Twin Feed LNB for Humax Freesat Problem

[minx]

Hi

I have a Humax Freesat twin tuner HD receiver for use in France. I have a fixed dish set on 28 east. I can get all the Freesat channels available in the U.K.

I wanted to use the full twin tuner functionality of the Humax to watch one channel and record another. So, I bought a Technomate twin feed LNB, a second length of coaxial cable. I now have two coax feeds from the LNB each lead pluggged into the separate tuners of the Humax.

However I'm disappointed to find that, whilst I can record two channels at the same time or watch one and record another (or indeed record two channels and view a previously recorded channel), there are only a limited number of channels available. Some of the channels appear greyed out on the channel list, when recording another channel. I'm not looking at viewing another satellite, just want to have the option of all channels pulled in on 28 east, using my twin feed LNB and to be able to record two or watch one and record the other.
When I only had one feed, I could record one channel and watch another so long as they were both on the same transducer. I did think that the twin feed LNB and second coax cable would give me what I wanted. What have I misunderstood? Right p***ed off as I was all set to watch The Golden Lady on BBC2 tonight and to record Hinterland on BBC4. At 9pm when Hinterland should have started recording, I got a conflict message and had to cancel the recording so as to continue watching The Golden Lady.

Thanks

[Mickha]

You should be able to, provided both tuners, and LNB outputs, are working correctly.
Have you tested them?
Run the first cable, from the LNB, to Tuner A, and flick through the channels, then attach this cable to Tuner B and flick through the channels, then do the same with the second cable.
What is the model number, of your Humax freesat receiver?
Have you checked the manual?
Do you have to set up the tuners, in the menu?

[TonyO]

The greyed out channels in the list might be the encrypted ones which are not free on Freesat ?

[minx]

Thanks for the replies. Sporadic internet here in rural France.
Right the model is a 2012 Foxsat-HDR it has 500gb hard drive and 2 hd tuners.
There are no tuner set up requirements in the manual other than ensuring that LNB1 feed goes to LNB1 in the receiver and the other coax feed into LNB 2 on the receiver. Tried removing one lead and all channels were there. Then did the same with the other feed and all channels there. Then switched LNB feeds to other LNB inputs on the receiver- all channels present. Then connected both up and checked both tuners shown as connected with 90% signal and 100% quality.
So listening to radio at moment whilst SWMBO snoozed. It's on ClassicFm (channel 721). Press record and it is now recording Classic Fm on channel 721. But if I then go to Radio 4 Extra (channel 708) when I press to select this, it's greyed out and a little 'prohibited' notice come up on the screen (a circle with a diagonal line through it). So it would seem I can't listen to Radio 4 Extra for example whilst listening to Classic, but can listen to BBC radio 2. So not sure what to try next.

[Detlef]

It is more likely to be that the LNB has not been focussed properly* (or that the dish has been moved slightly out of alignment)

The Humax has a signal strength meter built in - usually accessed by pressing the "i" button several times on a watchable channel or on later models by menu > settings . signal info. Note the second input will not show a signal unless it is being used to record.

* There are two things that you can do to the LNB
1) Skew - the rotation of the LNB in its holder
2) For / aft movement

Assuming the dish has not been disturbed you will need to do "1" and "2" several times to get an optimum signal.

I get a perfectly good signal on a Sky Zone 2 dish in the Savoie region but can lose some HD channels in the worst winter weather.

[Mickha]

I found a link, to a review, of the Foxsat receiver, and according to that it should work:

http://www.stevelarkins.freeuk.com/humax-foxsat-hdr-review.htm

You have already tested both LNB cables, and outputs, so I can only assume that the problem lies with the receiver.
Can you borrow another twin satellite receiver, to see if that works, on your setup?

[Detlef]

The other thing that can cause your problem is if it is recording 2 channels - often possible without you knowing as it can add up to 10 minutes either side of a recording.

Look in Schedule to see what it is doing.

BTW I am quite a fan of the Humax's. I have a Foxsat HDR in France and an Foxsat HDR-1010S here in Germany.

[Mickha]

What firmware version do you have loaded?
Can you try doing a factory reset, scanning in the channels again, then see if it works?

[minx]

Regarding the skew and movement of the LNB up the holder, I set up the LNB using a digital satellite meter and maximised the signal. I found by swapping the LNB feeds as suggested earlier and all channels are being received, so I'm struggling to see that the problem is a matter of signal optimisation.
The schedule doesn't show anything recoding to cause the problem.
Unfortunately I don't have another twin receiver I can try and we're very remote.
Tomorrow, I will check the firmware and update, factory reset and try again. I'll post back. Thanks for all suggestions and have a good Sunday.

[minx]

No, still not able to watch one and record another. Wanted to record midsummer murders on 1TV HD (yeah I know, but I suffer from insomnia) and watch Michael Mosley on BBC4 HD. But no. Once Midsummer scheduled, BBC4HD now greyed out. In the end deleted the scheduled recording. But still really disappointed that the Humax doesn't seem to allow what it claims i.e. allowing one to watch one and record another at the same time.

[Detlef]

It definitely should be able to let you watch one and record another - otherwise there is no point in it having two tuners.

If I disconnect one cable on my 1010s it states "Freest box connected with 1 cable" on the signal strength page.

Humax Foxsat boxes are very power saving, that is standby uses almost nothing (unlike the older Sly+ boxes that that turned off the front panel LED but you could still fry an egg on them).

If you are just watching one channel and not recording anything the second LNB gets turned off, so my guess is that the economy routine is failing. Either that or the power supply is suspect and can't handle powering two LNBS at the same time.

[minx]

Thanks Detlef for the information. I suspect it isn't a power supply issue as it will record some channels whilst watching another. The problem is that it works only on certain channels. Hence I could record BBC1HD whilst listening to Radio 4.
I wasn't able to record ITVHD and watch BBC4 HD at the same time, for example.

[Mickha]

Even with one tuner you can view/record channels sharing the same transponder, so that doesn't prove both tuners are working, or set up correctly.
Using my VU+ Duo 2 I can record one transponder, and view all other channels, on different transponders, but I had to set my second tuner, Tuner B, to second cable from motorized dish, I suspect there must be a setting, in your receiver, to get this working, otherwise it must be a hardware, or software, fault, as the receiver was designed to record one transponder, and view others, or record two separate transponders.

What happens if you remove the LNB 1 cable and try scanning in all the channels using just the cable connected to LNB 2?

[ABA]

this may sound silly but on the back of the humax box there are 3 coax sockets are you in the right two you want the outer two the centre one is a loop through for another box
connect the coax up then check signal strength and quality then swap coaxs over and check signal strength and quality again and see if both reading are the same