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NTL Digital newbie : Channel dropout / RGB output / Double listings

  • 18-06-2003 3:17pm
    #1
    Aardvark
    Closed Accounts Posts: 22 ✭


    Howdy all,

    I just had NTL digital installed yesterday and I've noticed a couple of little niggles. I realise they're probably old chestnuts for the rest of ye, but I can't find the info in the archives (since Nov '02).

    (1) Double listings. All programmes are listed twice in the "Guide" section of the EPG. From previous posts it appears to be a data feed problem on NTL's side rather than a software problem in the STB. Is it intermittent or permanent?

    (2) RGB output. Tried this very quickly this morning. When I switch the output from composite to RGB the picture becomes sharper, but the digital compression artifacts are WAY more noticeable. Can anyone tell me the technical reason for this? (I assume it's because the lower quality composite signal "blurs" away the artifacts?) Also, it's a 100Hz tv. [I've read the thread titled "New NTL STB?" from late February, but it doesn't mention the artifacts.]

    (3) Missing channels. I was watching tv briefly this morning and UTV just totally dropped out. (Black picture and no sound.) It reappeared a few minutes later. (After changing channels a bunch of times.) Does this happen often? On all channels or only on specific ones? (Someone posted a while back that it used to happen to them mainly in the evenings.)

    Cheers!

    PS Yes, I'd have gone with Sky sat if I could - but my apartment lease forbids dishes.


Comments

  • #2
    John R
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,107 ✭✭✭John R


    1. intermittent, but the listings do tend to be less than reliable, certainly far worse than sky. I often find that the listing will fail to roll on for a few hours so the box shows info for programmes that finished a few hours earlier even though the clock is correct-ish (for some reason the clock is always out by a few minutes).

    2. Like you said the artefacts are just more noticeable with the sharper RGB picture, as they are caused by the MPEG compression they are present before the signal is processed for RGB or composite output.

    3. The dropouts are caused by the poor quality transmission over the ntl network, I have found it more common to get short (0.5-3 second) dropouts and certain mux are worse than others although which ones are less reliable would depend on where you are just as analogue quality differs across the frequency range. If it is a regular occourence try removing the splitter and connect the box on its own, in my case I got an improvement by replacing the splitter ntl provided with another one.


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