DVB-S2 and DVB, MPEG HD

[two4two]

I have a 4DTV DSR-922, and a Fortec Star Platinum NA with BUD. I see in Lyngsat reference to DVB, DVB-S2-8PSK, MPEG-2/HD, MPEG-2, MPEG-4/HD, MPEG-4, 4-4-2, etc. My Fortec Star can view only the standard MPEG-2, but definitely receives other FTA signals that it just can't display. I believe they are the MPEG-2/HD signals. I'd like to find a receiver that can receive and display ALL of the available MPEG FTA signals -- including the regular and HD and the MPEG-4 ones. Anyone know of such a receiver? Once I get it and install it how do I get the HD to display on my HDTV ? I am using the HDD-200 for the 4DTV HD programming. And I send all my SD video thru it to be upconverted. I suppose the MPEG HD stuff could go directly to the TV? Please, if anyone has a really good suggestion and good info I'd love to hear what you've got to say. Thanks.

 

[Lak7]

I'd like to find a receiver that can receive and display ALL of the available MPEG FTA signals

The AZBox, Elite, Premium, or Premium Plus, can handle:
DVB, DVB-S2-8PSK, MPEG-2/HD, MPEG-2, MPEG-4/HD, MPEG-4, 4:2:2
It can not handle what the 4DTV does.
The Elite and Premium do not have Blind Scan.
The Premium Plus, brand new and hard to get for reasonable price, has Blind Scan.

Ebay has a couple of sellers, search "azbox".

 

[two4two]

Thanks for the reply Lak7. A couple more questions? 1.) What is blind scan? 2.) Do any of the boxes you mentioned have slots for Common Interface so that I can plug in decoder module and card, so I can subscribe to a service(s)? 3.) Where do I get these receivers? 3.) How can I add circular polarization to my Chaparral feedhorn where the polarizer and LNBs are located?

 

[John Popper]

The AZBox, Elite, Premium, or Premium Plus, can handle:
DVB, DVB-S2-8PSK, MPEG-2/HD, MPEG-2, MPEG-4/HD, MPEG-4, 4:2:2
It can not handle what the 4DTV does.
The Elite and Premium do not have Blind Scan.
The Premium Plus, brand new and hard to get for reasonable price, has Blind Scan.

Ebay has a couple of sellers, search "azbox".

this might be a dumb question but with an AZBox do I still need an HD capable TV to watch those MPEG-2/HD MPEG-4/HD channels? what about 4:2:2? would any tv do?

 

[skysurfer]

this might be a dumb question but with an AZBox do I still need an HD capable TV to watch those MPEG-2/HD MPEG-4/HD channels? what about 4:2:2? would any tv do?

The AZBox has a component output that you can hook up to your non-HDTV tv. Any service that is HD will be downconverted to SD format and outputted over the component output.

If you have a HDTV set, you can use a HDMI cable to transmit HD video from the receiver to your HD set.

 

[two4two]

OK, one more stupid question:

When you go to the AZBox manufacturer web site and read the specs it says "AzBox Premium HD is equipped with two tuner sockets. This allow you to use it with all desired combination between one or two, DVB-T, DVB-C, DVB-S2, ATSC and ISDB-T (Brazilian format) tuners." What in the world could this mean? Are they saying you need to plug your own tuner into it? So it doesn't actually do it's own decoding of satellite signal? I'm looking to make a direct replacement to take out my Fortec Star and put the AZBox in its place. Is that what this AZBox is good for? It also doesn't mention plain old DVB. I want to be able to simply lock onto a satellite and view all of the available signals -- DVB, DVB-S2, DVB-S2-8PSK, MPEG2, MPEG 2 HD, MPEG 4, MPEG 4 HD, MPEG 1, MPEG 1.5, plus use a common interface and smart card for subscription programming. (Except I don't know who to contact for to get subscription(s).) I'll keep my 4DTV as the positioner and all the NTSC and DC2 programming. I use DESEQ switch.

 

[Mr Tony]

The azbox has standard one tuner that does DVB & DVB-S2 so it is a replacement to your Fortec

There is a slot for an additional tuner if you wanted to add something else. The only option here in North America would be a 2nd DVB tuner. The other options (DVB-T, DVB-C, ISDB) are for Europe & South America
DVB-T is the European OTA version (we use ASTC)
DVB-C is European cable (we use QAM)

so it does work as a replacement to the Fortec but I would hold onto that Fortec. The azbox has a bad blind scan. They are working on it but right now I use a Coolsat 5000 to blind scan then I load the info into the azbox if its HD or 4:2:2

 

[Jim S.]

There is a slot for an additional tuner if you wanted to add something else. The only option here in North America would be a 2nd DVB tuner.

Except that the company has said that you can't use two DVB-S tuners in anything other than the Plus for some mumbo-jumbo reason about some other chip in the unit not supporting it properly. They blame the chipset manufacturer for deceiving them, but if that was the case, I'd think they would be seeking compensation from them so that they could compensate the customers that they themselves deceived.

 

[Mr Tony]

I thought radar was able to get 2 tuners to work in a premium (not the plus?)

 

[Jim S.]

Hmmm. I remember him talking about trying it, but I don't think they actually even had support for a 2nd tuner of any sort in the software at the time, and I can't remember if he said anything about it after that or not.

 

[John Popper]

The AZBox has a component output that you can hook up to your non-HDTV tv. Any service that is HD will be downconverted to SD format and outputted over the component output.

If you have a HDTV set, you can use a HDMI cable to transmit HD video from the receiver to your HD set.

thanks sky! that's what I wanted to know!

 

[two4two]

Thanks guys. So, the AZBox Premium or Premium Plus would support two tuners. It comes with DVB/DVB-S installed in one slot, and I can get the ATSC for the 2nd slot so that I can also scan OTA. Where to get the ATSC for the 2nd slot? Now, I have a CAM to plug in. Where do I get the card or the authorization? Who is a provider here int he USA? I use NPS for my 4DTV, but I don't think they are in the MPEG market. Anybody know any providers for this MPEG market?

 

[Jim S.]

I don't think there are any ATSC tuners for the AZBox yet.

I don't think there are any providers of American channels that will sell to the consumer. This should be illegal, but you get the government you pay for, and nobody wants to suggest that there's anything wrong with capitalism. For foreign channels, you'd have to find a provider using PowerVu or Irdeto, I think. Globecast uses Nagravision, and even though Nagra cards should work in any box they're authorized for, I don't think they'll authorize them for anything other than the boxes they sell. Another fine example of why businesspeople shouldn't be allowed to make technical decisions.

 

[two4two]

Thanks guys. One more question

So, just to re-cap. This AXBox Premium comes with a DVB-S2 tuner in one of the slots, and this tuner can decode MPEG2 HD and MPEG4 HD, right? And the DVB-S2-8PSK? And it can also handle the regular DVB MPEG2 and MPEG2 HD, right? And also the 4:2:2? I'd like it to be able to receive and tune and decode all of those FTA programs on the various satellites. Please tell me all I need to do is buy one of these AZBox Premium and I'll be able to see all this FTA programming I'm talking about without having to buy any other boxes to tune it in or decode it. (I understand about the encrypted stuff and I'm not talking about pirating that, although if there were a provider that would sell it I would buy it.) I'm talking about the HD stuff -- MPEG2 and MPEG 4.

I've noticed that my BUD (10' movable dish) with linear polarization (H/V) and dual (C/Ku) LNBs is somehow bringing in the circular polarized (L/R) NSS 806. I didn't know I could get these that are L/R. I don't have a polarizer that is circular (L/R). Mine is linear (H/V). Now I'm going to want to go find all those satellites that beam to the PA/USA area and program them in and see what I get. My dish can point all the way to the HispaSat satellites and they have some stuff aimed at my area. And in between and over the US are some circular satellites -- mostly encrypted, but maye some FTA.

 

[Jim S.]

Yes, an AZBox will handle anything unencrypted except DirecTV, 4DTV, and Dolby E (and analog of course.) But it doesn't have blind-scan unless you get the Premium Plus, which is considerably more expensive and not being sold in the U.S. yet. So you'll either have to have another receiver to scan (big money if you want to scan S2) or rely on other people finding feeds.

Also it won't move a BUD or change polarization on one, but very few modern receivers will. I think you can get an interface box from some company to handle that for you, but I'm not the one to ask about that.

 

[mr.crane]

Yes, an AZBox will handle anything unencrypted except DirecTV, 4DTV, and Dolby E (and analog of course.) But it doesn't have blind-scan unless you get the Premium Plus, which is considerably more expensive and not being sold in the U.S. yet. So you'll either have to have another receiver to scan (big money if you want to scan S2) or rely on other people finding feeds.

Also it won't move a BUD or change polarization on one, but very few modern receivers will. I think you can get an interface box from some company to handle that for you, but I'm not the one to ask about that.

how about the az Elite, is this a good unit?

 

[Jim S.]

The Elite is pretty much the same as the Premium except you have to connect an external USB hard drive rather than an internal SATA one.

 

[kirara386]

The Elite is pretty much the same as the Premium except you have to connect an external USB hard drive rather than an internal SATA one.

The Elite also requires a wired internet connection (should you want to have it hooked up to the internet), whereas the Premium has wireless.

 

[ikki]

Still no word on ATSC for the AZBOX?

Thats all I am waiting on.

 

[zamar23]

ikki

If you're waiting for extra ATSC Tuner offered for sale, which can be used with previous models of AZBox (except Plus), it was said by AZBox team on their forum (look through SatGuys AZBox section) that these receiver models CAN NOT support dual tuner operation in HD mode due to insufficient RAM and other hardware issues. I think similar answer was posted by Sigma team about their processor model used in older AZBoxes. Besides, the company developers are now preoccupied with IPTV support in firmware and Plus introduction, so one can safely assume there will be NO ATSC Tuner firmware support in older models and no tuner offered for mass NA consumer ever. If such tuner were ever sold for old receivers, it would only compromise AZBox brand by numerous non-performance complains. The train is gone.