Virgin TV reception

FeFiDoh · 1 Dec 2007 at 18:20

Lately we have had this real annoying issue with the picture breaking up/getting pixalated and some channels are almost unwatchable. Its almost as if it has poor signal strength or maybe weather interferance, but surely CABLE doesnt suffer the same draw backs as SKY??

Anyone else got or had this problem? Some channels are fine (itv at mo) but Setanta sports is awful.

Heliospherez · 1 Dec 2007 at 18:29

I'm pretty sure the cable channels are received at Virgins offices in your city/town via sat dishes (same as normal sky dishes only bigger - our local Virgin office has about 8 x 1.5 metre dishes) - the various channels are then boosted & sent through the cable to your house via boxes and boosters.

If the signal picked up by the dishes is weak or there is interference or something stopping a clear signal getting received from the sat (even the dish elevation wrong or its alignment) - the picture sent down your cable will then be bad - as will everybody elses who is watching that channel, but there should really be someone in the offices monitoring the signals they are getting.

That said, it could be a dodgy box you have - or it could be faulty in-line boosters leading to your house or estate. But you will need to check with other people in the street.

Glaucus · 1 Dec 2007 at 18:41

somewhere in the settings gives you a signal level. Have a look at that. Phone virgin up they should be able to run a test or tell you how to check.

FeFiDoh · 1 Dec 2007 at 18:51

Signal level is 42
SNR is 24.7dB

The guy who lived here before us appeared to have an attenuator attatched to the back of his virgin box, not sure what these are suppose to do though.

** edit **

Well I found the attenuator and fitted it, the SNR is now .1 higher but the signal is now upto 50 and so far setanta is perfect! Think its fixed

kibblerok · 1 Dec 2007 at 19:23

R5Rich said:
The guy who lived here before us appeared to have an attenuator attatched to the back of his virgin box, not sure what these are suppose to do though.

Adjust the signal strength.

The cable that goes to the cabinet is plugged into one of many points of varying signal level. The attenuator is used to fine tune the signal at your end.

A high signal can be just as bad as one thats too low.

wormwood · 1 Dec 2007 at 19:58

We are with Virgin and have had our NTL set top box for 5 years now, does anyone now if it is possible to get a free upgrade? if not how much do you pay for a new one.

WHAT!!! · 1 Dec 2007 at 20:08

I sometimes get some break up in picture quality but its very very rare it happens unlike with sky its everytime you get a nasty bit of weather, you can't expect it to be 100% perfect but I think its better than sky in reliability of being able to watch something.

wormwood said:
We are with Virgin and have had our NTL set top box for 5 years now, does anyone now if it is possible to get a free upgrade? if not how much do you pay for a new one.

If there is a fault with your box they will replace it for a new one for free, if you mean the V+ box which records 2 channels while you watch a third and does HD then its £75 installation and nothing to pay per month and if it packs up you will get a free replacement.

tomanders91 · 1 Dec 2007 at 20:09

get this all the time when it rains heavily on sky.

kibblerok · 1 Dec 2007 at 21:12

wormwood said:
We are with Virgin and have had our NTL set top box for 5 years now, does anyone now if it is possible to get a free upgrade? if not how much do you pay for a new one.

Is it a pace box (black)? or samsung (silver)?

If its a samsung then thats the best regular box they do, or you can upgrade to V+ as Mr WHAT!!! says.

Virgin dont really do free upgrades, but they will replace anything thats faulty no matter how old free of charge.

MagicBoy · 1 Dec 2007 at 21:16

It'll be the signal strength. Ours worked fine for about 7-8 years, then stopped being able to to get certain channels one day. They sent an engineer out to check who replaced the attenuators with a corrected value.