Pioneer 508xda And Sbs Hd

[bantam]

mine does it regardless of how recent you've changed to the channel, and so far it's only been happening to SBS.

at times it can drop out every 5 seconds over a 30 second period, and at times it can just drop out once in a couple of hours.

My 508xda should (hopefully) arrive next week. I also have a 428xda which has this same problem with SBS and has had it since day one. Pioneer were told about it and the guy I spoke to said there was a problem with the tuners on some 428's. This is the second 428 I have had as the first one had a broken bezel and was replaced finally about 3 weeks ago. It also kept dropping out on SBS. I have a Sharp CRT running thru a Pioneer SH-DT500 set top box and it never drops out on SBS. Figure that out!

Edited April 17, 2008 by bantam

[spalmills]

lol...

dont pick on me.. i am too busy enjoying the tv to notice little coloured rectangles!! if i had of read that part of the manual i would have known that

[CoNFooZeD]

This thread is very interesting. I have exactly the same issue with SBS and sometimes 7 on my 428 XDA. When I change to those channels it seems to momentarily loose synch for a second with a black screen and then it comes back on like I changed channels twice. I put it down to those channels having a lower signal strength. The signal strength on those channels occasionally drops one bar from the top of the range, however it is usually right at the top and my pc tuner works fine from the same aerial.

There must be something else going on if this many people in different states have the same issue with the same channels.

[bernng]

dont pick on me.. i am too busy enjoying the tv to notice little coloured rectangles!! if i had of read that part of the manual i would have known that

Not picking on you mate!

I just find it amusing that I'm not the only one that will be too engrossed with the TV to notice everything else!!

[spalmills]

Not picking on you mate!

I just find it amusing that I'm not the only one that will be too engrossed with the TV to notice everything else!!

Yeah, but its not just me and you !! I know you werent picking

[terryansimon]

hmm if the TV's signal meter is any reliable, it's showing that I've got full signal strength for SBS HD. and you know what, it's starting to happen on 9HD as well. I'm really wondering if this is becoming an inherent flaw of the inbuilt HD box, or the signal that I am receiving from my antenna point.

[spalmills]

hmm if the TV's signal meter is any reliable, it's showing that I've got full signal strength for SBS HD. and you know what, it's starting to happen on 9HD as well. I'm really wondering if this is becoming an inherent flaw of the inbuilt HD box, or the signal that I am receiving from my antenna point.

Gday again,

It happens mostly on sbs hd and a couple of times on 7HD. Watched 9HD tonight and no issues.

I did notice that a couple of times the signal meter was one box short of being full a few times on SBS but other times it was full and still did it. Awaiting reply from Pioneer

[terryansimon]

cool. will be eagerly waiting your post up on Pioneer's reply. (=

[spalmills]

cool. will be eagerly waiting your post up on Pioneer's reply. (=

I didnt say i was going to tell you the response !!!

Just a joke

Edited April 17, 2008 by spalmills

[monte1503562235]

Gday again,

It happens mostly on sbs hd and a couple of times on 7HD. Watched 9HD tonight and no issues.

I did notice that a couple of times the signal meter was one box short of being full a few times on SBS but other times it was full and still did it. Awaiting reply from Pioneer

it's happening to me on 7HD and SBS HD as well but only if I change from a different channel to 7HD or SBS HD. If I don't change channels, everything is OK without synch problems.

I put this down to signal from antenna...will go up the roof and play around with the antenna, moving by a couple degrees to see if it helps....will let you guys know how I go

[teko]

I have the same issue. Always on SBS and infrequently on 7HD. Regarding the signal strength issue, Pioneer tech support guy also mentioned that the signal and quality strength meters are not very accurate on XDA. I paid my local antenna guy $50- to come and check signal strength (Was initially have signal problems with Channel 10).

Also interested to know how you go with solving this issue Spalmills.

Edited April 17, 2008 by teko

[spalmills]

I have the same issue. Always on SBS and infrequently on 7HD. Regarding the signal strength issue, Pioneer tech support guy also mentioned that the signal and quality strength meters are not very accurate on XDA. I paid my local antenna guy $50- to come and check signal strength (Was initially have signal problems with Channel 10).

Also interested to know how you go with solving this issue Spalmills.

What was the outcome of the signal strength teko?

[monte1503562235]

it's happening to me on 7HD and SBS HD as well but only if I change from a different channel to 7HD or SBS HD. If I don't change channels, everything is OK without synch problems.

I put this down to signal from antenna...will go up the roof and play around with the antenna, moving by a couple degrees to see if it helps....will let you guys know how I go

went up on the roof on Sat and moved the antenna slightly by about 10degrees, took out the 2way spliter box, and ran a new RG6 cable direct from antenna to the XDA. went inside and tried SBS HD again and after changing channels repeated for over an hour, did not experience any problems with synch on SBS HD...have tried all week-end and have not seen the synch problem again. So maybe this is in fact a signal strength issue??? I had a 20meter cable from the spliter to the bedroom so maybe this was reducing the quality of the signal...maybe you guys can tweak around with your antenna set-up and let us know how you go. thanks

[spalmills]

i emailed pioneer about it

Their response

"This is a known issue and we are referring to our Engineers in Japan for a Rectification in the mean time please be patient , If you could call us to discuss further we can book a service call in and send a technician to assess the issue in more detail that would be appreciated so that we have a better understanding of your problem."

A little strange saying that they are awaiting info from Japan but want come and have a look to better understand the issue...hmm

[Stone1503560339]

They want to see how severe it is for you, if it's too severe to watch SBS they may change over your panel, in the hope that the changeover isn't as bad.

Edited April 21, 2008 by Stone

[spalmills]

They want to see how severe it is for you, if it's too severe to watch SBS they may change over your panel, in the hope that the changeover isn't as bad.

Its not severe at all, just curious as to why it is happening

[bantam]

Its not severe at all, just curious as to why it is happening

I wish I could say mine wasn't severe but sometimes it is not worth trying to watch SBS on the 428's tuner and I have to switch over to Foxtel to watch SBS. I sincerely hope that my 508 is not the same (when it finally arrives).

[teko]

What was the outcome of the signal strength teko?

Aerial was not aligned correctly, I am assuming it had been blown by the gale winds Victoria experienced only days before I got my XDA installed. Anyway, repositioned and tightened brackets and all was OK. He did give me signal strength readings if it is of interest to anyone. Didin't fix the SBS problem. Interesting your response with Pioneers Spalmils, I might place that call also.

Cheers.

Edited April 21, 2008 by teko

[Iglesia]

It's got something to do with the antenna/signal strength. I've got an indoor antenna and every now and then I have to move it when the signal plays up. I then sometimes notice this "synching" issue on a channel when I've moved it into a certain position. It only "re-syncs" once when I initially change the channel, not repeatedly, so it doesn't really bother me. However, if I move the antenna into a different position it usually fixes the problem.

Edited April 21, 2008 by Iglesia

[spalmills]

Aerial was not aligned correctly, I am assuming it had been blown by the gale winds Victoria experienced only days before I got my XDA installed. Anyway, repositioned and tightened brackets and all was OK. He did give me signal strength readings if it is of interest to anyone. Didin't fix the SBS problem. Interesting your response with Pioneers Spalmils, I might place that call also.

Cheers.

thanks for the reply buddy.

The only issue that i have about getting them to look at it is that it doesnt do it everytime i change to sbs, so my luck would be that they come out and there is no issue when they try it.

I also asked them if there was anyway of speeding up the time to change channels through the built in tuner. They said no and that it was within acceptable levels..... Compared to what i wonder?

Edited April 21, 2008 by spalmills

[dixie]

Hi Guys,

I have been down this road before, about two months ago. See... http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?act=Sea...sult_type=posts

If I knew how to shorten the above, I would have, anyway the outcome was after spending many hundreds of dollars, on cabling, antenna technicians etc I discovered that the Pioneer tuner, really is a cow of a thing and is just too over sensitive to any signal fluctuation what so ever.

I have a good digital signal where I live, but the Pioneer tends to require a great signal stength, to lock onto and retain.

I had a dropping out problem from day one with my 428xda and after the tuner was replaced and the Plasma was also replaced, the problem still exists.

This only occurrs on SBS, ABC and Prime most of the time and occasionally on NBN, but never...I repeat never on TEN.

Ten is UHF in my area and the others are VHF, so as I see it, the tuner is super sensitive to VHF frequencies. I have spoken to Pioneer on numerous occasions regarding a firmware update, to de sensitise these tuners, but as yet nothing has come forward.

My solution ....every Monday, I wipe all tuning data from the eprom and retune all channels. It hasn't fixed the problem, but my dropouts have improved by 70% and I just live with it, as the picture is just too good to replace with another set.

Come on Pioneer, this has been going on for months..where is that firmware fix?

Regards...............Dixie.

Edited April 21, 2008 by dixie

[Iglesia]

I have been down this road before, about two months ago. See... http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?act=Sea...sult_type=posts

I've never had that "dropping in and out" problem you mentioned. It will try and re-sync SBS once when I initially change the channel and then it's perfect after that.

Edited April 21, 2008 by Iglesia

[spalmills]

I've never had that "dropping in and out" problem you mentioned. It will try and re-sync SBS once when I initially change the channel and then it's perfect after that.

Same here, although today it did it about 5-10 seconds after the picture appeared. Its usually within the first 2 or 3 seconds.

[KOAZ]

I've tried searching this forum but I've not found anything on it (could be due to my urh... less than adequate skills in searching)... hence my question... apologies if it has been posted before, though

I notice that each time I use the inbuilt HD tuner in my Pioneer to watch FTA channels, I've got no issues. until I switch the channel to SBS HD (Channel 30 and/or 31). the channel will change with the information being displayed on the upper right hand corner telling you that you have changed the channel to D030/D031, and that it's SBS HD.

however, a few seconds later, the screen changes and it looks like as if I have changed the channel to SBS HD again. and it keeps happening sporadically. I initially thought it was the remote control, so I did unplug the batteries to the remote control, but it is still happening.

this only happens to SBS HD, and not with my other HD channels (or so I've noticed so far). it happens if I key in the channels via the keypad, or via the channel list that you call up by pressing Enter on the remote.

anybody experienced such a problem before?

terryansimon,

I went home and checked out SBS HD (Channel 30) and yep the same thing happens to me as well.

I changed to HD SBS and about 5-7 seconds after the picture appeared it goes blank and then the picture reappears.

But once it does this the channel stays perfect after that.

Very annoying i must say. BTW: I am using the internal tuner as well, not an external HD tuner.

I will be calling Pio Tech. support to see what they have to say as well.

So you are not alone.

koaz

[spalmills]

terryansimon,

I went home and checked out SBS HD (Channel 30) and yep the same thing happens to me as well.

I changed to HD SBS and about 5-7 seconds after the picture appeared it goes blank and then the picture reappears.

But once it does this the channel stays perfect after that.

Very annoying i must say. BTW: I am using the internal tuner as well, not an external HD tuner.

I will be calling Pio Tech. support to see what they have to say as well.

So you are not alone.

koaz

I tested again this morning - turned the tv on went to sbs hd , did the same thing.

But then i changed to other channels and back to sbs about 10 times and didnt do it once.

I know if i get a pio technician out here it will not do it when i need to show someone..