Scientific Atlanta 9708

jeffcooper

Hi - new user here, to forum and satellite receivers, so forgive the ignorance. Just won a Scientific Atlanta receiver, model 9708?, on Ebay for cheap money, but not really knowing what on earth it will actually do - any information about this equipment would be gratefully received - I'm hoping its digital, and I was thinking (probably completely wrongly) that it would talk to my Sky dish - look forward to hearing any responses. I haven't actually received it yet either!

rolfw

Hi there, missed one just recently, but wasn't prepared to go very high on it.

They are not too much use on anything other than Powervu channels and can only decrypt anything if the provider sends out an authorisation code. Should be good to play with though, you will nedd to look at Lyngsat and have a hunt for Powervu encrypted channels.

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jeffcooper

Hi - thanks for the quick response - but that went straight over my head (although I did understand the Lyngsat bit) - are you saying that I can put the coax cable that currently goes into my sky box into the SA9708 and see something, or not - and one other scary bit, I'm told that it won't be coming with a remote control - is that going to make it completely unuseable ??

Thanks
Jeff

rolfw

Don't think that there is much you can do without the remote, as you can't get into the menus, probably won't do very much at all on 28.2 East.

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jeffcooper

Hi again = receiver arrived today, and powers up, and sends a menu to the TV using coax rf connection - it also appears that you can do quite a lot via the keys (full numeric) on the box itself - there is a K/cu toggle, POL fine tune, H/V POL toggle etc, and then channels, and searching facilities - tried plugging the sky lnb into it, and I got a signal strength of 64, pressed some buttons and then got 85, so I must be doing something - do you know what the POL and K/Cu frequency settings etc are for sky, so I could have a go at getting them into it ??? - Thanks, Jeff

rolfw

Sounds more hopeful that I'd have thought Jeff, the K/C, should refer to Ku band (the one you need) or C band, much lower frequencies. It may well default to universal LNB settings when set on Ku.

Ploarity is self explanatory, you woould then i guess need to set a frequency of a relevant transponder. Not sure whether it has the ability to change the symbol rates etc, as it is designed for a particular type of transmission by one provider.

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jeffcooper

I've tried to understand the SA 9708 , but am getting nowhere - Can anyone tell me whether Scientific Atlanta themselves are contactable for their digital video systems division, and wether they or anyone else has managed to get a remote control/manual out of them, or do they even still exist - they have a website, but that could still be not current.

Apart from that, does anyone want to make me an offer for it !! It obviously works, and maybe with a dish that isn't a sky one would give some obvious results!

norm_

Unit (Scientic Atlanta PowerVu D9234) on Ebay.com at the moment with five hours to go, complete with remote control.

- Ebay.com/ws/EbayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=32848&item=5705022257&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW" target="_blank">http://cgi.Ebay.com/ws/EbayISAPI.dll...sPageName=WDVW

I too am not entirely sure what the intended use of this unit is, I don't understand why so many broadcasts (mostly channel feeds(i presume), listed on Lyngsat) are beaming into Europe with PowerVu encryption (which this receiver supports). Then again I suppose its a proprietary encryption method like Videoguard and therefore 'considered' safe.

Don't really know anymore about the system so wouldn't like to speculate further.

I can see the attraction of this unit however, very ambiguous in its design. It looks the business in a rackmount too, can always show it off to friends.

norm_

Found this over at http://www.sciatl.com/


Illustration of PowerVu Satellite Distribution.

Norm, removed the hot link to the image, as it was throwing up a cookie, have replaced it with a gif thumbnail. rolfw

Attached Thumbnails

 

Llew

Also look at previous thread -

http://www.satellites.co.uk/php-bin/...ntific+atlanta

Some links for info. As usual, provider needs to set the box to receive Powervu encryption. May be OK for FTA though.

pattroni

Hi:

I was reading previous postings and it's funny. Why did you bid on the 9708 if you don't now how to use it? it is incredible. The item is to be used in Cable Headends for authorized signals by Scientificd Atlanta only. This means that you have to set up a parabolic C band antenna, a feeder, an LNB, a coax RG6 cable and then set up your 9708 receiver in order to watch ONE CHANNEL each time, it is for professional uses only, how much did you pay?

Channel Hopper

These are presently up for grabs on Ebay

Ebay.com/ws/EbayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5712758121&category=32847" target="_blank">http://cgi.Ebay.com/ws/EbayISAPI.dll...category=32847The 9708 is not for PowerVu , but for BMac

An overview

http://sina.sharif.ac.ir/~barkeshli/...w/9510_027.htm

Not a lot up there now in this system, its over 15 years old.

There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness"