Thinking about 4dtv have some ?s

[Techfizzle]

I am tired of payin directv 20 bucks extra a month for one measly channel i want,

the price of 4dyv has gone down alot in the past year

so i am thinking about switching

have some questions

1. Is there any activation fee?
2. Is there any ppv on 4dtv?
3. Do most providers take checks/money orders? I dont have a debit card
4. Can 4dtv be gotten on a 6 footer well?
5. Does the 4dtv signal go out in heavy rain, like directv?

 

[Mr Tony]

1. no
2. I think there is but dont quote me on it
3. yes
4. W5 and a few stronger satellites yes but dont think you'll get everything
5. no because its C-Band and C-Band is much less susceptible to rain fade. You're working with 2 different types of signal (C-Band vs DBS KU) so its not apples to apples.

 

[Techfizzle]

some more
1. any KU 4dtv?
2. Does the dish have to be balls-on like a ku dish an digital?
3. will 4dtv last a while? there is talk of it being phased out?

 

[Mr Tony]

1. Oklahoma PBS...thats it
2. it has to be very close. DCII works the same as DVB....low signal equals pixeling and nosignal
3. yes it should be a while...nothing I know of of it being phased out

 

[dougbrown]

Ice, where is OK PBS located?

 

[tdti1]

K5 600 on 4d, think theres one on K3-640 to not sure.

 

[truckracer]

lots of pbs on KU DVB @125 West Amc-21 same slot as G14 C band

 

[truckracer]

4DTV is a great deal compared to Direct or dish
Some channels have left 4DTV, but a huge selection still exists (for political reasons).
No great amount of HD but then again I don't think Direct or dish's HD is much to brag about with all the compression.
Can't compare with FTA HD or over the air DTV HD.

 

[Mr Tony]

think theres one on K3-640 to not sure.

Georgia PBS left a while ago...end of last year I think

 

[B.J.]

some more
1. any KU 4dtv?
...

1. Oklahoma PBS...thats it
...

After reading the above, I was thinking about Ku DCII stuff {besides the Canadian stuff that the 4DTV'ers like to avoid and some Mexican stuff} , I started thinking about 2 transponders that I used to watch occasionally, and I've lost track of.
First, the PBS schedule 512, now at 12169H, used to go from DVB mode to DCII mode many afternoons, both when PBS was on AMC3, and also after they switched to AMC21. I think this was supposed to just be temporary for some facilities that hadn't switched over to DVB yet, but I wasn't sure if that was still occurring or not? To the DVB viewer, it would just look like the transponder went down, and whenever I'd see that happen, I'd switch to DCII, and the DCII feed would be there. Anyway, just curious whether they are still doing that or not?

Secondly, the OTHER PBS type transponder that stayed in DCII mode after PBS switched to DVB was the Annenberg CPB channel on AMC3. When PBS switched to AMC21, I was expecting to see it pop on on AMC21 in DVB mode, but never did. I see a few peaks on AMC21 that I can't seem to lock, so I was wondering if perhaps they made the switch too, and might be in DCII mode. It would be nice to have SOME use for my aging 4200, which I think I paid $1200 for when it was new. {It was kind of sad to buy my 2nd one on ebay for $40.}
Anyway, does anyone know if CPB made the transition and if they are in DCII mode? {Don't need any parameters, just curious whether it's worth looking for them.}

 

[Mr Tony]

Secondly, the OTHER PBS type transponder that stayed in DCII mode after PBS switched to DVB was the Annenberg CPB channel on AMC3. When PBS switched to AMC21, I was expecting to see it pop on on AMC21 in DVB mode, but never did. I see a few peaks on AMC21 that I can't seem to lock, so I was wondering if perhaps they made the switch too, and might be in DCII mode. It would be nice to have SOME use for my aging 4200, which I think I paid $1200 for when it was new. {It was kind of sad to buy my 2nd one on ebay for $40.}
Anyway, does anyone know if CPB made the transition and if they are in DCII mode? {Don't need any parameters, just curious whether it's worth looking for them.}

Annenberg use to be on AMC3 but is now gone. I think they dropped satellite coverage

 

[tvropro]

4DTV masters will give the LSD HD Lite channels a run for there money in picture quality.

 

[eurosport]

It would be nice to have SOME use for my aging 4200, which I think I paid $1200 for when it was new. {It was kind of sad to buy my 2nd one on ebay for $40.}
Anyway, does anyone know if CPB made the transition and if they are in DCII mode? {Don't need any parameters, just curious whether it's worth looking for them.}

I got my DSR-4200V about a year ago, off eBay for 22 bucks with the remote! I used it for GPB on AMC3, which lasted till about the middle of January when the signal went dark.
Now it's in use daily again, programmed for something on G-14...

 

[Techfizzle]

i had a 4dtv at one time
i also had my 10 foot dish tracking the arc well, and got good signal on c and ku sats
however, the 4dtv i had could never obtain a signal. so that makes me a little weary of buying another one

 

[B.J.]

Annenberg use to be on AMC3 but is now gone. I think they dropped satellite coverage

Wonder how they uplink their programming to PBS now? I guess maybe fiberoptic or something?
When they were still on AMC3, after PBS left DCII, except for the part time sched 512, Annenberg was my way of getting the PBS VCT back in my 4200, ie if I'd go surfing for other signals, and wanted to get back to where I could pick up 512 quickly.

I got my DSR-4200V about a year ago, off eBay for 22 bucks with the remote! I used it for GPB on AMC3, which lasted till about the middle of January when the signal went dark.
Now it's in use daily again, programmed for something on G-14...

Yeah, that's a good use I guess. I kept promising my wife to set her up a music only receiver, but I never did. She finally bought a Sirius radio system, although I have been the main user of that, using if for home team radio coverage of NFL games, which is a challenge to sync up to satellite video, since it's delayed more than 20 seconds.
I have used the 4200 on Oklahoma PBS, but the last time I went there, there was no VCT on the transponder, which was wierd. Ie, I'd lock the signal, but it would just sit there, and no channels would load. Ie to use the 4200, you need to be able to download a VCT from the transponder. I guess I should try that again, as it may have just been a temporary issue.
It was sad to see GPTV go away. My 4200 was originally authorized by GPTV, many years ago, and I was still picking up authorization hits from them right up to when they went dark. Ie to use the 4200 for FP channels, the receiver had to have been authorized at some point in time, so some people on a mailing list I was on at the time got someone at GPB to insert the group's unit IDs into the system. They must have left the unit's ID# in their system for 12 years, not knowing who they were for.

 

[Mr Tony]

I have used the 4200 on Oklahoma PBS, but the last time I went there, there was no VCT on the transponder, which was wierd. Ie, I'd lock the signal, but it would just sit there, and no channels would load.

I know on the 4DTV units it seems like you have to rock the channel (up/down) and let it sit until it finally locks onto OETA sometimes taking up to a minute to load

 

[B.J.]

I know on the 4DTV units it seems like you have to rock the channel (up/down) and let it sit until it finally locks onto OETA sometimes taking up to a minute to load

I'm guessing that what you're describing is that if the lnb freq is off a bit, that on those narrow SR transponders, the 4DTV must have to search a bit until it finds it. But what I was seeing was more like trying to scan a hidden channel like the CW, where the receiver doesn't have any idea of what the channel parameters are, because for a 4200 it gets the parameters from the VCT. I assume that OETA is in the 4DTV's channel map, so you'd get the parameters from that.
Usually when I lock a channel with the 4200, I can go to a screen where I can observe the VCT loading, and see channels appear, but the last time I went to OETA, I must have waited for a good 45 minutes, and never saw any channels load in. All the while, I had a good strong lock on the transponder. It was really wierd.
I think I'll go try to tune that in again, to see if it works now. It's been nearly a year since I tried.

I know on the 4DTV units it seems like you have to rock the channel (up/down) and let it sit until it finally locks onto OETA sometimes taking up to a minute to load

I'm guessing that what you're describing is that if the lnb freq is off a bit, that on those narrow SR transponders, the 4DTV must have to search a bit until it finds it. But what I was seeing was more like trying to scan a hidden channel like the CW, where the receiver doesn't have any idea of what the channel parameters are, because for a 4200 it gets the parameters from the VCT. I assume that OETA is in the 4DTV's channel map, so you'd get the parameters from that.
Usually when I lock a channel with the 4200, I can go to a screen where I can observe the VCT loading, and see channels appear, but the last time I went to OETA, I must have waited for a good 45 minutes, and never saw any channels load in. All the while, I had a good strong lock on the transponder. It was really wierd.
I think I'll go try to tune that in again, to see if it works now. It's been nearly a year since I tried.


EDIT: Well I just tried, and the same thing happened. I'd appreciate confirmation from someone else with a 4200.
When this happened before, someone on satforums said that leaving out the VCT was an option on the uplink equipment, so I thought that perhaps it had been done accidently, and that sooner or later one of the intended recipients would complain, and they'd fix it, but I guess that never happened.
It's really strange, as this is the only DCII transponder that I've been able to lock, that wouldn't download a VCT. If I had just left it on this transponder more than a year ago, I'd be able to view the channel now, but without a VCT, I'm stuck.
I guess I'll leave it on that transponder for a few hours, and hope that they eventually upload a VCT.
.

 

[eurosport]

EDIT: Well I just tried, and the same thing happened. I'd appreciate confirmation from someone else with a 4200.
When this happened before, someone on satforums said that leaving out the VCT was an option on the uplink equipment, so I thought that perhaps it had been done accidently, and that sooner or later one of the intended recipients would complain, and they'd fix it, but I guess that never happened.
It's really strange, as this is the only DCII transponder that I've been able to lock, that wouldn't download a VCT. If I had just left it on this transponder more than a year ago, I'd be able to view the channel now, but without a VCT, I'm stuck.
I guess I'll leave it on that transponder for a few hours, and hope that they eventually upload a VCT.
.

You need to do a factory reset...if there's an old VCT in there, it will not load a new one. It's also not like a DSR-410, meaning the factory reset will NOT erase previous authorizations, only the channel maps. Here's a link I found helpful: DSR4200-info Mine worked for GPB as soon as I reset it, and had to do it again for the music service it's on now.

 

[B.J.]

You need to do a factory reset...if there's an old VCT in there, it will not load a new one. It's also not like a DSR-410, meaning the factory reset will NOT erase previous authorizations, only the channel maps. Here's a link I found helpful: DSR4200-info Mine worked for GPB as soon as I reset it, and had to do it again for the music service it's on now.

No, I definately did a factory reset. I always do a factory reset before changing VCTs. I'm curious whether this transponder is working for you??? I'm pretty sure that I tried it on both of my 4200s the last time, and both did the same thing, and I then moved both to another transponder, and they worked OK. Something different about that transponder. {and BTW, that's a page in MY own web site you quoted, so I'm familiar with it That site will be going away within a month, but I hope to relocate it when I get time.}

 

[eurosport]

...Then I have no clue why, other than something funky with that signal.