Sky TV problem - strange one.....

[HoHoHo]

In short:

Have two Sky Boxes at home (+ & HD), all the cables laid some years ago (within walls etc.) and all TV's have magic mice to change channels.

One room has a strange problem......

If I have a magic mouse connected to the cable in the games room I can watch Sky+ in that room and others but can't change channels in either the games room or any others - the little red light is on and everything would appear to be normal. Unplug the mouse, connect the aerial cable as normal and yes I can still see Sky+ in the games room and everything goes back to normal in the other rooms with channels changed via remote.

I've taken the connectors off the ends at both ends of the games room cable and all seem to be OK, nothing shorting etc.

To re-wire for one room would be an enormous task and I suspect there's damage to the cable somewhere (albeit there's obviously 9V passing through the cable form the sky+ box sender), so any thoughts as to what might be going on? and is there a way of sending a signal from the Sky+ box to that room wirelessley that actually works and will still allow me to change channels in that room rather than having to run back to the study where the Sky+ box is?

Or, could the problem perhaps not be the cable but in fact the Sky+ box is on the way out?

Thanks

[bristolracer]

Have you tried a new magic eye?
Get one off ebay for a fiver and try this.
Are there any connectors in line? more tan about 3 and the eye will start to struggle (its not just the 9v the eye returns a 7mhz return signal to the box)

Failing that if the picture to the tv is good then get one of these

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TELEVES-DIGIDOM-WIRELESS...

you can use it for a remote relay.

[HoHoHo]

bristolracer said:

Have you tried a new magic eye?
Get one off ebay for a fiver and try this.
Are there any connectors in line? more tan about 3 and the eye will start to struggle (its not just the 9v the eye returns a 7mhz return signal to the box)

Failing that if the picture to the tv is good then get one of these

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TELEVES-DIGIDOM-WIRELESS...

you can use it for a remote relay.

Yep, tried a different eye and the same issue.

There's nothing in line from the powered extender in the study to the tv....it's all very strange!

The picture is perfect and I'll have a look at the link, thanks.

[VEX]

What type of screen is it?

What is the ir receive indicator do on the front of the sky box when it is connected?

Could that leg be producing ir noise that is swamping the other ir signals trying to get back?

V.

[HoHoHo]

VEX said:

What type of screen is it?

What is the ir receive indicator do on the front of the sky box when it is connected?

Could that leg be producing ir noise that is swamping the other ir signals trying to get back?

V.

It's a plasma, but I used to have an LCD on the wall. It happens on both TV's.

As far as I can see its fine and working normally.

That leg could be, how do I check?

Thanks

[Magic919]

Try swapping the Sky boxes.

[HoHoHo]

Magic919 said:

Try swapping the Sky boxes.

Not thought of that!

Bit of a pain, but it can be done.

Thanks.

[miniman]

You can only use one magic eye on a box unless you have a proper distribution box such as http://www.tvlink.co.uk/t-series-amplifiers.htm

[HoHoHo]

miniman said:

You can only use one magic eye on a box unless you have a proper distribution box such as http://www.tvlink.co.uk/t-series-amplifiers.htm

That's exactly what I have.

I used to have 6 TV's all with magic eyes and all working - only have 5 now!

[miniman]

In which case I would concur that the cable is damaged somewhere. Mine was always terribly sensitive to kinks, crushes and so forth, and the red light would sometimes be lit when the thing wasn't working.

[HoHoHo]

miniman said:

In which case I would concur that the cable is damaged somewhere. Mine was always terribly sensitive to kinks, crushes and so forth, and the red light would sometimes be lit when the thing wasn't working.

That's my 'logical' conclusion, but I'll swap boxes just to make sure.

Any thoughts on a wireless sender that I can still change sky channels with?

[megaphone]

Swap the outputs on the distribution amp, see if the fault moves to another TV.

[HoHoHo]

megaphone said:

Swap the outputs on the distribution amp, see if the fault moves to another TV.

Did that and it's still happening on the same tv.

[megaphone]

Do you have an outlet face plate? Have you checked this to see if there's anything amiss?

[HoHoHo]

No faceplate, simply a cable routed through the house.

I suspect a mouse has had a chew somewhere!

[megaphone]

HoHoHo said:

No faceplate, simply a cable routed through the house.

I suspect a mouse has had a chew somewhere!

It's looking like it could be the cable, have you checked for a short with a meter? Also check the fly-lead that goes from the Eye to the TV. Have you tried with just the magic eye on the cable, not connected to the TV or fly-lead?

[JimbobVFR]

HoHoHo said:

That's my 'logical' conclusion, but I'll swap boxes just to make sure.

Any thoughts on a wireless sender that I can still change sky channels with?

Keep watching with the existing cable but add a powermid or similar to carry the remote signal. Would be a quick solution, although I'm sure you can resolve this if you keep trying.

e.g. http://www.amazon.co.uk/PowerMid-Remote-Control-Ex...

[HoHoHo]

JimbobVFR said:

HoHoHo said:

That's my 'logical' conclusion, but I'll swap boxes just to make sure.

Any thoughts on a wireless sender that I can still change sky channels with?

Keep watching with the existing cable but add a powermid or similar to carry the remote signal. Would be a quick solution, although I'm sure you can resolve this if you keep trying.

e.g. http://www.amazon.co.uk/PowerMid-Remote-Control-Ex...

Thanks, a good idea.

That's the confusing element of this conundrum.......If I plug the Ariel lead straight into the TV the signal is good, it only goes wonky if I then use the mouse - the picture is still there, still as good but you just lose the ability to change channels anywhere else in the house on that box

[pete a]

Try a loose coax lead from the amp to the tv from the same port and test it, if it works great you have a cable fault, if not call an aerial engineer who will work it out for you.

[headcase]

Sounds like an amp fault to me. Does the amp have its own psu or does it just rely on the feed from the sky box? When they go faulty its not unusual to have a weird fault.