unencrypted DSS channels?

[willie8605]

I am trying to decide between two PCI receiver cards. One has DSS support and the other (which is cheaper) doesn't. Are there any unencrypted DSS broadcasts that are even worth looking for? Dish Network only has a couple FTA (NASA and Angel One), and I am assuming the FTA DSS broadcasts (if any) are about the same. I don't want to spend more money on a card with extra features that I won't even use.

 

[Corrado]

DSS is used by DirecTV. There may be a few unencrypted banner or promo channels up there, but probably nothing worth spending extra money on.

A DVB-S2 capable card would be my choice.

 

[photoman76]

The last time I checked with my Twinhan 1020a, all audio on Directv was not encrypted.

 

[willie8605]

How many FTA channels are there that use DVB-S2? I am a poor college student and would rather buy a cheaper Twinhan 1020a or 102g. The 1020a has the DSS support, while the 102g does not. I have found some cheap ones on ebay and would rather buy one of these cheaper ones to use until I graduate (next May) and have more money for nicer equipment. So, unless DVB-S2 is going to be standard among all FTA channels within the next year, I would rather just upgrade to DVB-S2 capable equipment later and buy cheap now

 

[willie8605]

The last time I checked with my Twinhan 1020a, all audio on Directv was not encrypted.

When was the last time you checked? And when you say audio do you mean radio/music channels? I think it would definitely be worth if I could pick up a bunch of music..

 

[photoman76]

I just checked 101. All audio is FTA, including channel audio and XM music channels. I'm using TSReader with DSS to DVB Converter plugin on a Twinhan 1020a.

 

[willie8605]

I just checked 101. All audio is FTA, including channel audio and XM music channels. I'm using TSReader with DSS to DVB Converter plugin on a Twinhan 1020a.

If the 1020a supports DSS, why do you need a DSS to DVB converter? and since there is such a thing, would I be able to buy the cheaper twinhan 102g and just use that kind of converter? and a reminder...the 102g does not have DSS support.

 

[photoman76]

The plugin is needed to make TSReader work with the DSS data. The Twinhan 102g won't be able to lock the DSS signals. Also apparently there are different versions of the Twinhan 1020a card and some will not lock DSS signals. More discussion here:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-ai...-tsreader-lite-parse-pids-directv-stream.html

 

[willie8605]

Ok, so why is it that none of the XM stations are encrypted? I find it sort of odd that Directv wouldn't encrypt them or XM wouldn't require Directv to do it. Is it a mistake on Directv's end? I would hate to buy the 1020a for all these XM stations if they are going to all be encrypted in a month and then it would serve me no more purpose than a cheaper 102g. However, if the XM stations are never encrypted, then I would be more willing to spend a few extra dollars on the 1020a.

 

[digiblur]

They've been that way for while... think of how many people have DSS capable PC cards and the software to play it. Not worth it to them with no video. Reminds me of the VideoCipher analog days...none of the video was encrypted.

 

[B.J.]

You can also play the DSS audio with the Audiorip plugin for TSREADER. This might actually give you access to more of the audio channels, because for some reason, at least the version of DSS2DVB that I've been using is starting to miss channels. I have no idea of why it's doing this, but when I lock on a transponder without the plugin, I can count the A/V streams, and when I start up DSS2DVB, there are often some missing. But Audiorip seems to be more likely to find them for some reason.

The DSS2DVB web page went off the web a couple years ago, so unless someone knows of where it went, it might be difficult to get the plugin anymore.

The one nice thing about DSS2DVB is that at least with the last version that came out before the web page went away and the newer versions of TSREADER, you could stream the audio over your LAN. With AudioRip, you have to listen on the computer.

 

[willie8605]

So, apparently, the DSS audio broadcasts have always been FTA? I'm kind of shocked that I haven't heard anything about this before. Out of all the threads I have read, I never once saw anything about being able to receive XM stuff for free as long as you have a DSS receiver. Is the typical receiver not DSS capable thus leading to few people talking about this topic? How about the LNB? Are DSS signals linear H&V?

 

[photoman76]

DVB FTA receivers can't lock DSS signals. I don't believe the audio is in the clear if you use a Directv receiver. You would have to subscribe to receive XM radio channels. Only the Twinhan 1020a and Genpix Skywalker can receive DSS. So not many people have the ability to receive the audio. I have no idea why they never encrypted the audio. Directv signals are circular. As with any FTA signal, if it is FTA today, it may not be tomorrow.

 

[eurosport]

I'm not sure when the meaning of "DSS" changed.
"DSS"- Digital Satellite System- was the name of the original receiver/dish combo used with Directv and USSB programming.
Now it seems to be used as a term (like DVB) for the signal transmission method. Not sure when or why that got started.

 

[funkypc]

I have been trying to listen to DSS audio now. I can lock the transponder in TSReader, but it does not show any PIDs. Do I need the DSS-to-DVB plugin? If so, could someone post it or email me. I have searched google for 2 hours and every link seems to be dead...

 

[photoman76]

Yes you need the plugin. It looks like it is still available here:
[ame=http://rapidshare.com/files/125745840/DSStoDVB_0_3_0.EXE.html]RapidShare: 1-CLICK Web hosting - Easy Filehosting[/ame]

 

[funkypc]

sweet, thanks for the link.

 

[zamar23]

The one nice thing about DSS2DVB is that at least with the last version that came out before the web page went away and the newer versions of TSREADER, you could stream the audio over your LAN. With AudioRip, you have to listen on the computer.

What exact versions of each package you're talking about?

 

[B.J.]

What exact versions of each package you're talking about?

For a good discussion of the DSS2DVB thing, look at:

http://forums.satforums.com/SatForumMaster/common/messages.php?bpr=1&msg=12723.1#12723.1

Rod, the author of TSREADER took away the screen shots showing how it worked, but you can read about it there. There is also some discussion about the legality of a secondary capability of the program, that supposedly would allow you to view programming that you've subscribed to on a computer, but from what I read, this was only possible on the older DTV receivers.
I think that the "new" version of DSS2DVB was something like _0_2_0 , and it came out around early January of 2007. About this same time, TSREADER came out with a version which would allow streaming unencrypted audio from a program that had encrypted video, which made it very convenient to listen to the unencrypted audio, since otherwise, you had to make manual audio only channels with just the audio, and the older version of the DSS2DVB didn't work well with TSREADER, and you couldn't make manual channels for some reason.
However within a very short period of when the version 2 of DSS2DVB came out, the DSS2DVB web page suddenly dissappeared, possibly because of the questionable legality of the secondary application or possibly the guy might have been bought out by DTV, but whatever the reason, I never saw any other source of the program or newer versions, even though the basic plugin was quite useful.

 

[zamar23]

TSREADER came out with a version which would allow streaming unencrypted audio from a program that had encrypted video, which made it very convenient to listen to the unencrypted audio, since otherwise, you had to make manual audio only channels with just the audio

Thanks.
It looks like photoman76's link above leads to DSS2DVB 0.3.0. Sadly, Rod seems to be completely unreachable to anyone, and don't make plugins for new cards, and neither a universal one. Wanted to clarify, how exactly you add in your receiver and/or PC Card (using what program?) Audio ONLY channels, when the actual signal is Audio/Video.

A bit off topic, but relevant: does AZBox allow to receive an Audio or Audio/Video stream over Ethernet (streamed in what formats?), tune in & decode it if required and play via TV and AV Receiver?