Total Newbie and Totally Lost! Please help!

[newbie]

Hi, I'm an American currently in the Israel and was convinced to purchase a satellite system. It worked great at first but channels keep dissapearing. I heard I need to rescan my receiver but don't even know what that means and my installer sort of dissapeared! I have 3 satellite dishes on my apt. and am supposed to get:

Nile
Hotbird
Amos
Arab 2D, 2C, 3A

So channels that once came in either no longer do, or are now some other channel (not in English). All of my Arab 2D, 2C, 3A channels come in as scrambled. A lot of Hotbird channels are gone and there are supposed to be some new Nile channels. Also, channel 1 and 33 in Israel are supposed to have switched from Hotbird to Amos. But I can't get any of this. I have a VisionNet VN-8000S user manual.

And please, please, please use lay terms. I don't know what these different frequencies, TP or any of this stuff means!! Are there any website that teach the very basics? They all seem so technical or use abbreviations for words that I obviously should know, but don't yet. THANK YOU!!

[nanochickin]

:welc3: to the forum my friend

Broadcasters often change the broadcast frequency, Symbol rate or Forward Error correction settings. These are usually no problem if you are watching on the equipment given to you by the company you pay for the viewing card as it automatically corrects itself but receivers that are capable of picking up everything don't change automatically, they have to be done manually

To do this there is usually a satellite setup section in the main menu of the receiver which may have manually scan transponder, automatically scan transponder etc etc etc.

You will find all the transponder frequencies at _http://www.lyngsat.com/

I've downloaded the manual for your receiver from _http://www.matrixxsystems.de/dokumente0.html?&L=1. I'll have a look through it tomorrow as i'm going to bed now. Got to get up at stupid o'clock for work in the morning.

It shouldn't take a much to figure it out

It will be more than likely that one of the other members may go through it with you before i get back from work.

Cheers

Nano

P.s Why not pop into the pub section and introduce yourself to everyone

[Jimdefruit]

A big welcome to the forum Newbie.

It sounds as if your receiver is connected to a communal dish setup. As a guide, how many appartments, roughly, are connected to the system? Also did the loss of channels suddenly change?

It may be that with a change of satellites, your receiver needs to be told which satellite to look at for the channels you want. It is still looking at the satellite that was originally programmed.

With four dishes, your receiver gives each satellite a number, 1 to 4. If the programmes you want have moved from say sat 1 to sat 3 then you need to tell your receiver to make that change. The change is done by what is called diseqc switching. If you can find out from your neighbours or the building management which sat is which diseqc number then you can change the receiver accordingly. After changing the diseqc number, you will need to rescan the satellites to get all of the channels back.

[BGonaSTICK]

Also, if the receiver was patched (and there are patches for this box) then it may well be that the providers have changed keys. If you weren't made aware of this when you had the system installed, then it could explain why the guy is suddenly 'unavailable'.

Could you give us details of at least one channel on each satellite that you could see, but have now 'lost'.

Use the Lyngsat link above to confirm your selections if at all possible.

STICK

[newbie]

Let me give you some more info. When I lived in NY, I had a regular cable box from time warner cable, paid my monthly bill and got lots of stations. When I arrived in Israel, I looked into the official satellite provider "YES" but they were a little pricey and had very few channels in English. I met someone who said it was legal here to purchase my own equipment here and get the channels for free rather than lease the equipment from Yes and pay a monthly fee. Plus he advertised in the paper and everything. But there is no card. His ad said that I would get 3 satellite dishes hooked up only to my TVs, a smart satellite receiver and "that hooks up to the Internet via a router. By hooking up the receiver to the Internet you will be sharing a subscription and will not need to pay any monthly charge." It sounded sketchy but asked around and it seemed several people had it. Many told me it was infact legal here including a sale rep from YES. It was a lot of money but I figured free TV for life (or at least for a few years as he said this might change) was a good deal.

But recently I lost a lot of channels. Not all at once but over time. Some came back after a bit but others like Star World, Star Movies, Style U, UKTV, Nickolodean, Disney, the entire Orbit package (America Plus, Super Movies, etc.) as well as the adult Redlight Package and Private Spice on Hotbird all disappeared.

How can I get these back? I did finally here back from the satellite installer who added channel 1 and 33 for me but claimed that I couldn't get the others back unless I paid him again to upgrade me to a better satellite receiver. He sounded like he was just trying to get more money out of me. I had also lost BBC Prime which he said I couldn't get back either, but managed to find it by hitting a search for channel button. None of the others came back. Any advice on how to do this would be really appreciated!

The way he told me to add channel 1 and channel 33 was the following (something I never would have figured out on my own:
Press the Menu button, select installations, then press the red dot called "TP edit". When the window opens select the Amos satellite, change the transponder to 116633 and the symbol rate to 8518. Leave everything else the same and under search option, select "one TP."

Can I use the same method for the channels I lost? I tried but it wouldn't work. They still come in as scrambled.

[newbie]

Oh, I also get the Showtime Arabia package. I see commercials that say I can now add a new station Show Comedy +1 Extra and Show Kids but have been unsuccesful in adding it. That is on the Nile satellite. I briefly got the orbit package on the Arab 2D, 2C, 3A satellite, but now none of the English channels come in at all.
There isn't much on the Amos satellite but think I'm now getting everything I am supposed to except for the Kennest channel which wouldn't be too exciting anyway. The only other satellite that I can get green bars for is the Eurobird satellite but nothing seems to be unscrambled on that one.

I'd like to get the most out of this set-up since I spent so much on it. Any help you can give me is really appreciated!

[BGonaSTICK]

We can help you a certain amount, but it will only be of any use if you are prepared to invest some time in learning too.

It appears that you have been left high and dry with a receiver that uses a free card-sharing server (which has pretty much fallen apart.) And it's completely illegal BTW

You can get some or all of your channels back, but it's not a few button-presses.

Could you access your dishes to move one or more of them if needs be? One of them would be better on Astra1 @ 19.2E for example, where Premiere and Digital+ are currently open, and Showtime is currently clearing on the Diablo CAM.

Does your receiver have a CI slot, and is it still connected to the Internet?

What size are your various dishes? Maybe you could post a few pictures?

STICK

[newbie]

Yes, I'd be happy to learn as much as I can to maintain my own system. It is still connected to the internet and I still get most shows such as the showtime arabia package. I was assured it was legal, but it did sound a little too good to be true.I have three satellite dishes. 2 standard size ones (comparable to the YES brand satellites I see all over) and one is tiny and was added for the Orbit package which worked for about a month before it vanished. They are bolted on to the roof so I don't think they would be easy to move and when it was installed, he hooked it up to some fancy looking equipment to make sure it was aimed properly. Also, I live in an apartment building and the roof is usually locked so it won't be so easy to get up there to take photos.

What is a CI slot? I don't see any slots on the machine.

So how do I know when channels switch frequencies and how do I change them so I get the channels back. I also noticed I lost MTV, BBC Food, and others.

[BGonaSTICK]

OK, there are several channels open to you.

The first is via the continued use of your card sharing server.

What you can receive from this is pretty much outside of your control. Just leave it connected and your fingers crossed.

Second is Free to Air. For this you just need to make sure that your transponder list is up to date for the satellites which you can receive. You will need to rescan these periodically. Check and compare the lists available at places such as lyngsat kingofsat and flysat with what is stored in your receiver. Keeping transponder details current is going to be a factor in all satellite reception in fact, not just FTA.

Third, patching of receiver. I don't know if your receiver is 'patchable' but this will open more channels.

Fourth, CI slot. Sounds like your receiver doesn't have one, but the addition of a CAM such as the Diablo will open more channels still.

Search the forum from the index page for more details on these options, or search the Net for more details of what your receiver can do. Different receivers would provide more options.

There is lots to learn and exciting times ahead.

STICK

[Unknown user #1]

Take a look at xvision team (software for your Visionnet) here: h**p://xvision.board.to/
registration required. I've been told that there is another team called "vsf team" but am unable to find it (not that I tried too hard ).

Some more info from H!sat (substitute ! with i in browser )

In addition to all of the above the receiver also has effectively a built in Matrix CAM

Also use this receiver with an original Viaccess/Irdeto/SECA or Conax Card

This receiver also boasts 2 CI CAM Slots for use with other CAMs