Openbox green issue fixed?

[Jim S.]

At Rick's site and Hyper's site, they have Openbox firmware dated March 21st that's supposed to fix the green 480i composite output issue. Some people also say that it fixes the timer problem, but I don't have time to try it yet and I haven't anybody making the claim yet actually describe to my satisfaction that the timer issue is really fully fixed.

Also, I'm hoping this is a different branch of the firmware from the ones that have been coming out on the cardsharing sites, because there was one of those just a few days ago that everybody says has really lousy blind-scan speed compared to the previous ones.

 

[PopcornNMore]

I received a message today from WoodHeat saying the same thing. I'm going to let others test it first.

 

[Dishman Dan]

Just how green and noticeable is this tint?

I currently am running my OpenBox on a old CRT TV with composite hookup and I do not see any green tint. This is a temporary man cave setup until our living room is redone. The only green is for a few seconds when the unit first starts up and it quickly goes away. When I put the shopping networks on and compare them to the ones on my 4DTV through composite, they both look great with the same color and there is no green tint at all. Maybe my eyes are going bad watching too much TV!

 

[Jim S.]

Apparently the green tint is worse for some people than others, depending on the device you're watching it on. And yes, you're not the only one who's noticed that the composite output needs time to "warm up", as ludicrous as that sounds for a solid-state device.

 

[FaT Air]

I ran across a thread somewhere, con't remember where, Said to change the >Display Settings< I've got >Brightness< to 55, >Contrast< to 50. >Saturation< to 40, and it's not too bad at all. Much easier to live with. Now some of those RTV programs are bad, just because I think, they are digitized, old Technicolor bad. I also leave it turned on 24/7. When turning it back on, after a Timer operation, the green is quite noticeable for a while. Maybe it's a combination of both the settings and leaving it on?

the composite output needs time to "warm up", as ludicrous as that sounds for a solid-state device.

Yeah, that is ludicrous. It just shouldn't be that way, tubes maybe. Wow, it's got tubes? LoL

 

[Dishman Dan]

The "warm up" on my receiver only takes about 5 seconds! It reminds me of my dad's TV from like 1970 that had the "instant on" feature. The TV was a RCA XL100 and had a huge 25" picture tube in a 6 foot wide wood cabinet with a speaker on each side and a slate top! The previous TV took like 30 seconds to warm up plus some extra time to get the colors right. Usually that TV was ready once the national anthem finished playing when the station came on the air in the morning. With that new TV Bugs Bunny on Saturday morning could not get any better than that until I got em on DVD!

 

[Tron]

Hopefully the new firmware fixes some other issues, and adds the ability to blind scan by polarity ...

 

[Bluztrvler]

I ran across a thread somewhere, con't remember where, Said to change the >Display Settings< I've got >Brightness< to 55, >Contrast< to 50. >Saturation< to 40, and it's not too bad at all.

I am using the 480i output on an older 50" rear projection tube type tv, and I found that on some channels, I could completely remove the green tint by playing with these controls. I did it with slightly different settings from the ones listed here, but I suppose that would vary from tv to tv and how you have your individual tv settings adjusted.

I also noticed the "warm up" on my Openbox. It takes a few seconds and the picture slowly brightens. Certainly unusual in solid state electronics. I have solved this problem by simply leaving the Openbox turned on. It doesn't seem to have any problems with heat like the Pansat, and although I haven't checked, I doubt that power consumption is very different between the "on" and "standby" modes.

 

[FaT Air]

I bit. dumped my TP Prog (msc files) Upgraded with the HDS2_America_FTA03212011.abs , let it reboot. OK now, Tools-Version now reads DSS2-11-03-21:A2M Upgrade msc file TP Prog that I had just dumped. Power down with remote, wait a few, Power on. The green tint is gone. Although, for my installation. (Comp video out to freq agile modulator > distribution to multiple TV's) I've needed to adjust the display settings (personal taste) to Bright 70 contrast 50 Sat 40. Looks real good. Better than with the "green tint" original file. Sat list in Installation menu shows all my sats. Whoops, another Hickup, with just checking a half a dozen sats is some channels seemed to have been lost. but a Preset scan has them back. So it seems it lost some channels, but the TP info is OK. As I typed that, I found a channel that had to be found with a blind scan(?) EDIT: Maybe I screwed up and loaded a TP list I made a while ago(?) but there is only one on the stick(??)
I am using a Gbox and so far all the positions appear to be OK. Diseqc switch is also working.

adds the ability to blind scan by polarity

Nope.
There is a third screen when using the INFO button(?) haven't investigated what it is but appears to be a channel sched, if the EPG worked(?)
There's now Beeper and BER in the LNB power menu, (haven't played with it yet)
I DO NOT USE USALS MOTOR, so cannot comment if it works with a motor and a diseqc sw, a problem with earlier firmware.
This is NOT a recommendation to load this firmware, just my experience. Use at your own risk. Thanks.

 

[brentb636]

I've used it with USALS and Diseqc switches, and it still works.
An added feature, keep pressing the info button and PID info comes up. That wasn't there in my earlier firmware.

 

[Jim S.]

There is a third screen when using the INFO button(?) haven't investigated what it is but appears to be a channel sched, if the EPG worked(?)

That's been there for a while now, depending on where you get your firmware files.

There's now Beeper and BER in the LNB power menu, (haven't played with it yet)

Those have been there a long time, but I've never seen them do anything. Still haven't tested the new version, maybe tonight.

 

[FaT Air]

There's now Beeper and BER in the LNB power menu, (haven't played with it yet)

Those have been there a long time, but I've never seen them do anything. Still haven't tested the new version, maybe tonight.

Huh! Well I don't think they were in the firmware I had, but they don't appear to do anything. And the third screen is new to me. BTW- I did screw up something. Since last post, I have reloaded my TP List and all is well. After a bit more playing, it will be time to check the timer function. Hoping that's fixed also.

 

[Jim S.]

Over on Hyper's forum, people are now saying that the timer function isn't really fixed, just as I had feared (apparently they were setting it to GMT=ON, which downloads the time from the satellite, and thinking that it was fixed), and that the blind scan is slower just as reported on the cardsharing forums for the prior version

Why oh why can't they fix something without screwing up something else?

 

[Jim S.]

Now I'm seeing reports that although the blind scan is a little slower, it's not as slow as some people had been saying on the other sites, PLUS, it appears to be picking up low-SR transponders now. I think I'll have to try it tonight, it's not like I can't switch back if I don't like it.

 

[brentb636]

I keep switching back and forth, just testing. I have two Openbox stb's , so I COULD compare them side by side, but I'm too lazy !!! One handles the c-band dish, one handles the Ku..... The blindscan seems slower, but not fatally so . I will continue using the new version, unless something terrible comes up.

 

[Jim S.]

I took a chance and upgraded.

KTEL on 79 gets picked up right away now. The old religious guy on 72 doesn't, but then again I've never been able to pick him up without adjusting my position from what works best for the rest of the bird, and I don't care.

Blind scan is a little slower on well-behaved satellites, and a lot slower on satellites with adjacent or DBS interference. But it's always been really slow in those circumstances anyway.

So, I might keep it.

Anybody know anymore low-SR transponders to try on Ku between 72 and 127?

 

[Pixl]

11966 H 22000


Not really low SR but River Broadcasting on 97w used to be a hard one to lock in. I haven't seen it in a while, anyone know if it is still up?

 

[FaT Air]

River Broadcasting on 97w - Yep, still there. Got it with a 70Q with the 30 inch.

 

[Mr Tony]

111.1
11770 V 3270
3 Learn stations...MPEG4
11808 V 2890
radio feeds

103W
11814 V 2170
radio channel

93W
11897 H 3010
couple scrambled channels

 

[brentb636]

I just compared the 9/27/2010 firmware that has been my regular one, with the new 3/21/2011 on 91W Ku blindscan.
Methodology:
1. Load firmware , locate satellite , then clear all tp's except one active tp. Reboot the stb. Make sure that the single tp is still active, then start the blindscan, FTA only .

9/27/2010 firmware , found 5 channels, 13 tp's in 4:59 .
3/21/2011 firmware , found 5 channels, 13 tp's in 13:47 .

This was a larger difference than I was expecting....