Satellite TV is one of those areas where DIY ranges from trivial to dangerous. Knowing which side of the line you are on saves money and keeps you safe. DIY-Friendly Problems Rebooting the receiver. Running a fresh channel scan. Reseating F-connectors at the receiver end. Checking batteries in the remote. Swapping HDMI cables. Factory resetting…
If you are new to satellite TV, every problem looks serious. In reality, the same small set of faults accounts for 90% of calls. Here is your beginner's diagnostic checklist. Fault 1: “No Signal” Check the receiver is on, the HDMI input is right, and the LNB cable is connected. If strength is 0, suspect…
A thunderstorm rolls through, and the next day your satellite picture is worse than before. Lightning and storms damage satellite systems in predictable ways. Here is what to check. What Lightning Does Even without a direct strike, a nearby lightning bolt induces a voltage in the coax. This can destroy the LNB front end. Symptoms:…
4K satellite channels demand far more from your dish, cable and receiver than ordinary HD. A setup that is rock-solid for 1080p can stutter on a UHD channel. Here is what to check. Why 4K Is Different 4K satellite channels use higher-order modulation (32APSK in DVB-S2X) and higher bitrates. They need a cleaner, stronger carrier….
You press buttons on the remote and nothing happens — but the box itself is still playing. Before you buy a new remote, work through the simple causes. Step 1: Check the Obvious Are the remote batteries fresh and in the right way round? Is there an obstacle between the remote and the box? Does…
The dish is fine, the signal is locked, but the TV shows no picture through HDMI. A surprising number of “satellite faults” are actually HDMI problems between the receiver and the television. Symptom 1: No Picture at All Check the TV is on the right HDMI input. Reseat both ends of the HDMI cable. Try…
Two frustrating satellite quirks: channels that appear in the list but show nothing (“ghost channels”), and a programme guide that lists the wrong programmes. Both are usually channel-list issues, not dish issues. What Are Ghost Channels? A ghost channel is a list entry pointing at a transponder or channel that no longer exists. Selecting it…
When a receiver starts misbehaving — freezing, wrong EPG, ghost channels, weird menus — a factory reset often clears it. It is the nuclear option, but a safe one. Here is how, and what you will lose. What a Factory Reset Does It wipes the channel list, your favourites, timers, parental PINs and picture settings,…
If your satellite picture cuts out whenever the weather turns, your installation has thin signal margin. It is fixable, but you need to understand which weather triggers it. When Wind Causes Cut-Outs Wind moving the dish a fraction of a millimetre is enough to drop a marginal signal. Causes: Loose dish bolts or a flexing…
Lips move before the words arrive, or the sound finishes a sentence before the mouth stops — audio out of sync is one of the most annoying satellite TV faults. It is almost always fixable. Why It Happens Digital video takes a moment to buffer and decode. The audio and video streams, which were aligned…