LNB died? What to replace with?

[DLD-UK]

I have a dish with an octo LNB feeding 3 rooms in my house. For a while I've been getting errors in NextPVR saying recordings couldn't lock on to a channel. I've never understood why that happens? Is that an LNB problem or does it happen for other reasons? I'm in the UK about 25 miles north of London.

Now I get no signal in all rooms (the other rooms have Freesat boxes). I guess that means the LNB has died. Is that likely to be correct? I assume the cables to all rooms couldn't have died at once?

If so, what octo LNB should I now buy? With my current LNB I have always had problems when it rains with recordings breaking up. Does that mean the LNB was never very good or is that standard?

I am a novice user. I managed to get NextPVR setup and working on Windows but I'd now like to move to a Linux media server with more tuners and maybe a terrestrial card too. There don't seem to be many PC tuner cards available in the UK now though. Should I be looking to do something else?

Any help much appreciated.

 

[Lazarus]

If you had problems in the rain, that would suggest your dish was not properly aligned. And, as you now have even worse issues, it is possible that the alignment has deteriorated further.

 

[DLD-UK]

If you had problems in the rain, that would suggest your dish was not properly aligned. And, as you now have even worse issues, it is possible that the alignment has deteriorated further.

Thanks for the reply. Does that mean the dish has moved or is there some other reason why it would now have an alignment issue?

Is it still wise to buy another LNB before calling someone out? I don't know how long LNB's work and whether there are any improvements since the dish was installed? I'm guessing that the cost of a new Octo LNB is less then the cost of calling someone out? The LNB was installed about 10 years ago.

 

[Lazarus]

Well, if you need to call someone out, it should be a matter of innate professionalism to check out dish alignment, LNB function, integrity of cables and connectors etc.

If you are nevertheless persuaded that the root of the problem is the LNB and you can access the dish, as you say it would be a relatively inexpensive procedure to change it anyway.

 

[DLD-UK]

Well, if you need to call someone out, it should be a matter of innate professionalism to check out dish alignment, LNB function, integrity of cables and connectors etc.

If you are nevertheless persuaded that the root of the problem is the LNB and you can access the dish, as you say it would be a relatively inexpensive procedure to change it anyway.

I have no idea of the root cause but I trust what you are saying.

But my concern is that it will probably cost quite a bit to have someone come out and I wondered if LNB's fail over time anyway. Plus I also wondered if the one I bought in the first place was any good. I have no idea whether there is any difference between LNB's from different companies? That is why I was looking for guidance. But the cost of a new octo LNB looks to be much lower than the cost I expect to pay an installer.

When a car goes into the garage for repair it is often best to have some minor jobs done at the same time rather than having to pay for a mechanics time again later. I don't know if the same logic holds here.

On top of that I wondered if what I did 10 years ago is still the best thing to do now? Everything I did 10 years ago was a quick solution when my PVR failed and I needed to do something quickly. I know I want to move to a Linux based media server rather than Windows as the machine I run it on can't run the latest versions of Windows.

What I also know, is that the TV and FM ariels I had fitted years ago need to be adjsuted. I had an amplifier in my loft and coax to each room. That failed years ago and I never got good DAB reception. I don't know if I need a different ariel for DAB?

I hope that all makes sense.

 

[rolfw]

LNBs can of course fail, but my motorised dish and sky dish have both been up for 20 years or more and still fine with the original LNBs. I've certainly had to replace multi output LNBs for customers where some outputs have stopped working, but not others, so could be either the LNB or dish alignment. Most installers won't carry Octo LNBs in stock anymore, as not many people use them.

Can you post pictures of your dish please, as if it's a sky minidish and depending on how long it's been up, it may not take the currently available Octo LNBs without another adapter. If it's an issue that you can't easily get access yourself, may be worth biting the bullet and getting someone in, but don't call a national, as they're notorious for overcharging.

 

[a33]

Thanks for the reply. Does that mean the dish has moved or is there some other reason why it would now have an alignment issue?

Is it still wise to buy another LNB before calling someone out?

It is wise to first make an attempt to narrow down the cause a bit. So before buying anything, check if alignment might be the problem, by the so-called "finger tests" at the dish. I guess there are enough members here, that can guide you through that.
When the dish is not too hard to reach, that would be the first thing to do.

Also posting pictures could be useful: we might notice something that would be "irregular". The dish might be distorted/warped a bit, for instance. So pictures from the front, and from the side.

Sometimes the casing of the LNB is broken, and water has ingressed. That would be something to check, also.

Apart from that: In the old days, octo LNBs did not have a very good reputation, on the forums that I visit. So it might be that they don't hold 20 years....

Greetz,
A33

 

[csb25]

An easy way to check if your dish is pointing in the right direction is to go to dishpointer. com

Enter your details and it will draw you a line pointing the correct way.

Congratulations on deciding to give windoze the boot.

 

[pgh13]

Just a thought; you don't have a 'tree' that's grown to be a problem? I have a buddleia that normally get cut back in autumn which is now becoming a problem as it's starting to come into leaf