Beginner help with Technomate

[mauro565]

Hi, great site! I’ve been listening in and now taken the plunge and applied my first patch. Please excuse the stupid questions, I’m a beginner………*

Loader: DarkmanLoader ver1[1].8
Patch: Darkmanpatch-TM1500CI+-TM1000CI_16-05-06
Keys:* All Softcams and Mr Keys_19-05-2006.zip.

Questions:
A) The keys file contains subdirectories as well as individual files. There is a subdirectory called ‘Technomate softcamkeys’* for example, and a file called ‘Technomate 1000 emukeys.keys’. Which one do I use?

B) On the cams key menu, the various buttons with names of encryption systems appear ok, but why are they numbered (1 to 200)? Does each one correspond to a given channel number and if so how do I syncronise a particular set of keys with a given channel ?

C) The video keys guides mention pressing the mute button and then exit to get directly to the cams menu, but nothing happens to my box when I do so………

D}At the moment I’m only pointing to ASTRA on 28.2 and I get most of the channels I want (all BBCs and many ITV and others) but I had hoped to be able to unscramble some of the FTV programs there, to no avail. I realise most of the patches and keys are for other sats but should I expect any on 28.2 to open now? If not, can I by a FTV card from someone for CH4 and 5 etc.

E) On the satellite menu, when sorting by cam (pressing the blue button) and then choosing cryptowork and then pressing ok, the information reverts to NDS and/or I get a ‘no channels’ display. I’m not sure if this was the same before the patch……

I have no cards or external cams of any sort at the moment.

Technomate TM-1500 CI+* Orbital 80cm satellite dish edision Universal Single LNB 40mm sl5 .05 db* *s/w version (before patch) 1.51 (Nov 25 2005)* *h/w* 1.12* * boot* 2.10 (08:10)* ch* nov:05.* Location* England* Sussex.


Thanks in advance for any advice and keep up the magnificent work.

[BGonaSTICK]

Hello mauro, thanks for your kind words

Nice to have you here

I don't have a Technomate, so I hope someone else will help with those first three specific questions.

D) The FTV channels on 28.2E are encrypted in NDS and this isn't open, nor has it ever been.

You cannot open them with a patch. To see them on your Technomate, you would need to buy a Dragon CAM and load it with a version of the Predator software that supports NDS.

The latest versions of Predator don't. You'll need to go back about three of four versions, before the cryptoworks ability at least. You will also have to have a valid subscription card from Sky. Don't tell them you're using a Dragon.

Finally, you'll need a Sky digibox to keep the card alive, as the Dragon doesn't update the card for you.

Get Sky contact details on the card from www.freesatfromsky.co.uk. The card on its own is £20 (plus VAT IIRC).

You can also buy them for more on eBay, and NOT get the regionalisation you want. WTF?!?! :roflmao: :?

To be honest (and I guess you're already there...) it's easier to just have a cheap s/h Sky digibox as well as your Technomate.

E) You can turn the patch on and off in the software, so you can check this yourself. The details of this technique have been posted on the forum by Mickha somewhere. Try the search function to pull it up.

HTH

STICK

[BilboBoggins]

Hiya Mauro565

Welcome*

I must admit it can be fairly confusing at the beginning !

There are several places you can download the key files from, the problem is with the 'All Softcams and Mr Key' file is that most of it you don't need. The one that seems most reliable is the Technomate specific key file which you can get from the Alsat forum under the keys only section, the file name is normally softcam.key within the zip file.

When you load this file with the loader it will then populate the cam area on the Technomate, there's nothing else you need to do ! if the key is valid at the time then it will unlock the scambled channel, but as STICK has already mentioned theres nothing currently on 28.2 that the patch will open.

The 'mute' then 'exit' works when you are viewing an encrypted channel and takes you straight to the camkey that it is using

Hope that helps....



Bilbo

[mauro565]

Thanks for your quick replies. Stick, I like your idea of getting a s/h Sky digibox as I haven't got one, do we think it's possible to connect it via the extra LNB output on my Technomate box (in parallel so to speak) and then use it with a FTV card? Maybe the Technomate experts would know if the signal passes straight through or goes through the processor.........

And then in the future get a motirised system and use the Techno for Hotbird etc.

I'm in Worthing by the way Stick,

[BGonaSTICK]

Ahh, a fellow south-coaster - sorry, I didn't see your location before* ops:

Your Technomate LNB loopthrough will be a raw unprocessed IF signal, so you could put it straight into the LNB input of a Sky digibox. Unfortunately that's not going to give you the most satisfactory result (see below).

Here's my list of 2-receiver setup's in order of preference

1) Buy a twin LNB and run two lengths of coax into your house. One coax goes to each box, and this gives you complete Independence. It's just like having two dishes pointed at the same satellite, though you might choose to have multiple LNB's to achieve multi-satellite operation.

2) Fit a manual 'A-B switch'. I love these. In fact I have a fistfull scattered all over my house which allows me to connect just about any of my boxes to any of my dishes in any combination I fancy. The A-B switch acts as a sort of splitter, but isolates the side of the switch not in use. I'll explain why in a minute. It has one input (from your dish in this case) and two outputs, and you simply haul your arse off the sofa and press either the A or B buttons to switch STB's. Picture attached FYI.

3) Priority switch, like the Global SPS1. You can read exactly how it works here, but it's basically an automatic version of the above A-B switch. It's a bit fiddly to setup with receivers that don't drop the LNB power when in standby mode though. This includes the Sky digibox. Unfortunately, old Uncle Rupert made it just about as difficult as humanly possible to use the digibox for anything other than watching Sky or holding a door open.

4) Using the LNB loopthrough on the receiver. Why is this last, when it seems the most logical as easy to do? Well, it'll help explain some of the unfinished business in the options above too, so here goes.

Unlike a normal TV aerial coax, a modern satellite receiver not only receives a signal down the coax, it also uses it in three, yes three other ways.

The first is because the LNB needs some juice to work. With a modern 'universal' LNB it can use anything between 12.5 to 18V.

Second, is that there are typically four modes of Ku-band satellite reception, but these are seamlessly managed by your LNB and receiver. The receiver will actually use a variation in the LNB supply voltage to tell the LNB whether to use vertical or horizontal polarisation. 12.5V - 14.5V gives vertical, and 15.5V - 18V switches the LNB into horizontal polarisation mode.

But that's only two types. There are also two frequency bands to select for each polarisation. The receiver sends a 22kHz tone up the coax to switch the LNB into high-band, and nothing to drop it into low-band.

Finally, most digital receivers have DiSEqC capability. This is a protocaol of digital commands that the receiver can also send up the coax to control DiSEqC switches, motors and whatnot.

OK, so as you can see, shoving two receivers on the same coax could, and probably will cause some conflict, as each box will want to control the LNB.*

Hope this explains a bit