A bit OT but... magic smoke and digital telly

[Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot]

I just bought a USB digital tv stick from yer 'ong Kong and it worked fine for the time it took to find channels and have a play. I turned off the pc and went to play again later but the stick wouldn't work - nothing else had changed, I just turned off the pc and turned it on again later. Tried it in various USB holes and another pc to no avail and noticed this morning that it smells of magic smoke. Bugger.

What could have caused that? Is it likely to be just a fault in the tv stick or could it conceivably be something to do with the aerial (wot comes from a digital roof aerial then through a booster), or the USB ports? I've tried two memory sticks and a bluetooth adaptor in all the USB ports I tried the tv stick in and they're all working perfectly.

Si

[John]

I had a similar problem - I could feel a "tingle" from the coax plug so when I got my replacement I made a wire bridge to bond the coax to the PC case. It has been fine for a year now.

[Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot]

Ho yus? So it could possibly have been the co-ax that killed it.

Ta. I'll earth the co-ax to the pc case if/when I get another one (ebay!)

Si

[John]

Good luck. I find the device really good - although the software was a bit too demanding for my PC but the supplier gave me a download of an earlier software that is not as demanding of processing power. Mine is a Freecom DVB-T Stick.

I have a distribution amplifier in my loft (near the downlead)

Hopefully an expert will give a view on the situation - but bonding the outer coax to the PC case worked for me.

[Dave]

I'm no expert but I think John's got it right. I seem to remember that some older tellys have about 75 volts on the chassis so this could well be the problem. Course, I could also be talking bollocks but it does seem to be something I remember from the dim and distant past. I apologize if it's complete rubbish though :o)

Dave

[Andy Hall]

Try a trip to South Africa.

At every traffic light (they call them robots), there are sellers of anything that you can imagine, although not usually logically co-ordinated. One will sell you a map of Africa, tooth picks and pens, while another will offer umbrellas, mobile phone chargers and cans of cola.

All of these are top quality, just like Hong Kong items, and come complete with warranty. This lasts until the light changes to green.

Therefore your USB stick still just about working after its long flight to the UK is about par for the course.

I see no cause for complaint.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Valve and most hybrid sets - ie first generation colour ones and earlier - had 'live' chassis which was connected direct to neutral. Except when the wires got crossed and it became 240 volts. But the aerial socket was isolated by capacitors. Some later sets with peculiar power supply arrangements had the chassis at a potential other than mains. But most modern sets have isolated chassis - needed for the various inputs and outputs.

[John]

I suspect the stray voltage is being picked up in the amplifier.