Mnet - showing wavy lines

Therefore, it's likely the UHF frequency being used between the decoder and TV set.
Ask MC how to go about changing the frequency that the decoder transmits to the TV then just retune your TV to the new frequency instead.


Thanks Kheiron. Who is MC and how do I go about asking him/her?
 
Just an update on this ongoing saga. Yesterday after work I phoned the MC call centre to try and get an agent to help me change the frequency that the decoder transmits to the TV, as Kheiron suggested. Once again though, as has been the case with pretty much all of my half-dozen calls to them over the past six weeks or so, it was a classic exercise in futility! The agents who answer the phones have little to no technical expertise themselves, which means that they invariably end up putting you on hold (for several minutes at a time) while they consult with their supporting technicians for help. As always, the net result is a phone call that eventually lasts the best part of 15 minutes, at the end of which you are no closer to a solution than you were before you called in!

I tried my best to explain to the agent that I needed to know how to change the decoder's frequency, but the instant they seem to hear the word "frequency" they automatically switch to their standard script about how to tune your decoder into the nearest M-Net signal transmitter. That's clearly the only solution that they have regarding a frequency problem, and if it doesn't solve the problem (and it didn't, because I've tried that procedure myself countless times over already), then they are clueless as to what else to try. I thus ended up getting the same fallback response again - take your decoder in to the MC offices to have it tested. Give me strength!!

Anyway, that's enough of a rant about the quality of MC's client service. I'm pretty certain that it's all old news to anyone who has had cause to post on this forum regarding problems with M-Net anyway! Maybe they just reserve all their client service for DSTV subscribers nowadays. Anyone got any other suggestions?
 
Next update. I posted a complaint against Multichoice about this whole situation on the HelloPeter website, and got a response within barely an hour! They have now initiated an investigation process, the next step in which is for me to get an installer to come out to our place to verify that there is nothing wrong with the installation. Should that be the case (and I rather suspect that it will be, considering that we've had a fully functional M-Net for years prior to this little episode), they will then refund me the installer's invoice and move on to the next step. Don't how how log it'll take or how efficient it'll be, but at least things are finally moving forward!
 
I recommend that before you pay for a technician to come out to your place, you take your decoder to MC and then, while you're there, tell them that you want them to change the frequency to anything other than the default.
Basically, wait for them to plug it in and prove that it's working via the RF cables, then tell them that you'd like them to change the RF frequency so that the TV they're using has to be re-tuned.

Trying to explain anything to a muppet at the end of a line is hardly ever possible. Face to face is much easier to explain.
 
Thanks, but with my patience wearing a bit thin already I have already taken the plunge and had the technician come over on Saturday morning just passed. He did the manual tuning of the TV to a different frequency, as well as of the decoder to the best M-Net transmitter signal, but still couldn't get a clear M-Net picture either. He then took the decoder back to his shop, plugged it into his own setup there and then got a clear M-Net signal. Thus the conclusion drawn is that the signal strength from the block of flats' communal aerial has deteriorated over time to the point that it is no longer capable of picking up M-Net. Didn't know that M-Net required so much stronger a signal than is necessary for CSN or any of the SABC/e-TV channels, but there you go. Bottom line is therefore that it seems to be an installation issue after all, and that if no-one else in the block is experiencing similar reception problems with M-Net, then the only solution for me is to fork out for my own private aerial.
 
FINAL UPDATE: We finaly got our M-Net up and running yesterday! The Body Corporate of our block of flats came through for us (apparently we are the only residents in the entire block that have M-Net!) and had the original installers of the communal aerial come out and investigate. They finally traced the fault to some corroded component of the antenna. All the test equipment showed that a strong signal was coming through from the external aerial, but as a result of the above issue it still wasn't a clear signal. Apparently the two are not the same thing, and a digital receiver like an M-Net decoder still cannot pick up a usable signal if it is strong but not clear (some issues of snow visible on the SABC2 picture clinched the argument). Anyway, they replaced the whole external UHF aerial yesterday, and we now can receive M-Net again for the first time in two months - even the SABC channels are crystal-clear! In fact, we've never had such high reception quality in all our years of living there!! Thus we finally get to see at least the last bit of the Tri-Nations on Saturday (not that we've missed much from a Springbok perspective)!
 
Who was rude? Any comment that I made regarding M-Net was perfectly true - the client service / knowledge levels / ability to think out of the box of their call centre staff leaves a lot to be desired, and dealing with them telephonically was a most frustrating experience. The fact that the problem ultimately turned out not to lie with them does not change anything that regard. If it wasn't for my reporting the issue on the HelloPeter website (to which MC offers another level of service altogether) I would probably still be no closer to a solution - how many times can one follow the call centre's "solution" of taking a functioning decoder into the MC offices to be tested, and then expect that that will solve a completely unrelated reception problem?
 
So I've moved to a new pos, and inherited a dish. Trouble is I've been subscribing to Mnet via terrestrial signal i.e traditional UHF/VHF aerial, and had suspended it for several months pending the move. On connecting the TV o the dish coax, I was surprised to receive SABC channels. What are the prospects of receiving MNet terrestrial signal?
 
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