Got a DSR-4200 today

[Mr Tony]

Boy I lucked out today.
Went with a buddy for lunch and after that stopped at a place called Unique. Think Goodwill but more upscale (ie: more selection and not as dumpy)

Anyways...wandering through and I always like to see the electronics selection as you might get lucky. This is where I got the computer for 10 bucks that has the RS232 port so I can do software upgrades & ChannelMaster.

Lots of VCR's, CD players, DirecTV boxes, record players etc. But then I saw something and was like "no way". Picked it up and it was a GI 4200. Checked the back and it says "4200C" and had power cord attatched. There are a couple pieces of tape with arrows pointing at the satellite in & rf out plugs so obviously its been used (and authorized)
I also realized the employees didnt know what it was. Usually they price stuff by how nice it looks and if someone would use it. This looks real good. couple scuffs but in great shape

Picked it up for 8.95

no remote so now the fun begins. From reading other threads and BJ's webpage the 4200C only does 19510 (doesnt do 29270) and you need the remote. I got a few Motorola remotes here from Starchoice, a 4DTV 905 and a Voom remote. Hopefully one has the magic "time" button (or a different name that does the same thing)

so now I got new toy (and probably lots of questions)...but first find that dang "time" button on the remotes

 

[Mr Tony]

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :clap:clap:clap:clap

I can access the secret menus

on the Starchoice remote, the "PPV" button (that shows on the guide just the PPV channels) works the same as the "Time" button and lets me get into the secret menus

I happy now.

 

[tvropro]

Nice toy and fantastic price, you lucked out. All I ever see around here is old direct tv receivers in thrift stores. Would die if I saw a DVB receiver over there.

I don't think it will get anything more then you get on your 905. 19510, limits it too. Now if it was a 4800 Whoa... Megapipe city

 

[Mr Tony]

Have an issue an hopefully someone knows

Fired it up and did master reset. Figured lets try something that is listed on Lyngsat and available. The mux where I can go fishing

Programmed all the info in and let it sit for 5 minutes. +8 ebno

Hit channel up and boom had it. But its garbled pic
left half of the screen is the channel and fine but there is a 2nd pic on the right with a garbled picture. This happened on all channels I tried and I tried a couple different muxes

How do you fix that so I get the WHOLE picture ?

 

[tvropro]

I heard of 920's doing something like that. I think the solution I read was you need to do a couple master resets. It's called split screen. You may want to Google that on a 920 and see what you can find Ice.

 

[Mr Tony]

ok. I'll see what I can come up with

It did it on that mux and the OETA on 79W ku

 

[Inno]

Nice find! There's something to be said for being at the right place at the right time and not overlooking things.

 

[melgarga]

I remember seeing something on split screen issues too. I think it was on one of the programming providers sites. Try NPS or Skyvision or Winfreenet maybe....
and yes very nice score. Hope you can get it lined out. It would be nice to know the technical reason that happens, may be a hardware issue in ageing IRDs that could be addressed at the component level.

 

[Mr Tony]

Nice find! There's something to be said for being at the right place at the right time and not overlooking things.

no duh! I usually skunk out on those items. Amazed I found it and even more amazed at the price
(since they sell crappy VCR's that look like a 3 year old played with it for a couple years for 9.95)

 

[Mr Tony]

It would be nice to know the technical reason that happens, may be a hardware issue in ageing IRDs that could be addressed at the component level.

it was on both component and RF out and on 2 different muxes....one on C-Band and one on KU

 

[melgarga]

Sorry, my bad, ambiguous term. I meant component level as in discrete electronic components, ie pc board level diagnostics and repair. Something goes whacky when that happens, and whatever it is may have to do with a faulty component, cap, transistor etc.

Did you find the reference to split screen problem for the DSRs? I think the solution was master reset and only mentioned the 920 as I recall. If that doesnt work you might try leaving on for an extended period then resetting, and/or doing a reset immediately after boot up after it's been unplugged for several hour/overnight (dead cold).

If all else fails you could try ATS tech support, and hopefully get a hold of a hobby friendly tech that could point you in the right direction to repair it yourself.
It's a shame, you seem soooo excited.....lol

 

[Mr Tony]

Skyvision shows this

Multiple Pictures/Split Screen

Perform the following troubleshooting steps if the receiver displays multiple pictures or a split screen on digital channels.

1. Move your satellite dish to G-1, channel 3. Ensure the DC light on the front panel is lit.

2. Perform "Authorization Reset" by pressing Options 6 7 7 8 0 on the remote control.

3. Allow the receiver to download undisturbed for 30 minutes. Check Picture status.

4. If normal picture has not returned, perform "Factory Reset", following the steps below.

NOTE: This procedure should only be used when other attempts to correct the problem have failed. The receiver will be reset to factory specifications and will require reprogramming. Caution should be used when performing a Reset.

Motorola DSR922: On the remote control, press Options 6 7 7 8 7, then Enter. Now reprogram the receiver according to the instructions included with the receiver when you got it new. (For a copy of the DSR922 programming instructions, click here. PDF format*.) You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view PDFs. Click here to download Free Acrobat Reader.

Motorola DSR905: On the remote control, press Options 6 7 7 8 6, then Enter. Now reprogram the receiver according to the instructions included with the receiver when you got it new. (For a copy of the DSR905 programming instructions, click here. PDF format*.)

5. Allow the receiver to download on G-1, channel 3 undisturbed for 30 minutes. Check Picture status.

6. If unsuccessful, call 800-976-5174 for Technical Support.

But I dont know if that will work since the channels are scrambled and I have to do a master reset everytime I log new channels in

 

[Stefan]

I don't know if doing an authorization reset would be a good idea. In fact, if it we me, I think I'd avoid that at all cost because I fear that it might possibly cause the unit to lose it's previously authorized status. If I recall using my 4200, there were 2 different menu items. One was something like "master reset" and the other was "authorization reset". I never dared touch the "authorization reset". The other reset was always necessary when tuning the box to a new service, but I'd be wary of attempting an authorization reset as at this point there's likely no way you'll ever get one of these boxes authorized again.

As for the directions at skyvision, remember they are referring to 4dtv receivers which people have subscribed. What may be happening there is a firmware update may be being downloaded. That wouldn't help you for 2 reasons. First being that your 4200 wouldn't get an authorization hit from that stream since it's not a 4dtv box and can't be authorized by 4dtv programming providers. Secondly the firmware update is not a firmware for your receiver. It's probably for a 920 and would do you no good. If there are any services still around that are pushing down firmware updates for 4200s that might perhaps be a possible solution to the problem, but it might be risky as their firmware update might be specific for the needs of their service and could possibly cause problem if you want to tune the box to other services in the future.


One solution, which I think would work, but would not be ideal, would be to pickup an HDD-1000 external video decoder. It would not be ideal because it means you'd have to invest more money into something with very limited usefulness. I'm fairly certain it would work however as the HDD-1000s not only decode and render HD video but will do the same with SD video.

 

[Mr Tony]

I'll work on it and see what happens

If it loses authorization I'm only out 9 bucks
and I still have a 905 as a backup

 

[B.J.]

Skyvision shows this

Multiple Pictures/Split Screen

Perform the following troubleshooting steps if the receiver displays multiple pictures or a split screen on digital channels.

1. Move your satellite dish to G-1, channel 3. Ensure the DC light on the front panel is lit.

2. Perform "Authorization Reset" by pressing Options 6 7 7 8 0 on the remote control.

.....

If I remember right, the two menu items Stefan mentioned are the authorization reset, which is bottom left, and the factory reset, which is the one you need to tune in a new mux, which is on the bottom right. I was also always nervous about doing the authorization thing myself, however I *THINK* that I accidently did it once, and it didn't do anything. I say I *THINK*, because I'm not sure which button I hit, ie the time or the enter key or whatever it's called. But regardless of whether the authorization can kill the unit or not, I I agree that it won't do any good, because I don't think there is any chance of getting an authorization hit on G1 or any other satellite. The directions above are for the 4DTV type streams.
I've never seen that split screen behavior myself, on any mux, although HD channels do some strange things to the screen. I'm curious about getting ANYTHING on the OETA channels. Last 2 times I tried OETA, they weren't sending down a VCT on that mux, so no channels loaded in. This prompts me to ask to make sure that you went through the factory reset step prior to tuning the mux. Ie I'm wondering if you had the parameters from another mux in there, and it by chance matched the parameters of the OETA, or if perhap they are now sending out a VCT again. I may give that a try again today. But back to the factory reset thing, you need to do that by selecting it and hitting the TIME key, and the receiver should go blank for 10 seconds or so, after which time you have to go through the process of getting into the secret menus again.

Re getting new firmware downloads, I haven't heard of any services that were sending down firmware updates for years. Back in the late 90s, there was a KET mux somewhere near AMC1 or a Canadian sat (can't remember). They WERE sending down firmware, and it hi-jacked many people's receivers, and made them useless, since the new firmware required you to get authorized each time you did a factory reset. The firmware was completely automatic. If you left the receiver on that mux, it would download it on it's own. It started grabbing my receiver once, but I pulled the plug. Finally, GI agreed to create a even NEWER firmware that didn't require authorization on factory reset, and I, and many other people went to the KET channel to download it. If you could find a place sending out that firmware, then it would be OK, as that's what I've been using for over a decade. But the odds are that there isn't any place sending out the firmware anymore.

The company mentioned above can probably fix it. I sent one of my 4200s back to them for an audio chip problem. Cost me somewhere around $100, although I think I got the battery replaced while it was there. But that's a lot of money for an $8 receiver. Anyway, I've never seen that split screen thing happen on my 4200s, and it sounds like a bad video chip of some kind to me, unless you weren't doing the factory reset thing with the time key.

 

[Mr Tony]

I know I was doing the factory reset thing. I read the instructions from your site BJ

I had OETA on there. ITs the only KU channel that is out there. When I started the channels in there were in the 700's and OETA was on (if I remember right) 100

I'll try later today or tomorrow. I'll master reset it a few times first before reloading a channel in there

 

[photoman76]

There is another ku DC2 mux still out there. The Russian mux is on Galaxy 16 at 11800 H 19510. Unfortunately it's all encrypted, so nothing to see there.

 

[B.J.]

I know I was doing the factory reset thing. I read the instructions from your site BJ

I had OETA on there. ITs the only KU channel that is out there. When I started the channels in there were in the 700's and OETA was on (if I remember right) 100
...

I just tried OETA again. You're right, it's back. They're sending a VCT again. Great, because that often had programs on there that were different from what was on the main PBS channels.

However OETA wasn't on channel 100 for me at least. Probably not related to your problem, but it shows up as channel 810 for me, which agrees with Lyngsat.
I did have a bit of an issue with it. It DID take a long time for the VCT to load in, but probably about the 8 minutes or so you mention. Channel 100 is sort of the default channel it goes to while it's loading the VCT. Sometimes, if you try to change channels before the VCT is fully loaded, it will do strange things, so you might just try waiting longer than 8 minutes.

However if you got a picture on channel 100, you must have the old firmware.
I think that mine came with version 000030 , and after I upgraded at the KET site, it became version 00007C . The "BAD" version had a number somewhere in between, somewhere around 000054 or something like that.

Actually I liked the old firmware better, because it acted like you describe, Ie when you're loading in a channel, it jumps to the first good channel on the VCT, so you know when it's ready to go. On the new version of firmware, it would stay on channel 100 all day, and do nothing until you changed channels.

When I tuned in OETA today, I tried changing channels a bit too soon, and instead of going up to 810, it went down to 15, which had the wrong freq/SR, and I lost lock, and I couldn't change channels out of that 11-15 range. So I went back to the tuning page, put the correct freq/SR back in, went to the diagnostic window, and typed 810, and OETA popped in.

Anyway, thanks for the heads up that OETA is working again, and sorry that your 4200 doesn't seem to be working right. It was perfect picture for me.
You might try typing in channel 810 manually... I guess it's possible that the parameters get messed up if you leave it on channel 100, but I doubt it.

BTW, if you don't know which channels to manually type in, like from Lyngsat, when you're in the diagnostics screens, if you hit back and 1, you get in some sort of a channel map page. I usually go there, and it will initially have a whole mess of channels listed, 100,101,102,103..... etc, etc, I usually go there and just go back and forth between 100, 101,100, 15 (or whatever is below 100), 100,101, and usually, after the VCT starts loading in, the 101,102, etc goes away, and the real channels pop in. It's still to early to actually change to those channels though. When I saw the 810 pop in, I went back to the diagnostic screen, gave it a couple more minutes, but apparently not enough.

It's strange.... some muxes will load in the VCT in less than a minute, but other muxes seem to take forever. This one only seemed to have one channel there, but it took a long time to load. And I had a fairly good signal too. I guess you noticed that the signal meter works backward compared to 4DTV, ie lower is better. I think I had like 29 on the signal, and 8.something on the S/N, which is pretty good for me. I can usually get good lock if the signal is only 88 (where 90 or 92 is basically zero, but 29 is pretty good. And on the S/N, I can usually get lock if that is above 3, but this one was up above 8, which is good.

 

[dougbrown]

A couple of questions, what is OETA? and which bird is it on? and is it visible to a 922?

I've been trying to figure out my KU problem on my BUD and a KU 4DTV feed would be helpful...

 

[B.J.]

A couple of questions, what is OETA? and which bird is it on? and is it visible to a 922?

I've been trying to figure out my KU problem on my BUD and a KU 4DTV feed would be helpful...

I'm not sure what all the letters are, but it's Oklahoma PBS. On AMC5. It's listed in Lyngsat. Lyngsat lists it as 11792 with a 4.88 (4880) SR , The 922 should be capable of the SR, but I'm not sure if the frequency requires some special tricks or if it's mapped.