My Freeview box has no EPG, is blank on FIVE, ITV3, ITV4, ITV2+1, has no sound or the channel line up is wrong
To deal with the problem you must clear the channel list completely and then rescan - if your box has it in the menus, please the 'installation menu' to do an initial scan or a reset to factory settings or First Time Installation. You MUST delete the entire existing list of channels. On most boxes this technique can be also be used:
Try this:
1) unplug your Freeview box (or idTV) from the mains;
2) unplug the aerial from the Freeview box by disconnecting the cable from the 'RF in' socket;
3) wait 30 seconds;
4) plug Freeview box (or idTV) mains back in;
5) do a complete scan for channels - it will fail without the aerial. (This may be in the installation or initialization menu, and is distinct from any 'add channels option'). Once this is done your channel line up should be empty;
6) reinsert aerial by reconnecting to the 'RF in' connection;
7) do a complete scan for channels again.
The Freeview channel line-up provided by six "multiplexes" - each of which carry five or more TV channels, radio channels, text services and EPG data. In this diagram each ROW represents a multiplex. If you are still missing a whole multiplex (ie everything on the row) you may need to replace your aerial with a wideband type, purchase a larger aerial or you may have interference from a VCR, games console, Sky Digibox or similar.
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k lowisFriday 10 June 2011 7:09PM
i have lost the hd channels on my panasonic vierra hdtv any ideas pleaseSteveSunday 12 June 2011 12:46PM
We're due to be swapped over on 6th july but have been without all the channels off Mux2. We live in Ipswich and two years ago paid for an appropriate area with masthead amp to distribute the signal to several rooms. Do they turn the signal strength down before the switch over or have we got bigger problems??steve,bedworthSunday 12 June 2011 10:55PM
steve, bedworth: cheers Brian, I have checked all cables again and swapped a few around, so far box has behaved itself, but I will contact virgin about it if it happens againAngela MathersTuesday 14 June 2011 10:14PM
Motherwell Turns out it's my TV that's at fault.Think the tube is away.Only had it a month,but it's second hand,but apparently,I can take it back as it's faulty.catherineWednesday 15 June 2011 6:52AM
Newcastle Upon Tyne my samsung tv with built in freeview has lost itv 1 and 2, c4 and 5. it used to have them. it uses a outside ariel in bedroom, although ariel is in loft. my area is in country ponteland. please help
thankslindyWednesday 15 June 2011 12:52PM
my mums freeview box lost alot of channels all of a sudden (its gone down to 18channels) did a re-tune stayed the same, message came up saying check ariel socket, tried a new freeview box on the tv and it is exactly the same. her other tv with built in freeview which is attatched to the same ariel is fine. any ideas why 1 tv is ok and the other isnt even tho theyre using the same ariel?davie Wednesday 15 June 2011 6:00PM
have a LG tv with built in freeview ive lost all channels apart from bbc1,2 and 3. tried all your suggestions alot the most ive been able to regain was everything apart from itv's and channel 5 my arial is in the loft but ive had no previous problems please helpJamesThursday 16 June 2011 12:51PM
Hi
I have lost ITV3 since the switchover on 15 June. My post code is FK12EX. I've been thru various resets including "manual" and factory reset. I have the othe ITV channels
Any ideas?
Thanks!DekThursday 16 June 2011 1:47PM
Live in the AB12 postcode area, last night on several channels e.g IT3, ITV4, film 4 etc the following info appeared on the EPG: "Weak or no signal: check antennae or cable connection" I did as said and still have the same problem today. We too have a loft ariel, the Samsung LED TV with built in Freeview has always given us excellent pictures & received good transmission before. Would appreciate any help thanks.DekThursday 16 June 2011 9:09PM
Hi there folks, a wee update:I rescanned again with no aerial connected to PVR and TV to clear all listings. Scanned again with aerial connected and bingo all missing stations back. Note PVR (Humax) EPG takes a wee while to load. Thanks for the adviceSeanSaturday 18 June 2011 9:49AM
Musselburgh Hi
I have a Sagem PVR7280T Digital freeview recorder. Apart from the EPG not updating properly it has been fine the last few years I have had it until the recent TV channel switchover. I have a TV with built in Freeview that has re-tuned perfectly OK but my PVR has not - I have no BBC or ITV channels as well as no E4 - though E4+1 strangely appears.
Is this a known bug? I have tried resetting to factory defaults and effectively starting from scratch, I have followed the complete reset procedure shown on here, I have re-tuned it at least a dozen times to no avail so, as a last ditch attempt I paid to have an aerial installer come out and check my aerial (which is wideband and in the loft) - this is perfectly OK and perfectly aligned to my transmitter - indeed if it wasn't my TV would not work either and I have no problems with that.
I have also just emailed Sagem but it will presumably take them a wee while to get back to me.
Any help would be gratefully received thanks.
SeanSaturday 18 June 2011 10:02AM
Musselburgh Further to my last post it is all the MUX1 and 2 channels I am missing that are broadcast on channel 24 and 27. My box is showing signal strength of 75% on quality of 98% on both these channels but no TV - frustrating!Michael HunterSaturday 18 June 2011 12:59PM
Edinburgh I am fuming as following the latest switch over my family has lost some of our favourite channels in Dave and Pick TV and their "+1" versions. I share a large aerial with about 30 other tennants who are presumably experiencing the same problems. I have tried the unplug/re-scan procedure shown above to no avail. Trying diagnostics shows that the missing channels are on the multiplex feed known as Ch 45 which has a puny signal strength of only 6%. The other feeds I'm picking up are Chs 24, 27, 39 & 42 and they are all looking healthy. I live slap bang in the middle of Edinburgh - Scotland's capital - also incidentally the home of the world's premier comedy festival - and I am insulted that some idiot doesn't think it necessary that I should be able to access the Uk's premier freeview comedy channel in Dave TV. I want to complain about this and get whoever is responsible's butt kicked, however, I don't know where to address my complaints - anyone got any ideas???KMJ,DerbySunday 19 June 2011 9:17AM
Michael Hunter: The transmitter power on C45 is identical to that used on C39+ and C42. It is possible that filtering arrangements on the aerial need to be adjusted to accommodate C45, all the other frequencies were in use before switchover. Check with the other tenants that they too have poor reception on C45, if they do, then request the landlord or building management company to arrange for the aerial to be adjusted. If the other tenants receive the frequency ok you would need to check out single frequency interference, making sure no equipment such as a VCR or Sky box has the RF modulator set around C45.jb38Sunday 19 June 2011 10:36AM
Sean: Sagem PVR7280T boxes are notoriously problematic in lots of ways, and if you have been managing OK with it over the last few years (excl EPG problems) then you were indeed lucky.
Regarding the problem mentioned, I suspect your box is having difficulty operating on the 8K mode that the system changed to on switchover, as many boxes including ones supposedly able to cope with the change are very sluggish to show a picture, sometimes only doing so if the channel showing a blank screen is advanced one then back down again.
vincent Sunday 19 June 2011 1:18PM
I have lost a few channels since the switchover I have retuned but lost channel fiver and 5 USA . I have been told I have to do a first time installation on my digital tv recorder with freeview plus , but my menu doesnt give me this option .I live in the cramond area of edinburghjb38Sunday 19 June 2011 5:48PM
Vincent: It would have been of assistance to know what box you are referring to, however one thing you could try is to first of all pull the aerial out of your box then carry out an automatic re-scan, doing that will blank the stored channels memory.
Once done, plug the aerial in again and carry out another automatic scan to reload the channels available.MarkSunday 19 June 2011 8:20PM
Purfleet I last used freeview on monday with no issues
come back today and the picture is breaking up in strips on channels like bbc 1 2 with little or no sound,others are completely blank. The freeview signal meter on the screen stays in the same place. My aerial is outside on the side of the building.
I have done a re-tune of the box, but to no avail.
I have read the comments about the box but unsure who makes it. it has onn on the front and is a digital terrestrial receiver.
Any help appreciated thanksStephen RussWednesday 22 June 2011 1:34AM
Ok so I was just sitting there watching e4 when all of a sudden i lost signal. so i checked through all the channels and lost signal on quite a few of them. i decided to rescan to see if that would help and lost all my channels except the bbc ones.ScottWednesday 22 June 2011 1:57AM
Glasgow G12 0QN - new aerial fitted 2 months ago on roof.
Like Stephen Russ I have lost all channels apart from BBC channels in the last hour. I am an engineer so am capable of doing all the resetting and re-tuning but have had no luck. I am currently using a HUMAX digital PVR as well as a Samsung HD tv and neither device can find any channels except BBC ones. According to DigitalUK there are apparently no problems with the West of Scotland transmitter group so what on earth is going on then?peter corcoranWednesday 22 June 2011 2:31AM
Unplugging everything worked for me!!
Thank youRaymondWednesday 22 June 2011 2:50AM
Glasgow rescanned all my digital channels and now o nly have BBC channels all the ITV ones have disapeared have tried unplugging leads etc and switching on and off again but still the same. no ITV channels?Mike DimmickWednesday 22 June 2011 2:40PM
ALL: Officially the services from Black Hill were going to be off-air from midnight to 6 am. If you retuned between those times, your TV or box could have picked up signals from another transmitter, or a partially-completed reconfiguration from Black Hill.
If you're still having problems now, you should retune again first and see if the problem goes away.Norman SmithThursday 23 June 2011 2:59PM
Re tuned, fresh installation power off, disconnect aerial etc. all followed. Still no ch4, itv2 etc. Is there a problem in my area?
OX25ShuggyThursday 23 June 2011 3:52PM
Like people above I lost STV1,2 CH4, CH5 & I live in central Glasgow. I tried Unplugging mains and RF In and Re Scanned, to wipe all previous scans......NO Success. It still said NO or BAD signal.
I then tried a Reset to factory defaults and WHAZAM it found the missing channels. I don't know why it worked but there you go. I'm using a DVB-TDigital terrestrial receiver with outside aerial.
Hope this helps someone.Mike DimmickThursday 23 June 2011 4:24PM
Shuggy: In Glasgow, you would probably be using the Black Hill transmitter. All services were reshuffled to different frequencies on Wednesday morning (before 6am) as the analogue transmissions were turned off.
Everyone is recommended to do a full reset on both switchover days, and any subsequent major retunes involving frequency changes or mode changes, because some boxes will not discard previous channel information even if they detect new locations for those channels, or don't find the channels during one sweep.
If it's just a case of new channels starting up on an existing multiplex, the 'automatic scan' feature should work fine without discarding anything already known. You may still end up with channels that have closed in the EPG, and if a previous channel number is reused for a new service, or a channel moves to a different number, your box might not pick up the change or put the channel at the wrong place.Mike DimmickThursday 23 June 2011 4:40PM
Norman Smith: In OX25 you're likely to be using the Oxford transmitter. Mux 2, which carries those channels, is right at the top of the frequency range. Losing this often indicates that there is a problem with the cabling.
Has it been raining there today? Does it often coincide with wet weather? If so, it's likely that there's a leak somewhere allowing water to penetrate the dielectric of the cable - the insulation between the inner core and the outer screening - which reduces the ability of signals to travel along the cable. Higher frequencies suffer more loss than lower ones.
Check the seals on all external connectors and any boxes such as a masthead amplifier. The aerial should have been oriented so that the open side of the connection box, if any, faces down, so that any water that does get in can drain out. Also check that the cables are all well secured and haven't been rubbing against tiles or brickwork, as you start to get problems when the outer insulation wears through.
Finally, the outer insulation perishes with exposure to sunlight. They only last so long. If they've been up for more than 10 years they may need replacement.
If the dielectric is foam, it could be saturated and there's little that can be done to dry it out. If it's air-spaced, it should dry but water can run down it to the equipment at the bottom! There might be a loop where the cable enters the house, which could be full of water, which probably won't go away.Norman SmithThursday 23 June 2011 5:13PM
Bicester Mike Thanks a lot for the advice. I can check aerial cable at my end but will need an expert for the outside stuff. I don't do ladders since my last heart attack.Norman SmithThursday 23 June 2011 5:23PM
Bicester Just spotted this on the shutdowndetail.php page re Oxford transmitter
Transmitter engineering
Thursday 23 June 2011 3:38PM
99 minutes agoSeanThursday 23 June 2011 7:39PM
Musselburgh So - having emailed Sagem the other day when I posted on here I got the following reply back "The vast majority of our customers have had no difficulty in retuning their products after the switch-over. Unfortunately our PVR7280 range failed to adapt to the new broadcast system due to the age of that particular product line. Unfortunately it has now been confirmed that the PVR72xx series is physically unable to operate on the new / changed broadcast signal. This explains why you are not able to receive some of your channels anymore." So basically my box is now useless and I have had to buy another one.
P.S. Thanks jb38 for the info - apart from this it would appear I have been lucky that mine has worked for so long.
EddieThursday 23 June 2011 8:11PM
Hi, I re-tuned my freeview box yesterday and got all the channels, my mum switched off and unpluged the TV and freeview box last night like she does every night and I had to re-tune it all again this morning. Does the box need to be left plugged in during the night?jb38Thursday 23 June 2011 8:30PM
Sean: Thanks for the update on the situation regarding your Sagem PVR 7280, as although I wasn't 100% sure that compatibility with the new 8K transmission mode was the cause of your problem, I was however aware that these boxes had a bad reputation for reliability in various ways, and of course it was a bit too much of a coincidence that these problems only started after the mode change.
Your confirmation of this will be a useful addition to the notebook! jb38Thursday 23 June 2011 8:41PM
Eddie: You haven't mentioned what brand of box you are referring to, but basically boxes do not require to be left plugged in all the time to retain channels as they are stored in their memory, that is if "store" was selected after you had scanned and found the channels? as although some boxes may store them automatically some don't, and it requires the user to select this.
Steven CThursday 23 June 2011 9:21PM
Since the Blackhill switch over we've lost all of our freeview channels. I've tried the procedure below to no avail, we had no problems before. Any advice?
1. Remove the aerial from the equipment and leave unplugged.
2. Go to the menu and select rescan or retune. It’ll take a few minutes, but when it’s done, it should say ‘'no channels found’.
3. Disconnect the equipment from the mains power supply and leave it un-plugged for 30secs.
4. Re-connect both the aerial and the mains power supply and switch the equipment back on.
5. Go to menu again and select rescan or retune. paul omozikFriday 24 June 2011 12:42AM
Our 2 tv's & Humax pvr upstairs are fine after the rescan, but the Humax pvr downstairs is breaking up on all channels except BBC1&2.
The neighbours have a satellite dish on the ground right in the same corner where we have our humax positioned in the house, could this be causing the interference & other than moving the tv & pvr, is there anything we can do to sort this?
Thanks
Pauljb38Friday 24 June 2011 7:16AM
Steven C: This would strongly suggest that your equipment is not capable of responding to the 8K transmission mode that came into effect at switchover, have a check at the tuner specification shown in your devices operating manual.
If it only shows 2K then unfortunately there is nothing you can do about this, as its not rectifiable.
jb38Friday 24 June 2011 7:25AM
paul omozik: The satellite dish will have no effect on your system. You should carry out a signal strength / quality check on Humax box concerned, as your problem would appear to be caused more by the signal going into the box being a bit on the weak side, so if its fed from your set up upstairs it should be done via a two way powered splitter.
Mike DimmickFriday 24 June 2011 7:02PM
Steven C: Did you get all the BBC channels between the first stage on the 8th and the second stage on the 22nd? If so, your box is certainly 8K-capable.
Did you retune on both days? All the digital signals moved to new frequencies, the PSB channels taking over the old analogue frequencies (which were the best allocations in this location). You would need to have done a full reset, also called a first-time installation, a full retune or a default setting, to ensure that the box forgot about the old location for the channels. Some won't save channels that they already think they know about.
Many people find that they have too much signal after switchover. If you have a booster or amplifier, remove it. It shouldn't be necessary any more (though you haven't provided a location, so I can't check). Signal levels might still be too high even after this, you can add an attenuator to reduce them further.Roger Friday 24 June 2011 10:19PM
HELP,,i bought a nice little black and white portable from a "save the haggis" charity shop yesterday, the problem i'm having is i can't get sky sports on it even if i put it near the window, what am i doing wrong, i get the magic roundabout and playhouse but no US open golf, my mum said it might be the fuse. HELPTSaturday 25 June 2011 11:50PM
I have a Goodmans Tv with built in freeview. Until last week no problems but now all ITV, Channel 4 and 5 are pixilating even though signal strength is good. is there a problem in the Yorkshire area.CharlotteSunday 26 June 2011 11:49AM
Bath Help!
I have a Technika lcd24-620 that has built in freeview, and my post code is BA1 2BN. Since the switch over I have only received multiplexes 1 and 2, but today I have very poor/no signal on multiplex 2. The signal strength on ch25 is good, but it's not receiving signal from any other channels.
I unplugged everything, blanked the channel line-up and re-scanned, but that achieved zilch. So I reset factory settings which has returned multiplex 2 channels, but the signal is terrible. Nothing has changed; the aerial still points towards the transmission tower, it's not raining (in fact it's a lovely sunny day), and all my cables are fine, the tv has been receiving signal for over a year (and still is on multiplex 1) and reportedly signal around Bath is fine.
Is there anything more I can do? And when will multiplexes A, B, C and D be available in Bath? We switched over in March 2010, so we've been waiting a LONG long time.
Thanks!M GouldSunday 26 June 2011 12:07PM
I have a freeview box - Goodmans - which picked up all the channels before switchover. I am now missing all the main BBC channels but have fantastic picture on STV, CH4 etc. I have an indoor aerial. I have re-tuned - reset the box to factory settings removed the aerial retuned, plugged it back in and retuned, still no BBC. The box seems to know it's there as sometimes the info comes up for it but no pic. I used to get a great picture on all BBC channels and now nothing since switchover. Please, Please help Jm FSunday 26 June 2011 12:52PM
M Gould: Need to know which transmitter you are receiving from.
Some early Goodmans boxes won't work with offset channel frequencies, so if your tranmsitter has changed to a mix of non-offset frequencies and offset frequencies, your Goodmans box may only receive the non-offset frequencies.
My first digibox (Goodmans GDB3) behaved in this fashion.s.haydockSunday 26 June 2011 1:48PM
Killin how do I line up aerial with transmitter? is there an easy way without calling out proffesional installer?paulSunday 26 June 2011 2:23PM
Hi All. Hopefully some of you will be able to help me if you can!
My freeview box has suddenyl decided to only show the BBC channels, previously i had quite a few channels available. Ive tried deleting all the exisiting channels and re installing/scanning for channels like you would do if you were installing it for the first time about 4 or 5 times but to no avail.
At first the other channels appeared on the EPG but with no singal on the screen but since i re scanned only the bbc channles appear on the EPG.
Im in the South west area and im currently on UHF and channel 25 (506.00) i dont know if that helps at all. My freeview box is sperate from the tv and i have a outisde ariel that un till today has been fine
thanks for anyhelp
MazbarSunday 26 June 2011 2:42PM
Paul you might have a problem with your aerial if the cable is faulty this could cause the problem . If you have another freeview box try that if that is the same it could be your aerial
c and a aerials ormskirk lancashireSiobhanSunday 26 June 2011 3:40PM
Please help! I have tried everything!
I have lost all itv stations, C4, C5 and E4!!! I seem to have acquired some BBC stations which I will never watch. I have carried out all retuning steps and processes several times. I have a phillips freeview box which is seperate from my TV.
Any hints or tips would be appreciated
ThanksCharlotteSunday 26 June 2011 4:41PM
Bath Paul
I'm having the same problems today. It's not your box, it has to be their signal. I wrote a post earlier today that appears on page 38, and I'm still having no luck.
I've since tried my tv in a different location in Bath, and it works there. I've also tried a different tv in my house and that works. Upshot is, it's not the tv and it's not the cables, it's the signal.
Is anyone going to fix it please?valentinaSunday 26 June 2011 6:20PM
this has happened to me, i live in bath and i am only showing the bbc channels, like Paul, i also reset the channels by autoscanning them, and only the bbc channels showed up, whereas before c4, e4, itv etc just showed 'no signal' now they are not there! what is happening? i have a matsui freeview box.paulSunday 26 June 2011 8:27PM
I have a currys own brand freeview box but it seems it doesnt matter what freeview box you have with this it wont work for any of us!!!
anyone heard of any reason/explanation yet?
9it is reasurrin that others are going through this as well though lol)jb38Sunday 26 June 2011 8:33PM
valentina: There IS problems at the Bath transmitter, but the thing that should be remembered is, that although its maybe a commonly done thing to immediately carry out a re-scan in an attempt to recover the channels lost its not always the best policy.
The downside of doing this being, that anyone who has done this will require to keep re-scanning at very regular intervals (maybe 30 mins or so) to check if the channels lost have returned, whereas if things had been left as they were the programme channels would have came back on again themselves when selected from the EPG, as they havent actually been lost, but would be on a re-scan.
This is the snag with DTT, as unlike analogue the programmes in the EPG are only those that applied at the time of the scan, as DTT doesn't update automatically if something lost returns.
paulSunday 26 June 2011 9:07PM
Mines just this second come back on after my gf tried it.
She either tried the auto scan or the channel scan that is in the installation menu.
hope everyone else is up and running
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