Free Stations on DSTV Decoders

When you saw the above heading, you probably thought 'here we go again'. I do not blame you for your skepticism  However, for the purpose of making a point, let me continue.
It is true that DSTV is beamed to the rest of Africa (aside from Southern Africa) on the EutelSat EW4/7 at 36 degrees east. On this same position, which is on Ku by the way, there are other channels that are also being beamed from that same satellite. But, unlike DSTV channels, they are unencrypted and are free to air.
The aim of this article is to illustrate how these free stations can be watched on the DSTV receiver. The DSTV receiver creates three bouquets which is a collection of stations depending on the region one is staying. The one that is of importance to us the PUBLIC bouquet and it is in this bouquet that we get to watch the free stations.
This stations will not just appear there, we will have to do some things to get them there.

1. Press menu and go to advanced options, click on dish installation

2. Enter 9949 when it asks for pin and you are in

3. You will notice that there are many networks there that can be used. This is equivalent to Satellite in
FTA receivers. We have the Home network, dont touch that if you dont want trouble.

4.On Network 2 or the next free Network, click and change the options from disabled to any satellite whose FTA frequency you want to scan. For instance, EW4 or EW7.

5. Click on the one you have chosen and it will bring a window, where you enter the frequency and symbol rate of the FTA channels you want to watch.

6. Go to line 11 and accept all displayed values.  Once that is done, on line 8 of the new window,you will see 'scan all networks', click on that.

7.Once the scanning is complete, press TV on your remote and click on the public bouquet option and  you should see the FTA channels there.

Happy Viewing.

Firmware Downgrade

I dealt with the issue of firmware update or receiver update n another blog. I am interested now in writing about the downgrading of receiver firmwares. I never really thought that I would be interested in the above topic until I got a new receiver recently.
I deal extensively with Strong receivers, because they are the most obvious receivers in this part of the world. In those days, it used to Supermax. I have heard of several other models that are also very popular around here, but Strong is still the most popular. Perhaps, this may stem from the fact that many pay tv organizations are using Strong boxes for their services.
I recently got a SRT-4669XII. The software in it was 102p. So, I felt I should update it to the latest release which is 109p(April 14th). I went to strong website, under downloads, I saw software, looked for the receiver and downloaded and installed it.
I had to reverse this update(downgrade) days later when I discovered that though the new firmware had the Picture-in-Picture option and other cool stuff, it did not enable the HE-ACC sound format in which some channels were broadcasting.
I searched frantically on the net for a downgrade. I saw one on a website I have never seen on any forum or blog. I downloaded the 103p software which is lower than what I had. I installed it and gbam! i had the audio I was looking for.
The procedure for downgrading Strong receivers is the same as updating.

1. Get the firmware from either Crosat.com or Wizkid.persiangig.com
2. Save it after download in your USB device
3. Plug the USB and go to menu, then usb, press enter on data transfer and click on upload file.
4. It is that simple.

The first person that told me about firmware update wanted to do it for me at a fee, but you can do it on your own. In case you do find the firmware you are looking for in the two sites above, you  can tell me by dropping a comment and I will tell you the name of the site where I eventually got mine.

My journey into the Free to Air world started for me with those two dishes and since then I have not looked back. I am pleased to be bringing to you through this blog, my experience and my knowledge as far as FTA is concerned. I am enjoining you to follow me all the way as I bring to you all I can.

This is the after picture.The above is a representation of a lot of hours of work, checking and troubleshooting.