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Anonymous User
Not applicable

Now TV Smart Box - Freeview channels missing

I set up my box today and noticed in the Freeview section that BBC 1 and 2 are missing - the channels start with ITV. Scrolling through, I found BBC 1 HD and BBC 2 HD located after the Horror channel. 

 

Ideally I'd like to have BBC 1 and 2 at the top of the EPG. Better still I'd like my regional BBC 1 and BBC 2 HD at the top of the EPG. 

 

I can't see my local station or the non-HD versions listed anywhere in the channels found.

 

This box is replacing a BT YouView box which picked up the above missing channels.

 

Any ideas please?

146 REPLIES 146
Anonymous User
Not applicable

 

Just wanted to add my experience to this thread.  I was also suffering from frequent "no signal" messages or the picture breaking up.  Retuning seemed to help for a bit then the next day it would all be gone again.  I was about to return the box as faulty until I read this.

 

Our local transmitter is Rosneath and is only 5 miles away.  From the secret menu I found out that box was tuning to Darvel for some muxes.  We're no where near the intended reception area of Darvel and it has the opposite polarisation to Rosneath but the NowTV box was managing to hang on to it with a signal strength of about 19%.

 

I've added a group C/D filter to our aerial to block out Darvel and the box is now working perfectly with the expected 100% signal quality from Rosneath.   The filter cost less than a tenner so if anyone else experiences this problem that could be a quick and simple fix.  Just check which aerial group filter you need for your own local transmitter.

 

The problem I now have is it refuses to display properly on my 14 year old plasma....

 

Anonymous User
Not applicable
That's what mine was doing.

Drifting off to the weaker signal always at 19% almost every day or I guess when something updated on the box.

Anyone know why the boxes drift away from the set channel?
schnapps
Legend 5
Legend 5

If anybody is interested i have linked an article below about "Good Reception Guide" for Digital TV within the UK which is worth a read with some useful advice if you use an over the air TV aerial.

 

http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/help_and_advice/reception_guide

 

 

Andy
Legend 5
Legend 5

I think NOW TV need to really look at this issue seriously now. People shouldn't have to buy filters or splitters to filter out secondary transmitters when a simple option to specify which transmitter you want to lock onto could be made available (or more accurately an option that reliably appears in such circumstances).


@Andy wrote:

I think NOW TV need to really look at this issue seriously now. People shouldn't have to buy filters or splitters to filter out secondary transmitters when a simple option to specify which transmitter you want to lock onto could be made available (or more accurately an option that reliably appears in such circumstances).


Agreed but I doubt it will happen. I flagged this issue during the beta trial. Nothing was done.

schnapps
Legend 5
Legend 5

Agree, NowTV Technical Team need to investigate this further with a fixable solution if deemed to be an issue.

 

Where there does seem to be a few post under the smart box section on the community forum where new owners have experienced losing Freeview channels after the initial setup of the box, where they have to continually re scan the TV tuner on the box to get the channels back.

 

Thankfully, my smart box picks up two local transmitter stations when undertaking the automatic TV channel scan on first setup, where the box (touch wood) has been one hundred percent Rock Solid and never drifted to the second weaker TV transmitter available.

 

I can imagine this must be so frustrating for customers that keep losing a number of Freeview channels on their box and the need to continually re scan the channels or trying a half hearted fix which the customer have to do them themselves by experimenting with RF accessory components in an attempt to filter out / remove the weaker transmitter stations reception from the box.

 

Also, It a shame the smart box doesn't offer the customer the choice of both manual tuning together with the automatic option that you find on most Freeview based products. 

 

   

Anonymous User
Not applicable

I'm having to retune my box every 3 days, ridiculous in this day and age.

 

Tried the splitter thing, but that weakened the main signal as well.

 

Is there a better fix, or does it go back to Amazon?

 

 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

A solution that works is to use a 'filter band-pass'. My transmitter is Emley Moor with an aerial group B, so I have this filter

 

To find your transmitter group, go here.

Anonymous User
Not applicable
I've just had to retune mine this morning, for the first time since I put the slitter on. BBC ITV channels had drifted to the weeker transmitter 'Bilsdsle' and I had no HD channels at all.

I retuned with all channels coming back and on the correct transmitter 'pontop pike'.
It's a frustrating problem.
Anonymous User
Not applicable

Hi @Anonymous User

 

Thanks for getting in touch with us.

 

Are you still experiencing issues? Would you be able to explain a bit further what happens while you're using the Freeview channels?

 

We'll look into this further for you.

 

Thanks

 

Rob

NOW TV Team