"No satelite input"

[cooperlola]

I own a Panasonic DMR-XS350EB twin Freesat tuner/recorder.  Last night, whilst it was merrily recording a programme I had set up in the EPG on one chanel, I tried to access the other feed (twin cables input from a quad LNB) and it came up with the above message.  This morning I was hoping that it was just a problem on one feed but when the Morning Line came on the red flashing warning light came on and the same message was now showing on both channels.

I tried a re-tune and there was no satelite found on either feed.  I then grabbed a baby digi-box from downstairs and linked one of the feeds onto it.  It works perfectly - all chanels are there. 

I assume that the Freesat tuners in the Panasonic box have died but it does seem a bit odd that both have gone at the same time.  Before I condem the thing to the scrap heap, has anybody any idea as to what might be the problem and, preferably, how to solve it?  I've currently got it switched off in the hope that it might reboot but I'm not holding out a lot of hope.  Sadly, they don't seem to make these things any more and the only alternatives are the Humax style products which don't seem to allow you to archive onto disc/hard drive so are not of much use to me.

[Martin963]

That's very annoying for you coops.    If the tuners still haven't recovered it does sound as though it might be terminal,   although I would suggest that you try the box on a completely different dish (at a friend?) before you actually bin the Panasonic.

It's possible that a power supply fault (which is probably common to both parts of the tuner section) is to blame.   It could be something relatively easy to repair (say a blown capacitor) but a quick google doesn't suggest that this is a common problem so it may not be that....

Sorry I can't add anything else constructive....

PS   I should add - have you tried a full factory reset?    (assuming that doesn't delete your recordings?)

[cooperlola]

Eureka!  Left the thing off for a couple of days.  Unscrewed the aerial terminals from both inputs - I noticed also that one of the little nuts was very loose.  It's now working normally.  Whether it's the aerial connector which caused the fault (it doesn't seem to want to tune in the 2nd satelite unless you do the other one first) I don't know but I do suspect it as it is the thing that has changed.

Thanks for the research etc as per, Martin.[:)]

[Martin963]

Partly why (in desperation I admit) I suggested taking it to a friend.

One of my boxes (a Technomate) occasionally "takes agin" its cable up to the dish.   No amount of rejigging the F plug makes any difference.    Put it on a different cable,  dish and satellite and it starts working again,   put it back on the orignal and it's then fine.

No,  I don't know why either.    I also don't know why our burglar alarm died yesterday morning (going off in the process even though it wasn't armed and thereby causing me to have to find a ladder at 7.30 in the morning),  spent the day dead,   waited until I'd stripped out all the wiring,   and then had a full house of lights back on this morning and is now fully restored to action.

No,  I don't know why either.

[cooperlola]

Tell me about it.  A couple of weeks ago an external hard drive packed up.  It just would not power up, even when I used another transformer from a different unit of exactly the same type.  I tried everything, even visited the company's forum on which several people reported a similar problem.  Neither the company nor the retailer knew what might be wrong, and both were sceptical of my ability to rescue the 1.7tb of data (movies) I'd painstakingly saved to it.

Today, just before I had decided to go into LM and take it to the computer specialist to lift the data, I plugged it in again and - you guessed it - it worked![:-))]

[derf]

"Sadly, they don't seem to make these things any more and the only

alternatives are the Humax style products which don't seem to allow you

to archive onto disc/hard drive so are not of much use to me."

I can use an external hard drive with my Humax PVR.[8-)]

[sid]

Me too; I transfer programmes to a USB key and give them to one of my French neighbours who likes to watch BBC programmes (on his pc) from time to time, especially anything about the war! The latest one was "First World War from above", re-broadcast recently, which had some interesting stuff taken from an airship flying over the front line at the end of WW1.

You can reverse the process on the Humax too, download photos and video to show on your TV.

[cooperlola]

That is interesting Derf and Sid.  I've been reading lots of fora asking about how one does this on Humax boxes since they don't have DVD drives (or at least not the ones I've looked at) and there was very little info.  So anyway - you transfer to a USB stick, put it on your computer, then transfer it to disc?  I thought there was some sort of memory limit for this making it impossible to make discs of long programmes in HD as the files were too big.  Is that right or wrong?  I'm more than capable of having got the wrong end of the stick where technology is concerned!

[Quillan]

A BluRay film in HD will normally be around 1.4MB up to 2MB when converted to an AVI (DIVx) file. The same people who you got your Magic DVD Ripper from will also sell you a BluRay version if you can rip BluRay disks on your computer. Then as suggested copy them on to a memory stick.

There will be an update to the operating system to enable DNLA on your Humax box so you can save your files on your PC and access them via your Humax box and home network. There is a third party version around since Feb 2011 but I always think it's best to wait for the manufacturer to release it's own official version. This is to play stuff stored on your PC, it will not allow you to record TV through your Humax box to your PC directly.

Humax box's come with either no HDD or there are options for 320GB, 500GB or 1TB. The price direct from Humax start at £209 for the smallest HDD to £269 for the 1TB.

[Jo]

[quote user="cooperlola"]

That is interesting Derf and Sid.  I've been reading lots of fora asking about how one does this on Humax boxes since they don't have DVD drives (or at least not the ones I've looked at) and there was very little info.  So anyway - you transfer to a USB stick, put it on your computer, then transfer it to disc?  I thought there was some sort of memory limit for this making it impossible to make discs of long programmes in HD as the files were too big.  Is that right or wrong?  I'm more than capable of having got the wrong end of the stick where technology is concerned!

[/quote]

Leave it on the USB stick and play it through the computer rather than trying to transfer it to a disc? Have no real knowledge, just what I have picked up from my son!! Works for me.