should cure your problems but if not the installation will be covered under warranty for 90 days.
 
Back
Top