StarChoice experiment

[mrweather]

A while ago Iceberg commented that a previously-activated SC box could be used to pick up a handful of free channels on the Anik birds. Just for the heck of it I hooked up my old DSR-405 receiver (last used when I was subscriber over 2 years ago) to the loop out on my Coolsat 5000.

Fired up the CS, turned the 36" Fortec dish to Anik F1 and let r rip!

Bingo! Except for AMC all the free channels listed on Lyngsat came in! The rest wanted me to "call for authorization" but it certainly was an interesting experiment to see if it would work.:up

Signal strength was an impressive 14 (was 9-10 on my old 60-E dish).

I will say, the graphical interface used by the 405 is archaic compared to the Coolsat. And the channel changes were very slow. Still, it was a fun thing to try.

 

[Eastcoast]

Nice to know , as I was keeping my eye out for a previously used box. I was interseted in the Access channel.I guess more equipment to stack in the corner and play with.

Dave

 

[techno935]

Good to know. Now if Voom would work that way, that would be nice.

 

[Mr Tony]

AMC is not in the clear. Its a freeview for people with SC subscriptions. The rest should have came in

 

[Inno]

K, so what about the music channels that are listed on Galaxy 14 as digicypher but also "in the clear" how would one go about getting those? Realising of course that it is C-band.
Could you do a reset on the reciever and let it pick up info from that satellite?
I have a couple of Star Choice recievers from when I used to sub and if I could make some use of them that'd be a bonus..........I always love having more music! Will a Star Choice reciever pick up C-band signals?

 

[Mr Tony]

no. A starchoice box is defaulted to only pick up AnikF1 & F2

 

[Inno]

Well that's no good.........so even when the box is new and it hasn't downloaded the channel map from the satellite etc. it won't grab a channel map from any other satellite, just F1 and F2? So basically all an old Star Choice box is good for would be the free stuff on F1 and F2.

 

[Mr Tony]

some of the really old boxes might be able to work that way but most of the newer SC boxes are defaulted to AnikF1/F2

 

[Inno]

the ones I have are a 421B and 421C from what I recall.........probably pushing 8 years old I think..........maybe I'll just give it a try

 

[Inno]

Well this evening.......it's already 7:30 and dark out but oh well.......I'm going out to tune in Galaxy 16 on the FTA then reset one of the Star Choice recievers and see what I can see there............should be interesting.

 

[Mr Tony]

you should be able to do the master reset. If it doesn't work, then go back to AnikF1 and do the reset again and let it download the maps for ANikF1

 

[Inno]

Yup.....got the dish turned to G4........now, if someone could e-mail me a remote I'll be able to do the factory reset...........dammit...........or I go diggin' for a remote.

 

[Stefan]

K, so what about the music channels that are listed on Galaxy 14 as digicypher but also "in the clear" how would one go about getting those? Realising of course that it is C-band.
Could you do a reset on the reciever and let it pick up info from that satellite?
I have a couple of Star Choice recievers from when I used to sub and if I could make some use of them that'd be a bonus..........I always love having more music! Will a Star Choice reciever pick up C-band signals?

One thing you have to understand is that with DCII alot of channels that are listed as "in the clear" are in something called "free preview" or "fixed key" mode. These channels are actually encrypted but they are encrypted with a "fixed key" that any digicipher II receiver that has been authorized in the past and hasn't had it's authourization reset or expire will have and it will be able to decrypt the signal. The only digicipher II signals that are totally unencrypted are what's called "zero key" signals and those are extremely rare. I personally only know of about 2 signals that are actually zero key. I'm not saying there couldn't be more but those are all I've actually seen myself. The rest of them are FP, including these starchoice signals that are listed as "in the clear". Also keep in mind that the authorization status of a signal can always change anytime the provider choices. For example sometimes some of the premium channels may go into free preview mode for say a few days or a weekend to give those who aren't subscribed to those channels a sample and encourage them to subscribe. If someone happens to post these on lyngsat as "in the clear" and then that information isn't corrected at the time the channel goes back scrambled then it tends to mislead alot of people into thinking a signal that really isn't in the clear is. So, keep that in mind when looking at the listing of DCII signals on lyngsat. Alot of the information on some DCII signals on lyngsat is out of date and thus wrong.

Another thing to keep in mind with DCII signals is that there are alot of different receievers and some of them can tune some signals and not others. To further complicate things sometimes receievers with very similar model numbers are very different in what kind of signal they can receive. For example there's a big difference in what a DSR-4400 and a DSR-4400X can receive. Also tuning most DCII receivers is not as straight forward and easy as tuning a dvb receivers. Most of them have to download channel maps which then tell them how to tune the other channels in a service and this can make selecting a particular channel confusing at times. It may very well be that the starchoice receivers could get those music channels but getting it do so might be somewhat complicated. Youd probably need to reset the channel maps then go to the service menu where youd manually tune to the transponder using L band frequencies. Then youd have to wait for the maps to download. Then youd have to figure out what channel numbers the signals were on.

There are however a few DCII recievers that make this all alot easier. The DSR-4800/digitrans DTE-7100 line of recievers are really nice receievers if your really interested in DCII. They will get most all DCII signals and they will also do DVB as well. Also they make tuning alot easier as they don't have to use channel maps. Furthermore they come preauthorized for FP signals meaning you don't have to worry whether or not the receiver was previously authorized or not. So, if your interested in DCII these are definitely the way to go. They can sometimes be had on ebay for anywhere from $500 to $1000 depending on how lucky you may be and what features they have (new they cost about $4K). Be careful though because as is the case with most commercial receivers like this alot of features are optional and difference receivers will have difference options install. For example some of them have ASI out and some don't. Also there are some models that only have an ASI tsansport stream input and no L band inputs. That means on those models you need another receiver that has L band inputs and asi out. Basically those boxes are only a decoder and not really what youd normally think of as a receiver. So, always make sure you know exactly what features a particular receiver has and doesn't have before bidding on it.

 

[Stefan]

Yup.....got the dish turned to G4........now, if someone could e-mail me a remote I'll be able to do the factory reset...........dammit...........or I go diggin' for a remote.

I don't know for sure if this will work but you might be able to use an old primestar remote. These can be used with some other general instruments DC receivers. I've used them in the past with a dsr-4200. The only thing is the buttons will have different meanings.

One question and perhaps a word of warning here. Does the master reset, reset the authorization status of the receiver? If so then when you do this you may be screwed as you'll likely lose the ability to receive FP signals. The number one rule of buying a "previously authorized" DCII receiver to receive FP DCII singals is you never ever ever want to reset the authorization status of the receiver unless you are a subscriber to the service and can therefore get the receiver reauthorized.

 

[Inno]

Thanks for the info Stefan, you seem to know a lot about DCII..........that's kind rare in this hobby. I understand it's quite a secure system which is a good thing.
I'm still gonna play though..........
Cheers

 

[Tron]

Good information, Stefan. I have a Digitrans 7150, very nice gear. They also do DVB 4:2:2, an added plus. Unfortunately, they will not tune HDTV, although I believe they will pass it through ASI out (if the particular 7150 you're using has the ASI option). Mine has SDI out but not ASI, so I would not be able to use a 7150ASI as a second "receiver".

Just a warning to everyone that there is currently a 7150ASI on Fleabay going for a decent price, just be careful since it will not work without a ASI-equipped primary receiver.

 

[Stefan]

Just a warning to everyone that there is currently a 7150ASI on Fleabay going for a decent price, just be careful since it will not work without a ASI-equipped primary receiver.

Yeah, if it's the one I've seen there before, that ones been on there quite a while and never sold. That probably why it's never sold. With only ASI in and no L band input, it's basically only useful as a video decoder for some other receiver with ASI out. That's why I specificed that anyone interested in purchasing one be careful and make sure they know what features the particular receiver has before bidding. This is generally always true when looking at commerical receivers on ebay.

I have a 7100 and a 7150. I beleive the 7100 doesn't decode 4:2:2 internally as the 7150 does. Anyone looking for one should keep that in mind also if they plan to simply hook it up straight to their TV using the regular video out. For me though it doesn't matter as I use mine with TSreader through an EVS box that converts ASI to SPI and into one of Rods usb DVB-SPI adapters. This way I don't have to worry about what the receiver can decode as my PC does the decoding (HD, 4:2:2,etc.).

 

[Tron]

I've been looking for a Digitrans with ASI out for awhile now. The receivers go on sale somewhat often, but there's a big demand and the price goes up fast. To complicate matters, most sellers know nothing about the equipment (they get their gear in large-scale liquidations) and can tell you very little about it. If you're lucky, there will be a picture of the connector panel that is clear enough to see the labeled connectors.

 

[Inno]

Well of course you were right Stefan........I was able to pick up a signal on G4 on some x-ponders with the Star Choice reciever, the lights turned green on the front panel to indicate a digicypher channel but thats it, the satellite ID doesn't come up in the signal meter etc. Guess I'll have to go back to F1 and see if I can scoop anything free from there........now that I've done a factory reset though I probably won't get anything but maybe the star choice ppv ad. channel 299 I believe.

 

[Mr Tony]

you still should be able to get the PPV previews on 200 & 600 and the other "in the clear" channels like CKUA, Shopping channel, Access, Knowledge