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I’ve had my 4000T for about 3 weeks now. It installed easily and worked perfectly. Albeit with the usual comments about the appalling programme UI.
However in the last few days the picture freezes about 6/7 times an hour, for a couple of seconds. Occasionally I also get a “no signal” message on the screen. Which lasts a second or so. Then perfect picture again.
I thought I’d check if the software needed an update. But when I click Check New Software the blue triangle just continues to rotate. The message states it may take about 2-3 minutes.
I normally have to power down to regain use, because there’s no cancel option.
The current software version showing on the System Info page is UKTFAE 1.00.59, and loader version UKTFAE 1.03.
Just in case anyone says my aerial has moved in the wind, it’s in the loft, intact and no interference with the aerial cable or plugs has occurred. Signal strength on channel 54 (Winter Hill probably) is about 78%
Signal strength is a very poor indicator of whether the signal is good enough – you need to measure the Signal Quality. If it is varying, you probably have co-channel interference and/or reflections which can cause this although the most likely cause is interference (unsuppressed motor bikes passing, light switches, fridge thermostats etc) on the coax cable.
Are you using proper (ie as for satellite dishes) co-ax cable with a thin aluminium screening foil? If you are using traditional brown TV coax, it’s about as useful as a bit of wet string, and lets in all sorts of interference. Analogue TV was pretty good about accepting vast quantities of interference – remember screens which were as much snow as picture. Digital isn’t anywhere near as robust.
Mine, bought in December, is
Model Name: FVP-4000T
S/w version: UKTFAE 1.00.63
Loader version: UKTFAE 1.03
System ID: 9010.7D31
Update date: 16 Oct 2015
A thought – does it update over the air? or over the Internet? or either? There is nothing (yet?) showing at http://www.humaxdigital.com/uk/products/product.php?gid=613&pid=6
Also, your aerial can be in a null for one or more channels, especially if you are getting reflections from hills, water or high buildings. The reduced signal in the null can make it much more susceptible to interference.
Try moving your aerial towards and away from the transmitter by 12 to 18 inches. This is why aerials should always be mounted on a cranked arm to allow this adjustment. Also, moving a foot or two sideways can take it out of a null. Be guided by what the Signal Quality says.
Your signal is quite weak at 78% (both strength and quality are 100% for me, even though the postcode checker says some multiplexes will be much less to un-watchable). Maybe your roof tiles are very wet and therefore conducting more and shielding. My aerial is in the loft too.
Hi, thanks for that.
Signal quality always shows 100%. But obviously I can’t see what happens during a transient signal dropout.
Interesting that you have software version .63
I too purchased in December, via Amazon.
I don’t know how updates are received. It is connected to home wireless, that works really well for catch up.
As I said before, it doesn’t seem to want to update. The blue triangle rotates continually. After 40/50 minutes, I get bored waiting, and power down by switching off at the wall.
Welcome to our Forum
Updates (none available currently) can be via:
IP – LAN connection
USB – When software provided by Humax via support site
OTA- Broadcast over the air
At present units are shipping with version 1.00.63 which I’m told is the same as 1.00.59
If signal quality is 100% then transient dropout is almost certainly caused by interference.
See this article on co-ax cables.Cable, Connectors and Leads
JohnH77 – 10 minutes ago »
If signal quality is 100% then transient dropout is almost certainly caused by interference.
See this article on co-ax cables.Cable, Connectors and Leads
With a signal level of 100%, it’s possible the tuner front end is clipping the signal. First thing to try is a variable attenuator. Normally 60-80% signal level 100% quality is ideal.
Graham
His signal strength is 78%, his signal quality is 100%.
I completely agree about a pre-amp overloading the front end. In the early days, when Mendip was transmitting at 10kW, I needed a booster amplifier, mounted close to the aerial, not least because my line of sight to the top of the tower passes underground for about a mile (it’s hilly round here!). When the Mendip power was increased to 100kW I had to remove it as it caused pixellation.
How do I get signal if line of site goes underground? I am not exactly sure, but TV signals definitely diffract and bend somewhat to follow the land contour. But I am below even the diffraction bending limit. Strange!
nb – didn’t we meet on the digitalspy Humax forum where I was JohnH77 as here? I see some familiar names from there like Martin Liddle etc.
Thanks guys. Some points for me to ponder.
I have a (mains powered) amplifier on the aerial line. It’s in the loft, and was supplied with the Labgear aerial.
We’re in a region that reputedly has a strong signal, so maybe I don’t need the amp.
The aerial I chose didn’t have an amp, but when I received it from Screwfix, they’d Screwfixed it up, with the wrong item, but I couldn’t be bothered returning it.
But hey it worked and worked perfectly with my old Humax box and also Bravia TV. Signal strength was not an issue.
So why do I only get ~80% signal strength now? And the breakups?
And if I’m using the latest software 0.59 or 0.63. Why does the update search just go on and on, and on?
Surely after a short while, I should get a message saying that the software is up to date. Is this just a bit of poor Humax software.
Just to complete the picture. The aerial cable comes out of the loft amp and without any interruption goes straight into the Humax. No joints, surface boxes, etc. etc.
Moz278 – 18 minutes ago »
Thanks guys. Some points for me to ponder.
I have a (mains powered) amplifier on the aerial line. It’s in the loft, and was supplied with the Labgear aerial.
We’re in a region that reputedly has a strong signal, so maybe I don’t need the amp.
The aerial I chose didn’t have an amp, but when I received it from Screwfix, they’d Screwfixed it up, with the wrong item, but I couldn’t be bothered returning it.
But hey it worked and worked perfectly with my old Humax box and also Bravia TV. Signal strength was not an issue.
So why do I only get ~80% signal strength now? And the breakups?
And if I’m using the latest software 0.59 or 0.63. Why does the update search just go on and on, and on?
Surely after a short while, I should get a message saying that the software is up to date. Is this just a bit of poor Humax software.
Just to complete the picture. The aerial cable comes out of the loft amp and without any interruption goes straight into the Humax. No joints, surface boxes, etc. etc.
How long ago was the aerial and amplifier installed ? You have to remember when the analogue signals were closed down that the digital signals had a major increase in power. Basically just try bypassing the amplifier (you may need a male to male coax coupler to try this).
I might just try that, thanks.
I have another aerial in the loft feeding a 4 way splitter for each bedroom. The signals on the TVs in those rooms are all 100%, but none are HD, so I guess that’s not a good comparator.
I doubt SD v HD makes any difference.
The thing about digital TV is that a small amount of interference injected into the signal can cause major problems. For example, assume a value is is, in binary, 10000000000, which is 1,024.
Now let interference change just 1 bit.
If the last bit gets changed the value changes to 10000000001, or 1025, and it probably makes no real difference. But if the first bit gets changed, the value is 00000000000, or 0, and it makes a big difference.
Freeview digital signals have an enormous quantity of error correction built into them and, as long as the interference is coped with by the error correction, there is no effect. But let it get overwhelmed by even a tiny bit and the whole picture can collapse. There is no “graceful degradation” with digital signals – they are either above the limit and therefore excellent; or below the limit and awful. It’s called “falling off the digital cliff” – one step too far and it’s a really bad-hair day. See Cliff effect.
You haven’t answered whether you are using fully shielded “satellite” coax (with a thin sheet of aluminium or copper completely surrounding the inner conductor) or rubbish old analogue TV coax (with a few thin strands of wire as a “shield”, but which are doing virtually nothing to keep out interference).
I think that passive splitters attenuate the signal by half (in order to keep the characteristic impedance the correct value). A 4-way passive splitter presumably attenuates it to one quarter. I will be pleased to be corrected if I am wrong!
The best test is to connect the aerial direct into the tuner (take it up into the loft) and measure the signal strength and signal quality.
Thanks again
The cable is arguably the best you can get (supplied by my son who is a project engineer in the tv/radio industry. They design and fit out studios, OB trucks, etc., for major players such as BBC, Sky. And as he says, they don’t muck about with cheap kit).
The cable comes straight out the aerial amp (in loft) into the Humax. So no dodgy interconnections.
Nothing to do with the 4 way splitter, which is on a totally separate system.
I’m going to try by passing the Netgear aerial amp, but to do that, I need to get hold of an F plug to F plug connector. Because the connections into and out of the amp are with crimped on F plugs. And I don’t have a crimper to redo if cut off.
Incidentally, the non HD channels show on the Humax as circa 96% signal strength. And to the best of my knowledge never drop out. But I tend to watch mainly HD channels.
JohnH77 – 2 days ago »
I think that passive splitters attenuate the signal by half (in order to keep the characteristic impedance the correct value). A 4-way passive splitter presumably attenuates it to one quarter. I will be pleased to be corrected if I am wrong!
See
Graham
Thanks! I see it’s even worse than I thought – not the 3dB theoretical (ie halving the signal voltage) I assumed for a splitter, but 4dB in practice.
Loss through splitters at UHF :
2 way = 4dB 4 way = 8dB 6 way = 10dB 8 way = 12dB
It’s a great site for information.
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