Satellite Receiver Problem (after factory reset)

fluppet

My apartment building has satellite dishes pointing at Hotbird and Nilesat. I set-up my digital satellite receiver as the building manager told me to, and it worked fine, but I had a feeling that I was not getting all the Hotbird channels I should, so I did a factory reset and started scanning the channels again, but this time I didn't get all of the channels that I used to have on either Nilesat or Hotbird (reception of both is perfect... I'm not in Ireland). For example before the factory reset I used to get BBC World on Nilesat, but I don't get it anymore. It does scan the correct frequency/polarization/etc. when doing the scan, but it doesn't pick-up anything. If I manually go to where BBC World should be, it shows that it is not picking-up any signal, even though it was working perfectly before the factory reset, and I have set all the setting back exactly as they were before.
Another strange thing is that even transponders that it does pick-up channels on, sometimes they are not the channels that should be on that transponder according to the websites on the internet (both on the official site of the satellites, and on unofficial lists).
To make things even stranger, I am getting some channels on Hotbird that should be encrypted, eg. all of the Eurosport channels, even though I only have a FTA receiver, and I didn't get these channels before the factory reset. (and by 'getting', I mean I can watch them perfectly)

Does anyone have any ideas?
I have tried playing around with all the LNB settings, etc., but nothing seems to work.
Why do I get some channels, but not all? Why am I getting channels that should be encrypted?

The most likely situation to me seems to be that doing the factory reset somehow messed-up the receiver's tuner. How likely is that?

Thanks!

mjsmyth

some of the Eurosport Channels are unencrypted at the moment on Hotbird and have been for some while now.

Have you popped over to Lyngsat to make sure that you are scanning the right transponder for bbc world?

BBC World can be found on Hotbird :

Hotbird 7A (13.0E) - 11334.33 H - DVB-S - 27500 2/3 - NID: 272 - TID: 901 - Txp: 7 - Beam: Europe - Mediaset

Hotbird 7A (13.0E) - 11431.80 V - DVB-S - 27500 2/3 - NID: 272 - TID: 905 - Txp: 12 - Beam: Europe - Mediaset

Hotbird 6 (13.0E) - 12597.00 V - DVB-S - 27500 3/4 - NID: 318 - TID: 9400 - Txp: 94 - Beam: Europe - France Telecom Cable & Noos Numérique & TPS

MJ

Zaphod

fluppet wrote:

Another strange thing is that even transponders that it does pick-up channels on, sometimes they are not the channels that should be on that transponder according to the websites on the internet

It sounds like the LNB settings are incorrect following the receiver reset. Can you post an example from above of the receiver frequency for a channel that is different from the frequnecy given on Lyngsat or Satcodx?

fluppet wrote:

To make things even stranger, I am getting some channels on Hotbird that should be encrypted, eg. all of the Eurosport channels, even though I only have a FTA receiver, and I didn't get these channels before the factory reset. (and by 'getting', I mean I can watch them perfectly)

It possible that the receiver you have has an internal software cam which is decrypting the channels. Very common in Middle East.

fluppet wrote:

The most likely situation to me seems to be that doing the factory reset somehow messed-up the receiver's tuner. How likely is that?

Extremely unlikely.

fluppet

I was told by the building manager that I should use these settings:

NileSat:
LNB 10600
DiSEqC A
22 Khz Off

Hotbird:
LNB Universal
DiSEqC B
22 Khz Off

These are the setting I put into my receiver (which is a Global 2052 PLUS):

NileSat:
LNB I've tried putting this to Universal (and leaving the two L.O. settings unchanged), and tried putting it to Normal (and changing the L.O. Low to 10600), but both seem to give the same results
22 Khz Off
LNB Power On
DiSEqC 1/4
Net Search Off (same results with it On)

Hotbird:
LNB Type Universal
22 Khz Off
LNB Power On
DiSEqC 2/4
Net Search On/Off (same results)

There is no signal on any of the transponders where BBC World is (two on Hotbird, one on Nilesat), even though I got it before the factory reset. When I'm scanning, even if I set it to scan FTA and Encrypted, it goes through many transponders (probably around 50%) and doesn't get any new channels.

Zaphod

The settings look OK. Although 2 possibilites are that 22KHz should be 'on' for Nilesat LNB or that it should be LNB 10750. If you post the frequency of a channel which it scanned that is different from the websites, it'll be possible to figure out what's wrong.

BBC World India which is on Nilesat was due to be encrypted at some point, but it's not possible to check that from Ireland.

fluppet

Thanks,
Well, the building manager told me that 22Khz should be 'Off', so that's what I would have used the first time, and I didn't have any problem then.
BBC World India became encrypted only on PanAmSat (on June 15th). I was watching BBC World India right before I did the factory reset, and it was working perfectly. But even if it had become encrypted, the receiver should still pick-up a signal from the transponder, but there is no signal there at all.
After scanning all FTA channels on Nilesat 101 and Hotbird (all), I got 217 TV channels.
I've been looking through what channels I have, and most are at the correct frequencies (although of course many frequencies where I should be receiving channels, there is nothing). I have, however, stumbled across one of the sections where channels are on the wrong frequency; Mediatel, Noursat, Adjara TV, ANB, Al Hiwar TV, Prime TV Europe, Al Farat, Tapesh 2, and DMC TV are all shown as being at 11804 V 27500 on Hotbird, however according to LyngSat and EutelSat's own list, those channels should not be at that frequency, they should instead be at 10949 V 27500. There are probably more inconsistancies like that, but that is the first I came across.

Any suggestions would be very welcome.

Thank you again

watty

Where are you and what size dish for Nilesat? It wouldn't be at all likely on an Irish Apartment block?

Curious.

Zaphod

So you were able to watch BBC World on Nilesat immediately prior to the reset? Were you also able to watch BBC World on Hotbird immediately prior to reset (they have moved to a new TP on Hotbird 7A in the past few weeks so the TP might have to be entered manually)?

Mediatel etc on 11804 means either the LNB LO settings are wrong or the Diseqc switching is wrong.

11804 - 10600 = 1204 IF (hi band)

1204 IF + 9750 = 10954 (lo band) which is more or less 10949 which is what is should be.

Are you sure Nilesat is on Diseqc A and Hotbird on B and not vice versa?

What channels do you get, if any, when you scan 10949 V 27500 on Hotbird?

fluppet

Okay, well after a lot more time playing around with it, I decided to try changing the DiSEqC to SMATV A and SMATV B instead of 1/4 and 2/4 (for Nilesat and Hotbird respectively), and to my surprise I got BBC World back on Nilesat!
I am, however, still not getting a lot of channels on Hotbird that I should be. I do not get any of the three BBC Worlds on Hotbird, or a lot of other channels. Mediatel etc. are now showing as being on the correct frequency.

Zaphod

The SMATV A/B means you have a toneburst/minidiseqc switch and not a Diseqc 1.0 switch. It may also be the reason why channels were coming up on the wrong frequency as Hotbird channels were being scanned in when the receiver expected the Nilesat LNBF (LO of 10600 instead of 9750/16000).

As to the missing channels on Hotbird - were these channels actually available immediately prior to the reset or are you just going by the listings on the web? If you are going by web listings, then it may be that some channels are simply too weak for reception in your area.

If they were receivable earlier on, then the problem is probably that the TPs are missing from the receiver database following the reset and will have to be entered manually.

Try entering the freqs provided by mjs and then scanning:

Hotbird 7A (13.0E) - 11334.33 H - DVB-S - 27500 2/3
Hotbird 7A (13.0E) - 11431.80 V - DVB-S - 27500 2/3
Hotbird 6 (13.0E) - 12597.00 V - DVB-S - 27500 3/4

fluppet

Thanks for all your help

I did try entering the frequencies mentioned (although my receiver doesn't seem to have the option of entering the 2/3 or 3/4 bits), but both 'Level' and 'Quality' are 0%, and the same for lots of transponders on Hotbird. Before when I said there was no signal on a transponder I meant that 'Level' was quite low (but not 0%) and 'Quality' was 0%, but now both are 0%... Is this just something to do with SMATV, or does it indicate something else? Is it really possible for some channels on Hotbird to give quite strong signals (Quality over 30%), while others have absolutely no signal at all (both Level and Quality 0%)? According to the downlink maps on Eutelsat's website, the UAE (where I am) should be able to receive all Hotbirds except 1, although it is near the fringe. I presume my apartment building has pretty big satellite dishes (it's 20 floors high)...

Zaphod

fluppet wrote:

Before when I said there was no signal on a transponder I meant that 'Level' was quite low (but not 0%) and 'Quality' was 0%, but now both are 0%... Is this just something to do with SMATV, or does it indicate something else?

If the quality was zero, then it doesn't really matter what the level was - quality is the important indiator. Level can just be noise.

fluppet wrote:

Is it really possible for some channels on Hotbird to give quite strong signals (Quality over 30%), while others have absolutely no signal at all (both Level and Quality 0%)?

Yes - different TPs have different footprints and even TPs with the same footprint can be operating at different output levels.

ken.burke.mail

hi i have a fortec star fs4000v2 which has been working fine for three monthes now all of a sudden the pictures on most channels selected jump and roll and i have to switch to terrestrial tv to watch, any idea why this is happening?

fat-tony

It's not a good idea to resurrect zombie threads - this one is over four years old. Better to start a new one:)

ken.burke.mail

Hi Fat-Tony
Thanks for the reply. What in the name of god is a Zombie Thread. (This is my first time using a forum site-I only registered yestered).
I did copy and paste the text above from another site I came across when trying to find a solution to my receiver problem.
Its the same model receiver that I picked up in Maplin and the problems are the same so it seemed like a good idea to just repost the text above that some other person had posted.

Is this what you mean by "Zombie Thread"?

Also any ideas on how to sort out the satellite reciever?

watty

You don't get charged for new threads.
Seeing posts more than 6 months old that are not really to do with the question are out of date. More than a year it's like a undead. Hence Zombie. Very confusing.