Big dish update from your friends at Satellite Receivers/Programming Center

[TheTechGuru]

Being WebSAMS is automated there is nothing keeping us from getting the cheapest sub after 1/4/11 and seeing if we can get it to work without doing the master reset somehow.

We need to find out if a 4DTV can understand a HITS authorization hit without the firmware upgrade. We already know it can understand a HITS added map without a firmware upgrade.

 

[pendragon]

Sadly some true colors are now showing. After the whining about pizza dish quality and how 4DTV SD blows away pizza HD, which is of course technically specious, it now appears there are two higher ranking holy grails for certain die hards: (1) "my 4DTV is irreplaceable as a dish mover" and/or (2) "the real use of my 4DTV is to watch ITC feeds". So this was not about 4DTV subscription quality after all.

I respect both reasons because (1) although an actuator controller replacement is easy and of low cost, the choices for driving a polarotor servo (for anyone who still uses them) are fairly limited and (2) this is a FTA forum, even though combo mode, 8PSK and DVB-S2 will in time make this argument rather moot. I have little respect for those who fashion conspiracies lurking under every rock, when companies declare a technology end-of-life and others heroically endeavor to keep it running a little longer.

I retired my 920 last winter when I discovered Shaw Direct was offering nearly the same data rates and quality I had been getting with 4DTV-accessible master feeds. With the demise of HD on 4DTV, I could once again receive much, much better HD than is available on DN, DirecTV or cable in my area. I had to invest a little, but I have no contract with Shaw (is there an echo in the room?).

My 920 is over ten years old, which to me is an eternity for a satellite receiver. I got mine for free, but even if I had bought one several years back, I would feel I got my money's worth out of it. Nothing changes in January with respect to its value as a dish mover or a DCII ITC hunter, but I vastly prefer my GBOXes and nearly anything I would want in DCII can't be received by a 920 anyway. Regardless, I tip my hat to SRL for keeping a reasonable option open for those who really want to have reliable and high quality C-band subscriptions.

 

[TheTechGuru]

I'll be using my 905 but I will try to do it without the new firmware first.

 

[sonyajon]

We have a 410 on the way as well.

Gardo, when we "re-newed"' our sub on the 21 of this month, SRL told us we could "re-new" our sub for the balance of the month of Dec at pro-rated monthly prices.

 

[sonyajon]

What time is SAT talk on?

 

[tvropro]

In theory if you can get your decoder number in Comcasts database and hit your 4DTV it should respond to the hit and get programming once the Motorola datastream is gone the guide may not work right but who cares. Test away guys that have the resources (multi 4DTV's) and see what happens.

I have only one 922 that I payed almost $600 for and isn't even 5 years old yet that moves my bud, changes polarity and more or less the control center for my big dish activities. Having programming for 23 years on the bud was great but it seems that the ones that never wanted us to have the distribution feed from there private networks are throwing the champagne party today. One thing I always enjoyed as the hobbyist is getting those occasional ITC cable channels that we couldn't get. Anyone remember when things like Guest Cinema, meant for hotel's only went ITC back in the day, that was great. The newbies can't even start to fathom the fun we had back then. I refuse to throw away that special privilege that I have by making my bud into a glorified cable box system because the Motorola engineers that work for Comcast don't want to add channel maps so we can enjoy what we bought our receivers for. Its just a bunch of political BS.

The real bad guy here is Motorola for never following up with the update GI started so we could program our own parameters into our receivers. Motorola just let the technology run into the ground since they never cared about the c band consumer division. They were only interested in the commercial and cable end.

Well the ones with the power and the money have spoken. Once again the little guy gets screwed. Why should I throw away a perfectly good operating system that I have close to 7 grand in so I can watch a handful of the cable fare (limited by modulation that HITS picks) that I can get from pizza with other channels I really like not there. That would be stupid. The only way I would use HITS as a provider anymore is if I can get a 410 or second 4DTV for next to nothing. Another question is HITS worth any investing in since after seeing Comcasts true colors they wouldn't think twice about shutting down that current datastream in a heartbeat if they decided to. I'm tired of uncertainties and all the BS involved. To me it's just not a very wise decision to get involved with companies that really don't care about the ones who allow them to open their doors daily and would dump you at a wink of an eye. Just look at NPS after supporting them since the early 90's to a few months ago they sold us out in a heartbeat. Call it business if you want but it's just a crock of you know what.

End Rant :rant:

 

[tvropro]

What time is SAT talk on?

9 PM EST Wednesday

Access America - Home

 

[Kb Cool]

In theory if you can get your decoder number in Comcasts database and hit your 4DTV it should respond to the hit and get programming once the Motorola datastream is gone the guide may not work right but who cares. Test away guys that have the resources (multi 4DTV's) and see what happens.

I have only one 922 that I payed almost $600 for and isn't even 5 years old yet that moves my bud, changes polarity and more or less the control center for my big dish activities. Having programming for 23 years on the bud was great but it seems that the ones that never wanted us to have the distribution feed from there private networks are throwing the champagne party today. One thing I always enjoyed as the hobbyist is getting those occasional ITC cable channels that we couldn't get. Anyone remember when things like Guest Cinema, meant for hotel's only went ITC back in the day, that was great. The newbies can't even start to fathom the fun we had back then. I refuse to throw away that special privilege that I have by making my bud into a glorified cable box system because the Motorola engineers that work for Comcast don't want to add channel maps so we can enjoy what we bought our receivers for. Its just a bunch of political BS.

The real bad guy here is Motorola for never following up with the update GI started so we could program our own parameters into our receivers. Motorola just let the technology run into the ground since they never cared about the c band consumer division. They were only interested in the commercial and cable end.

Well the ones with the power and the money have spoken. Once again the little guy gets screwed. Why should I throw away a perfectly good operating system that I have close to 7 grand in so I can watch a handful of the cable fare (limited by modulation that HITS picks) that I can get from pizza with other channels I really like not there. That would be stupid. The only way I would use HITS as a provider anymore is if I can get a 410 or second 4DTV for next to nothing. Another question is HITS worth any investing in since after seeing Comcasts true colors they wouldn't think twice about shutting down that current datastream in a heartbeat if they decided to. I'm tired of uncertainties and all the BS involved. To me it's just not a very wise decision to get involved with companies that really don't care about the ones who allow them to open their doors daily and would dump you at a wink of an eye. Just look at NPS after supporting them since the early 90's to a few months ago they sold us out in a heartbeat. Call it business if you want but it's just a crock of you know what.

End Rant :rant:

I'm sure SRL doesn't want you to have access to the freebies. Them and NPS probally cringed everytime a channel went ITC for months as it meant lower sold subs for that particular channel. I wonder if it was them who begged the programmer to flip the encryption switch back on?

 

[Kb Cool]

Being WebSAMS is automated there is nothing keeping us from getting the cheapest sub after 1/4/11 and seeing if we can get it to work without doing the master reset somehow.

We need to find out if a 4DTV can understand a HITS authorization hit without the firmware upgrade. We already know it can understand a HITS added map without a firmware upgrade.

Maybe SRL can do it. But, they are waiting to find out how many are willing to go with the current plan (w5 only). If the numbers are tiny and nowhere near the 10,000 remaining subs they expect to gain, they may find a way to leave the current tiles alone. Let's see what happens.

 

[tvropro]

Maybe SRL can do it. But, they are waiting to find out how many are willing to go with the current plan (w5 only). If the numbers are tiny and nowhere near the 10,000 remaining subs they expect to gain, they may find a way to leave the current tiles alone. Let's see what happens.

In theory any DC-2 receiver ID number that is in the computer no matter what stream can receive a hit. After 1/4 the 4096 EMM will not conflict with the 4160 EMM. I doubt there will be any conflicts as far as programming goes. The guide may act nuts though since your still set up for the massive 2am update instead of the trickle update. Now the guide is an option in the 4DTV if you could get authorized with your current maps intact and there is a guide issue just have that turned off, problem solved. I think the reason for all this goes beyond that though since the programmers don't want us to see there distro stuff to begin with because they probably want to relax the encryption. If there is no product except commercial gear to receive it it keeps it away from prying eyes and allows them more control. Screw them I have a right to watch what I can pick up with my equipment distro or not.

 

[mike74820]

im a little surprised at all the hate going to srl/skyvison on this. ive been reading the forums and it seems pretty much everyone knew this was coming.
im getting a 410 my self they are only 60$ on ebay now, and if i can help skyvision out with there numbers i will. i know for me the stuff on w5 is way better
picture than i get on my dishnetwork system and im getting the small package and still almost 38 bucks a month, that still better than cable for me in my area as
basic cable is like 52$ now. i just hope everyone finds a 410 and lets at least keep are big dish going for as long as we can. we need to stand together as best we can

 

[Davage]

I am just very disappointed that the W5 "solution" that they've come up with requires me to criple my multi-functional 922 receiver. I have an FTA receiver slaved to my 922, and I rely on the 922 to move the dish and change polarity for other services such as PBS / Nasa / RTV / Music Channels.

For now, I'm going to be ending my C-Band subscriptions. I might come back to C-Band if I can get my hands on another cheap 922.

 

[tvropro]

I am just very disappointed that the W5 "solution" that they've come up with requires me to criple my multi-functional 922 receiver. I have an FTA receiver slaved to my 922, and I rely on the 922 to move the dish and change polarity for other services such as PBS / Nasa / RTV / Music Channels.

For now, I'm going to be ending my C-Band subscriptions. I might come back to C-Band if I can get my hands on another cheap 922.

My thoughts exactly. I don't think SRL had a choice though. Comcast probably said take it or leave it. I will leave it for now, I don't see much of a future anymore for c band subscriptions. I hope I'm proven wrong.

 

[Davage]

I don't think SRL had a choice though. Comcast probably said take it or leave it.

Yes.. I guess that I am still happy that, if I choose to, I am able to subscribe via C-Band. It is nice to know that the option is available. (and I thank SRL/Skyvision for keeping the option open) For now, my only choice is to let the C-Band subscription expire until I find another means of moving the dish and controlling the servo motor, or to find a 410 or another cheap 922. I haven't got any money set aside for a C-Band fund right now to buy any more gear.

 

[sonyajon]

We have only been doing this for about 7 months now when we installed our 1st dish. So here is the question

How can I hook all this up?

1 10' SAMI, One DSR 410 (Hope it arrives before XMAS), AXBOX Ultra, OTA Antenna (Want to add a second one) and then to the Sony which only has 1 RG-6 connection adnd then use the 922 as a dish mover

 

[wallyhts]

I am going to buy a second IRD off ebay.
In fact just bought a 922 with good id off ebay for $80 bucks.

So I will turn my 920 into a comcast only box i guess but only if i can sub to dis only suite for under $8 bucks.

 

[Anony55]

...This process will clear out all other satellites and W5 will be the only satellite available...

That's too bad. It's like they are condeming themselves to failure before they even get started. What a solution!

You would think that they would realize that the remaining C-Band dishes in service belong mostly to us "hard-core" & "stubborn" users. How many hard-core users do you think will disable their 4D units as a mover? My guess is... not many. I know I won't.

I find it unimaginable that including other tiles would be difficult (either physically or legally). Surely any small costs to do so would be offset by subs from people like me that won't sub otherwise. I can't be the only one.

It looks like I'll be adding a UPS. Also, I'll probably dig out my old 920 & replace the battery and DL the maps while they're still up. Perhaps I'll try out the BDM/4play thing on it, rather than risking my healthy 922.

But if the BDM thing can't be figured out as a way to restore maps, all these other measures will fail someday. Then it will be a matter of deciding between an old analog receiver with skew control, or a V/G-Box and an LNBF... with no skew control.

I guess Comcast/SRL just doesn't get how serious this issue is for some of us.

Cheers

 

[lonewolf454]

Its a shame it has all come to this. I would sub to W5 if I had a spare IRD, but Comcast might decide a year down the road to go dvb-s2, and then I would be out $50 for the extra 4dtv IRD. I can not afford to turn the only c-band dish mover I have into a cable box either. Guess I am glad I signed up for Direct last week (bittersweet)

Hey TVROPro, I thought you had heard some news but didn't want to let the cat out of the bag? Surely this wasn't it-

 

[tvropro]

Its a shame it has all come to this. I would sub to W5 if I had a spare IRD, but Comcast might decide a year down the road to go dvb-s2, and then I would be out $50 for the extra 4dtv IRD. I can not afford to turn the only c-band dish mover I have into a cable box either. Guess I am glad I signed up for Direct last week (bittersweet)

Hey TVROPro, I thought you had heard some news but didn't want to let the cat out of the bag? Surely this wasn't it-

No this wasn't it. The news I heard was based on things possibly getting better by adding maps and more channels. It was in the talks but I guess they broke down.

Looks like you picked up Direct right under the wire. Sad day for C band though.

 

[ShelleyA]

What's the big deal to wipe out dish as mover to sit on W-5 only Jan. 2011

I don't under stand why SRL want's us to wipe out our 922's to sit on W-5 only. I already get programming on W-5 now such as SPEED channel, History & many others so why the heck can't they just leave our 922's as they are and let us subscribe to W-5 package. It works now, so why the must change to the new way? I now am with NPS but it all ends 12-26. I would love to stay with C-band and would be happy with W-5 only to watch, it has many channels over there & lots of HBO's, Starz, etc. but I DO NOT LIKE THE IDEA OF MAKING THE 922 USELESS AS A MOVER.