Total Noob, Typical questions!!

metomwhou · 31-03-2008

Hi folks,
I've been cruising around here for a while now and I'm completely stumped. We moved to Germany last May and bought a second hand digi-receiver from a guy who was leaving. We currently have an LNB pointed at Hotbird for AFN and one pointed at Astra for use with our other sat box.

So, on to my dilema. I have a U4101, Univers made by K.F.T. The only info I've found about this thing is that its some kind of clone of a starsat 1500 series. The few threads I have found are in portuguese mostly and thats just not any help to me at all.

I ran through the box yesterday and here's the specs.
S/W version V5.2.5
Updated last 30 Apr 2004
Loader Ver V1.0.3
RS232 connection in back

The box is great, nice clear picture, NTSC or PAL, gets tons of channels from either of our LNB's, doesn't like both feeds at the same time though for some reason.

The "problem" is that among all these channels, we don't get the two we want. I want Eurosport(any language at this point) and my wife wants CNN international.

If anybody has ANY experience with this box, your help would be greatly appreciated. Also, I'd love any other tips you can throw my way or which box you would recommend for me to get in case there's no helping the one I have now.

Many thanks in advance!
Tom

**Channel Hopper** · 31-03-2008

If the dish you have acquired points towards 19.2 East, then the chances are you can get these channels without changing the receiver.

You claim you have two LNBs on the dishes but it maybe you need to set up the switching system correctly.

What content are you getting ?

metomwhou · 31-03-2008

I only have 1 dish with 2 LNB's. The left LNB(if looking to the sky from behind the dish) is pointed at Hotbird(For use with my AFN box), the right LNB is pointing to Astra. Just for giggles, I chose all sat's in the receiver's list this evening to search for channels. It has Astra 1 and 2, hotbird, and about 26 others. The only channels that were found were on either Hotbird(loads of stuff) and Astra(about 200), these included FTA and what I assume is scrambled because the channels that do not show up are marked "S" and the channels I can see are "F".

As for content, I'm getting lots of arabic channels, italian channels, greek, french, german, pretty much all over the place. It finds tons of channels, two Eurosports, both marked "S" and atleast ten others that say ESP Dutch, etc.

If you want specific channels from the Astra side, I can post a short list later.

I'm not sure what switching system you mean. I'm using a 2-in-1-out that I used with my old Strong box, which worked fine with two inputs but this U4101 doesn't like it, no matter how I connect it, it only wants one LNB at a time.

**bigtee** · 31-03-2008

On Astra 1

Scan: 11778 V 27500 for CNN Int'l Europe and 12226V 27500 for Eurosport Germany both FTA

On Hotbird, scan 12597V 27500 for CNNi may not be FTA though but clearing on many receivers.

**rolfw** · 31-03-2008

Are you saying that you are using a switch or a combiner, if the latter, then it will not work properly as you will have identical or close frequencies on each satellite. Get yourself a 2 way DiseqC switch, this will switch automatically between the two satellites.

If you are using an A+B switch, then there is no point in scanning any satellite, other than the one at which the LNB/dish is pointing, just scan for that single satellite.

metomwhou · 13-04-2008

Well I think I've found my problem! The pictures below show my set-up. The guy I bought the satellite from told me this was a supposed to hit both Hotbird and Astra. Well it seems that I'm only getting hotbird. The single LNB on the left is "supposed" to be aimed at Astra while the quad LNB is actually aimed at hotbird, as confirmed by my two AFN boxes and the U4101 when connected to it.

I'm pretty fed up at this point. I spent another 3hrs messing with it this morning. I can get Hotbird on either LNB, if I push it far enough in the right direction but can't seem to get Astra at all. I'm to the point of just giving up and paying for the Dorna internet MotoGP package so that I can watch races.

Here's my dish

img0315smallxe8.jpg

Two LNB's Currently receiving Hotbird on the Quad, nothing on the single
img0317smallgb0.jpg

This is the 2 into 1 that I was used with my old Strong box, but doesn't seem to work with this U4101.
img0324smallaq5.jpg

This was given to me by the previous owner of the dish and U4101, don't know why.
http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/3...24smallaq5.jpg

I'm gonna try and find a satellite place sometime this week and try and get someone to come over and sort me out, I'm done! I appreciate all the help you guys threw my way, wish I could've put it to good use!
Thanks,
Tom

**Topper** · 13-04-2008

It is a shame that you have run out of patience, however that is the attribute that is required for this hobby. It is difficult to analyse what is going on as your posts are not specific enough about the scenario you are experiencing but having re-read the whole thread I too am convinced you are merely looking at a minor switching problem which would be solved as Rolfw suggested with a 2 way DiseqC switch then you set your receiver for Port A on hotbird and port B on Astra1.

**Robbo71** · 13-04-2008

Yep, tis a shame, as your 2 in 1 switch is a Diseqc switch and should have worked fine, you just had to tell the receiver which switch position to use for each satellite.

Not sure what the splitter was for, but you shouldn't need it.

Robbo

metomwhou · 08-07-2008

So here's the long awaited update. I was never really able to acquire Astra so I simply ran a single line down to the U4101 and that was that. At some point the dish must have moved or something because we started losing channels on both the AFN boxes and the U4101. I messed with it a few more times and just couldn't get it to work. I finally found a satty guy and he comes over and has both birds in about 15minutes.

So I should be good to go right? Nope, he decides to do a factory reset on the U4101 and now I only get about 50 channels from Astra. He plugged in his box and grabbed a few hundred just to prove that the signal was good. For some reason the U4101 doesn't like to search the TP's above 11000.

Now here's my dilema. Do I go out and buy a new box or try and get this one working?

If I go buy a new box, I'll have to buy some kind of video converter because my TV is NTSC only and most of the local stores only carry PAL receivers.

Any recommendations on an easy to use, inexpensive box?

The U4101 has a built in converter so I won't need to an additional converter. But, like i said way back, I can't find much info on this machine. I've been trolling the forums and finally found the Univers website but the U4101 isn't listed on their site any more. I emailed them about support but haven't heard back yet.

If its not too much trouble, could someone explain how to use a firmware update program and possibly which one to use? I'll be getting a null cable this week, just in case.

Thanks for reading my book! And thanks for all the great info and help you guys have provided so far.
Tom

**Topper** · 08-07-2008