With Freeview this is invariably impulse interference getting into the aerial or cable and is most common in apartment blocks where there are long runs of cable (often substandard cable) running close to mains power cables - sometimes (stupidly) sharing the same conduit!
Digital satellite is far less susceptible to impulse interference because of the way it is encoded and also because the LNB outputs quite a high signal level compared with Freeview terrestrial. Nevertheless it can be affected by interference picked up by the cable.
In addition, it is susceptible to interference from microwave ovens, "Snooper" type radar detectors in cars and various other sources of high frequency radiation. Sometimes the dish just happens to be directly in line with a ground station transmitting horizontally. In this case, the answer is to reposition the dish - preferably mounting it at ground level or on a different wall where it's shielded from the interfering beam.
I'm not saying that the "freezing" etc. is not caused by software or Hard Drive problems but don't close your mind to other possible causes. Test your Digibox at a friend's house to see if the problem still remains. If it doesn't then stop blaming Amstrad.
2. Overheating
Most electronic equipment is specified as safe to store up to (say) an ambient temperature of 50 degrees C and to operate up to (say) 30'C. I haven't looked at the DRX-180 specifications but it would surprise me if a piece of "consumer electronics" has been designed to operate reliably at a higher temperature. It would greatly increase the cost with little reason.
A well designed piece of equipment will sense when the CPU is too hot and will shut down to protect itself.
Note that an "ambient temperature" refers to room temperature and, if you shut your equipment inside a cabinet inside a room whose ambient is already some 35 - 40'C, then you shouldn't be surprised if it malfunctions. A fan won't help because the *coolest* air available is 35'C. The answer is to install the equipment in a cool place and control it remotely with a "magic eye" system.
Another point worthy of note is that some components - especially electrolytic capacitors - are rated according to temperature. So, for example, a capacitor may be rated as having a 4000 hour life (*typical) at 85'C. Equipment stuck in a cabinet is likely to achieve internal temperatures in excess of 50'C so you've reduced its working life to just 16000 hours. That's just 660 days or less than 2 years.
*Capacitor life doubles for every 10'C reduction in temperature so 4000/85'C equates to an 8000/75'C or a 16000/65'C life.
I hope these facts help you to visualise what's going on.
The problem is consumers do things like block up ventilation slots with magazines and the like and as you say put things in cabinets where the fan makes no sense at all. We do go to the trouble to metion ventilation in all Amstrad instraction books ( for products where heat is an issue) but as ever no one ever reads them.
We know all about capacitors that dry out and pop. Believe it or not we do use high grade capacitors and other parts in the PSU of our STB's and we do pay a bit more, as we need to make sure that the STB has a long home life . We do assume in some cases that they will be subject to minor abuse in respect to heat.
Sir Alan Sugar[
QUOTE=Sam Radford.]1. Picture freezing, jumping etc.
With Freeview this is invariably impulse interference getting into the aerial or cable and is most common in apartment blocks where there are long runs of cable (often substandard cable) running close to mains power cables - sometimes (stupidly) sharing the same conduit!
Digital satellite is far less susceptible to impulse interference because of the way it is encoded and also because the LNB outputs quite a high signal level compared with Freeview terrestrial. Nevertheless it can be affected by interference picked up by the cable.
In addition, it is susceptible to interference from microwave ovens, "Snooper" type radar detectors in cars and various other sources of high frequency radiation. Sometimes the dish just happens to be directly in line with a ground station transmitting horizontally. In this case, the answer is to reposition the dish - preferably mounting it at ground level or on a different wall where it's shielded from the interfering beam.
I'm not saying that the "freezing" etc. is not caused by software or Hard Drive problems but don't close your mind to other possible causes. Test your Digibox at a friend's house to see if the problem still remains. If it doesn't then stop blaming Amstrad.
2. Overheating
Most electronic equipment is specified as safe to store up to (say) an ambient temperature of 50 degrees C and to operate up to (say) 30'C. I haven't looked at the DRX-180 specifications but it would surprise me if a piece of "consumer electronics" has been designed to operate reliably at a higher temperature. It would greatly increase the cost with little reason.
A well designed piece of equipment will sense when the CPU is too hot and will shut down to protect itself.
Note that an "ambient temperature" refers to room temperature and, if you shut your equipment inside a cabinet inside a room whose ambient is already some 35 - 40'C, then you shouldn't be surprised if it malfunctions. A fan won't help because the *coolest* air available is 35'C. The answer is to install the equipment in a cool place and control it remotely with a "magic eye" system.
Another point worthy of note is that some components - especially electrolytic capacitors - are rated according to temperature. So, for example, a capacitor may be rated as having a 4000 hour life (*typical) at 85'C. Equipment stuck in a cabinet is likely to achieve internal temperatures in excess of 50'C so you've reduced its working life to just 16000 hours. That's just 660 days or less than 2 years.
*Capacitor life doubles for every 10'C reduction in temperature so 4000/85'C equates to an 8000/75'C or a 16000/65'C life.
I hope these facts help you to visualise what's going on.[/QUOTE]
Have had my Amstrad for nearly six months now and it has crashed once. Works like a dream.
I have had no crashes or freezes since the software update on my Amstrad box. Before that I got many of the problems listed on this forum. I have had my box since the end of March.
I recall that soon after installation, I got a call from Sky Customer Services, and when I said about occasional freezing and jerkiness, the guy said it was due to the boxes not having an earth wire allowing static to build up. His advice was to turn the box off overnight once a week to let the static drain. I toyed with the idea of earthing the metal chassis, but thought this advice from Sky may be taken with a large pinch of salt
Believe it or not we do use high grade capacitors and other parts in the PSU of our STB's and we do pay a bit more, as we need to make sure that the STB has a long home life .
Well I can vouch for that in the case of the DRX100 at least. Despite the slagging off it got because of the darn tuner made by "Forward Electronics" in Taiwan, the incidence of power supply failure has reportedly been extremely low. Going by my calculations, the 105'C capacitors should last for up to 15 years at 55'C!
If Amstrad used the same capacitors in the DRX-180 (I haven't looked) then they should have a pretty good life provided that users don't do anything stupid.
The main problem is likely to be the Hard Drive. These often don't last more than a couple of years in PCs which are used for a lot of movie creation (forcing the HD to run for extended periods) so I would guess the same might apply to those in Digiboxes (not just Amstrad, in fact not necessarily Amstrad at all if the drives are top quality and designed for that usage).
But it might be a good marketing ploy to make larger HDs available as an upgrade kit. That way Amstrad could make additional profit and users would do their own preventive maintenance.
But knowing how much you (Sir Alan) dislike the thought of any screwdriver plonkers messing with your beautiful products, I suspect I'm at risk of getting chewed off again by suggesting it!
Dont do it , it will not work, and by the way why are you open the box
Sir AlanaSugar
Since previously posting in june sky has replaced my box as the fan was not coming on at all.I have now upgraded it with a seagate 120gb hard drive and have no problems.
If you have a Amstrad DRX-180 you will find that the fan hardly ever comes on if you have the unit in a reasonable position as far as heat is concered. On your head be it re the 120gb
Since previously posting in june sky has replaced my box as the fan was not coming on at all.I have now upgraded it with a seagate 120gb hard drive and have no problems.
Could I calmly and respectfully suggest that before we point the finger at the Amstrad box or any software, that you get back to basics and have your installation checked out.
I'm tempted to agree with other people on this forum, that, for some of
the problems reported by you, may be down to a poor installation,
certainly the freezing of Channel 4/E4:
- both these channels are on the same transponder setting (12.168,V),
and these are the only two viewable channels on this setting ?
- you had problems with the Pace box as well, I guess the installer would probably just have switched boxes rather than recheck all of the installation ?
- the live freezing could certainly be due to problems in receiving the
signal, which is dropping critical parts on live, but recovered in
time to playback.
How about checking the dish alingment LNB, line of sight ( NO big trees I hope or buildings) . I knioe that you might say your old digibox worked well but there are still reasons to check out the instaltion
Sir Alan Sugar
Well, oddly enough my Amstrad box is now refusing to accept remote commands whilst in any of the Menu pages. Or what it actually seems to be doing is saving all the commands that the front panel did not acknowledge and then running them all one after the other. This can delete a lot of recordings!!!!
Comments
With Freeview this is invariably impulse interference getting into the aerial or cable and is most common in apartment blocks where there are long runs of cable (often substandard cable) running close to mains power cables - sometimes (stupidly) sharing the same conduit!
Digital satellite is far less susceptible to impulse interference because of the way it is encoded and also because the LNB outputs quite a high signal level compared with Freeview terrestrial. Nevertheless it can be affected by interference picked up by the cable.
In addition, it is susceptible to interference from microwave ovens, "Snooper" type radar detectors in cars and various other sources of high frequency radiation. Sometimes the dish just happens to be directly in line with a ground station transmitting horizontally. In this case, the answer is to reposition the dish - preferably mounting it at ground level or on a different wall where it's shielded from the interfering beam.
I'm not saying that the "freezing" etc. is not caused by software or Hard Drive problems but don't close your mind to other possible causes. Test your Digibox at a friend's house to see if the problem still remains. If it doesn't then stop blaming Amstrad.
2. Overheating
Most electronic equipment is specified as safe to store up to (say) an ambient temperature of 50 degrees C and to operate up to (say) 30'C. I haven't looked at the DRX-180 specifications but it would surprise me if a piece of "consumer electronics" has been designed to operate reliably at a higher temperature. It would greatly increase the cost with little reason.
A well designed piece of equipment will sense when the CPU is too hot and will shut down to protect itself.
Note that an "ambient temperature" refers to room temperature and, if you shut your equipment inside a cabinet inside a room whose ambient is already some 35 - 40'C, then you shouldn't be surprised if it malfunctions. A fan won't help because the *coolest* air available is 35'C. The answer is to install the equipment in a cool place and control it remotely with a "magic eye" system.
Another point worthy of note is that some components - especially electrolytic capacitors - are rated according to temperature. So, for example, a capacitor may be rated as having a 4000 hour life (*typical) at 85'C. Equipment stuck in a cabinet is likely to achieve internal temperatures in excess of 50'C so you've reduced its working life to just 16000 hours. That's just 660 days or less than 2 years.
*Capacitor life doubles for every 10'C reduction in temperature so 4000/85'C equates to an 8000/75'C or a 16000/65'C life.
I hope these facts help you to visualise what's going on.
The problem is consumers do things like block up ventilation slots with magazines and the like and as you say put things in cabinets where the fan makes no sense at all. We do go to the trouble to metion ventilation in all Amstrad instraction books ( for products where heat is an issue) but as ever no one ever reads them.
We know all about capacitors that dry out and pop. Believe it or not we do use high grade capacitors and other parts in the PSU of our STB's and we do pay a bit more, as we need to make sure that the STB has a long home life . We do assume in some cases that they will be subject to minor abuse in respect to heat.
Sir Alan Sugar[
QUOTE=Sam Radford.]1. Picture freezing, jumping etc.
With Freeview this is invariably impulse interference getting into the aerial or cable and is most common in apartment blocks where there are long runs of cable (often substandard cable) running close to mains power cables - sometimes (stupidly) sharing the same conduit!
Digital satellite is far less susceptible to impulse interference because of the way it is encoded and also because the LNB outputs quite a high signal level compared with Freeview terrestrial. Nevertheless it can be affected by interference picked up by the cable.
In addition, it is susceptible to interference from microwave ovens, "Snooper" type radar detectors in cars and various other sources of high frequency radiation. Sometimes the dish just happens to be directly in line with a ground station transmitting horizontally. In this case, the answer is to reposition the dish - preferably mounting it at ground level or on a different wall where it's shielded from the interfering beam.
I'm not saying that the "freezing" etc. is not caused by software or Hard Drive problems but don't close your mind to other possible causes. Test your Digibox at a friend's house to see if the problem still remains. If it doesn't then stop blaming Amstrad.
2. Overheating
Most electronic equipment is specified as safe to store up to (say) an ambient temperature of 50 degrees C and to operate up to (say) 30'C. I haven't looked at the DRX-180 specifications but it would surprise me if a piece of "consumer electronics" has been designed to operate reliably at a higher temperature. It would greatly increase the cost with little reason.
A well designed piece of equipment will sense when the CPU is too hot and will shut down to protect itself.
Note that an "ambient temperature" refers to room temperature and, if you shut your equipment inside a cabinet inside a room whose ambient is already some 35 - 40'C, then you shouldn't be surprised if it malfunctions. A fan won't help because the *coolest* air available is 35'C. The answer is to install the equipment in a cool place and control it remotely with a "magic eye" system.
Another point worthy of note is that some components - especially electrolytic capacitors - are rated according to temperature. So, for example, a capacitor may be rated as having a 4000 hour life (*typical) at 85'C. Equipment stuck in a cabinet is likely to achieve internal temperatures in excess of 50'C so you've reduced its working life to just 16000 hours. That's just 660 days or less than 2 years.
*Capacitor life doubles for every 10'C reduction in temperature so 4000/85'C equates to an 8000/75'C or a 16000/65'C life.
I hope these facts help you to visualise what's going on.[/QUOTE]
I have had no crashes or freezes since the software update on my Amstrad box. Before that I got many of the problems listed on this forum. I have had my box since the end of March.
I recall that soon after installation, I got a call from Sky Customer Services, and when I said about occasional freezing and jerkiness, the guy said it was due to the boxes not having an earth wire allowing static to build up. His advice was to turn the box off overnight once a week to let the static drain. I toyed with the idea of earthing the metal chassis, but thought this advice from Sky may be taken with a large pinch of salt
GrahamG
If Amstrad used the same capacitors in the DRX-180 (I haven't looked) then they should have a pretty good life provided that users don't do anything stupid.
The main problem is likely to be the Hard Drive. These often don't last more than a couple of years in PCs which are used for a lot of movie creation (forcing the HD to run for extended periods) so I would guess the same might apply to those in Digiboxes (not just Amstrad, in fact not necessarily Amstrad at all if the drives are top quality and designed for that usage).
But it might be a good marketing ploy to make larger HDs available as an upgrade kit. That way Amstrad could make additional profit and users would do their own preventive maintenance.
But knowing how much you (Sir Alan) dislike the thought of any screwdriver plonkers messing with your beautiful products, I suspect I'm at risk of getting chewed off again by suggesting it!
Sir Alan sugar