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md_paul

Last reply Apr 8, 2016 · posted in DISH Network Support Forum

Hopper 3 composite output video letterbox, but guide is anamorphic

I now have a Hopper 3, but this problem appears to be with the Carbon UI software. I first saw it when I installed the test version of Carbon UI on my old Hopper with sling, and now it persists with the Hopper3. Since my first Hopper 1, I have been sending the composite output of the Hopper to an old Radio Shack stereo RF modulator, and distributing the SD quality signal to a small 16x9 TV in our kitchen, and one in my workroom. Before Carbon UI on the hopper 1 &2, all video coming out of the composite connection was anamorphic. On an old SD 4x3 TV, all the video looked squished and tall, however with shown full screen on a 16x9 TV, it looked normal. With the Carbon UI, it appears the developers decided to output 16x9 video on composite as letterbox so the video would look normal on a 4x3 TV. I am okay with this, and can still zoom the video on the 16x9 TV to full screen while losing a little of the SD resolution. Unfortunately, the developers left the guide as anamorpic. With the letterbox video zoomed to full screen, the zoomed anamorphic guide now spills off the screen and is unusable. I can switch the kitchen TV back and forth, but this is frustrating. I would prefer they provided the option to turn off the letterboxed video on composite, and return to all anamorphic. However, I would be okay if they would at least be consistent (all letterbox or all anamophic) between the video and guide.

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spoiler1041

Apr 6, 2016

md_paul said:
I now have a Hopper 3, but this problem appears to be with the Carbon UI software. I first saw it when I installed the test version of Carbon UI on my old Hopper with sling, and now it persists with the Hopper3. Since my first Hopper 1, I have been sending the composite output of the Hopper to an old Radio Shack stereo RF modulator, and distributing the SD quality signal to a small 16x9 TV in our kitchen, and one in my workroom. Before Carbon UI on the hopper 1 &2, all video coming out of the composite connection was anamorphic. On an old SD 4x3 TV, all the video looked squished and tall, however with shown full screen on a 16x9 TV, it looked normal. With the Carbon UI, it appears the developers decided to output 16x9 video on composite as letterbox so the video would look normal on a 4x3 TV. I am okay with this, and can still zoom the video on the 16x9 TV to full screen while losing a little of the SD resolution. Unfortunately, the developers left the guide as anamorpic. With the letterbox video zoomed to full screen, the zoomed anamorphic guide now spills off the screen and is unusable. I can switch the kitchen TV back and forth, but this is frustrating. I would prefer they provided the option to turn off the letterboxed video on composite, and return to all anamorphic. However, I would be okay if they would at least be consistent (all letterbox or all anamophic) between the video and guide.

So you have a 16:9 tv with no composite video inputs?

md_paul

Apr 6, 2016

spoiler1041 said:
So you have a 16:9 tv with no composite video inputs?

The 16x9 Kitchen TV is a small regular HDTV with all the standard inputs including NTSC and ATSC RF. The hopper is in our living room. The HDMI HD output of the hopper is going to a 55" HD TV in the living room. The RF (Channel 3) signal from the Hopper's composite output uses the homes existing RG6 cables to distribute the SD NTSC signal to TV's in other rooms like I used to do with the 722. I use home distributed RF in the kitchen because it is the only way to have the kitchen TV audio in sync with the sound from the living room TV in a room about 20 feet away. There is no way to have a Joey in the kitchen and have the sound/video in perfect sync with the main hopper.

charlesrshell

Apr 8, 2016

md_paul said:
The 16x9 Kitchen TV is a small regular HDTV with all the standard inputs including NTSC and ATSC RF. The hopper is in our living room. The HDMI HD output of the hopper is going to a 55" HD TV in the living room. The RF (Channel 3) signal from the Hopper's composite output uses the homes existing RG6 cables to distribute the SD NTSC signal to TV's in other rooms like I used to do with the 722. I use home distributed RF in the kitchen because it is the only way to have the kitchen TV audio in sync with the sound from the living room TV in a room about 20 feet away. There is no way to have a Joey in the kitchen and have the sound/video in perfect sync with the main hopper.

Why not try a Wireless Joey in your kitchen?

n0qcu

Apr 8, 2016

Because if you read the original post you'd see that a joey wouldn't be in sync with the hopper.

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charlesrshell

Apr 8, 2016

n0qcu said:
Because if you read the original post you'd see that a joey wouldn't be in sync with the hopper.

OK, understand, I missed that in post #3. I am still on S529 in my HWSs. I hope DISH has the RCA video output changed back to the way it is in the old CUI before I get the new one. If not, guess I will try out that Component Video AV Converter. Good info n0qcu on the converter. I have three RF Modulators on my three HWSs and don't want to have to deal with the leterbox issues. I hope sometime DISH will upgrade the Hoppers so they can sync recordings to other TVs, I would probably do away with my RF Modulators. What does anamorphic mean?

md_paul

Apr 8, 2016

charlesrshell said:
What does anamorphic mean?

Composite video is 480i video that was originally designed to be viewed on a 4x3 video screen. Anamorphic composite video is taking a 16x9 video source and squeezing it to a 4x3 image. Everything in the image looks distorted skinny and taller than is should be if you look at the image on a 4x3 display. However, if you display it on a television that is capable of stretching the 4x3 image out to 16x9 (like most modern HDTVs), it looks normal.

The advantage of anamorphic is that it preserves the maximum 480i resolution if you have a widescreen TV. The disadvantage of anamorphic video is that if you have a 4x3 TV, there is no easy way to view the image without distortion. This is probably why Dish decided to go with letterbox on composite output.

I stole this text from the crutchfield TV glossary:

"Anamorphic video
Refers to widescreen video images that have been "squeezed" to fit a narrower video frame when stored on DVD. These images must be expanded (un-squeezed) by the display device. Most of today's TVs employ a screen with 16:9 aspect ratio, so that anamorphic and other widescreen material can be viewed in its proper proportions. When anamorphic video is displayed on an old-fashioned TV with a 4:3 screen, images appear unnaturally tall and narrow."

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charlesrshell

Apr 8, 2016

md_paul said:
Composite video is 480i video that was originally designed to be viewed on a 4x3 video screen. Anamorphic composite video is taking a 16x9 video source and squeezing it to a 4x3 image. Everything in the image looks distorted skinny and taller than is should be if you look at the image on a 4x3 display. However, if you display it on a television that is capable of stretching the 4x3 image out to 16x9 (like most modern HDTVs), it looks normal.

The advantage of anamorphic is that it preserves the maximum 480i resolution if you have a widescreen TV. The disadvantage of anamorphic video is that if you have a 4x3 TV, there is no easy way to view the image without distortion. This is probably why Dish decided to go with letterbox on composite output.

I stole this text from the crutchfield TV glossary:

"Anamorphic video
Refers to widescreen video images that have been "squeezed" to fit a narrower video frame when stored on DVD. These images must be expanded (un-squeezed) by the display device. Most of today's TVs employ a screen with 16:9 aspect ratio, so that anamorphic and other widescreen material can be viewed in its proper proportions. When anamorphic video is displayed on an old-fashioned TV with a 4:3 screen, images appear unnaturally tall and narrow."

View attachment 115662

Thanks md_paul.

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TWiT Tech Podcast Network

Today at 3:22 AM · posted in TWiT Tech Podcast Network

Whiskey Pick: Sideshow Lincoln Straight Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon

Time for another AWESOME video from the TWIT Network!

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lsr0owJQjdM

Direct YouTube Link - Whiskey Pick: Sideshow Lincoln Straight Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon
TWIT's Website
TWIT Live Feed

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TWiT Tech Podcast Network

Today at 3:22 AM · posted in TWiT Tech Podcast Network

Siri Recap & Live Reward Come to watchOS Beta

Time for another AWESOME video from the TWIT Network!

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nexbqNPK4g

Direct YouTube Link - Siri Recap & Live Reward Come to watchOS Beta
TWIT's Website
TWIT Live Feed

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Lon.TV

Today at 3:22 AM · posted in Lon.TV

Here's How I Code My Own Apps with AI Tools

Time for another AWESOME video from Lon Seidman of LON.TV!

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnP5FbLWFXM

Direct YouTube Link - Here's How I Code My Own Apps with AI Tools
The Official LON.TV Website
Lon on Facebook

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Scott Greczkowski

Staff member HERE TO HELP YOU! Cutting Edge

Last reply Today at 2:35 AM · posted in The Chit Chat Club

Song Name Game Part 3!

Sometimes a thread gets so many posts in it that is can cause issues for the server so that why today we introduce The Song Name Game Part 3!

So let the game continue!

The last song was added by Bobby who posted...

One Meat Ball - Andrews Sisters

CONTINUE ON AND HAVE FUN! WELCOME HOME TO SATELLITEGUYS.US!

Here are the original rules for the game as posted by WebbyDude back in 2006. http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/68645-Song-Name-Game

Just name a song title and the band who performed it. The next person does the same thing, but needs to list a song title or band name which includes a word from the previous entry. Pick songs from any genre.

Example:

Long Live Rock and Roll -- Rainbow

Rainbow in the Dark -- Dio

Another example:

Ride the Lightning -- Metallica

Lightning Strikes -- Ozzy Osbourne

Get it?

An additional note: we all know that song titles, sometimes, use profane words. Because this is a family friendly website it is advised that you clean up that title up a bit. This is accomplished by using something like sh!t instead of the real word. Thanks....

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long_time_Dish

Yesterday at 9:55 PM

Closer Than Yesterday - Renaissance

sdfntx

Yesterday at 11:45 PM

Come A Little Bit Closer - Jay & The Americans

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long_time_Dish

Yesterday at 11:53 PM

Closer To Heaven - Alan Parsons Project

EatMyVolts

Today at 12:38 AM

Heaven Is In Your Mind -- Traffic

hwkn

Today at 2:35 AM

HEAVEN IS A Place On Earth-Belinda Carlisle

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comfortably_numb

Pub Member / Supporter

Yesterday at 11:53 PM · posted in Internet Television (IPTV) Discussion Forum

Philo now offers discounted annual plan

Not sure saving $24/year is worth it unless you're a hardcore Philo user. I'll stick with monthly.

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primestar31

Pub Member / Supporter Lifetime Supporter

Last reply Yesterday at 10:54 PM · posted in SatelliteGuys Classifieds

WANTED EGO Power+ 56 volt batteries, at least 6Ah, 7.5Ah preferred

Cheap, just the battery. Working or not.

Anybody got anything they'd just as soon get rid of? They look like this:

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navychop

Yesterday at 10:54 PM

I have such. Three various of various powers. And one aftermarket. Limited life, I believe.

Will look into it tomorrow.

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iJustine

Yesterday at 10:12 PM · posted in iJustine

Buying a Car Online: Truth or Lie? 🚗

Time for another AWESOME video from iJustine!

View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CQKExcti5Og

Direct YouTube Link - Buying a Car Online: Truth or Lie?

The official iJustine Website's Website
Buy her book!

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MorCowbell

Last reply Yesterday at 9:42 PM · posted in DISH Network Support Forum

Saved OTA list on Dish can't be appended

I have Dish with Hopper3. I choose to get local channels OTA and had a "guide list" established at my previous home. Having moved a few miles away, I wanted to update the list by appending a couple new stations via a rescan. As many would know, some stations come in with the UHF/VHF antenna aimed in one direction, while others come in better with a different direction.

Unfortunately, when a scan is done (bringing in 25-30 stations for that particular antenna aim), the dialog screen does not present the established guide list; it presents an empty field to the right that the scanned stations may be selected one by one and added to the empty guide. But because of antenna aim, some stations originally saved are missing, and would have to be retrieved with a different antenna aim. But as I explain, if a 2nd scan is done with a different antenna aim, the stations saved from the first scan are lost.

It troubles me that Dish didn't develop software that would allow a user to simply append only 1 or 2 channels to the established list.

Any thought on this? Has anyone experienced this or heard of this from others?

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MorCowbell

Monday at 11:18 AM

To Dishstaller, I appreciate your compliment. That was an epic SNL skit !!

To RVvaquero, I appreciate your coments but everything you mention has been considered:

Firstly, I use OTA very rarely - mainly for sporting events.
Secondly, I'm well aware that, since certain channels may scan from one directon while others from another directions, and remembering the difference, for certain stations I will point the antenna in a suitable direction. Some stations come in for almost any direction. In my original list (which has now been discarded), I had about 18 OTA stations and all of them were scanned from the same antenna direction. Even so, the Dish receiver was very particular about ABC (local KOAT 007-01). In the new geographic setting, it gets KOAT easier. Several months ago, due to a contract dispute, CBS (formerly local KRQE on 013-01) was dropped; it hooked up with KOAT as KOATCB (007-04) which is the one station I really needed. But I had to rescan to get it ...

All of ths points to the flaw in Dish's OTA software that prevents scanned stations from simply being appended to a master saved list. The user should be left to manage antenna pointing per OTA station since in many areas (like mine), they don't all come in from the same direction.

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Bobby

Monday at 11:35 AM

MorCowbell said:
To Dishstaller, I appreciate your compliment. That was an epic SNL skit !!

To RVvaquero, I appreciate your coments but everything you mention has been considered:

Firstly, I use OTA very rarely - mainly for sporting events.
Secondly, I'm well aware that, since certain channels may scan from one directon while others from another directions, and remembering the difference, for certain stations I will point the antenna in a suitable direction. Some stations come in for almost any direction. In my original list (which has now been discarded), I had about 18 OTA stations and all of them were scanned from the same antenna direction. Even so, the Dish receiver was very particular about ABC (local KOAT 007-01). In the new geographic setting, it gets KOAT easier. Several months ago, due to a contract dispute, CBS (formerly local KRQE on 013-01) was dropped; it hooked up with KOAT as KOATCB (007-04) which is the one station I really needed. But I had to rescan to get it ...

All of ths points to the flaw in Dish's OTA software that prevents scanned stations from simply being appended to a master saved list. The user should be left to manage antenna pointing per OTA station since in many areas (like mine), they don't all come in from the same direction.

As rvvaquero mentioned, you are in a very small population who actually need to move their antenna to receive various TV channels. There are a few reasons why it is not advantageous for Dish to do what you are asking for. First and primary, there are anomalies in the software that can cause issues when you have scanned channels in the mix that have little or no signal. You get error pop ups and cannot watch any channel, OTA or satellite. I have seen these even with my antenna pointed to one direction. Second, you are asking Dish to adapt their software to your needs while the very vast majority don't need that. This is an expense that everyone is going to have to pay for while few gain any advantage.

Have you thought about adding a second antenna so that you are pointing at both directions to fulfill your needs. There are ways to do this and it would fulfill your individual need.

Google Search

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Foxbat

Monday at 2:18 PM

Televes makes an antenna signal combiner that will support ~~two~~ three different antennas pointing towards two different locations, and has filters to drop the signals from the channels that interfere with the 2nd antenna channels. This produces a signal that would contain all your receivable channels in one feed. It would probably cost less than a single antenna on a rotor controlled by a smart box that would relocate the antenna mast towards the TV station you wanted to tune in, plus it's instantaneous, without waiting for the antenna to slew towards its target.

Why Choose the Televes SmartKom?

SmartKom combines filtering, combining, and amplification in one outdoor preamplifier. Its three inputs and 32 programmable digital filters allow installers to select, combine, and level channels from different antenna sources, while the included ASuite app supports both automatic and advanced Bluetooth programming.

Key Benefits

Three VHF/UHF antenna inputs
32 programmable digital channel filters
Automatic channel scan, filtering, and level balancing
Advanced per-channel programming through the ASuite app
Bluetooth programming through the included power supply interface
Automatic gain control on each filter
LTE/5G out-of-band filtering
Compatible with HDTV, UHD 4K, and supported ATSC 3.0 signals
Configuration retained after power loss
12V, 750mA power supply included

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MorCowbell

Yesterday at 12:38 PM

I appreciate your sentiments, Bobby but as a professional programmer for many years, a hallmark of good programing is robustness – anticipating user needs and, where practicable, adding the necessary coding structure. Knowing that Dish must have understood the nuances of antenna directionality on signal strength, it seems that an accommodation could have been made to append direction-dependent stations. Though I haven't seen the code, it would not have taken a lot of effort to make that accommodation. And as to you point about "First and primary, there are anomalies in the software that can cause issues when you have scanned channels in the mix that have little or no signal. You get error pop ups …", if a rogue station causes the issues you described, it can easily be removed.

Another hallmark of good programming is documentation. Dish decided not to release any documentation on the OTA process for users. A key part of such documentation would have been an explanation that when a rescan is performed and new stations are saved, the original OTA list is overwritten. This could have even been done with an onscreen dropdown warning. That would prevent users from finding this out the hard way.

Finally. piggybacking on RVvaquero's comment about the "remote control issue", I should add that I am having a similar issue. Ever since I used the Pairing Wizard to tailor control for my Samsung TV, I find that it sometimes takes not 1, not 2, but 3 presses of the On/Off button (several minutes apart) to finally kill the TV. This is kinda maddening and, as with OTA function, not discussed in any Dish documentation I've seen

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Almighty1

Yesterday at 5:16 PM

Good points MorCowbell - All they had to do was add a few more options including the existing, I don't remember the exact names:
1) Scan/Re-scan and it will ask if one wants to overwrite database aka delete first or add to existing database
2) View existing database and add or delete manually
3) Save Database
4) Restore Database

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dishstaller

Yesterday at 9:42 PM

I could very well be wrong....it has been a LOT of years but back when I had a 722K it seemed like when you went back to the scan screen that you could just scan again and it would ADD those channels to the previous list or you could delete the previous results and only add the channels from the new scan.

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zippyfrog

Pub Member / Supporter Lifetime Supporter

Last reply Yesterday at 9:34 PM · posted in DISH Network Support Forum

110/119 Listings Post 129 Transition (Updated 11/01/2026)

Over the past year I have been tracking the changes on Western Arc. The past 3 months have had a lot of changes that I posted in the other MPEG2 Western Arc shutdown thread. Now that 129 is (basically) out of commission, here is where Western Arc stands. This is just a national channel list, (no local channels) based off what I can see and what others have contributed. Thanks to everyone who has helped me come up with the locations of some of the channels – I would try and list all of you out, but I know I would forget someone! As has been suggested in other parts of the forum, it would be great to collect the spotbeam data for those who could contribute!

A couple of pieces of info:

Out of the 64 transponders between 110/119, there are currently 50 transponders that Dish is licensed to use. 22 are Spotbeams, 28 are ConUS transponders (14 transponders are licensed to DirecTV and Dish doesn't have access to them)
Those 28 ConUS transponders are divided as follows:
- 10 are dedicated to National HD channels (ESPN, CNN, Disney Channel, etc). Dish is maxing out at 16 HD channels per transponder (note – in an earlier post I said there was one transponder with 17 HD channels, that was an error on my part. When I double checked my listings, one channel changed transponders). Before the transition, there was a maximum of 14 HD channels per transponder.
- 1 transponder is dedicated to adult content
- 2 are a mixture HD PPV Movies/4k channels
- 3 are set aside for HD Sports channels that are only on for live games (NBA League Pass, the PAC 12 alternate channels, some PPV events, etc); 3 SD PPV Sports Channels are there as well.
- 7 are for SD and/or music channels. Dish is maxing out at 26 SD channels per transponder thus far on the SD transponders.
- 5 transponders on 110 I have no channels listed but Dish operates. (they are labeled as ConUS on my chart below) There are other things that could be on those transponders, like RV Distant Networks, internal testing channels, etc, that I can't see. They might be able to be used for additional content, but I am not sure exactly what is on those transponders.

There are two transponders that have lower than normal SD channels – 110, TP 21 and 119, TP 19. Previously those transponders contained the programming guides that get downloaded from the satellite when the receivers download EPG. I assume that is where the programming guides are still downloaded from, thus less channels there.

When I talk about number of channels on a transponder, all my numbers are unique channels – for example, channel 101 and 199 are the same channel mapped to two different numbers, but in terms of space, only takes up 1 channel worth of bandwidth on the transponder.

Finally, I have to give Dish a ton of credit. When it was 110/119/129, Dish had 82 transponders they were using – it took a lot to get it down to 50 transponders and figure out where all the pieces were going to go. What are the things they did to get there? Here are the things I saw:

During this migration from 129, Dish converted 7 ConUS transponders on 119 into Spotbeams – that is how they ended up fitting on all the HD locals that used to be on 129. (for those interested, TP 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13 are the ones that used to be ConUS on 119 that are now Spotbeam)
Removed almost all SD duplicate channels that are offered in HD
Converted remaining SD channels from MPEG2 to MPEG4
There are also 2 subtle things that changed from the HD channel perspective
- At the beginning of the transition, Dish decreased the number of PPV Movie channels – prior to this transition the PPV channels HD PPV movies were 502-522; now they are 502-517.
- At the beginning of April when MLB, NBA, and NHL regular seasons were all going on at the same time and this transition began, there were a ton of games "joined in progress" for the HD feeds. That wasn't common since the days before the full time HD RSN's. The reason for that was prior to the transition, Dish had 4 transponders set aside for HD Sports – 2 transponders was the bandwidth set aside from the HD RSN's before Dish dropped the RSN's, then 2 transponders were for alternate channels. Now we are down to 3 transponders for HD sports.

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zippyfrog

Sunday at 4:47 PM

With the extra hour I had this morning, I updated the listings. Another month has passed, and nothing has moved off 110 to 119 for the national channels. I really thought those handful of transponders on 119 would have been populated with the national channels from 110, but no change.

Can someone who has a Hopper tell me if the 4k channels are still on 110 and if so, what transponder?

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Bobby

Sunday at 5:07 PM

zippyfrog said:
With the extra hour I had this morning, I updated the listings. Another month has passed, and nothing has moved off 110 to 119 for the national channels. I really thought those handful of transponders on 119 would have been populated with the national channels from 110, but no change.

Can someone who has a Hopper tell me if the 4k channels are still on 110 and if so, what transponder?

They appear to be on 110, transponder 8.

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zippyfrog

Sunday at 5:30 PM

Bobby said:
They appear to be on 110, transponder 8.

Thanks! I do have my listing correct then.

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zippyfrog

Yesterday at 5:11 PM

Dish has officially removed all the locals from 119 and they are all on 110 now. TP 02, 04, 06, 08, 10 were all functioning as Spotbeams as of last week, but now they are ConUS.

This means all 21 transponders that Dish has access to at 119 are now ConUS.

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dishrich

Yesterday at 9:34 PM

zippyfrog said:
Dish has officially removed all the locals from 119 and they are all on 110 now.

Might be a silly question, but does this mean ALL 29 TP's on 110 are positively spot beams now?

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Foxbat

Supporting Founder Pub Member / Supporter Lifetime Supporter

Last reply Yesterday at 8:13 PM · posted in Internet Television (IPTV) Discussion Forum

A Google Partner Intentionally Installed Malware on their Android Set-Top Boxes

According to this article on The Verge, Videostrong Technologies based in Shenzen, China, placed a backdoor into 1.3 million of their devices and used this to deploy a botnet:

The infected devices were used without owners' knowledge for "malicious activity," like ad fraud, data exfiltration, and routing unauthorized network traffic. Google claims the "backdoor and botnet were intentionally developed, deployed, and operated for financial gain"