Fortec Passion+ problems

[mickaldo]

My Experience with the Fortec Passion + Receiver and Satellite Dish
When I bought my Fortec Star Passion+ satellite & receiver kit in 2009 the first problem I had was aligning the dish with the Astra 2A satellite. The instructions gave the directions for a dish with no offset but the fortec dish has, I think, a 20deg. offset. No wonder I couldn't find the satellite! There were other problems with the transponder on the orientation & depth of insertion as the markings did not appear to agree with the hardware!
Not long after I got the system working BBC1 HD & Luxe HD disappeared. Since these were the only HD channels it rather negated the purpose of getting the satellite system in the first place. I checked the Fortec site & found lots of updates but with a dire warning that only fortec engineers should install these updates. Where does one find one of those engineers & why should you have to! Eventually I decided to ignore the warning and I uploaded the updates (including a BBC1 HD fix) to my satellite receiver. Still no HD channels! - 'no signal available' was the best I got on HD channels. Eventually after trawling the internet I found the following:
BBC One HD - Frequency-10847;Vertical;Symbol Rate-23000; fec 8/9; DVB Standard DVB.S2;Modulation- QPSK
BBC3 - 10773H22000 fec 5/6
ITV HD - Frequency-10832;Horizontal;Symbol Rate-22000;fec 5/6;DVBStandard-DVB.S;Modulation-QPSK
Channel 4 HD - Frequency-12607;Vertical;Symbol Rate-V27500; fec 3/4;DVB Standard- DVB.S2;Modulation-QPSK
Still can't find BBC4 but did manage to pick up BBC2 HD somewhere along the way.
You can add or edit these entries using the manual scan facility.
The problem with adding these or doing a multi scan or rearranging the channel list is that it really seems to muck up the epg. After trying to make your own channel list you only get now & next programme data in the EPG & no worthwhile 7 day forecast. If you want a worthwhile EPG or 7 day forecast it seems you need to do a factory reset using one of the set lists (which I believe are all pretty useless & all over the place & don't seem to have most, if not all, of the HD channels)
Eventually I've opted for a good selection of channels, HD channels, & ordered in a logical format & am putting up with the now & next limitation of the EPG. Be warned after you have spent hours getting your ideal list & modifying the transponder data make sure you do a 'channel back up' (on the factory reset menu) to your usb drive. It saves so much time if you need to revert back to one of fortecs set channel lists to access the 7day facility.
Apologies to Fortec if any of the above is my ineptitude rather than limitations of their equipment & instructions.