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Attention Members: New fixes and updates for all major brands of receiver  are now available in the VIP members forums. Log in to the VIP FTA forums now and download the new autoroll BIN files for your Pansat, Viewsat, Sonicview, Captain, Captiveworks, NFusion, and Neosat FTA Receivers.

There are now new files posted for ALL supported models. Download the new fixes now and get your FTA receiver back up in minutes!

New files are now in our VIP Members Section for the following FTA Receivers:

• Viewsat
• Pansat
• Sonicview
• NFusion
• Captiveworks
• KBox
• Captain
• Coolsat
• and more other lesser know models

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The Clones - FTA Receiver Clones

by  Sammy Satellite. – Staff Writer for n2news

Did you happen to catch the news that a company in China started selling a knockoff version of the iPhone that was unlocked and able to work on any network? That is called a clone and it’s a real problem in the world of FTA.  When a company like Pansat or Sonicview spends a significant amount of time and money to research and create a product you can bet that they know the best way to make it. These companies live and die by the quality of the products so they know that production quality and component quality are vital.  

Hardware, like a nice bowl of soup, is made of up components that are available all over. There are companies, mostly in Korea and China, that specialize in deconstructing the circuit boards of existing products and creating copies. These companies go to great lengths to copy the external and internal design so much that it is often hard to tell them apart.   There are some differences though. First, they tend to use the least expensive component that still performs the same function. Instead of a 20 year high performance capacitor in the power supply they may use generic capacitors or a similar nature left over from another project. 

Clone devices don’t last as long or function as well in most cases and more importantly, the money goes to the wrong person. If you find a clone receiver on an auction website your money never makes it to the company that spends the time, energy and resource to figure out how to make the receiver in the first place. More important, there is no guarantee that the BIN files will work correctly on your receiver.

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The Blind Scan

by  Sammy Satellite. – Staff Writer for n2news

If you have an FTA receiver you have probably done a blind scan already.  Your receive also supports transponder scans and possibly other types of scanning.    Today Sammy will explain a little bit about the Blind Scan and why it’s used.

Satellite signals shoot from the sky on TPs or Transponders.   A transponder is simply a device that converts some type of digital information (video and audio in this case) into a specific frequency and sends that information down to earth.   Every satellite in orbit contains many of the these transponders each running at a different frequency.   There are limitations to what each transponder can hold and some signals actually reach earth with more power than others so satellite companies carefully manage what signals are on what transponder as each can only hold a limited number of TV and Radio stations.

A blind scan asks your dish and lnb to lock into a complex series of frequencies looking for a viable signal.  Within each transponder that contains a signal the satellite company sends some helpful information such as the “Station Identification Number” or SID as well as “Picture Identification Numbers” or PID.   When the receiver finds this information it is used to produce a channel lineup within the memory of the receiver.   A blind scan is usually slow but does an amazing job of finding all of the available signals you are capable of receiving.

An auto scan, or standard scan, is much faster and uses a list of known working frequencies to locate the signals.  This is fine to quickly see if new stations are available but it’s always good to do a blind scan upon new install and every few months to make sure your receiver has the latest available station information.

Due to the way that some companies have taken advantage of way signals work, you may see duplicate channel information after a blind scan.  If this is the case, clear the station list and do the scan again.  This time, look for a setting that says “Polartiy” and make sure you select Vertical only.

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What’s N3 and does it affect me?

by  Sammy Satellite. – Staff Writer for n2news

Various satellite signal providers choose to add a level of encoding on the video making it more difficult for FTA receivers to display.   Currently providers in the United States use something called “Nagra 2”.   Five years ago the “Nagra 1” codes where used and now certain providers are moving to “Nagra 3”.   Even very experienced FTA users are confused by the transition so here is some information from Sammy that may answer your questions.

It is not unreasonable that a satellite company or Free-To-Air station wants to provide viewers with more options.  To make that happen they use a special type of card that looks like a credit card but contains a microchip running software.   These cards are called “ROMS” and fit into non FTA receivers.   When a satellite company wants to offer new features, such as new methods of interaction or a new signal decoder, they must SWAP all of the cards that all of their millions of customers have with new cards.   Over a period of time new rom cards will be shipped to existing customers and old cards will no longer work.   This is called a Card Swap and has recently been started by at least one of the major providers and will start soon with others.

Here are some common questions and answers.

Q: Will my existing receiver be able to handle N3?

A: Little is known in the public about N3 at this time but most people believe that manufacturers and coding teams will find a way to support N3 on all popular receivers that are currently in the marketplace.    Some receivers with less processing power, memory or other resources may not be able to handle this “Next Generation” of decoding.

Q: If I am not sure that a receiver will handle N3, should I spent my money on a new receiver or just wait?

A: This is a good question and there are two ways that experts are advising.   Some experts are just not sure and they recommend buying a low end receiver for now and waiting and then switch to the best receivers as they prove support for N3.    Others, including Sammy, think that more powerful FTA receivers will be the first to support N3 and having one now is a good investment and will likely prove to have less downtime.    Sammy loves the way his HD receiver can record prime time shows in HD format free over air from my local network stations and this is worth the investment.

Q: Will I loose my FTA channels?

A:  FTA receivers have many purposes.   If you are using your receiver for OTA ATSC (Over the air signals sent by your local networks in digital and often HD format) then you will not have any problem and the N3 card swap will have no impact on you.    The FTA hobby is perfect for watching international stations available on many different satellites that will not be impacted in any way by N3.

Q: Is one brand likely to come out with support faster?

A: Some people think that it will be a great sales advantage for the manufactures to support N3 before anyone else and in some cases this will happen.   Generally speaking, the FTA community is just that, a community of hard working coders.   Some hardware companies even use the same coders and coding teams.   As information becomes available, these teams will likely share with each other so that everyone can learn and the hobby can move forward.  Some receivers will have less downtime than others.   

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• Do you have an LCD (thin and flat) TV that is larger than 25”? If so, a receiver that supports OTA (OVER-THE-AIR) ATSC HDTV is worth the investment. Look at the Viewsat 9000 HD, Captiveworks CW-800S PVR, Pansat 9200 HD, and the Sonicview HDTV models.

• Are you looking for a multi-media center that can play your MP3 files and show slideshows? Newer receivers with a front USB port generally let you plug and play with your music and pictures. The Captiveworks 800s will even play movies you are able to put on a USB drive.

• If you are new to FTA and you have a Wireless Internet configured in your home, consider a receiver from Nova combined with a WiFi bridge. The unit is simple and easy to operate and will keep you up and running all by itself. The Nova nFusion is a low cost simple introduction to the world of FTA.

• If you are installing the device in a mobile home, RV, or fifth wheel, look for a higher quality receiver from a manufacturer with a solid reputation such as the Sonicview 360 series. When you are mobile you’ll want a nice PVR for the times when no signal is available and you’ll want a unit that supports a rotation device as well as an external ATSC (local broadcast) digital antenna.

• A PVR is essential but if you really love your TV make sure you look at how the PVR works. Does it require a computer such as the nFusion or does it work with an External HD (Hard Drive)? If you want to watch a show and record a different show you’ll need a unit with a Dual Tuner.

• Are you adventurous? Consider a PC Card or USB Device such as the Nexus-S. These cards plug into your PC and use software to play FTA TV. Software has come a long way and can do some amazing things but requires a lot of trial and error to get it configuration and isn’t for the novice.

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