We've had our first long rental (1 month) and on the last day of rental we were told by the guests that there was no reception from a couple of the channels ITV & C4 and also when they first moved in the reception was poor. This puzzled us as the Sat TV and ALL the land line channels were working with perfect reception. André (hubby) always checks all the electrical equipment, (in fact we have a check list that we go through every changeover).
Anyway, after they checked out and when we were cleaning the villa, we found a handful of business cards for a Satellite TV engineer.
So I emailed the guests to ask whether they called a Sat engineer out. Got a reply this morning saying that the engineer is a friend of theirs who's just set up business in Calahonda and would be happy to come and sort out the problem for us!
Apparently he came over when they first 'moved' in to sort out the reception as some plugs were loose(!) But they'd only lost ITV & C4 3 days before leaving...which makes us a little bit suspicious that he's done something to either the LNB or the programme on the digibox.
Does anyone on the forum know if the digibox can be 'programmed' not to receive certain channels, and if so how do we get it back?
Thought I'd put this question out before we pay a call-out (from our preferred Sat TV company!), as it may be just a simple procedure to get the channels back.
Sat TV Tampering
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Alan Knighting
- Posts: 4120
- Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:26 am
- Location: Monflanquin, Lot-et-Garonne, France
Crystal,
I am no expert, except when it comes to watching at which I am very good.
I am not aware of any way a digital box can be "programmed" not to receive particular channels. If you set parental control on a particular channel I think you are then asked for the pin number. If you are getting "No Satellite Signal Being Received" it could be that your dish has been moved slightly or, more likely, it is as a result of the shrinking footprint of the satellite. If the problem comes and goes at particular times of the day on a regular basis then it is certainly a footprint problem, the footprint oscillates from East to West and back again throughout the day and Southern Spain is “on the edge�. To combat it, in Southern Spain you probably need a dish of about 1.5 m diameter.
An evil thought would be that their friend deliberately tampered with your system in the hope that you would call on his services. You may say that, I couldn’t possibly comment (House of Cards – I told you I watch TV).
Alan
I am no expert, except when it comes to watching at which I am very good.
I am not aware of any way a digital box can be "programmed" not to receive particular channels. If you set parental control on a particular channel I think you are then asked for the pin number. If you are getting "No Satellite Signal Being Received" it could be that your dish has been moved slightly or, more likely, it is as a result of the shrinking footprint of the satellite. If the problem comes and goes at particular times of the day on a regular basis then it is certainly a footprint problem, the footprint oscillates from East to West and back again throughout the day and Southern Spain is “on the edge�. To combat it, in Southern Spain you probably need a dish of about 1.5 m diameter.
An evil thought would be that their friend deliberately tampered with your system in the hope that you would call on his services. You may say that, I couldn’t possibly comment (House of Cards – I told you I watch TV).
Alan
Thanks for your reply Alan.
Well, we think it probably has been tampered with because the ITV & C4 were completely off the main menu list, which we found very puzzling as all the channels were there a month ago.
The SAT reception at the villa is very good (the only time we get a bad reception is when there is heavy cloud coverage or heavy rain) and this is the first time we've actually 'lost' channels off the main menu list.
Andre's taking the digibox to the people that installed the system for us and they said they would check-out the digi box on 'their machine' (whatever that this).
Well, we think it probably has been tampered with because the ITV & C4 were completely off the main menu list, which we found very puzzling as all the channels were there a month ago.
The SAT reception at the villa is very good (the only time we get a bad reception is when there is heavy cloud coverage or heavy rain) and this is the first time we've actually 'lost' channels off the main menu list.
Andre's taking the digibox to the people that installed the system for us and they said they would check-out the digi box on 'their machine' (whatever that this).
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Alan Knighting
- Posts: 4120
- Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:26 am
- Location: Monflanquin, Lot-et-Garonne, France
Crystal,
Don't ask “what was the problem?�. You will be bamboozled with science. Just hope it works when you get it back and pray you don’t get any more “fiddlers� as guests.
Why is it that people who don’t have a f**cking clue what they are doing mess around with things? Is it that they think they know better than God Almighty?
You go to an hotel and the TV doesn’t work but the alarm clock goes off at 3.00 in the morning. Do you know why? It’s because some clever sh*te was yesterday’s guest. I think he must have stayed with you too.
Alan
Don't ask “what was the problem?�. You will be bamboozled with science. Just hope it works when you get it back and pray you don’t get any more “fiddlers� as guests.
Why is it that people who don’t have a f**cking clue what they are doing mess around with things? Is it that they think they know better than God Almighty?
You go to an hotel and the TV doesn’t work but the alarm clock goes off at 3.00 in the morning. Do you know why? It’s because some clever sh*te was yesterday’s guest. I think he must have stayed with you too.
Alan