Just how noisy should a Sky HD box be??

[admin_exported]

After many months of problems with my original Thomson Sky hd box, my complaints to Sky, "rewarded" me with a new box (again Thomson) with no callout charges, which was installed on Thursday.Once the engineer had left, I noticed how loud the box was running, even in standby mode. The company contracted in partnership with Sky called back. and asked if I was happy with the service I'd received..which I was, but I mentioned how loud, the box was. The operator stated that she would send out another engineer who would swap the box over again, this happened yesterday.

The engineer stated the fan was at fault and swapped the box...for another Thomson unit.

Now after watching HD programming for several hours, the level of noise from the box is just as loud as before.

This level of noise was never heard on my first box that I can remember, so had the first box failed because the fans were not working? Or am I missing something here and taken for a mug by Sky?

 

[Sorreltiger]

How is your box located? ÿIf it's at all enclosed or stacked with other kit it can overheat. ÿApologies if it isn't so, but there's a long history of this. ÿAt the risk of sounding smug, mine is out in the open and is more or less silent. ÿThat's how it ought to be and if yours is intrusively audible there's something amiss.

 

[Tonya]

Wise advice there from SorrelTiger. There are in fact two fans inside the SkyHD box, one large one to cool the drive and the other one located on the side of the box for the rest of the electronics.
All Sky boxes generate a degree of noise and indeed heat, so always ensure (if possible) that your Sky box is at the top of the stack, not placed under a DVD player or something. Avoid building them into cabinets or closed racks as the heat build up will only result in more fan noise. The golden rule with these units, as in all electronic devices, is to ensure plenty of airflow to prevent overheating.
Should the fans need replacing at some date (and they will) it takes minutes to do so, although this shouldn't be required for at least a year or so.

It's also a good idea to invest in a can of compressed air, so you can blow the air vents of your box clean every few months. It's suprising how much household dust gets into the fans.

 

[Anonymous]

The unit is in a rack sitting on top of a dvd recorder(which is very rarely used) and has about 4 inches of free space above it and the next shelf of the rack.

I think I'll take the dvd recorder out of my system and see if that helps, it has only been used recently to archive what was on the previous Sky box.

Thanks for the advice people.

 

[Anonymous]

I've just this week had Sky HD installed.

Now, not ever had one before I'm not too sure what the noie level should be.
Although, I canÿeasily hear the fans (or something like it) while watching a program.

I'd be very interested to hear from others that might be suffering the same thing or not if the case maybe..!?ÿ

 

[PIPPI]

The Thompson boxes are noisy even when new. I 1st had a Thompson, then a Pace (very quiet and extremely cool running temperature) and now a Samsung (just cannot be heard, but slightly warmer than the Pace). I must say the Samsung has the best sound quality of the lot.