SUPER DarkBox Rev 2008 HD problem?

SeBsZ

Hi there,

I have spent all day trying to solve my problem but haven't been able to manage.

Today I bought a "SUPER DarkBox Rev 2008 HD" satellite decoder to connect to my new HD TV using HDMI. NO problems here.

The problem is getting the DarkBox to find my satellite channels. I am a CanalDigitaal member which is Dutch. I live in Malta and receive Dutch TV channels. My previous satellite decoder works fine ('Strong' decoder).

The Dutch TV channels are on the Astra satellite 19.2. My previous non-HD satellite decoder works as we speak, so I imagine the cable is fine as is the position of the dish.

On the DarkBox, when I select the Astra satellite in the menu of satellites, I get a rather low "Power" - around 50% and the "Quality" is 0%. However, when I go up and select HotBird, I get 100% power and high quality. When I scan this satellite, I get around 1000 channels, though these do not include the Dutch channels I am looking for. When I perform a scan on the Astra satellite, I get in total 12 channels, mostly Italian or Spanish - "Vacanze TV" is one channel I remember it finds.

I can not understand what the problem is. I am not very smart with these Satellite settings. The DarkBox only has a few, including Diseqc which I don't know whether to turn off or 1,2,3,4. I have a fixed dish.

In total I have 2 decoders in my house - now 3 including the DarkBox. Both worked fine. I have therefore 2 cables coming from my dish - there are 2 LNBs which seem to cross cables and each go into a little "device" which I guess combines the signals into one cable.

One more thing I noticed is when I am in the transponder menu of Astra, and I scroll through the list, at some transponders the signal strength does shoot up. If I, however, scan just that transponder for channels, it still does not find any.

I have tried to give as much information as possible about my system. Hopefully someone will be able to help me out. I am new here, so I hope I posted this in the right section. I tried to find the one that was the best but forgive me if I made a mistake.

Robbo

I suspect that the dish is fitted with two LNBs; one for Hotird, the other for Astra 19.2E. The little box is a diseqc switch. The switch defaults to position 1. In your receiver, when choosing Astra 19.2E, you need to select Diseqc position 2 instead. Try that.

SeBsZ

Hi,

I'm really glad you're trying to help me

Well, I had in fact tried setting the Diseqc to 2 before, but it makes no difference. The signal does not change when I scroll 1,2,3,4,off.

In fact, the Hotbird has Diseqc set to OFF - I suppose this is because the Diseqc switch defaults to the hotbird LNB then?

Anyway, Astra is not working. Could there be something else?

EDIT: Yea it seems like Diseqc does not take any effect? When I go to Hotbird and change the Diseqc to 1,2,3,4,off - it always keep the signal as if nothing is changing. Could it be that the receiver does not send the Diseqc commands, whereas my old receiver does?

trigger

There was a problem with the earlier software on these boxes where the diseqc control does not work correctly. You will need to update the software by USB. Be careful as there are 3 versions of this box and the wrong software will be a big problem. Check on the CAM/Card flap of the box for the correct type.

Robbo

Yes, I believe that is what is happening, so you can get Hotbird, but not Astra 19.E as yet. Hopefully the update firmware as Trigger suggests will fix it.

SeBsZ

Amazing, thanks a lot guys! THe USB update worked perfectly!

SeBsZ

But who can tell me how an LNB is pointed at a specific satellite?

How is one of my LNBs pointed at Hotbird and the other at Astra 19.5? They look the same to me, they are both pointing at the centre of my dish. How do I point one of the LNBs at another satellite, such as Astra 23 or something?

Thanks