Thoughts on a trade

[Shawn95GT]

Yes on both counts. It's a 922. Mike mentioned the battery as well. Is it one of them things that just rolls over dead on you one day? Is it serviceable once it does die or do you now own a doorstop?

Will the receiver 'learn' not to go to G0 for the guide at night or is now a manual process to point it to G1?

I talked to the guy today and the swap is on. I'll have the 922 hooked up 'for real' by this weekend. Right now I just un-hooked the c-band LNB from the HTS and piped it to the 922.

 

[tdti1]

Yes on both counts. It's a 922. Mike mentioned the battery as well. Is it one of them things that just rolls over dead on you one day? Is it serviceable once it does die or do you now own a doorstop?

Will the receiver 'learn' not to go to G0 for the guide at night or is now a manual process to point it to G1?

I talked to the guy today and the swap is on. I'll have the 922 hooked up 'for real' by this weekend. Right now I just un-hooked the c-band LNB from the HTS and piped it to the 922.

You can tell the 4dtv to allow dish to move for updates, you can select yes or no there, it should go to G1, if it goes to G0 still it could be it was not in use for a while and it should correct itself in time.

The battery can be changed by anyone who works with PC boards and stuff like that, I have done many VCII+ boards though I have not done the 4dtv yet I will do it one day, bad thing is yes if the battery dies the unit ID is lost and you will be left with a analog only box, the good thing is you can send it to ATS and they will give you a new motherboard and you will be ok for another 7-10 years.

The battery was done for security of the DCII technology, and has proved to be good, though any DCII board has a battery so its normal, Star Choice many cable boxes and our 4dtv's. Not a big deal if you or a buddy can do the battery, if you are scared that you may kill the board ATS http://www.ats-electronics.com/ will do the battery for you, I would not worry about it now though in the new year it may be something to have done.
Good Luck and you got a great deal

 

[iammike]

Yes on both counts. It's a 922. Mike mentioned the battery as well. Is it one of them things that just rolls over dead on you one day? Is it serviceable once it does die or do you now own a doorstop?

They are servicable, but not by the end user. There's a company, I think that's Motorola authorized, that can replace the battery. I can't remember the name right now, but I'm sure someone else will chime in with the info.

Found the web site for ATS: http://www.ats-electronics.com/

Will the receiver 'learn' not to go to G0 for the guide at night or is now a manual process to point it to G1?

My 922 automatically goes to G1. Tdti1 may have a good question about the age of your receiver. I don't remember ever seeing any reference about going to G0.

I talked to the guy today and the swap is on. I'll have the 922 hooked up 'for real' by this weekend. Right now I just un-hooked the c-band LNB from the HTS and piped it to the 922.

Congrats. You're getting yourself a nice Christmas present.

 

[Shawn95GT]

You can tell the 4dtv to allow dish to move for updates, you can select yes or no there.

I saw that but on-screen it says to point to G0 vs G1. Maybe I'll get a service update overnight that'll correct that. My concern is if my receiver will keep trying for G0 vs G1.

The battery can be changed by anyone who works with PC boards and stuff like that, I have done many VCII+ boards though I have not done the 4dtv yet I will do it one day, bad thing is yes if the battery dies the unit ID is lost and you will be left with a analog only box, the good thing is you can send it to ATS and they will give you a new motherboard and you will be ok for another 7-10 years.

I called the local c-band service guys and they pretty much told me the same. they'd just send it out for me.

The battery was done for security of the DCII technology, and has proved to be good, though any DCII board has a battery so its normal, Star Choice many cable boxes and our 4dtv's. Not a big deal if you or a buddy can do the battery, if you are scared that you may kill the board ATS will do the battery for you, I would not worry about it now though in the new year it may be something to have done.
Good Luck and you got a great deal

I may look into it. I'm a PC tech by trade so I figur eit can't be that bad. From reading about another member here ressurecting his 920 it sounds like it might be soldered in place. One way to find out, right?

My 922 automatically goes to G1. Tdti1 may have a good question about the age of your receiver. I don't remember ever seeing any reference about going to G0.

Your receiver is likely one of the newer Motorola boxes. Mine is the GI predicessor. I'm hoping that it gets an update in the datastream to make it phone home on G1.

Congrats. You're getting yourself a nice Christmas present.

I'm already way too happy about having got this box - lol. I'm now eyebaling a Coolsat 5000. I may hold off a bit. At this point I might be happier with a HDD200. I can get a DVB box later.

Shawn

 

[tdti1]

I would hold off on the DVB for now, I heard there are some new ones coming early in the new year, a HDD 200 is good. With the 5' did you try the Starz channels on Galaxy-12 (G5) they boom in here even with a few trees in the way.

Does your 4dtv have EA or EC? if it has EA you will get EC within a month, I would guess try turning off the auto dish move, do a unplug replug on G1-3 and park it there every night for a while then see if it will move to G1 when you set it up for updates, hope you can get the 8' up soon to enjoy everything.

 

[WyrTwister]

One more thing - I don't have a remote but I'm trying to see where I can check signal strengths - can I do this w/o a remote?

So far it works on analog . Is it pretty much a given that it'll work if the analog side works? I haven't been able to light the Digicypher light yet . I'm trying to see if I can get the guide to come up. I know it's a longshot with my little dish.

If it works I think I'll go ahead and trade and replace the Pansat with the new Coolsat.

Shawn

I am testing a 90 cm offset dish on C band . On analog , I get enough signal for about 1/2 the VC II chanels to lock on . Some give a nag message , some appear to be " turned on " . This is with a 30 degree LNB .

Over all , picture quality varies from pretty good to pretty bad .

So , do not be discouraged about your small dish . I do not have much experience with digital C band and zero for the 4DTV .

Does 4DTV use the same module as VC II analog ?

I think I have a link at home on replacing the battery on a VC II module .

Wyr

 

[tdti1]

You will need your VCII+ board just slide it in the 4dtv, this is for analog subscription programming, the 4dtv itself is the DCII board for the digital feeds.

With a smaller dish yes you can get some feeds, but I would get atleast 8.5 and up, Shawns 8' should be fine.

 

[iammike]

I'm already way too happy about having got this box - lol. I'm now eyebaling a Coolsat 5000. I may hold off a bit. At this point I might be happier with a HDD200. I can get a DVB box later.
Shawn

Have you looked at the r5000hd solution? I was thinking about a HDD200, but have pretty much decided against it now that the r5000 can be installed directly in a 922. Now I'm just trying to decide if there's enough HD on 4dtv to make it worth the purchase.

 

[tdti1]

Have you looked at the r5000hd solution? I was thinking about a HDD200, but have pretty much decided against it now that the r5000 can be installed directly in a 922. Now I'm just trying to decide if there's enough HD on 4dtv to make it worth the purchase.

Not much on 4dtv HD, but damn it looks good

 

[Shawn95GT]

I'll check the version when I get home.

The 922 came with another VC II module. Is there any advantage to any particular module vs the others for subscription purposes? Are there any compatibility issues?

The one in my HTS System is pink and as far as I can tell the one in the 922 is black / dark blue.

All I care is that it works - lol.

When I get it all setup I'll see if NPS can just move my sub to the other VC II module or if I should just move the sub'd module to the 922.

Shawn

 

[Shawn95GT]

Have you looked at the r5000hd solution? I was thinking about a HDD200, but have pretty much decided against it now that the r5000 can be installed directly in a 922. Now I'm just trying to decide if there's enough HD on 4dtv to make it worth the purchase.

My concern with that is besides that you need another box to view the HD content. Yeah you can DVR it but realisticly that's not high up there on my prioroites. the price isn't terribly attractive either. An HDD200 can be had for less than half the cost. It does look like fun to play with though .

I wonder if the HDD200 has a SD downconverted output (So I could pipe it out to my Tivo). I'm pretty impressed with the PQ on the DC2 stuff I'm seeing now!

Shawn

 

[iammike]

My concern with that is besides that you need another box to view the HD content. Yeah you can DVR it but realisticly that's not high up there on my prioroites. the price isn't terribly attractive either. An HDD200 can be had for less than half the cost. It does look like fun to play with though .

I wonder if the HDD200 has a SD downconverted output (So I could pipe it out to my Tivo). I'm pretty impressed with the PQ on the DC2 stuff I'm seeing now!

Shawn

Hadn't thought about the second box issue. I've already got 2 PC's with MyHD cards for off-air HD, so it's not a problem for me. I'm pretty sure you can still use the 922's output even when your using the HDD200 for HD, so your Tivo should work. The one problem I have with the Tivo/ReplayTV solution is that, besides no HD, is that you have to manually set the timer on the 922. To my knowledge Tivo doesn't know how to drive a 922.

 

[Shawn95GT]

Hadn't thought about the second box issue. I've already got 2 PC's with MyHD cards for off-air HD, so it's not a problem for me. I'm pretty sure you can still use the 922's output even when your using the HDD200 for HD, so your Tivo should work. The one problem I have with the Tivo/ReplayTV solution is that, besides no HD, is that you have to manually set the timer on the 922. To my knowledge Tivo doesn't know how to drive a 922.

I don't think driving the 922 is a problem. The problem is that the Tivo doesn't have a user customizable guide (or a 4DTV one for that matter).

What I would do is maybe choose Dish Network and use it's guide data. Don't use the IR blasters since the channel numbers will be wrong anyways. Set timers on the 922 and it's good to go.

Pain in the rear? sure. Will it work? sure .

I have to do something similar with my current Cable TV solution at home (VDSL). I have a single STB in the living room and the IR remote controls one of the three video streams coming from the box. Tivo #1 is happy with that. RF remotes control the other two video streams. Its similar to how the Dish multi-tuner receivers do it - only Qwest got a 5 year head start .

Tivo #2 is connected to a VCR so that it can tune NTSC channel 7 and act as a virtual cable box. The Tivo sees it as a cable box and thinks it's changing channels but I set the channel changes to happen via timers build into the cable box for that video stream. This would be similar to how I'd Tivo from the 4DTV except that I have a known good guide for my VDSL from Tivo.

Both Tivos also have ex-Voom boxes grabbing off-air HD via Dish Network's guide data, with the Tivos controlling the Voom boxes .

Shawn

 

[tdti1]

I'll check the version when I get home.

The 922 came with another VC II module. Is there any advantage to any particular module vs the others for subscription purposes? Are there any compatibility issues?

The one in my HTS System is pink and as far as I can tell the one in the 922 is black / dark blue.

All I care is that it works - lol.

When I get it all setup I'll see if NPS can just move my sub to the other VC II module or if I should just move the sub'd module to the 922.

Shawn

Just use the one you have already, and keep the other one or sell it, or the other one can be your test unit, try changing the battery in that one, if you do it good then do the one you have a sub on then step up and do the 922

 

[mkm4]

What I would do is maybe choose Dish Network and use it's guide data. Don't use the IR blasters since the channel numbers will be wrong anyways. Set timers on the 922 and it's good to go.

The timers on the 922 have an annoying bug. If a timer is set for a satellite that you are already on, it won't always change the channel to the one you wish. The work around is to always set a timer to go to a different satellite before the other timer.

 

[gizzer777]

922 vs Pansat

The 3500's are going for $165 or so new and free shipping on Ebay now! I just got a new 922 at a "deal" from Skyvision (NPS has it to) for $399...net after the $150 in programming they toss in! List is $800

It replaced an aging but still working 920 (after 10 yrs!) It is a great unit!
I replaced the battery in the 920 after receiving the 922 (not for the faint at heart but not hard either if you know your way around electronics and have decent soldering skills). I will keep it for a backup since they do not fetch too much on Ebay these days!

Heck as far as value goes...Get the 922! I just also added a Viewsat Extreme FTA for $210 (Ebay). That is supposed to be the latest and greatest FTA on the market now....They football the pricing on the FTA stuff since there are massive quantities being produced and new models come out regularly!


A refirbed HDD200 cn be found for about $260!

BTW Here is the link on Battery replacement for the VCII
http://www.pacificsites.com/~alanjudd/VCII.htm
Jeff

 

[Shawn95GT]

I did the swap . I dropped off the Pansat yesterday. The 922 is sitting on my end table waiting to go in place of the HTS System 70. I have the HTS parked on G1 channel 3 and the C-band LNB connected to the 922. I'm hoping it'll pull an update while I get around to installing it this weekend.

I'm looking forward to setting it up.

 

[gizzer777]

Yes on both counts. It's a 922. Mike mentioned the battery as well. Is it one of them things that just rolls over dead on you one day? Is it serviceable once it does die or do you now own a doorstop?
Will the receiver 'learn' not to go to G0 for the guide at night or is now a manual process to point it to G1?
I talked to the guy today and the swap is on. I'll have the 922 hooked up 'for real' by this weekend. Right now I just un-hooked the c-band LNB from the HTS and piped it to the 922.

BTW: the guide has now moved to G1 ch 3

I put up a thread on a 4dtv 920 battery swap out. It is here somewhere. It was more of a mechanical pain since on the 920 the battery sits underneath the VCII metal cage (have not looked at the 922 and probably will not for a few years!)....You need a Torx screwdriver to open the case and get the cage out of the way 1st! Darn...I did it before I discovered this forum or I would have taken pictures!!! Suggestion...do not mess with Lithium batteries unless you are well protected and know what you are doing...a volt/ohm meter is very handy! (I use an old Fluke)

Tools I used:
APC Computer UPS 1000V model but any will do! (Auto voltage regulation up and down ...AVR
Torx T20 wrench (screwdriver)
SAFETY GLASSES!!!
long sleeve thick shirt in case the battery burst
thin rubber gloves...SURGICAL TYPE CHEAPOS
VOM meter
Solder and low WATT ADJUSTABLE solder station (I used 300 degrees)
CLIP ON Heatsinks (optional)
Solder sucker...ONE SIDE OF THE BATTERY HAS 3 LUGS AND IS A LITTLE TRICKEY
Insulating towel to keep the card HELD cage OUT OF THE WAY so i did not have to clip the tie wraps holding the harness that attach to it AND IT COULD NOT SHORT ANYTHING OUT IF IT DROPPED OR CHANGD POSITION (you must be careful not to short anything!)
New lithium3.6 V battery with attached leads (Tadrian TL5155p)***
AND A LOT OF WISHING ...again, all went just fine and I also used the opportunity to clean out the 10 yr accumulation of dust with compressed air!

***There are also 2 unused battery pads on the 920, so the 3.6V AA battery and holder from radio shack should work as well! (I will do THAT mod on my VCII unit...I chose the soldered direct replacement on the 4DTV since it stayed on with power during the amputation!

here is a link to changing out a VCII battery which is quite similar...will give you the idea!

http://www.pacificsites.com/~alanjudd/vc.htm


I did it while the unit was still plugged in to keep the id intact while I had the old battery out, and cleaned up the pads while I was at it....all went well and it is now my spare (they age more when used (from the heat)....keep unused lithium backed up stuff in a cool spot)...The 920 was 10yrs old, which in theory is the lifespan of the battery. When I measured the voltage of the old one, it was still at 3.6 Volts! HOWEVER, with lithium, that could have changed overnight!!
(my VCII board is 13 yrs old with the orig battery...it is next on my swap list as soon as my refirbed one arrives.)

That area on the 920 is low voltage, but you should not attempt the swap unless you know your way around pc boards.... and old lithium batteries have a nasty habit of bursting, especially where that fat object on the lead is! (that is a fuse and is VERY delicate) and have good soldering skills and tools (put it on a UPS first, just in case of a power bump while the old battery was out!)
Hope this helps...also see the thread.
Jeff

 

[gizzer777]

There is an option in the options-installation menu whether or not you want the 4dtv to move the dish to G1 nightly for the IPG (guide) update. I believe it will do it at about 2am if you check yes to allow it to!
Jeff

 

[Shawn95GT]

Hmm No guide today.

I went ahead and got the 922 all setup now, but now I'm not getting the guide . It just says guide data not available. I'm thinking I need to be authorized for the guide again or something. Is there a way to tell?

I checked and its showing version EC. I didnt' check it before so I don't know if it updated since I first hooked it up.

I'll call NPS tomorrow and get my Starz sub changed over to digital.

Shawn