PVR Help

[Foonard]

I'm new and not sure if this is the right forum but here goes. I am a Bell Express Vu user and have been recently having alot of trouble with my model 5800 PVR. My picture pixelizes randomly ALOT and I am constantly losing the signal and "seraching for transponder". I have called Bell 6 times for help. They were unable to fix the problem after much trouble shooting so they just replaced my PVR. The problem is still there though!! I have now tried replacing my Video input cable and that had no effect either. What else can I try?!?!

 

[TuxCoder]

That sounds like a textbook case of the dish not being fully tuned (peaked, pointed, whatever you wanna call it). What signal strengths are you getting in the Point Dish screen? The EV receivers are the same as the Dish Network ones, or so I read everywhere... depending on the menu layouts, you might be able to get to Point Dish by pressing Menu, 6, 1, 1. Report back on some of the signal strength numbers you get on various transponders at the two EV satellite slots (82 & 91).

But welcome to SatelliteGuys.us! Sorry to hear about your troubles, but someone here should get you straightened out.

 

[Mr Tony]

moved to "other satellite" area

 

[Foonard]

my satellite signal is 98%. I should mention that i am running a second receiver in another room off the same dish with no problems at all.

 

[Mr Tony]

It does sound like the dish isnt peaked right. I'm assuming you are in canada if you were able to call Bell.

Go into the system setup screen (6-1-1) and make sure its on ExpressVu 91. Change the transponder to 15 and 16 and let us know the results. Also, if you could give us your general location that would be good too so we can verify the signal strength (If you are in Toronto your signals are going to be different than if you were in Yellowknife)

Try to peak the signal on 15 or 16. I can get about a 85 on both of these using an 18" dish in Minnesota.

 

[Mr Tony]

well, since you beat me to it

What signal strength are you getting on TP 15 & 16?

otherwise, it is probably the cable

 

[TuxCoder]

my satellite signal is 98%. I should mention that i am running a second receiver in another room off the same dish with no problems at all.

If that's the case, the dish is probably pointed good enough, and the LNB is OK. The switch (if you have one) could be going bad, but most likely isn't. The most likely culprit in my opinion is the cable from the LNB (or switch) to the faulty receiver. What do you mean by the "video input cable" ? The cable going from the receiver to the TV wouldn't be the cause of this problem. If possible, try swapping your two receivers between their respective locations. Or mainly, try the good receiver where the bad one is and see if you still notice the problems. If so, then it's not the actual receiver that's causing your problems.

 

[Foonard]

It does sound like the dish isnt peaked right. I'm assuming you are in canada if you were able to call Bell.

Go into the system setup screen (6-1-1) and make sure its on ExpressVu 91. Change the transponder to 15 and 16 and let us know the results. Also, if you could give us your general location that would be good too so we can verify the signal strength (If you are in Toronto your signals are going to be different than if you were in Yellowknife)

Try to peak the signal on 15 or 16. I can get about a 85 on both of these using an 18" dish in Minnesota.

I am in Canada. Nova Scotia to be exact. I am on expressvu 91 and on 11. How can i change it to 15 or 16 cause every time i change it to 15 it wont save it. It just goes back to 11 when i leave the screen.

 

[TuxCoder]

I am in Canada. Nova Scotia to be exact. I am on expressvu 91 and on 11. How can i change it to 15 or 16 cause every time i change it to 15 it wont save it. It just goes back to 11 when i leave the screen.

That throws many of us off for the first time. This doesn't actually configure anything, it's there so you can see your strengths when receiving all those transponders. When you enter that screen, it's on the transponder that contains the last channel you were watching, and when you leave the screen it goes right back to that transponder so you can continue watching that channel.

 

[Mr Tony]

the reason I say use 15 or 16 is 11 is the new satellite (Nimiq 3) and I can get 100 on all the transponders that use this (3,5,7,11,25). 15 is on the older satellite and seems to be better to peak with. All evens (2,4,6,etc) are on the old one too (Nimiq 1)

 

[Foonard]

okay maybe i am confused. haha. When I switch to #15 i have a satellite signal of 78 and on 16 i have 63.

 

[Foonard]

As for switching the receivers. I switched them last eveing and tried for the night. Both worked fine. However as soon as I moved the PVR back to the livingroom it started messing up again. Wierd. I have had this PVR setup for almost a year now and it is just now starting to mess up.

 

[Mr Tony]

yep

that could be part of the problem..My lowest is around 70 on one of the transponders that isnt N3.

There are 2 satellites at 91..Nimiq1 and Nimiq3. The channels are separated between the two satellites. Nimiq3 was an old DirectTv satellite that Bell purchased. The footprint (where you can get a signal) is different than Nimiq1. The Southern US can't get N3. N3 is much more powerful in Canada than N1 is. I would try to "tweak" the dish by using TP15. Hopefully it goes up

 

[Mr Tony]

As for switching the receivers. I switched them last eveing and tried for the night. Both worked fine. However as soon as I moved the PVR back to the livingroom it started messing up again. Wierd. I have had this PVR setup for almost a year now and it is just now starting to mess up.

could be a bad cable...

 

[Foonard]

yep

that could be part of the problem..My lowest is around 70 on one of the transponders that isnt N3.

There are 2 satellites at 91..Nimiq1 and Nimiq3. The channels are separated between the two satellites. Nimiq3 was an old DirectTv satellite that Bell purchased. The footprint (where you can get a signal) is different than Nimiq1. The Southern US can't get N3. N3 is much more powerful in Canada than N1 is. I would try to "tweak" the dish by using TP15. Hopefully it goes up

How do I "tweak" the dish exactly. sorry I am just learning this all now as we speak because I had to once my system started messing up.

 

[Foonard]

could be a bad cable...

I replaced the video cable from the wall jack to the satellite input on the pvr

 

[TuxCoder]

It's possible that the 5800 model has a weaker tuner than your other receiver. Now, here's what I think a worthwhile however inconvenient test would be:
1) verify again your EV-91 transponders 15 & 16 values on the bad receiver.
2) move the receiver to the other location and check the same transponders.

This way you're using the same tuner to check the same transponders. If the numbers match, then your dish actually does need tuned. If the numbers don't match then we're back to my earlier post (#7). I apologize for going in circles like that.

 

[Foonard]

okay i can try that. I'll need a few minutes to do it but ill be back.

 

[TuxCoder]

Man this thread is almost moving too fast for me.

If you replaced the cable from the wall jack to the receiver, that's a good start but that's only a relatively small part of the path from the dish (LNB or switch). The cable behind the wall jack that eventually ends up at the dish is more likely to be the problem. Ensure there are no splitters back there/up there/wherever, connected to the cable, even if the other legs of the splitters aren't connected to anything. Ideally the cable isn't going through any patch panels or couplers (barrel connectors). Finally, and most important, make sure the cable is RG6, not RG59. RG59 will work but has higher loss and isn't rated to carry those frequencies and voltages used by your equipment.

And since you're admittedly new to this, hold off on trying to tweak/tune/peak/point the dish until you/we know for certain the other stuff is not to blame.

 

[Foonard]

signal is the same in both spots on those transponders Just so i know. what exactly is the significance of #15 and 16?