cireder

[cireder]

complete novice.
recently ditched sky + hd.
want to set up a motorised system. Have recently bought a technomate 6900.
want to try this out using current sky dish & experimenting by manually moving dish so that I can see if I can pick up other sats from current posn before purchasing rest of necessary equip (any advice on dish/lnb/motor/cable etc would be appreciated).

There are 2 cables coming from the present lnb to the sky + hd box but seemingly only 1 input on the techy. Which cable do I use? the one labelled dish 1 or dish 2 on sky box? Forgive my lack of knowledge but what is the lnb OUT socket used for?

As the 6900 requires an ext hard drive, which one do you recommend?

As you see, my knowledge is simply underwhelming! But, I want to try a DIY.

I'm in my mid 70's so perhaps I'm on the wrong site but I couldn't find a decent one on coffin building!Would appreciate an early response - after all, each day is a bonus at my age!

[Andyman]

hello and welcome to the forum
You can connect any ONE of the cables from the dish to your tecnomate box. LNB in.
The LNB out is for looping to another reciever.
A sky dish will work but is to small really to motorise.
Most of the sats you will get will be to the west of where your sky dish is pointing at the moment if this helps.
You could purchase a 80 or 100cm dish and mount it on the ground if you have a garden. (much easier to move and tweak etc)
Basically with that reciever you should by a motor approx £40.00 and a dish £40. set it up and you will have much more choice in what you watch.
PS you might get more replies if you post in the sat help forum

[cireder]

many thanks,Andyman. I'll follow your advice. Just one more thing. I'm undecided about the best ext drive. I've looked (briefly) at Western Digital Passport essential and both LaCie All Terrain 250gb and LaCie 500gb. Maybe I'm on the wrong track.

[cireder]

many thanks for your advice. Most useful.by the way, I'm looking for a suitable 250 - 350gb ext hard disk drive. So far I've briefly looked at Western Digital Passport Essential and LaCie All Terrain 250gb & their500gb. any views?

[cireder]

managed to set up motorised system with technomate 6900 combo. However, I do find the manual is definitely NOT user friendly - for me that is.

1. I find the EPG basic to say the least. I can only get the progs for the current & next prog - unlike Sky. Am I doing something incorrectly?

2. What is a PID?

3. What is this 'latest software (.STB)' I should be downloading from my PC?

4. There's 1 smart card reader & 2 CI's (is a CAM required?)

5. Re CONAX CAS7 scrambled channels. What are all the different types of Smart Cards to fit this receiver? (An idea of suppliers and costs would be appreciated).

6. What exactly is a 'patch' and can it be useful to me?

The Technomate Users Manual is most colourful and well proportioned book BUT it is certainly not an Idiot's Guide and as you must have already concluded, that's the sort of manual I really need. How embarrassing!
I even think I've written this in the wrong section!

I have spent hours reading forums and I envy all of you who can both ask highly technical queries as well as providing clear, concise answers.

Look forward to any assistance.

[Robbo]

Hi, I was under the impresion that the TM6900 user interface was the same as the other TMs. Mine has quite a good EPG facility, unfortunately, most of the time it does not get fully populated, it depends on the channel provider.

The PIDs are the the digital identification numbers used by the channel providers/ receivers to identify the appropriate part of the DVB stream for the channel you want to watch. They are all listed on lyngsat.

For the latest official firmware, got to Technomate's site, else go to the dark place.


The smart card reader is for reading official cards, lke DigitAlb for example.
You don't have to use a CAM in the CI slot, but this option is open to you if you wish.

A patch is a modified version of the manufacturers original firmware.

[uk nurnberg fan]

A patch is, as Robbo says, a modified firmware... this basically means you 'may' be able to watch channels that were previously scrambled... If you read this thread
Patching your Technomate 1000 series

you will get an idea of how patching is done... although this is a different receiver I don't think the process is different.

You need to register on the 'Darkside' to view the A L S A T forum in full.

[cireder]

Many thanks again robbo & uk nurnberg fan. Plenty here to keep me busy for quite a while. Cireder.