Page 1 of Blocking and Sky - end of my tether

Whatever Sky try, I cannot get a good signal from Sky. When there is action (footy is the worst) the picture suffers from blocking and text suffers from a kind of dotting effect like a shadow around it. On occassions even slow pictures suffer blocking. If there are large areas of one colour the image goes a little washy.

Before I moved back in May I was in a small block of flats and 4 flat`s shared one large dish - it was all professional installed. I have a 6 month old Toshiba 32ZD 26P and before the move all was great.

However since the move I have had 4 visits and a new box and 2 new dishes with NO change to the picture. I have a 70+% signal and the engineer(s) are happy that even though the dish is pointing at next doors house (two drive widths lengths away and 2 metres into their house from the edge) that this is not affecting the picture.

I cant believe that moving from a large `properly` installed dish to Sky`s little one`s will have affected the picture so greatly, so I am perplexed as to why this is happening.

I was concerned that my TV had been damaged in the move, however the problem seems to occur on my portable TV, though this is a little hard to see on such a small screen. Reducing the sharpness from zero to -50 does help a little.

This is driving me mad. I am about to buy a HDD DVD recorder, however if my Sky continues to produce such rubbish pictures there doesn`t seem much point.

PS Linked TV to Sky by quality Scart

Any ideas

AndrewF

Yes..keep pestering SKY unti lthey finally send someone out who knows what they are doing!!!

Sky employ two types of `installer`..

1. Turn up in a smart Sky van in neat Sky overalls, and knows what he is talking about
2. sub contracted ou of work Window cleaners who stil have their own ladders.

Unfortunately, who you get is down to a lottery...A problem developed on my system earlier in the Summer..Sky arranged for an engineers visit...two guys rolled up late on a Sunday afternoon..Clerarly they didn`t want to be here...I`d told Sky what was happening in advance and it went on the job ticket (low signal strength ) .. These two guys walked in `It`s yer Sky + box mate...we`ll change it....` erm..no it isn`t, because the same thing is happening on our second sub box upstairs....I told them I thought it was the lnb...after much huffing and puffing they decided to get a new lnb out of the van...put that on, no difference..

`Sorry mate, cvan`t fix it..it`s micro wave interference...`

erm...well how come next door`s aren`t suffering from the same problem? How come my large motorised dish isn`t suffering from the same problem??

`Well, thats what it is, you need a special installations team-I`l phone up and sort it out for you...`

and with that, they were gone...I phoned up Sky next day, the installer hadn`t reproted the faul still existed, he claimed he`d solved it..Sky also don`t send special installation teams out until 4 attempts have been made to fix a problem OR they know about a specific problem in advance. The chap at Sky was very apologetic-he basicvally admitted that they were getting this problem time after time with sub contractor visits and would `do his best` to make sure I got a proper Sky engineer on the next visit two days later...but couldn`t guarantee it...

I did get a Sky engineer this time and within 30 sconds, he`d spotted the problem-My new Sky + dish was installed last November-since then, the largish tree 4 doors down has got leavs on it again and it was blocking off just enough signal to cause the problem...He simply swung the arm the dish is fixed to through 180 degrees, re-aligned the dish with a proper meter and within 20 minutes, we had perfect pictures again...He did ask `Which Cowboy` had installed the lnb though, as the connections had not even been screwed on properly..when I told him, he just shook his head in a very `knowing` manner!!!

Just keep on at Sky...to solve it..It does sound like the problem is linked to the fact the dish is pointing at your neighbours house-the tree causing our problems was a good 100 yards away (My dish is low down, though)

I agree keep pestering Sky...

Typically bad pictures are caused by:
- the dish being misaligned (possibly after strong winds, or the window cleaner`s knocked it)
- something in the way of the dish (e.g. a tree)
- the LNB (if you have two boxes, it`s very common to get picture problems. The engineer told me the 2 LNB aren`t really up to the job. I eventually got a 4 LNB and have been fine since)

As an ex installer it is surprising how little clearence between houses would be needed if the dish is installed at the correct position. I would find it almost impossible for a tree 100 yards away to cause a problem, it would have to be a Calofornian redwood & even then it should be cleared. Sometimes from the ground it seems the dish is pointing at a building but remember the sky dishes are `Offset`. There is no reason a normal 60cm dish if aligned properly, would cause blocking apart from extreme conditions (Rain, thick cloud) etc. Did you move far, should you have an 80cm dish? (I have even though I`m in a 60cm area). Is the cable OK no tight bends? Does the LNB need turning just a fraction? Well hope you get it sorted.

In my case, the dish is only 3 feet from the ground, the tree was causing the problem. Had the dish been on the eaves of the house, then it wouldn`t have been an issue, but my large motorised dish is already there and although I`ve got good neighbours, sticking a second dish up there would have been taking the p*** slightly (and could have led to a visit from the local planning authority :-)

Thanks for the replies. Think I`ll chase Sky again.