How To North Americanize Your AZBOX.
I used 3 programs to do the task.
1) Maz3 was used to FTP the “all_channel.dat” file from the azbox to the pc.
2) AZbox Edit was used to do the actual editing even though it was fluky in windows 7 but it did work well enough.
3) Azbox control center ver 1.1
(In a Google search I somehow obtained an AZ Toolbox by Xonic Team which has all the above programs loaded into one)
Using Maz3
Setup your Profile: Name = Azbox
IP: = 198.168.x.xxx (fill in the address to match your Azbox IP Address.)
*IP set here to make it easier for most people*
FTP Port = 21
Telnet Port = 23
Login = root
Password = azbox
(login & password are case sensitive; all lower case)
Under Options
Style = Office 2003 Classic * again set for your preference*
Language = English (or whatever you can read)
Now press the “Connect” button above the profile section.
Then click on “Channel List” over on the left side & then hit the Green down arrow button which is located above the word “Name”.
Your channel list from the azbox should now appear on the left side in the large box.
Directly to the left of the green down arrow is your “SAVE” button.
This is what you need to do to the channel list save it to your computer where you know it is. There will be 3 files saved.
all_channel.dat
antenna_list.dat
DVBS.dat
Once this is saved to your pc, you are ready to move on to the next step.
Now open AZ Edit (your going to edit the sat list and delete the unwanted tp’s)
Once azedit is open go to the “File” button and click on “OPEN”
Now find the all_channel.dat file where you just saved it on your hard drive
Highlight it so it appears on the lower part of the box and then hit “open”.
Then click on “Organize Sat & TP”
Do not worry if you get a box popping up saying "subscript out of range"
If you have to click on ok to make it go away then do so.
The satellite list is now on the screen in the middle box.
Go all the way to the top using the side bar in the program and highlight the very top one which should be an Eastern Sat. You can tell by looking to the left side of the screen next to the satellite name is the Degree. You do not want any that say “E”.
Now move your mouse over to the delete button under the satellite list and keep deleting. When you get to 169°E, STOP ::
now save the file under the “File” menu.
Sometimes this program is very tricky and temperamental and crashed on me every time I reached this point. To get around it what I did was exactly what I wrote here, then re-open the file and now instead of deleting the very top satellite go to the 2nd on the list and delete it first, then delete the top satellite name.
*Your Mileage May Vary Using AZEDIT *
Once you have the list down to what you want remember to save the file on your pc.
You may also use Maz 3 to edit your satellite list but for beginners like me, this is how I made it happen.
So now you have the file saved on your pc with no Eastern Sat’s and you can also delete any TP’s on each sat you still have left but just for caution leave 1 TP on each satellite you have in your list. Why? Well we have found that deleting every TP causes the receiver to go wacky and revert to the old files. Leaving one TP under each satellite satisfied the receiver and it has always remained stable doing it this way
Now open the program: ACC (Azbox Control Center) version 1.1
Go to “Connection” (top right) click on it and set up your connection again using the same info you did for Maz3 near the top of this note.
Add the profile or a new profile here so it will always be there for the future.
There is also a Language setting here under Connections so set it up the first time around here.
Now…. Open the Tools-2 button
Everything should be setup on this page so DO NOT UNCHECK ANYTHING HERE!
Now Stop for a second and make sure you have the azbox turned on and connected to your internet. Do not proceed until you have done this!
After you have verified your azbox is connected; now on your pc:
Look on the left side for a button called: send to AZBox and click on it.
The new channel maps are now being sent to your azbox and the azbox will reboot on it’s own, do not touch it yet.
After the azbox has rebooted go into your settings using your remote find…
TV Channel:: Tuner A.DVB-S:: Antenna Setup.
Now setup your LNB Frequency and DiSEqC settings if you have it set up.
When your done you can FTP them back to your pc and your settings will be backed up now just in case.
I found that after I reset the Frequency settings on just a couple of satellites that were not set proper before then after the edit I started over by downloading it to my pc and once I was satisfied all the new changes were there I used the ACC program and re-sent it to the azbox. Now my settings are set in both the backup files along with the ones in use. If the box wants to revert back now it is from this starting point.
The trick of all this is the Azbox control center program.
Not only will it write the file to the Azbox and reboot, but it also
uploads all 3 files in disk 2 and additionally rewrites in disk1 \ disk2 backup file dvbs.dat which the other channel editors do not do.
The back up file is what causes all the problems with the satellite list changing back to the factory default on azbox users. Now your backup file is set for North America and if you have done everything above, you also deleted all those TP’s that are no good and now your blind scan should improve time-wise.
I am now doing a blind-scan on some satellites in under 7 minutes.
(I did delete all but 1 of the transponders on each satellite)
Once you get re-setup and you have a channel list that is a good starting point for you, it is recommended you ftp it to your pc after all the settings have been made for your set-up. If anything happens in the future you now have a solid starting point and only have to use the Azbox control center program to upload your satellite and channel list.
This has been tried on firmware version 0.9.4890 & 0.9.5020 and on the Az-Ultra & the Az-Premium Plus receivers.
After playing around with the azboxes, using the above directions, I then used the AZEdit program and re-named the channels I had in the azbox, Now instead of showing a frequency I have the actual name. Once again downloaded it to my pc using Maz3 and after editing uploading it using the ACC program.
The only potential pitfall I can foresee is what will happen if you install a new firmware version to the azbox. I don’t know yet. Maybe you will have all those Eastern Sats back in if it is installed along with new firmware updates, but if you have a folder on your pc with the last change you made using this procedure all you have to do then is to open ACC and upload the all_channel.dat file and your good to go once more.
If you deleted all the Eastern Satellites you now have a North American Unit. How sweet is that!
Those in Europe can do it in reverse.
I’ve purposely tried fouling up the box to make it re-boot on it’s own, tested power failures, frequent turn ons and offs and the azbox has remained stable.
So much so, that I have written it all down for others to give it a whirl!
I have personally used this now for 4 days and one of those days the azbox was on and being used aggressively for 24 hours straight. Any glitch where the box hung up on me was fixed by doing a re-boot and no information changed in the box nor was any information lost.
The files mentioned here, channel and satellite files can be interchanged between the Ultra & the Premium Plus receivers, even those with the two firmware versions listed above. ( those were the boxes and firmware versions it was tested on by myself).
This is really quite a simple process. I have never used any of the programs listed here before I did this so I was completely in the blind.
Thanks to everyone here who took the time to answer questions I was putting out there whenever I got stumped at one time or another.
I am not a computer programmer and I tried to put it all down here in a simple language for everyone to understand since I know there are many who have been trying to do just this process who do not know the computer jargon.
I used 3 programs to do the task.
1) Maz3 was used to FTP the “all_channel.dat” file from the azbox to the pc.
2) AZbox Edit was used to do the actual editing even though it was fluky in windows 7 but it did work well enough.
3) Azbox control center ver 1.1
(In a Google search I somehow obtained an AZ Toolbox by Xonic Team which has all the above programs loaded into one)
Using Maz3
Setup your Profile: Name = Azbox
IP: = 198.168.x.xxx (fill in the address to match your Azbox IP Address.)
*IP set here to make it easier for most people*
FTP Port = 21
Telnet Port = 23
Login = root
Password = azbox
(login & password are case sensitive; all lower case)
Under Options
Style = Office 2003 Classic * again set for your preference*
Language = English (or whatever you can read)
Now press the “Connect” button above the profile section.
Then click on “Channel List” over on the left side & then hit the Green down arrow button which is located above the word “Name”.
Your channel list from the azbox should now appear on the left side in the large box.
Directly to the left of the green down arrow is your “SAVE” button.
This is what you need to do to the channel list save it to your computer where you know it is. There will be 3 files saved.
all_channel.dat
antenna_list.dat
DVBS.dat
Once this is saved to your pc, you are ready to move on to the next step.
Now open AZ Edit (your going to edit the sat list and delete the unwanted tp’s)
Once azedit is open go to the “File” button and click on “OPEN”
Now find the all_channel.dat file where you just saved it on your hard drive
Highlight it so it appears on the lower part of the box and then hit “open”.
Then click on “Organize Sat & TP”
Do not worry if you get a box popping up saying "subscript out of range"
If you have to click on ok to make it go away then do so.
The satellite list is now on the screen in the middle box.
Go all the way to the top using the side bar in the program and highlight the very top one which should be an Eastern Sat. You can tell by looking to the left side of the screen next to the satellite name is the Degree. You do not want any that say “E”.
Now move your mouse over to the delete button under the satellite list and keep deleting. When you get to 169°E, STOP ::
now save the file under the “File” menu.
Sometimes this program is very tricky and temperamental and crashed on me every time I reached this point. To get around it what I did was exactly what I wrote here, then re-open the file and now instead of deleting the very top satellite go to the 2nd on the list and delete it first, then delete the top satellite name.
*Your Mileage May Vary Using AZEDIT *
Once you have the list down to what you want remember to save the file on your pc.
You may also use Maz 3 to edit your satellite list but for beginners like me, this is how I made it happen.
So now you have the file saved on your pc with no Eastern Sat’s and you can also delete any TP’s on each sat you still have left but just for caution leave 1 TP on each satellite you have in your list. Why? Well we have found that deleting every TP causes the receiver to go wacky and revert to the old files. Leaving one TP under each satellite satisfied the receiver and it has always remained stable doing it this way
Now open the program: ACC (Azbox Control Center) version 1.1
Go to “Connection” (top right) click on it and set up your connection again using the same info you did for Maz3 near the top of this note.
Add the profile or a new profile here so it will always be there for the future.
There is also a Language setting here under Connections so set it up the first time around here.
Now…. Open the Tools-2 button
Everything should be setup on this page so DO NOT UNCHECK ANYTHING HERE!
Now Stop for a second and make sure you have the azbox turned on and connected to your internet. Do not proceed until you have done this!
After you have verified your azbox is connected; now on your pc:
Look on the left side for a button called: send to AZBox and click on it.
The new channel maps are now being sent to your azbox and the azbox will reboot on it’s own, do not touch it yet.
After the azbox has rebooted go into your settings using your remote find…
TV Channel:: Tuner A.DVB-S:: Antenna Setup.
Now setup your LNB Frequency and DiSEqC settings if you have it set up.
When your done you can FTP them back to your pc and your settings will be backed up now just in case.
I found that after I reset the Frequency settings on just a couple of satellites that were not set proper before then after the edit I started over by downloading it to my pc and once I was satisfied all the new changes were there I used the ACC program and re-sent it to the azbox. Now my settings are set in both the backup files along with the ones in use. If the box wants to revert back now it is from this starting point.
The trick of all this is the Azbox control center program.
Not only will it write the file to the Azbox and reboot, but it also
uploads all 3 files in disk 2 and additionally rewrites in disk1 \ disk2 backup file dvbs.dat which the other channel editors do not do.
The back up file is what causes all the problems with the satellite list changing back to the factory default on azbox users. Now your backup file is set for North America and if you have done everything above, you also deleted all those TP’s that are no good and now your blind scan should improve time-wise.
I am now doing a blind-scan on some satellites in under 7 minutes.
(I did delete all but 1 of the transponders on each satellite)
Once you get re-setup and you have a channel list that is a good starting point for you, it is recommended you ftp it to your pc after all the settings have been made for your set-up. If anything happens in the future you now have a solid starting point and only have to use the Azbox control center program to upload your satellite and channel list.
This has been tried on firmware version 0.9.4890 & 0.9.5020 and on the Az-Ultra & the Az-Premium Plus receivers.
After playing around with the azboxes, using the above directions, I then used the AZEdit program and re-named the channels I had in the azbox, Now instead of showing a frequency I have the actual name. Once again downloaded it to my pc using Maz3 and after editing uploading it using the ACC program.
The only potential pitfall I can foresee is what will happen if you install a new firmware version to the azbox. I don’t know yet. Maybe you will have all those Eastern Sats back in if it is installed along with new firmware updates, but if you have a folder on your pc with the last change you made using this procedure all you have to do then is to open ACC and upload the all_channel.dat file and your good to go once more.
If you deleted all the Eastern Satellites you now have a North American Unit. How sweet is that!
Those in Europe can do it in reverse.
I’ve purposely tried fouling up the box to make it re-boot on it’s own, tested power failures, frequent turn ons and offs and the azbox has remained stable.
So much so, that I have written it all down for others to give it a whirl!
I have personally used this now for 4 days and one of those days the azbox was on and being used aggressively for 24 hours straight. Any glitch where the box hung up on me was fixed by doing a re-boot and no information changed in the box nor was any information lost.
The files mentioned here, channel and satellite files can be interchanged between the Ultra & the Premium Plus receivers, even those with the two firmware versions listed above. ( those were the boxes and firmware versions it was tested on by myself).
This is really quite a simple process. I have never used any of the programs listed here before I did this so I was completely in the blind.
Thanks to everyone here who took the time to answer questions I was putting out there whenever I got stumped at one time or another.
I am not a computer programmer and I tried to put it all down here in a simple language for everyone to understand since I know there are many who have been trying to do just this process who do not know the computer jargon.
I will be getting my new AZbox ultra in a few days and one of the first things i will do is remove the european sats and replace with North America.Ill need to analyze what you said here abit!I was hoping that there was some real easy way to put in my New list of sats.
