Why no EPG?

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swampman

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Jul 22, 2006
503
3
South Louisiana
This may be a dumb question, but here goes. Why is it that the sats we catch send no signal for an EPG, thus we have no EPG, yet a 4DTV receiver has a nice EPG pointing at the same birds. Does the difference lie in Cband vs KU band technology? Or is it all in the 4DTV receiver?
 
EPG is not used in this country, this function will only work in Europe and Asia. (Everywhere but here!)

Remember most FTA programming is not for public consumption, that's what makes it so much fun (IMO)
 
I assume with the 4DTV you are paying somebody for a subscription, that is the incentive to make the guide work right.
 
The 4dtv is not picking the guide up from each satellite. The guide comes from a specific satellite and is downloaded to the receiver nightly.
 
There are a few channels on IA5 using the EPG... however they're not broadcasting in English.
 
mkm4 said:
The 4dtv is not picking the guide up from each satellite. The guide comes from a specific satellite and is downloaded to the receiver nightly.
OK so you'd have to park your dish at that certain sat overnight, or the EPG wouldn't update. Interesting technology. :)
 
swampman said:
OK so you'd have to park your dish at that certain sat overnight, or the EPG wouldn't update. Interesting technology. :)
Well, the 4DTV receiver does it for you ;). You can disable this if you like.
 
Because most of what we pick up FTA is meant for cable companies or broadcasters, no EPG information is included.

IA-5 is an exception, these channels are meant for consumers (Globecast subscribers)...
 
swampman said:
OK so you'd have to park your dish at that certain sat overnight, or the EPG wouldn't update. Interesting technology. :)
That's true, but there is a way to force a download at anytime.
Doing it the auto way, as mentioned above, is done between 2a.m.- 5a.m. eastern time. I have left mine there shortly after 5a.m. and still gotten the updates a few times, and I've also done this and not gotten the updates. So, there is a cut-off time for the auto update. Although, I have my 4dtv set for the auto update, I usually leave it on always and do a forced download when the guide runs out. It takes about 5 minutes with my 920 and I've heard it mentioned about 10 minutes for a 922. The 920 accepts 3 days worth of programming, by the time you get toward the end (last half day), the programing is down to mostly movie titles with no info.
Bottom line is, you don't have to park your dish at G1/G15, you can set the 4dtv for auto updates, or you can do a forced download. With the auto update, the 4dtv will move the dish to G1 for the update, but the 4dtv will need to be off for this to work.

Al
 
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OK now I see. I assume it doesnt matter wether or not you have a subscription with a packager. I really had no idea c-band was so far behind in satellite technology. Is it any wonder c-band numbers had dwindled down to its current state? Dont get me wrong, I dont mean to offend anyone here by saying this.(Actually I think in a way, its kind of cool to tinker with it like that.) C-band allows the user alot of "control" over the system, even down to the download of the EPG(as opposed to the mini dish EPG being there all the time). Yep, there is something truely special about c-band that you cant get anywhere else. Although KU systems come as close as you can come. Heck...one day I may even get one myself. :hatsoff:
 
There's no EPG for most FTA singals because most FTA signals are not intended for home users to recieve. They're the primary feeds to the secondary providers who then rebroadcast the signal usually in a different format. The secondary providers then provide the EPG. That's why it's important to never contact the broadcasters of FTA signals asking for programming guides or anything else as we're generally not the intended audience (or at least not directly) and their reaction (like maybe encrypting the signal) to such request may not be good for FTA.

As for C band subscription based programming, it all began back in the days when there was no means other than cable to receive anything other than OTA tv. Back then most everything was unecrypted as FTA is today, but cable wasn't available in many areas. So, people began buying or building thier own C band systems to receive programming they could not receive any other way. Basically it was the same as FTA today as they were receiveing the primary signals straight from the networks without going through a secondary provider. Anyway, as C band grew in popularity the networks started to encrypt their singals but then saw a marketing potential and allowed C band users to subscribe to their signals. Anyway, even today when you subscribe to C band programming, for the most part, you actually receive the signal directly from the network. Of course nowadays there are a few exception to this. The exception are where networks no longer provide a primary signal that's compatible with analog C band or 4dtv equipment (like DCII Megapipe or DVB). Anyway, the basic principal of receiveing the signal directly is why on C band there's no programming guide from each individual network. It's also why all the signals are not available on a single satellite and instead the dish must move from satellite to satellite. The upside is that the first generation signals are usually of much higher quality and aren't overly compressed as they must be with the pizza dish services.

Nowadays cable is much more widely availble and there are now secondary satellite providers like Dish network and direct TV. So many networks no longer care about making their signal availble directly on C band as they figure most people will get it though a secondary provider. Therefore they often time switch to different formats that are unavailble to C band subscribers but are more convient and/or cost effective for them. That's why C band is dieing.
 
voomvoom said:
I disagree. I'm sorry you feel that way, but I don't believe for a minute, that C-band is dying. I will agree that VCII is, but not C-band.

Al

Agreed! There are MANY people here alone just starting with C-Band!
 
voomvoom said:
I disagree. I'm sorry you feel that way, but I don't believe for a minute, that C-band is dying. I will agree that VCII is, but not C-band.

Al
Hmmm...I see what you're saying but cant ignore that facts about c-band as a whole:

1994 subs 1.2 mil
2005 subs 220K
:rolleyes:
 
Subscriber numbers only tell you how many people are paying for services. This is the Free-to-Air forum.

(I don't have C-band yet, but I can tell you for certain nobody's subscriber numbers will increase when I do)
 
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