Updating 1500CI

[Daggasalmon]

Hi,
Received my 1500CI yesterday - in my eagerness, I patched the software and loaded the latest keys from the als*t forum. Being in a different part of the world (from Europe), I currently have access to the pas7,10 transmission (68.5E) and will setup 15W later. Tried my hands at unscrambling B4umovies (nagra) for which the softcam key hasn't changed through many of the file updates - unsuccessful. Tried manual update (mute+exit) in scrambled channel - takes me to the last blank key spot (after the last key from softcam file) and not to the key (menu spot 20 in keys) for that particular scrambled channel. What am I doing wrong? Also, in my part of the world, very few satellites available - is factory reset recommended, begin new with only my accessible satellites - and then will softcam key file still work (despite not using most keys)?

[BGonaSTICK]

Hello mate. Pleased you've got your box at last

I couldn't tell you if B4U Movies is currently open or not. Just because the key is included in the file/softcam doesn't mean it will work

If you know other folks who have it open, then great.

As for knowing how the loading/modding of the keys works, I'm not 100% sure as I don't have one. Hopefully one of our Technomate owners will spot this thread and give you some more detail.

Generally speaking, you won't do any harm by adding a duplicate key manually, but I don't think it will do you any favours either if you're just going to punch in the same numbers.

Do you know for a fact that B4U Movies should open at the moment?

STICK

[Daggasalmon]

Hi and thanks for responding!!
I don't know if that channel is open or not - the keys have not changed since many of the the softcam files, and the same keys appear in the latest softcam file, so i assumed its valid. If one of the Techno owners can indicate how to delete all the installed keys i've uploaded to the receiver and start anew, it will be much appreciated (Factory reset only clears the favourite satellites and video/audio channels, not softcam keys). Also, if I want to unscramble a channel and manually enter the key, then the instruction is to go to the scrambled channel, press MUTE then EXIT, and this should take you to the CAS menu, to the key specifically for that channel. However, the softcam file has about 146 keys and I land up on the 147th (blank) spot when following the mentioned instructions - thought a Techno fundi can help. Thanks in advance and kind regards.

[BGonaSTICK]

You should be able to work on the softcam file on your PC and then upload just what you need. That's the idea of doing it this way - it's to save keep flashing the whole firmware.

I take it you have the softcam loader?

Use a professional editor if you can - something like UltraEdit32. If you can't get hold of that, use Wordpad.

[Daggasalmon]

Fortunately the softcam file is a text file and editable in wordpad/word so I will try that. Considering that I don't have/will never have access to all the Europe satellites (Astra etc.), I did a factory reset to clear all the channels and satellites from the scannable satellite list menu. I have updated the patch and keys prior to doing this. I did a rescan and now I only have 68.5E and its channel list in my satellite list (All FTA channels work except the encoded b4u). Maybe I should edit the softcam file and re-upload it (I don't need to re-up the patch, do I?). In the problem pointed out in the earlier message, I get the feeling that the scrambled channel is not recognising the key for it in the CAS menu. How does the receiver know which key goes with which channel? (Perhaps that is why trying to manually edit the key takes me to a blank key spot - even if I edit the blank key spot, repeating the process takes me to a new blank spot). I thought that the link between the scrambled channel and the key lies in the IDENT - which appears in the Keys menu only. I also noticed that most of the keys in the CAS menu have a channel/package name in the ident, with a four digit number in brackets [eg. DigiTurk (3D 01)] but the mentioned channel is one of the few that doesn't - could the IDENT link be a problem?. Sorry for the long message

[BGonaSTICK]

PAS 7/10 68.5°E appears to carry B4U Movies in Nagra1, which should open.

The Provider-ID you require is (Hex) 'EF01'
You need to enter the same 8-byte key under Key-ID 00 and 01 for that Prov-ID.

DO NOT use Word to edit your file. Use the editor I mentioned or another professional editor if at all possible. Wordpad is the only windows-bundled choice you should consider, and only as a last choice. Don't use Notpad either, unless you like pain.

I know the file is text-based, but most editors do NOT preserve the file format (particularly CR's/EOL markers and other control characters) correctly. This is particularly critical for files which will ultimately be shipped to Unix-based systems, or where a character encoding change is required (like ASCII - EBCDIC).

[Daggasalmon]

Thanks once again - I will follow your recommendations. I've downloaded a program from alsat "A Tech Group Professional notepad" - is this proggie good enough? Also, can I delete everything from the softcam file except the 2 lines that have all the details for the b4u keys or do other things need to stay (noticed a whole lot of code immediately after the nagra1 keys but before nagra 2)? Lastly, if I do a scan for the channel list of a satellite that wasn't there when I first uploaded the keys to the receiver (as with 68.5E), do I need to re-up the keys? i.e. must the channels be in the channel list of the receiver prior to keys being uploaded? (Sorry for the rhetoric).

[BGonaSTICK]

I don't know that utility, but it sounds promising. If the guys over there are using it, then hopefully it'll be OK.

You should be able to delete everything except those two lines, but I'm not that familiar with the format of the file for the Techno.

As far as I understand it, there is no internal relationship or dependency between the channel list and what's in the key file, so no - you should be able to update either independently.

Just make sure that you have each satellite installed, and type in a reliable and recent transponder list for each one from Flysat or somewhere like that.

Then automatically scan each satellite. There is no way that I know of to add a new satellite to the Techno, so you might want to reload the default set and delete most but leave a few. You can't add new, but you can amend existing ones to the details of the new satellite you wish to add (change the name, orbital location and transponder list etc.)

Hope this helps.

STICK

[Daggasalmon]

Thanks again! (Downloading ultraedit32 atm)
With the 1500CI, the remote has a SAT button - when pressed it shows a factory set list of satellites probably set for Europe (45W to 45E I think), - 68.5E doesn't appear in this list. I cleared this list (factory reset). When you press the remote MENU button -> Installation ->Satellite Setup, then it shows all satellites (68.5E included) which you can highlight and include for scanning in the previously factory set list. Atm, the settings for 68.5E are predefined in the receiver, and one just has to do a scan for channels. Following this procedure, I have a working channel list (after blind scan) for 68.5E which includes the scrambled b4u. If I were to do things manually, then is the following the suggested procedure?
1. Firstly make sure the channel list exists, including the scrambled channel(s).
2. Patch the receiver with latest patch using loader (eg. d arkmans loader + patch) - to enable the CAS key menu accessibility.
3. Either upload softcam file or manually enter in keys (for b4u: IDENT = EF 01, key 00 = XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX, key 01 = same as key 00)
Will try when I get home - hope it works - cause I need to setup dish for 15w - don't want to waste time/money if I can't get simple things to work >
(In my country, only ku transmission obtainable with 90cm dish is d mc on 15w, p ar abole on 16e and multi choice on 68.5e)

[BGonaSTICK]

Thanks for that. One or two other members have been asking how to add a satellite, so I can point them here

Your procedure logically sounds good

The information you're planning on loading/keying is no more or less than what you logically need to tie the required key to the ECM data sent with the satellite stream. You just have to work out how to get it in.

It's worth checking against Flysat and/or rescanning once in a while to pick up any changes, but it sounds like you're well on top of it. I hope you get your movie channel open. It should work, but I can't test it for you

Good luck

STICK