Blind Scan on Visionsat IV 200 PVR ??

[chapelrun]

Got my new Visionsat IV 200 PVR and hooked it up; but I cannot get it to find any channels.

Here is what I tried so far.

1. Updated firmware from 1.15 to 1.20
2. Did a factory reset
3. Tried both Universal and Single LNB (I have a Hughes LNB from a DirecPC)
4. Hooked back up my Fortec Star Merc II (everything works here)

Always comes up "0 TV channels found"
"0 Radio Channels found"

What might I have missed?

 

[turbosat]

Are you using any switches, and if so, are you setting the port # correctly? The lnb LO is 10750 for a standard lnbf, that DirecPC should be a standard. I have a later one from the 2way system, direcway , it is a standard. Unless there's something with a diseqc switch, or using wrong lnb type, nothing else comes to mind. (if you're using the same dish with the merc and it works).

 

[chapelrun]

No switches

The only thing between the LNB and the receiver is a grounding block.

This is the same dish, cable and everything that works with the Fortec Merc II.

I read Iceberg's review and many posts in that thread for ideas.

It should be seeing something - - - - but so far nothing.

Should I enter some PID's manually and see if I can get anything?

 

[Mr Tony]

update to the newest firmware. I think its 1.45

Blind scan works great on 1.45

 

[turbosat]

He musta found a bug or didn't get a clean install - thought I read those Visionsats worked very well for blind-scanning.

 

[chapelrun]

System Information

IV 200 - System Information

Model IV 200 MX
Loader Version L 1.01
H/W Version S1000 1.00
Application Version V1.45
Driver Version API 1.00
Data Version FDU v1.2

Once I loaded version 1.45 I still have the same issue. Zero channels found.

I found here that someone fixed a blind scan issue with firmware version 1.18 but I cannot seem to locate that version of firmware.

Anybody have the official firmware 1.18 for the visionsat IV 200 PVR Plus ??

 

[Anole]

something simple?

Well, this is always something I worry about ....
... so much so that I put a red sticky dot by the LNB input connector on the back of the receiver -
Did you plug the LNB into the correct connector? -

'Cause it sounds like you've covered most of the other bases. -

 

[chapelrun]

OK - - - This is weird

I noticed that I was not getting any signal at all so I did the following.

I flashed the receiver back to firmware 1.20.

And moved the cable coming from the "LBN IN" to the "LBN OUT" and then it worked!

I figured since I was not getting any signal maybe the connections inside the STB were backwards.

This picture is really Iceberg's but my cable is coming from the lower connection and NOT as displayed here.

 

[ng54]

Tried that on my Visionsat and was able to receive channels ok but at a lower signal and quality numbers. Motor and switch control does not work, hooked up that way.
Looks like you have a bad LNB IN port. Double check your cable end at the receiver, maybe
bad connector install, intermittent short circuit?

 

[chapelrun]

Should I RMA this unit?

If I understand you right I should RMA this unit and get another one - - - correct?

I did notice that the blind scan did not find near as many channels as the Fortec Merc II. Also the Merc II found 6 radio channels and the Visionsat found zero.

 

[Mr Tony]

I would RMA it...sounds like a bad unit

My Visionsat picks up the same amount of channels as my Pansat 1500 or Fortec Ultra

 

[chapelrun]

Final Update (maybe)

Well I called SatelliteAV today and they were very helpful - - - and gave me an RMA number.

I thought I better try this unit one more time before I send it back.
Hooked it up to my old Sky Angel dish pointed at 61.5 and blind scanned using all the correct connections and it found 156 TV channels and 15 radio. (mostly scrambled).

Did another System reset to default and hooked it back up to the dish pointed at 123W and it found 55 TV channels and 1 radio channel. (a few scrambled)

Sure glad I checked it again before sending it back - - - seems to be working great now. I'm not really sure what changed or why it started working but the 1.20 Firmware seems to be stable especially if you don't need the card reader.

I recorded a TV show last night - - - I can play back the recording on the IV 200 PVR.

What is the best app to play these *.ts files on a PC? And what app is best to reprocess the *.ts files to burn onto a CD or DVD?

 

[Anole]

making DVDs

What is the best app to play these *.ts files on a PC?
And what app is best to reprocess the *.ts files to burn onto a CD or DVD?

VLC is free and will probably play them. I never do, given so many other choices.
It's really just an mpeg file... though, it might have a proprietary header on it.
Not sure.

As for making DVDs, I use VideoReDo (from a web site by the same name) to edit out commercials.
Their latest incarnation will also do the Authoring steps needed to make DVD files.
And, it'll also do the actual burning on your DVD toaster, too.

I've used their software for many years, and found a solution to making fancy DVDs long before they put the basic capability in the product.
DVD Labs Pro is excellent for authoring.
NERO (just their burner software) does a fine job of burning two discs at once.
You won't like the price of those latter two, so I won't recommend 'em, but they are great, and I crank out quite dazzling discs when needed.

An Epson printer that'll print on blank DVDs, is the final solution!.
It's great to decorate discs with clips from the shows or other artwork, and make a professional looking job.
. . . and even if I just used it to print the titles withOUT graphics, it'd be far more readable than my hand writing!

 

[fzimmerman]

>What is the best app to play these *.ts files on a PC?

This is not exactly an answer to your question, but you can use a free program called AutoGK to convert the TS files to DivX AVI files.

 

[Gary Z]

How do you convert DivX AVI to TS? I have tried various programs but not with 100% success the converted AVI files play fine for about 2 seconds then go to slow motion for 2 seconds then back to normal speed.. this cycle continues the whole time.

....you can use a free program called AutoGK to convert the TS files to DivX AVI files.

 

[Tron]

Media Player Classic will play the .TS files that are created by the Visionsat. VLC will play .TS (transport stream) files created by other devices, but for some reason will not play the Visionsat files.