The KBOX K1 Plus Edition

by Sammy Satellite. – Staff Writer for n2news

With a less than great entry on their first attempt, the KBOX Team from Seoul, South Korea updated their K1 product line with the K1 HEROS Plus Edition.   The marketing material boasts the promising slogan, “Faster.  Stronger. Better.” With new features such as a USB 2.0 high speed engine, network features, and awesome picture quality.  The new system keeps the dated-looking external case of previous K1 units, however, the internal menu system has been completely redesigned.   On paper, everything done here sounds great but the receiver falls short of success and earns Sammy’s lowest rating so far.    Remember folks, these are just my opinions so do your own research.

The KBox K1 comes with a unique feature called the Weather Hub.   When connected to the internet this module allows you to view the weather forecast.   This is one of the best features of the K1 and does a great job, although my living room window also tells me the weather and I don’t have to turn on the TV First.   Other than the Weather Hub, the K1 STB comes with the standards such an RS-232 Cable and a remote and this should have been my first clue.   The RS-232 cable was so short I tossed it because I don’t actually have a way to balance my laptop on top of my audio visual gear.

On the positive side, the unit does offer a really nice picture.   The video quality was above average.   It has a nice MP3 player has well.   Setup took only about 10 minutes and the IKS feature worked very well.   The was actually very simple.   Once setup, however, the unit starts to show signs of weakness.   The main menu is simple, possibly too simple.   In an effort to make the K1 Plus “idiot proof” they have taken away some of the more advanced options I love in other receivers.   Parental control is weak as is control over satellite specifics and channel specifics.    The EPG is short on data, slow to move around in, and really doesn’t manage on-screen space very well.   There are also a host of nice features missing like browse by themes, wish lists and other things that are common in receivers at this price range.

What you pay for:   Very high picture quality.   If you can tolerate the sub-standard features in other areas, the picture quality is actually very good in a very noticeable way.   The setup and scanning was very fast.   Scanning was on par with the fastest receivers around.  Built-in system recovery and a USB Port with MP3 Player was also a nice touch although I have much nicer and more flexible ways to play music.

What you don’t get: The Picture in Picture feature constantly causes problems.   Upgrading the bin was not as simple as the other features.   Terrible EPG with no search functions and many other nice touches are missing.   The EPG only shows about 1 day.   The manual claims other features such as a calendar that I couldn’t figure out how to access and getting support proved 100% impossible.

I put my KBOX K1 HEROS Plus Edition back in the back and stamped it Return to Sender.     Maybe the K2 due out in the summer will work out better.

Some specs from the manufacturer

* Main Processor: Conexant Virgo (32-bit RISC CPU 180 MIPS)

* Memory: 2 MB Flash ROM, 32 MB SDRAM

* Extended 9day EPG

* USB 2.0 Host Support(MP3 Player & JPEG Viewer)

* MPEGII Digital & Fully DVB Compliant

* Blind Scan

* MultiLNB Controlled by DiSEqC Control Version 1.0, 1.2 and USALS

* MultiSatellite Search

* OnScreen Display with 65535 Color Full Resolution

* Favorite Channel Groups

* Powerful Channel Control by Favorites, Lock, Skip, Move and Delete

* Channel Sorting by Alphabet, Transponder and CAS

* Multilanguage Supported (OSD & Menu)

* Closed Caption Support

* Maximum 10,000 channels Programmable

* Multipicture Display

* Parental Lock / Receiver Lock

* CVBS Video & Audio Output via RCA

* Component Y/Pb/Pr Output via RCA

* SVHS Video Output

* Optical & Coaxial Output for Digital Audio

* Software & Channel Data Upgrade via RS232 & USB

* Universal Remote Control

* Made in Korea

* 1 Year No-Hassle Warranty

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Has nFusion cracked the N3 encryption?

by Sammy Satellite. – Staff Writer for n2news

The internet is a-buzz will rumors that the programmers at nFusion have managed to crack the encryption system called “N3”.   Recently one of the large North American sat companies starting using N3 primarily and the other has begun the switch.   Those of you following my other articles on the switchover to N3 know that this is nothing to panic about as there are many Free-To-Air signals you can tune into and the correct bin file allows a wide range of other signals to be accessed.     Here are some interesting things to keep in mind:

It is not likely that anyone who has a solution to the N3 issue will say anything about it for another year or so.    If a solution is presented too early, any provider that has not yet shipped a full N3 implementation will have the option to revise that plan and that would only hurt the FTA hobby.

There is no great demand for a solution to the N3 problem yet so there is no great brainpower fully behind a solution yet.   Certainly smart people are looking at N3 right now, however, the incentive for them to “bust it wide open” is not there until further into the card deployments coming during 2009.   These programmers are busy people, look for them to focus their effort right now in better support for HDTV, better EPGS, more accurate scanning, and better PVR support.

N3 has been under investigation in Europe for some time and there is no working solution across the Atlantic yet.

When N2 was cracked there was a brilliant programmer in Europe that played a key role.   He isn’t actively working on N3, in fact, he was hired by the developers of the N3 system to help protect it against people just like himself.  This one will, no doubt, be tougher to crack that anything before it.   Even with this brilliant programmer, who was paid a rumored six-figure finders fee to help break the N2 code something was still missing.   An unknown satellite company paid and employee for part of the internal N2 key needed to start writing bin files.   Now, these codes are held much closer to the company.

The simplest answer is most often the right answer.   In this case, it would seem that nfusion is using a type of card sharing system takes advantage of a valid working N3 card to handle the decoding.

The bottom line, it doesn’t matter how the did it or what cards they are holding back.  It looks like the folks behind the nfusion want to be out in front of the pack and they are eager to prove their place in the market.   Other companies are not far behind but haven’t released enough details to know what they have in store for us.

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Troubleshooting Advice Part 1

by Sammy Satellite. – Staff Writer for n2news

Here are some common problems that users run into while installing and using FTA equipment.    The forums contain additional answers to common questions and I’ve written specific articles on some of these points.

I have no signal:

Adjust the location of your dish.   The number one reason you have no signal is the way your dish is pointed.  I’ve written many articles on dish pointing so double check your dish using the tools I’ve talked about before.

Check your wiring to make sure you have no kinks or bends or breaks along the way.

Your DISeQc may be dead so try connecting the dish lnb directly the receiver to see if that fixes the problem.  If so, replace the switch.

An aging or weathered LNB may produce bad signals off and on and generally works great for a while and then suddenly the quality drops out.   Different times of the day may yield better results.   If your LNB is older you may want to consider upgrading and solving this problem.

Double check all connections.   Make sure you tighten the connectors but only with your hands.  Don’t use tools and never use a powertool.

If you clearly get some stations but not others you may be one satellite LNB connections working and not another.  Check the connection to your different LNBs and then check to make sure you have blind-scanned both sats.

Channels that once worked don’t anymore because they frequently move from one transponder to another.   Try to blind scan again.   You may need to do this every few months.   Some receivers are better at tracking changes automatically using “hints” within the EPG data and some receivers are “dumb” and require you to scan as often as monthly.

I have the message “Bad or scrambled channel” or “Waiting for Picture”, or another similar message.

Try re-scanning or checking an online guide to see if the specific station has been moved to another sat.

Bad weather can sometimes affect signal quality.

Check the forum for your receiver to make sure you are running with the correct bin.

The moderator for your receiver forum may have sent a message to enable or disable the “EMU” or Emulation function within your receiver.  Not all receivers support emulation but those that do sometimes need the settings changed.

You may need to manually enter the latest N2 keys into the receiver.   Check with the instructions or guides posted on this site on how you can enter the latest keys manually.

My EPG won’t display or displays empty information.

Make sure you have the date, time, and timezone set correct.   Many receivers will fail to display or upgrade EPG information if the clock within the device is wrong.

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Court Report: EchoStar vs Tivo Update

by Sammy Satellite. – Staff Writer for n2news

For those of you who don’t know, Tivo™ is an amazing PVR system available in the United States.   These guys basically invented the “PVR” and “DVR” market and they set the standard in how it should work.     TiVo sued EchoStar over infringing patents that relate to the tech behind the PVR.    In that lawsuit, TiVo won and the court gave them $88 *MILLION* in damages and said EchoStar would have to stop selling a PVR that violated the patents held by TiVo.    So Charlie takes out the checkbook, writes a check with lots and lots of zeros and life goes on.   The last part never happened actually, EchoStar appealed and was granted a little legal breathing space.   The court and U.S. District Court Judge Duffey is upset that EchoStar doesn’t have its metaphorical ducks in a row but gave EchoStar even more time to get the documents it needed together.

Have any of my readers noted the certain laissez-faire attitude that EchoStar has taken in regard the intellectual property of another company?  Open your dictionary, turn to ‘I’ and find Ironic.      What does this have to do with FTA you might ask?   Many companies that produce our favorite receivers have a type of PVR now.   If EchoStar looses it may have a big impact on what pvr features can be offered by those FTA manufacturers.   If EchoStar wins, well, that would be a mixed blessing I suppose.

Here is the latest from the court on this on-going and complex case.    In a nutshell, the Judge is P.O.d and wants everything in his hands by the 5^th of February, 2009.

Before the Court is TiVo’s Motion to Hold EchoStar In Contempt For Violation Of This Court’s Permanent Injunction. Dkt. No. 832.

The Court will hold an additional hearing on this matter in the form of a Bench Trial on February 17-18, 2009 to determine whether EchoStar’s DP-501, DP-508, DP-510, DP-522, DP-625, DP-721, DP-921, and DP-942 receivers continue to infringe claims 1, 5, 21, 23, 32, 36, 52, 31, and 61 of U.S. Patent No. 6,233,389, either literally or under the doctrine of equivalents. The hearing will be held in Texarkana and begin each morning at 9 a.m.. Each side will have five (5) hours to present their case.

IT IS ORDERED that the following discovery limitations shall apply to this matter.

1. Disclosures. To the extent not already disclosed, within 15 days of this Order, each party shall disclose to every other party the following information:

a. the legal theories and, in general, the factual bases of the disclosing party’s claims or defenses;

b. the name, address, and telephone number of persons having knowledge of relevant facts, a brief statement of each identified persons’ connection with the case, and a brief, fair summary of the substance fo the information known by any such person;

c. for any testifying expert, by the date set by the court below, each party shall disclose to the other party or parties:

i. the expert’s name, address, and telephone number;

ii. the subject matter on which the expert will testify;

iii. if the witness is retained or specially employed to provide expert testimony in this case or whose duties as an employee of the disclosing party regularly involve giving expert testimony:

(a) all documents, tangible things, reports, models, or data compilations that have been provided to, reviewed by, or prepared by or for the expert in anticipation of the expert’s testimony; and

(b) the disclosures required by Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(2)(B) and Local Rule CV-26;

iv. for all other experts, the general substance of the expert’s mental impression and opinions and a brief summary of the basis for them or documents reflecting such information.

2. Additional Disclosures. Each party, within 15 days of this Order and without awaiting a discovery request, will provide, to the extent not already provided, every other party a copy of all documents, electronically stored information, and tangible things in the possession, custody, or control of the party that are relevant to the above stated matter.

3. Discovery Limitations. In addition to the disclosure listed in Paragraphs 1 and 2 above, the each side may serve 10 interrogatories, 10 requests for admission on the opposing side. In addition, each side may take 15 hours of fact witness depositions and the depositions of experts.

4. Pre-hearing disclosure. Each party shall provide to every other party within 7 days of the trial the following:

a. the name and, if not previously provided, the address and telephone number, of each witness, separately identifying those whom the party expects to call and those whom the party may call if the need arises;

b. the designation of those witnesses whose testimony is expected to be present by means of a deposition and, if not taken stenographically, a transcript of the pertinent portions of the deposition testimony;

c. an appropriate identification of each document or other exhibit, including summaries of other evidence, separately identifying those that the party expect to offer and those which the party may offer if the need arises;

d. an copy of each demonstrative that the party expects to present, separately identifying those that the party expects to present and those which the party may present if the need arises.

5. Duty to Supplement. After disclosure is made pursuant to this order, each party is under a duty to supplement or correct its disclosures immediately if the party obtains information that a disclosure was incomplete or incorrect when made, or is no longer complete or true.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the following deadlines shall apply to this case.

Date Event

December 22, 2008 TiVo’s Expert Disclosures Due

January 5, 2009 EchoStar’s Expert Disclosures Due

February 10, 2009 Parties’ Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law due

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