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N2News has all the new fixes for all receivers now posted in our private members area.  Please login now to download the new FTA autoroll BINs for your receiver and get your TV back up NOW.

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Free to Air in an Emergency

by Sammy Satellite.

The digital switchover is now a mere month away and one of the biggest questions I’ve received is “What will happen to my portable analog television?”   We all watch Satellite TV but still millions of people and many of Sammy’s readers have a small portable TV that we use when camping or in case of emergency.    In the mid-west, when the bad weather hits and everyone heads for the basement, will have a way to stay informed after February 17, 2009?

Battery-powered analog televisions are able to receive over-the-air free digital programming, but they must be connected to a digital-to-analog converter box and a separate broadcast antenna. The battery-powered analog television must have an “antenna in” port in order to connect it to a digital-to-analog converter box. Sounds simple enough but wait, it’s an emergency and the power is out. Now what?

Ultimately, you need to find another source to feed power to the digital-to-analog converter box. The TV runs on batteries, but the converter box needs electricity from the wall. Fortunately, you do have a few options. These include external power sources with rechargeable battery packs, uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), car battery adapters, or small power generators. There are also a few manufacturers that offer a separate battery pack for their converter box. One of them, the Winegard Battery Pack, allows you to run your Winegard converter box using 6 D cell batteries and will run for about 18 hours.

The other option, the one that will probably cost you the most money, is to shell out for a battery-powered digital television. Look for models that are marked with words like “Integrated Digital Tuner,” “Digital Tuner Built-in,” “Digital Receiver,” “DTV,” “ATSC” or “HDTV.” Your local electronics store has probably received this question as often as I have so that would be a great place to start if you plan to toss the old analog and move up to a digital portable TV.

The last emergency you need during an emergency is to be out of the loop so don’t forget to keep a battery-powered radio with your emergency kit so you can pick up news and weather bulletins.

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FTA Simplified - What is a J-Tag?

by Sammy Satellite

The term “J-Tag” or “J-Tagging” is frequently used in conjunction with the FTA hobby.   This term refers to the Join Test Action Group (JTAG) which is a simpler name for the IEEE 1149.1 standard “Standard Test Access Port and Boundary-Scan Architecture”.   If you are more confused than before, allow me to explain.   The term actually has nothing to due with FTA, however, it does play a vital role as you will see.

FTA receivers and other types of STB (Set Top Boxes) have complete computer systems inside of them, however, they use a different type of CPU than your desktop PC.    Generally speaking your FTA receiver or STB is using a microprocessor from a company like ARM, Freescale, MIPS, Atmel, Infineon, OnCE, and so on.    While your computer runs Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac OSX or some other major operating system, the microcontroller in your STB also has an operating system.   When you upload a new BIN file to your equipment you are basically updating the operating system.   If you have made a mistake in that process you will no longer be able to boot your receiver.

If you have entered this state, your receiver is essentially dead.   Those of us that have done this more than once call this “Bricked”.  Microcontrollers have a back door just for this type of situation.  That “Back Door” is a standard way to access the internal parts of the microcontroller through a special device attached to specific pins on the cpu.  If you haven’t already guessed, this standard way to access the guts of the Microcontroller is the “J-Tag”.   Some Set Top Boxes and Receivers actually provide a direct cable to allow accessing the JTAG pins and some require a connection to be soldered using a soldering iron and wires.    

If your STB or Receiver has become as useless as a camel with a fishing pole, you may still be able to revive it.   Once you have the J-Tag cable attached and the correct J-Tag software you should be able to directly upload a working firmware to the receiver and bring it back from the dead.  For example, with a Pansat 3500 the steps are simple:   Attach the JTag special cable with a cheap soldering iron while the receiver is unplugged.  Start the freely available “jkeys” programs and turn on the receiver.    The chip will be instantly detected and you can select the menu buttons.   Select Erase to clear the chip.   Next, select a factory boot loader such a B80 and click Program.  Within about 4 minutes your Pansat 3500 is back to life.   Locate the latest bin now that you have a bootloader and you’ll be back to Hogan’s Heroes in no time.

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N2News is proud to announce that we were once again the first site to release fixes for today’s ECM.  Login now to fix your receiver and get your channels back up and running.

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The Official N2News Conaxsat Nano Review

“It’s all about the file dates” is the first thing that I heard from a sales person at Conaxsat.   When I took a look for myself, I found something interesting I thought I would share with my readers.   The Conaxsat receivers have a track record of impressively long stretches of uptime and are always in the front of the pack when it comes to new bin files.    For TV lovers there is little else that matters sometimes, but the Nano also has an impressive list of features.

First, the Nano shares the same code system as the rest of the Conaxsat products.  This means that the coders have less work to do and get patches out quicker.   Updates are easily done through a usb key system.

The CNX Nano, along with all CNX receivers are priced around the same as similar receivers with similar features.    The PVR function is basic but workable.   If you are a heavy PVR user you’ll certainly want to avoid the Nano product as the pvr is really as basic as it gets.   

The Nano excels in two areas when compared to other receivers.   First is the video decoding chip.  The picture produced from the system is clearly better than other units.     It’s hard to put your finger on it exactly but when you see the picture, it just looks better.    The receiver also has a blinding blind search function that can scan an entire satellite in about 2 minutes.

Warranty and support seem to be pretty good as well.   Tech support in the US was difficult to reach but the Canadian contacts make up for that.     The Conasat Nano looks like your average set top box although it does have a lot of lights which Sammy finds annoying but it won’t both most people.

People in know claim to have a plan for the N3 card swap currently underway if this affects your buying decision.    Like the other teams, their plan isn’t well known or tested yet.  

For the price, around $130 USD street, the receiver may be worth looking at if you don’t like the idea of using an IKS receiver.

Features from the manufacturer:

• Upgrade Software & Update Channel Database through USB Port and RS232
• MPEG-II Digital & Fully DVB Compliant.
• C/KU band control for each antenna
• LNB Tone Switch 22KHz mode on/off’
• Multi-LNB controlled by DiSeqC =>DiSEqC 1.0, 1.2 and USALS
• Total 5,000 Channels Programmable
• Blind Scan
• Smart Card Reader(Optional)
• Picture In Graphic (PIG)
• Electronic Program Guide (EPG) for On Screen Channel Information
• Multi-language supported for Menu and OSD
• Zoom Function by 2x..4x
• Parental Lock
• Closed Caption Support
• Dolby Digital Bitstream Out through S/PDIF
• CVBS Video & Audio Output via RCA
• Component Y/Pb/Pr Output via RCA
• S-Video Output
• MP3/JPEG File Play via USB Port
• 7-Segment(4-digit) Type of Front Panel Display
• SMART CARD(Optional) 1 Slot: ISO 7816, GSM11.11 and EMV (payment systems) compatibility

Tuner & Channel

• Type 1 × F Type, IEC169-24, Female
• Frequency Range 950MHz to 2150MHz
• RF Impedance 75 Ohm unbanlanced
• Signal Level -65 to -25 dBm
• LNB Power 13.5/18.5Vdc +/- 5%, 0.5Amax, Overload Protected
• 22KHz Tone Frequency : 22KHz +/- 2KHz, 0.6Vpp +/- 0.2V
• DiSEqC Control Version1.0, 1.2, Tone burst A/B
• Demodulation QPSK
• Input Symbol Rate 2~45 Ms/s, SCPC/MCPC
• FEC Decoder Convolution Code Rate 1/2, 2/3, 3/4, 5/6 and 7/8 With Constraint Length K = 7

System & Memory

• Main Processor 32-bit ARM946 RISC Processor
• Flash Memory 2 Mbytes
• System Memory 32 Mbytes
• Channel Capacity Digital Channel: 5,000
• Front 7-segment Display (4 digit)

MPEG Transport Stream & A/V Decoding

• Transport Stream MPEG-2 ISO/IEC 13818 Transport Stream Specification
• Profile Level MPEG-2 MP@ML
• Input Rate Max. 90Mbit/s
• Aspect Ratio 4:3, 16:9, Letter Box
• Frame Rate 25Hz for PAL, 30Hz for NTSC
• Video Resolution 720×576(PAL), 720×480(NTSC)
• Teletext Through VBI
• Audio Decoding MPEG/MusiCam Layer I & II
• Audio Mode Single Channel/Dual Channel Joint Stereo/Stereo
• Frequency Response 20~20kHz, <+/-2dB; 60Hz ~ 18kHz <+/- 0.5dB
• Sampling Rate 32, 44.1, 48KHz

A/V & Date In/Out

• RCA Output CVBS, L, R Output(Yellow, White, Red Jack) with Volume Control
• Component Video(YPbPr) Out
• S-VHS Output 4 Pin Mini
• SPDIF Dolby Digital Bitstream Out(Coaxal, Optical)
• Data Interface - RS-232, Bit Rate: 115,200baud
• Connector: 9-pin D-sub Male type
• USB: Type A Connector

RF Modulator

• RF-Connector 75 ohm F-Type
• Frequency Range VHF CH3, CH4
• TV Standard NTSC
• Audio Output Mono with Volume Control

Power Supply

• Input Voltage AC 90V ~ 250V, 50Hz ~ 60Hz
• Power Consumption Max 30W
• Standby Power Consumption <= 10W
• Protection Separate Internal Fuse

Physical Specification

• Size(WxHxD) 260mm x 50mm x205mm
• Weight 1.4 KG

Environmental Condition

• Operating Temperature 0 °C ~ 40 °C
• Storage Temperature -10 °C ~ 50 °C
• Operating Humidity Range 10~85% RH, Non-condensing
•  Storage Humidity Range 5~90% RH, Non-condensing

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FTA Channel Negotiations

DBS companies are constantly trying to negotiate with various content providers so that their subscribers may have something to watch.   The satellite provider will purchase “Retrans” or retransmission rights to specific content.     Over the past few months information about these negotiations have leaked including the details of the contract between a regional provider of a number of local stations and a particular large DBS carrier.  Sammy will leave the names out because it doesn’t really matter.   This type of negotiation takes places every day between all of the different content providers.

Tens of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands, of customers were notified via the website of their local television station that the satellite company had refused the offer for retransmission rights and they were on the verge of loosing access to those channels.     Although the deal was certainly inline with other, larger, regional providers the negotiations had broken down.  In the end, the large DBS provider did pull the stations for 3 days before a deal was reached.  Customers in Tyler, Jacksonville, Longview, Brownsville, El Paso, Las Cruces, and other parts of Texas and New Mexico were left to wonder what was going on.

Sammy wanted to know just how greedy the local provider was.   Much like FTA, this really is the case of Goliath the Giant vs David.  The DBS provider charges about $6.00 per month for access to “locals”.  Keeping in mind they could not sell this service without content, what outrageous price did they fight about?  Would you believe that it was only 30 cents?   The final terms of the deal are unknown, but we do know this, the regional provider gets less than 30 cents.      Goliath wins, David and consumers loose again and here we have another reason why FTA grows by the thousands.

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Noteworthy FTA Receiver News

Lookout for SonicView in 2009, they have some interesting plans in the works.    According to internet rumors, Team SonicView is hard at work on a new “Magic Board” that promises to reduce the number of bin updates and somehow deal with the Nagra 3 (N3) updates.   The new magic board should also reduce the turn around time for ECMs with some type of new patch system.  The board is an actual piece of hardware that will fit inside the FTA receiver.   Currently the team is testing on the 8000 and 360 series boxes but they hope to get the card working on more boxes.   This will be sold, most likely, as an add-on optionally available.    If all this sounds mysterious, you’re right.   The announcement from Team Sonic View is most likely designed to keep people buying units without releasing enough detail to alert the other vendors to the secret details.   Given the track record from TSV in the past, I’m really excited to see what they have come up with.

While Team SonicView is hard at work on their hardware solution, other vendors are working on software solutions.   ViewSonic, who shares some software developers with other teams, is working on a solution called “EMU” or Emulation.   In very over simplified terms, this is software that tries to guess and run the decoding of an ECM without knowing ahead of time what will be in the ECM.    During recent ECMs several STB (Set Top Box) vendors were online within an hour and some never went offline due to “Partial EMU”.   ViewSonic’s programmers are on the verge, according to an announcement they recently made, of Full EMU offering even better protection against ECMs.    With little fan-fair, the Pansat SD3500 has been using EMU in recent builds with an amazing level of success and Conxsat has had EMU for a while.   EMU, Full EMU and Full Map EMU don’t help with the N3 switchover but it it’s still the next step in the evolution of FTA.

Finally, Sammy just learned about a new program from CaptiveWorks.   If you have a CW60s Premium or a variety of other receivers you may be eligible for a trade in credit.    Many users have noted that safely shipping a heavy receiver like the CW4000HD back to CaptiveWorks for the credit may cost as much or more than the actual credit so investigate carefully.  More information here: 

http://www.captiveworks.com/buyback.pdf

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