Freesat boxes

In message , tims next home
wrote

"You can activate the diseqc menu on the Humax box.
Press menu-settings-red-green-yellow-blue-green-yellow-blue"

You also have to highlight (but not select) something in the setting
menu before pressing RGYBGYB

Again it will not help Bill, but once in the secret menu press RGYBGYB
again and a second secret menu will appear - fiddle around with this one
at your own risk!!

--
Alan
news2006 {at} amac {dot} f2s {dot} com

"slinky" wrote in message
...

"Bill Wright" wrote in message
...
I have two Freesat box here. My main conclusion is that until the
broadcasters get their act together and add all the regions to Freesat I
won't be bothering with these boxes. You can't expect people to accept BBC
London and ITV Central W.

The Humax HD box will do an all-channel search and store, producing a
'non-freesat' list. This is good because it is possible, by much button
pressing, to get the correct regions. It isn't possible to transfer these
channels to the freesat list though, and annoyingly non-Freesat channels
cannot be added to the Favourites list.

I have talked one of my most technophobic customers into Freesat because
there's no chance of them ever getting decent DTT. I now have to explain
to this person the following:

OK, this is how you get BBC-1 Yorks. Press menu, then up/down to
settings, then right. then up/down to STB mode, then right until display
says 'non-freesat', then exit, then exit again, the press 5068. To get
back to Freesat repeat the process but this time press 'freesat'.

What a load of arse! They shouldn't have put these boxes on the market
until all the regions were on Freesat.

The Grundig SD box is even worse. It's as limited and hobbled as a Sky
box. It won't tune anything that isn't on the Freesat list, so there's no
way to see the 100s of non-Freesat FTA channels, including the correct
BBC/ITV regions. I can't see anyone in their right mind buying one of
these. Better to get a normal FTA box and do without the Freesat EPG. No
doubt these early boxes will soon be forgotten and all Freesat boxes will
tune all channels, and allow people to construct favourites lists from
Freesat and non-Freesat channels. Meanwhile, our advice boys and girls
is, don't buy!

In general, both boxes seem user-friendly and glitch-free. Installation
is largely automatic and straightforward, so I guess the man on the
Clapham bendybus who has had Sky in the past will be able to buy one and
take it home and install it. There's no RF modulator, so no RF
loopthough. The Grundig has satellite IF loopthough, and is very small,
like one of the old Strong DTT boxes. The Humax comes with an HDMI lead
and an amazingly thin scart.

Bill

Had a look in Comet today. Both Humax and Grundig were on display but not
being demonstrated, and staff too busy selling kettles to plug them in to
a sat feed. Which box in your opinion has the better picture and sound on
HD and SD? Are any of the 100s of non-freesat FTA channels worth watching?
TIA


If you want to try the Humax, I would suggest asking John Lewis. The
Bluewater Dartford branch has one at a special display at their internal
groundfloor entrance.


--
Michael Chare

"Dave Pickles" wrote in message
...
Graham Murray wrote:

Dave Farrance writes:

Apparently, the Freesat licence forbids the mixing of non-Freesat
channels into Freesat channel lists.

Which raises the question of why a licence is needed. Obviously the
consumer needs the standard TV licence to use the receiver, but why does
a manufacturer need a licence to make a receiver for un-encrypted
free-to-air transmissions?

The manufacturer is buying a licence to use the "Freesat" trade name,
which means that his sales benefit from the advertising and brand
recognition. He could sell a receiver without a licence provided he
carefully avoided any association between his product and the trademarked
service.

Frankly I think that it's nuts for the "freesat" brand to deny the existence
of other sat services and forbid users of their 'brand to make a product
that can be marketed as working with both.

IMHO this is just designing the product to fail.

tim


--
Dave

charles writes:

he might need a licence to use the word "Freesat" and the software needed
to pickup the epg.

He might need one to use the word 'Freesat', but he should not need for
the EPG software. The Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988
specifically allows for reverse engineering to allow interoperability
(in this case with the format of the transmitted EPG)

And that's why FortecStar have told me they hope to have a properly working
EPG for download 'very' soon.

--
John the West Ham fan C.E.T.



"Graham Murray" wrote in message
...
charles writes:

he might need a licence to use the word "Freesat" and the software needed
to pickup the epg.

He might need one to use the word 'Freesat', but he should not need for
the EPG software. The Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988
specifically allows for reverse engineering to allow interoperability
(in this case with the format of the transmitted EPG)

"Graham Murray" wrote in message
...
charles writes:

he might need a licence to use the word "Freesat" and the software needed
to pickup the epg.

He might need one to use the word 'Freesat', but he should not need for
the EPG software. The Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988
specifically allows for reverse engineering to allow interoperability
(in this case with the format of the transmitted EPG)

The EPG may be encrypted with secret keys.

I've always assumed that was why there are no non Sky satellite receivers
that understand the Sky EPG.

--

Brian Gregory. (In the UK)

To email me remove the letter vee.

On Sun, 25 May 2008 14:07:26 +0100, Graham Murray put finger to
keyboard and typed:

charles writes:

he might need a licence to use the word "Freesat" and the software needed
to pickup the epg.

He might need one to use the word 'Freesat', but he should not need for
the EPG software. The Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988
specifically allows for reverse engineering to allow interoperability
(in this case with the format of the transmitted EPG)

He would, though, need a licence to use the listings displayed by the
EPG, as these are the copyright of the broadcasters. So even if the
software could be reverse-engineered, the data it decodes can't
legally be shown to the consumer without the appropriate permissions.

Mark
--
Stuff, some of it good, at http://www.good-stuff.co.uk
"I feel these four walls closing in"

"Stephen" wrote in
:

I would expect Sky to kill off 99% of potential Freesat
sales at the
first sign of it taking off. It won't cost them much
more than their
present deals and subsidies to make sure that "Freesat
from Sky" is
cheaper to buy, cheaper to install, and easier to use
than Freesat.

Surely the decider is going to be when FreeSat PVRs become
available? I haven't looked at prices recently but Sky
asking for £200 for their PVR plus £120 a year to use it
is going to drive people to Freesat? I would rather buy
into a service where there is competition for STBs and
PVRs - experience shows that you get better designs and
cheaper.

Davy

In uk.tech.tv.sky Davy wrote:
:
: Surely the decider is going to be when FreeSat PVRs become
: available? I haven't looked at prices recently but Sky
: asking for ?200 for their PVR plus ?120 a year to use it
: is going to drive people to Freesat

Only if they have no current (or future) interest in any Sky *content* -
as then the PVR functions are included anyway.

: I would rather buy into a service where there is competition for STBs and
: PVRs - experience shows that you get better designs and
: cheaper.

Except that the Freesat contract has turned out to define the available
features very rigidly.

In uk.tech.tv.sky Brian Gregory [UK] wrote:

: I've always assumed that was why there are no non Sky satellite receivers
: that understand the Sky EPG.

There actually *are* now some plugins for Linux based FTA receivers which
will decode the Sky EPG!