Ferguson Ariva 120 Users Thread

kneemos

Anyone else had problems with these boxes. I bought one a few months ago and I've lost Soarview (tuner problems are common)it also keeps dropping radio channels and the timeshift does'nt work properly.In other words a dog of a thing.Keep clear.

hibble

kneemos wrote: »

In other words a dog of a thing.QUOTE]

Well I've had mine for 14 months and it's not "a dog of a thing" just the dogs **********:rolleyes:

No bother at all with it.

dodzy

kneemos wrote: »

Anyone else had problems with these boxes. I bought one a few months ago and I've lost Soarview (tuner problems are common)it also keeps dropping radio channels and the timeshift does'nt work properly.In other words a dog of a thing.Keep clear.

If you bought new, you could return it under the 1yr warranty ?

I've had one since they were introduced, and installed quite a few for fam & friends. Never a single issue following the lip sync fix. A solid little piece of kit IMO.

I like the improvements made with its successor (150 / 250 ) too, for what it's worth.

Tony

What does your supplier have to say ? May I also ask why you think tuner problems are common ?

kneemos wrote: »

Anyone else had problems with these boxes. I bought one a few months ago and I've lost Soarview (tuner problems are common)it also keeps dropping radio channels and the timeshift does'nt work properly.In other words a dog of a thing.Keep clear.

kneemos

dodzy wrote: »

If you bought new, you could return it under the 1yr warranty ?

I've had one since they were introduced, and installed quite a few for fam & friends. Never a single issue following the lip sync fix. A solid little piece of kit IMO.

I like the improvements made with its successor (150 / 250 ) too, for what it's worth.

Bringing it back tomorrow.A local installer here says tuners are a common fault

Tony

kneemos wrote: »

Bringing it back tomorrow.A local installer here says tuners are a common fault

Hope you get sorted . I must disagree with the local installer tuner faults are extremely uncommon on this model.

hibble

Is he an installer or someone who knocks out a few boxes on the side????

I'm not an installer but like I say I never had any bother with mine - maybe your cabling is banjaxed or your aerial moved.

Did your installer go through the manual and the menus with you? There are various ways to set up timeshift, 2 ways to have a disk formatted and hard disks should have thier own power source. Read and write speeds for usb devices are also critical.

Could be plenty reasons why your box is playing up - none of them might actually be being caused by the box itself?

kneemos

Tony wrote: »

Hope you get sorted . I must disagree with the local installer tuner faults are extremely uncommon on this model.

Only know what he told me,he's had several people with the same problem.The one I have never functioned properly,even the sat channels will occasionally lose sound and I'll need to turn it off and on.Maybe it's just a dud.

STB

kneemos wrote: »

Anyone else had problems with these boxes. I bought one a few months ago and I've lost Soarview (tuner problems are common)it also keeps dropping radio channels and the timeshift does'nt work properly.In other words a dog of a thing.Keep clear.

Tuner problems. The tuners are made by Sharp who make them for everyone. Your local installer is talking out his backside, because he didnt bother updating the firmware from the factory installed version (the quick buck merchants dont want to come back, they connect it up say nothing about the occasional retune being required or tell you to read the manual and just leg it to the next job to do the same thing). The 120s - one you updated the firmware once, they work fine.

The thing with these boxes is that you occasionally have to re-tune them if Saorview channels are moved by RTE, which is the case for Dublin based viewers as RTE moved their channels to Channel 30 from Channel 54 on DVB-T.

The biggest problems with these boxes are the users who dont read the bloody manual.

kneemos

Theres all sorts of issues with it as mentioned above.

Tony

kneemos wrote: »

Theres all sorts of issues with it as mentioned above.

Anyway hope you get sorted tomorrow and have no further issues.

kneemos

Was'nt my installer,don't know him from Adam.I just bought it and plugged it in.Never heard about retuning before,is it the same with saorview approved boxes?I know they were working on Mt Leinster last Friday which is the same time I lost the saorview channels,don't know if it's relevent or not.

intro

Tony.
Many thanks for the reply.

STB wrote: »

The problem and solution is obvious to me. Get rid of the cheap scart switcher.





You have to manually delete the terrestrial channels you are not using as they are for a different transmitter. OR If you are going to continue to use the box in 2 locations then set up a favourites list, 1 for Dublin Saorview and 1 for Donegal Saorview so as not to confuse yourself.

You can set up favourites list for anything. You do have to read the manual though! Once you get to grips with that, you will be flying. Honestly read the manual.

STB.
I thought I outlined the two problems fairly clearly. I didn’t describe the scart switcher as a “cheap scart switcher”. It was not. I did mention that there was a DVD and VCR attached to the TV and if I did not want them I would have removed them and then would have no need for the switcher and then no need to ask if anyone knew about getting the Ferguson to work with a scart switcher.
Clearly the solution here is not getting rid of the DVD and VCR because the Ferguson unit cannot work with a scart switcher but to replace the old TV with a saorview TV and a freesat box and attach the DVD and VCR


In relation to reading the manual. I had read it (several times). I did not find the answer to my questions in it hence asking the question here. You are wrong in your reply about the terrestrial channels as when I tested it back in Dublin this evening, connected via the HDMI lead it did not lose the channels (despite both sets of RTE channels being on the list). Obviously this is a moot point to me as I will not be buying a Ferguson for use in Donegal now but may be of interest to people who would move a box between houses and are using a scart lead.

STB

intro wrote: »

STB.
I thought I outlined the two problems fairly clearly. I didn’t describe the scart switcher as a “cheap scart switcher”. It was not. I did mention that there was a DVD and VCR attached to the TV and if I did not want them I would have removed them and then would have no need for the switcher and then no need to ask if anyone knew about getting the Ferguson to work with a scart switcher.
Clearly the solution here is not getting rid of the DVD and VCR because the Ferguson unit cannot work with a scart switcher but to replace the old TV with a saorview TV and a freesat box and attach the DVD and VCR


In relation to reading the manual. I had read it (several times). I did not find the answer to my questions in it hence asking the question here. You are wrong in your reply about the terrestrial channels as when I tested it back in Dublin this evening, connected via the HDMI lead it did not lose the channels (despite both sets of RTE channels being on the list). Obviously this is a moot point to me as I will not be buying a Ferguson for use in Donegal now but may be of interest to people who would move a box between houses and are using a scart lead.

First of all, I did try and help you. You say that the Ferguson works when directly connected by scart. The issue only arises when connected to the scart switcher, which points to an issue with the scart switcher, not the box.

Secondly as regarding reading the manual, this is a common problem with these boxes. People buying them have it set up for them and then complain when things go wrong without referring to the manual. Believe me I have seen it all in this thread including people not knowing that they require an aerial for Saorview. It is easier to blame hardware than read a manual.

As regards leaving 2 sets of Saorview Channels in the DVB-T channel list that is fine once you understand that one group of channels could be on one certain frequency and the other say Dublin will be on another. Infact when it comes to main Donegal and Dublin Frequencies both could be on channel 30 purely out of coincidence as that is the frequency used by Holywell Hill and Three Rock.

I never said it wouldnt work having 2 sets of the channels off diffrent mux frequencies. The reason I mentioned it in the first place was so you wouldnt be confused wondering why RTE wasnt working if you had 2 sets, as it could someone less technical. The first list will be the first ones you tuned in.

STB

kneemos wrote: »

Was'nt my installer,don't know him from Adam.I just bought it and plugged it in.Never heard about retuning before,is it the same with saorview approved boxes?I know they were working on Mt Leinster last Friday which is the same time I lost the saorview channels,don't know if it's relevent or not.

Yep. Even Saorview approved boxes dont auto-retune.

You could save yourself returning it by just updating the firmware to the latest via a usb stick and retuning or loading a channel list via a USB.

kneemos

STB wrote: »

Yep. Even Saorview approved boxes dont auto-retune.

You could save yourself returning it by just updating the firmware to the latest via a usb stick and retuning or loading a channel list via a USB.

Your talking a foreign language I'm afraid.Where do I get the firmware or channel lists and presumably it won't cure it's many other issues.

STB

kneemos wrote: »

Your talking a foreign language I'm afraid.Where do I get the firmware or channel lists and presumably it won't cure it's many other issues.

Download this firmware

Unzip the file with 7 Zip/Winzip.

You only need the .abs file.

Copy that to a USB stick.

Plug in the USB stick to the USB port at the front of the box.

Go to upgrade by USB in tools menu.

Choose allcode+bootloader

Click down to start. Let it get to 100% on screen. The box will reboot.

Go to menu restore to factory settings.

Now rescan.

(Yes a lot of your problems should go away as there have been several firmware fixes that resolved issues - so if your firmware is old that is why you may be encountering issues).

Worth a try. Let us know how you get on.

kneemos

Thanks a lot shall give it a go.

kneemos

Tried the box in the shop this morning and it worked fine,just a signal strenght problem.I'll wait till they increase the signal strenght or get an amplifier or something I guess.

Tony

so not a "dog" after all

kneemos wrote: »

Tried the box in the shop this morning and it worked fine,just a signal strenght problem.I'll wait till they increase the signal strenght or get an amplifier or something I guess.

kneemos

Tony wrote: »

so not a "dog" after all

When Columbus discovered America he did'nt say wow what a magnificent continent.You can only go on what you know,the slur of doggishness(if that's not a word I'm claiming it)is withdrawn.

zg3409

kneemos wrote: »

Tried the box in the shop this morning and it worked fine,just a signal strenght problem.I'll wait till they increase the signal strenght or get an amplifier or something I guess.

The best way to increase satellite strength isto get it professionally aligned. The same is true for Saorview terrestrial channels.You can have a go yourself but don't be surprised if you don't get professional results.

Tony

kneemos wrote: »

When Columbus discovered America

America was already there sorry for OT

kneemos

zg3409 wrote: »

The best way to increase satellite strength isto get it professionally aligned. The same is true for Saorview terrestrial channels.You can have a go yourself but don't be surprised if you don't get professional results.

It was working perfectly.They're regularly working on Mt Leinster which I think is causing the problem.The sats are fine.

St Senan

Kneemos seriously the work they are doing at Mt leinster was only intermittent. That is not causing the problem that you have. Myself and zerks are in the business locally to you and we are not experiencing problems on Installations.

kneemos

Navarre wrote: »

Kneemos seriously the work they are doing at Mt leinster was only intermittent. That is not causing the problem that you have. Myself and zerks are in the business locally to you and we are not experiencing problems on Installations.

I'll check my cable tomorrow.It was working perfectly for several hours in the shop today.

St Senan

Did you buy the Aerial from the same shop and did the cable come with the aerial. Some of those 48 element aerial kits have poor quality (shoelace) type cable as part of the kit.

Cesium Clock

No point in having a digital tv capable aerial if the cable between the digital tv capable aerial and the mpeg4 receiver is substandard,

kneemos

Navarre wrote: »

Did you buy the Aerial from the same shop and did the cable come with the aerial. Some of those 48 element aerial kits have poor quality (shoelace) type cable as part of the kit.

Ariel came from the shop.The cable came from a roll I've had for a while.

hibble

kneemos wrote: »

Ariel came from the shop.The cable came from a roll I've had for a while.

BINGO!

Cesium Clock

kneemos wrote: »

Ariel came from the shop.The cable came from a roll I've had for a while.

Roll of what ?

kneemos

Cesium Clock wrote: »

Roll of what ?

Roll of cable.

Cesium Clock

kneemos wrote: »

Roll of cable.

Twin and earth?

Cat 5 ?

Extension lead ?

Bell wire ?

What

kneemos

Cesium Clock wrote: »

Twin and earth?

Cat 5 ?

Extension lead ?

Bell wire ?

What

No idea I'm afraid,just bog standard cable as far as I know.

St Senan

Compare it to these and let us know.
http://www.google.ie/imgres?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=1fH&sa=X&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&biw=1366&bih=572&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=YGwOhOPqdAn4CM:&imgrefurl=http://www.wrightsaerials.tv/articles/coax-cable-quality.shtml&docid=iKORB_OsxKovoM&imgurl=http://www.wrightsaerials.tv/articles/images/Coax%252520cable%252520quality%252520fig%2525201.jpg&w=750&h=567&ei=4jckUK-9DsyyhAesvIDYDA&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=549&sig=117757451352532301609&page=1&tbnh=111&tbnw=153&start=0&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:0,i:85&tx=99&ty=52

kneemos

Navarre wrote: »

Compare it to these and let us know.
http://www.google.ie/imgres?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=1fH&sa=X&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&biw=1366&bih=572&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=YGwOhOPqdAn4CM:&imgrefurl=http://www.wrightsaerials.tv/articles/coax-cable-quality.shtml&docid=iKORB_OsxKovoM&imgurl=http://www.wrightsaerials.tv/articles/images/Coax%252520cable%252520quality%252520fig%2525201.jpg&w=750&h=567&ei=4jckUK-9DsyyhAesvIDYDA&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=549&sig=117757451352532301609&page=1&tbnh=111&tbnw=153&start=0&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:0,i:85&tx=99&ty=52

The last one

Cesium Clock

Cesium Clock wrote: »

No point in having a digital tv capable aerial if the cable between the digital tv capable aerial and the mpeg4 receiver is substandard,

So I was correct

St Senan

It's a non isolated cable which is poor quality and prone to outside electrical interference.

kneemos

Navarre wrote: »

It's a non isolated cable which is poor quality and prone to outside electrical interference.

Which one am I after then.

St Senan

Either of the first 2. But you wont get that quality of cable anywhere in town The 3rd one you will get out in the electrical wholesalers.

hibble

So if your installer has been telling you all along that the tuners are crap, he didn't show you how to set it up and used sub standard coax that you provided him with, I've got 2 questions for you.

1) How much did you pay him?

2) Any more lash up jobs you want doing?

Tony

Guys may I ask politely that we get back to talking specificially about the ariva 120, the thread will become useless otherwise.

kneemos

Navarre wrote: »

Either of the first 2. But you wont get that quality of cable anywhere in town The 3rd one you will get out in the electrical wholesalers.

I'll check what I have so,if nothings lose or hanging off a new cable is the next plan of action.Thanks for the replys,more than helpful.

St Senan

Kneemos. i thought you said in a previous thread that you installed your own Aerial and receiver.

kneemos

Navarre wrote: »

Kneemos. i thought you said in a previous thread that you installed your own Aerial and receiver.

Yes

hibble

Tony wrote: »

Guys may I ask politely that we get back to talking specificially about the ariva 120, the thread will become useless otherwise.

Tony problem is no end of people are using the Ariva threads to say how useless they are when they obviously haven't got a clue what they are doing, don't RTFM, dont use suitable hard drives, (try to) flash them without following the correct procedure.... you get the idea.

As I see it this thread is for informing and helping users and potential buyers of the pluses and minuses of the unit, advice about new updates and whether or not there worth the hassle and so on.

All the anwers are in this or the original "bargain alert" thread - surely you research a product before you buy it - that way you know what to expect. How users are suddenly shocked that they have to do the occasional retune to bring a station back in is totally beyond me. God only knows how many heart attacks there'd be if they still had to get up and push a pressbutton or spin a dial every time they wanted to change a channel like in the olden days.

If I had read this thread before I got my box, chances are that I wouldn't have bothered, and that would have been my loss.

Kneemos talks about his installer several times and goes on to slag off the unit in a very factual way to the uninitiated reader.

Reminds me of someone who's tried to do the job themselves with the cheapest gear that's lying about, don't know what they're at but think they do and when it all goes wrong it must be the units fault.

Some people think everything they read on the net is true.

I could tell you that I know of a lot of folk with deisel cars from VW goup have had them break down.........................................not very good..


I might or might not mention that every one of them had put petrol in the car by mistake.

Changes everything.

P.S. I did mention banjaxed cable in post#758 - could have saved the trip to the shop.

Tony

Thats a fair point but when we start talking about aerial, installer and cable issues the thread goes off topic and makes it much harder for someone to find the answer they need .

No harm in starting a new thread whan an issue not specific to the 120 arises and will probably get a much better response that way.

hibble wrote: »

Tony problem is no end of people are using the Ariva threads to say how useless they are

iba

hibble wrote: »

Tony problem is no end of people are using the Ariva threads to say how useless they are when they obviously haven't got a clue what they are doing, don't RTFM, dont use suitable hard drives, (try to) flash them without following the correct procedure.... you get the idea.

As I see it this thread is for informing and helping users and potential buyers of the pluses and minuses of the unit, advice about new updates and whether or not there worth the hassle and so on.

All the anwers are in this or the original "bargain alert" thread - surely you research a product before you buy it - that way you know what to expect. How users are suddenly shocked that they have to do the occasional retune to bring a station back in is totally beyond me. God only knows how many heart attacks there'd be if they still had to get up and push a pressbutton or spin a dial every time they wanted to change a channel like in the olden days.

If I had read this thread before I got my box, chances are that I wouldn't have bothered, and that would have been my loss.

Kneemos talks about his installer several times and goes on to slag off the unit in a very factual way to the uninitiated reader.

Reminds me of someone who's tried to do the job themselves with the cheapest gear that's lying about, don't know what they're at but think they do and when it all goes wrong it must be the units fault.

Some people think everything they read on the net is true.

I could tell you that I know of a lot of folk with deisel cars from VW goup have had them break down.........................................not very good..


I might or might not mention that every one of them had put petrol in the car by mistake.

Changes everything.

P.S. I did mention banjaxed cable in post#758 - could have saved the trip to the shop.

Hi,

I agree with you (mostly) but I do know what Im doing (mostly) when it comes to STB, (I have Humax and Ariva) Sats (I have 13, 19, 26 & 28), Splitters, Dishes (Triax 1.1M), Multi-Lnbs, (Twins & Quads), Diseqc-Switches etc etc.

And I had to return my Ariva back to Ferguson 3 times to have it fixed. The problem I had was that the Infra-Red function failed. It is questionable whther Fergerson even tried to fix it the 1st two times I sent it back, because it came back with the same problem. On the 3rd occassion they replaced the mother board and it works and they refunded the cost of my postage which was €45 (each postage to Poland was €15).

The above are facts and apart from that I like the box. Its easy to use. It has the dual tuner. I get my 4 sats by using the Diseqc functionality. I get Saorview channels just by using a Rabbits Ears. I dont need a CAM to use my Cyfra Card and its HD.

So all in all its a good box for the price and I was probably just unlucky with the issues with the Infra-Red.

If this was Amazon, Id probably give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Hope this helps people deciding.

Regards

Iba

Ronnie Raygun

intro wrote: »

Tried it on an old TV in Donegal this w/end, which has only one scart so is fed through a manual scart switcher to allow the use of DVD and VCR. ... When connected through the scart switcher there is no picture at all. When I feed directly from scart to tv's scart it works ok.

Some of those scart switchers don't pass RGB video, although from the last time I looked into it, I seem to recall they were all the automatic type with power supply.

Ronnie Raygun

hibble wrote: »

... I did mention banjaxed cable in post#758 - could have saved the trip to the shop.

The brown "low loss" cable shouldn't be enough, on its own, to cause complete failure, unless the signal level & quality is very poor to begin with.

More than likely poorly made connections at the aerial or receiver would be to blame than the actual cable.