Freeview Satellite PVRs

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PromNZ

154 posts

Master Geek

#180759 27-Nov-2008 20:24

Quick 'n easy host is www.iforce.co.nz

ronw

1222 posts

Uber Geek
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#181059 29-Nov-2008 10:44

As I understand it these cheapie PVR's are not MHEG5 so presumably thaey are using EIT to give you a schedule. If so then the units will not be aware of delays or changes to programmes. You will need MHEG5 for that. EIT can be encrypted and there is no guarantee that companies will not stop people accessing it.
Which beings me to the point where the heck is the 'official' PVR. It was supposed to be available October then November. Am I correct in assuming that when it comes out it will be DTT only. If so it will not help all those people that use DTH. DTT will always be limited with channels already there aare stations on DTH that will never get to DTT and it will get worse in future.

What we want is a box with both DTT and DTH included I think one of the Korean firms makes a dual box.
Maybe we would all be better going with Myth??

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johnsets12

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#181474 1-Dec-2008 22:26

hope these work... screenshots of the Digistar DSS-811U at work...

[URL=http://www.iforce.co.nz/8314770098aa36e9167003534cbbf473.JPG][IMG]http://www.iforce.co.nz/i/8314770098aa36e9167003534cbbf473.JPG[/IMG][/URL]

[URL=http://www.iforce.co.nz/5aa5d1a30a4e5ed7758fd0a54503c6bd.JPG][IMG]http://www.iforce.co.nz/i/5aa5d1a30a4e5ed7758fd0a54503c6bd.JPG[/IMG][/URL]

[URL=http://www.iforce.co.nz/0578de73ad7dde500c70afdbcfafbc8a.JPG][IMG]http://www.iforce.co.nz/i/0578de73ad7dde500c70afdbcfafbc8a.JPG[/IMG][/URL]

[URL=http://www.iforce.co.nz/00dd05c1f9d5b0664f3c3a11ff89b848.JPG][IMG]http://www.iforce.co.nz/i/00dd05c1f9d5b0664f3c3a11ff89b848.JPG[/IMG][/URL]

neilinnz

165 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 1

#184522 16-Dec-2008 14:08

Just a quick follow up to my original post.
I did buy one of the Digistar 811Us for $91 plus delivery and have set it up and played with it for the last couple of hours, here's my thoughts.

Picture quality is great but I guess that's the same for all Freeview boxes, it does look a bit clearer than our Sky signal on the free channels which I guess is due to the bandwidth. It's quick moving between channels. The EPG is better than I expected as it does have a couple of sentences about each program, I thought it may just show the program name.
I plugged in a USB key and a 180gb drive partitioned as 80gb Mac, 40gb Mac and about 50Gb FAT and it found both without any problem. I am able to record on both USB key or USB drive.
It plays DivX Avi files that I already have on the drives too.
The recordings made with the Digistar playback on my Mac using VLC and look great.
The menu system and timer recording functions aren't very intuative! (it's no MySky) I had to play around for a while before I could set the timer correctly to record a program. Not too bothered about this as we'll only record maybe one or two programs a week. You can set the timer to repeat the same recording every Mon-Fri or every Sat & Sun, BUT, as far as I can see you can't set the timer to record a program just once a week, eg. record every Monday at 7:30pm till 8pm. It looks like you'd have to set more than one timer (one for each week) or record those times every night Mon-Fri. If I am wrong about this maybe someone could explain how to do it?
You can piggy back a Sky box off the back off this and they both work without issue.
I knew it only had one tuner which is OK but I don't think you can do anything else with the box whilst it's recording, eg. watch a previous recording.
For $91 this a bargain even for a simple Freeview box, with additional recording and playback of DivX files it's an even bigger bargain. For anyone who wants Freeview and the ability to record the odd program when they're out then it's not a bad box to have.

Will report back any other things I find out as I use it more.

speedy23

44 posts

Geek

#184983 18-Dec-2008 15:15

Having followed this thread for a while, I took the plunge and (maybe foolishly) bought a STB via Trademe also. This is a Satemate SM-888 which has a "double tuner PVR with 160 GB built in Hard Drive". Paid $180 which I thought was pretty good. I now think I've stuffed it without seeing a picture!!!! On Monday this week I had a Sky dish installed ($145) which is dedicated to Prime and I thought that was a bargain. I got the STB the next day and was correctly told it was set to 11300 but that I should change it to 10750 in the set up menu. No problem - but no picture. Quality was showing about 8% and power about 80% (?power to LNB). This was after I had disconnected the Sky box as I didn't get a splitter (Duh!). Of the 97 satellites listed, Optus 1D is not an option - set to Optus B3, but is that a problem as surely it is "aimed" at the correct satellite. Anyway, after much stuffing around I still get no picture and in fact now get no power reading at all - even the remote refuses to work! No reply from the seller - oh dear, silly me! The unit does have an internal fuse - is that likely to be the problem? Anyone with a moment to help would be a friend indeed! Thanks, Speedyboy

Speedyboy

Jaxson

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#185003 18-Dec-2008 16:14

speedy23: Quality was showing about 8% and power about 80% (?power to LNB).

Power here will probably refer to the more commonly used Strength value.
Somewhere there will probably be an option to turn on the lnb power. This will need to be on to power the lnb seeing as you have removed the sky/prime box so nothing else will be powering the lnb.

Someone here will be able to help you on the significance of selecting an actual satellite from the list. Most probably this simply fills in some standard options based on that satellite, so you can probably overwrite these with the info relevant to D1.

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cyril7

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#185008 18-Dec-2008 16:32

Its very unlikely that you have stuffed the box due to incorrect input connection, sometimes the tuners go into current limiting if the input is shorted, but recover a short while latter. I suggest that you check that you have the LNB power on and the 22kHz tone off. If its a new Sky dish then it will have a LO of 10750, once set scan 12456 and 12483 (this should be possible by manually inputing frequencies). Beyond that without sitting infront of the box myself its far too exhausting to contemplate what menu options you need to set to get a result.

Cyril

speedy23

44 posts

Geek

#185482 21-Dec-2008 14:02

Many thanks so far... I discovered a faulty connection to LNB1 on the stb so have now got it set up using the second port with a splitter alongside the sky/prime box with the power to LNB via that box. Have turned off LNB power and the 22KHz switch on the stb but interestingly, the only channels I get are TV1 and TV2, would you believe on 12671... Nothing on either of the recommended frequencies. I'm sure there is a simple explanation here - but it has me beat - unless it has something to do with the fact that Optus 1D was not an option on the menus - I have edited the name from Optus 3B which the box was set to. Power and quality are both very low but atleast watchable. I have noted from the Optus web site that 12671 is a valid frequency for TV1 and TV2. I have a series of photos of my settings and menu options ready to post if there is no simple answer at this point. Most grateful thanks for your help. Speedy.

Speedyboy

speedy23

44 posts

Geek

#185855 23-Dec-2008 21:05

Hi again. If anyone can check these settings for me I'd be very happy!

Normal 0 false false false EN-NZ X-NONE X-NONE

http://www.iforce.co.nz/i/25bee6dbdf7e230eecff8ea314a5f8ab.JPG

http://www.iforce.co.nz/i/f416e8091c5aebcc0f26b0ba23b673fd.JPG

http://www.iforce.co.nz/i/e5153f9755286dfd577986e285abf7b6.JPG

http://www.iforce.co.nz/i/5bd547ce3288ae7742878363757dddfc.JPG

http://www.iforce.co.nz/i/ba1e021f04ee0f16787471cf569595e6.JPG

http://www.iforce.co.nz/i/b48ed43d31aaeb0a782bd2088b6ec0d8.JPG

http://www.iforce.co.nz/i/463106193b7d08f69bb539ddf2f34342.JPG

http://www.iforce.co.nz/i/006b52a6ade73f761a6e660b61e650d6.JPG

http://www.iforce.co.nz/i/dca3702190dba1d5dc4fa875a3b1f840.JPG

http://www.iforce.co.nz/i/25a2c03020ab6fbde8bfada5addc43bb.JPG

http://www.iforce.co.nz/i/381fb5eed2aeca47668d4e8025ab9329.JPG

Best wishes for the festive season, Speedy

Speedyboy

neilinnz

165 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 1

#190408 18-Jan-2009 18:04

After a month or so of use now with my Digistar DSS-811U I am half pleased with it.
It's still a bargain for what it is but there are a few niggles that are starting to irritate. Sometimes the TV feed with revert to being squashed on a widescreen TV. It's not the whole picture as the on screen display stuff remains in proper widescreen - a complete power down solves this.
It chooses to ignore some timer recordings, you can set it to record 4 things and sometimes all 4 get recorded, sometimes just one will, even if they're all on the same channel at different times!!!
I'm trying to get a new firmware update from the supplier but not having much luck.
Has anyone here updated their firmware on the Digistar DSS-811U? Or does anyone know where I can get this firmware from? Searching the net gives nothing. Maybe the box is a re-branded version of another box? Maybe other firmware would work?
Any ideas would be much appreciated.

Otherwise I'll have to plod along with the niggles until Freeview manage to cobble together a simple device that records DVB-S, can't be that difficult!!!

lbushill

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#190559 19-Jan-2009 16:41

Very happy with my digistar 810u i bought off trade me for $119.99 buy now. It even came with a free scart to component and composite cable. Have had it since boxing day with no complaints.

Channels look great, and compared to what we had is a major improvement (no reception in our room as there is no aerial jack). divx/xvid work fine, although we watch these through the PS3 anyway, and the recorder tested out fine on a 4gb usb stick. Haven't used the timer function but will be trying it out soon so the missus can watch home and away when we get home from work, other than that it will probably get little use. The games that come with it are very 1984 but again that's what my PS3 is for. EPG is solid too, my only gripe would be that you should be able to browse through the mini EPG like you can on a sky box without changing the channel (you know the bar that shows at the bottom of the screen telling you what time it is and what program is currently playing etc.)

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speedy23

44 posts

Geek

#190579 19-Jan-2009 18:33

I solved my problem by putting a 10dB amplifier in the line, despite only having 8 metres of cable from the LNB. Immediately picked up over a hundred channels on the correct frequency (including pay ones of course) so now have perfect reception on all freeview channels. Happy with other features of the set too although can't get a full screen picture on my older set regardless of the box settings. Speedy

Speedyboy

geeky123

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#192424 28-Jan-2009 09:14

I have both DSS-810u and DSS-811u, the reciever itself are identical. The only difference is really just the firmware, and the remote for the DSS-811U is slightly bigger.

On my DSS-810U, the clock was consistently slow by about 2 hours (??) per day which makes timer-recording very difficult. The clock slows down soon as it's switched to standby (resync with satellite time when powered on). I've been told the reason for that is because the clock runs off the AC supply (ie 50Hz) and the machine was originally built for 60Hz (US?). I've upgraded the firmware and the problem is resolved.

foamfollower

152 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 7

#192429 28-Jan-2009 09:37

I have the DSS-810u, and it is going just fine. However if there is a firmware update, I would be interested. My supplier seems to be ignoring emails, so where is this update?
Cheers

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