ITV/C4 multiplex channels poor or nonexistent on YouView box, fine on other devices

daveaust79

Hello

Over the last few weeks, the main ITV/C4 channels (eg ITV, C4, ITV2, ITV3, More4, which are presumably on the same multiplex) have either a very poor, pixelated picture, or no picture at all when watching through my YouView box. However, all other channels on the box are fine and the channels above are fine when watching through my TV's tuner, so it doesn't seem to be a signal issue. I've also retuned several times but it has not helped. Is there an issue which YouView is aware of, or any other steps I can try?

Box is BT-branded Humax DTRT2110 - 84B08530.

Thank you. 

John L

Hi daveaust79, have you tried re-tuning by UNPLUGGING the aerial (to clear channel memory) & then retuning again with aerial REPLUGGED in? Worth a try.

Then basic checks also check cable connections, aerial signal is strong enough - can be viewed by Youview signal strength menu. Should ideally be higher than 70%+ signal strength & quality should be approx the same or higher (ideally 100%). Could also be a problem with your local transmitter signal. Worth checking for engineering work.

The Youview boxes tend to have lower signal than the tv's own tuner, so you may need an aerial booster if not already used from aerial feed coming in. We use several around the home with various equipment. Let us know how you get on. John L

daveaust79

Thanks John.

I didn't know unplugging the aerial could make a difference so I'll give that a go.

There's no engineering work scheduled in my area, and as I say, the channels work fine on my TV, so I don't think it's that. However, I didn't know the Youview boxes tended to need a better signal than TVs. Although since all my other channels are 100% (or close to it) and just that one group of channels is at near-zero, I would imagine a signal issue would affect all channels?

Like I say, I'll try unplugging the aerial in case my box is remembering the 'wrong' channels at present, and if that doesn't work, a full reset for the same reason might be worth doing. Hopefully someone from Youview will read this as well and let me know if they're aware of anything else. 

John L

Hidaveaust79, if you look back at previous feeds on this subject other the past few months the tip has been mentioned before. Yes, they will read this. I'm also a Youview trialist, so know the technology "quite well". Sarah & Louise from Youview will also recommend the advice given. You can also find the information on the My Humax forum discussed with regular members. I'm also on this from time to time. It's been tried & tested. Might work work for you.

With regards signal strength all/most pvrs with twin tuners need a little bit of help boosting the signal from time to time, especially the Youview tuners, the Talk Talk ones are weaker signal than the BT/Humax models. It really depends on your own aerial setup etc.
Good luck with sorting your box out. John L

jonesh

daveaust79 said:

There's no engineering work scheduled in my area, and as I say, the channels work fine on my TV, so I don't think it's that. However, I didn't know the Youview boxes tended to need a better signal than TVs. Although since all my other channels are 100% (or close to it) and just that one group of channels is at near-zero, I would imagine a signal issue would affect all channels?

When you say that all your other channels are 100% (or close to it), do you mean signal strength, or signal quality?

100% signal quality is good, but 100% signal strength could be too high. The scale ends at 100, but the actual signal strength could be higher. There have been reports of MUXs carrying HD channels disappearing from the Guide and in most cases the signal strength has been high.

If your signal strength is over 90% you could try fitting an attenuator in your aerial lead. They are available as variable or fixed value and they reduce the signal strength to a level that hopefully your tuners will be able to deal with.

The most recent report of the successful use of an attenuator is here.

daveaust79

Hi @John L , I tried your suggestion with unplugging the aerial, retuning (so all channels were lost) then plugging it in and retuning it again, and that seems to have fixed it. I can see the logic in clearing out any issues and then starting again, but it isn't something I had thought of, so thanks for your help, it's much appreciated.

@jonesh The previous suggestion seems to have fixed it for now but thanks for your suggestion as well. If I do have any more problems I'll look into that.

John L

Glad to help daveaust79, I remembered the idea from many years back on the Humax & now mentioned from time to time on the My Humax forums, especially with the older humax machines that used to be able to manually tune the channels. while sadly the Youview machines doesn't offer the option, but at least the idea solved your problem. John L