Tv Cabo(a.k.a. kaka)

rato

The Tv Cabo package is the first and the oldest of the two DTH via satellite packages in Portugal. Owned by PT Multimedia, a subsidary of Portugal Telecom, The have been on Hispasat 30ºW since late 1998.

Dish sizes in Portugal go from 40cm to 60cm but the Technisat 33cm dish will give you a great signal if you are in the 52 to 54 dbW EIRP footprint. Signal is strong and easy to receive all over Europe.


They started off with around 15 Nagravision 1 encrypted channels, and now are with 50+ channels in Nagravision 2(rom 110), which includes the famous Sport TV1 & 2 for transmitting the Portuguese football league. The Lusomundo Cinema channels and 4 Video-on-Demand channels. In terms of channel diversity goes from Eurosport to Fox and even three different Discovery channels.

Channel Frequencies and listings per transponder:

11577 V SR 27500 FEC 3/4

Discovery Turbo; Discovery Civilization; Discovery Sience; MTV Music; MTV Base U.K.; MTV Two; VH1 Europe; Nickelodeon Portugal; TCM Europe; Canal Parlamento; Porto Canal; Al Jazeera Channel


11617 V SR 27500 FEC 5/6

Sailing Channel; Travel Channel U.K.; ESPN Classic Europe; Baby TV; Zone Reality Europe; Bloomberg TV Europe; Funtastic Life Channel(Promo Tv Cabo)


11731 H SR 28126 FEC 5/6

Fox; Fox Life; Disney Channel Portugal



11771 H SR 27500

Canal Historia; VOD Estreias1 & 2; VOD Êxitos 1 & 2; The Biography Channel Portugal & Spain; VH1 Classic Europe; Mezzo; Sky New International; MCM Top; BBC Prime Europe; Infinito Latino; XXL(22h30 to 03h00)


11811 H SR 27500 FEC 3/4

Canal Acolhimento(TV Cabo); Canal Panda; SIC Radical; SIC Notícias; RTPN; RTP1; 2: ; SIC; TVI; Millennium BCP TV(For the Portuguese BCP Bank branches, not available for home viewing)


11851 H SR 27500 FEC 3/4

Discovery Channel Iberia; Canal Hollywood; Odisseia; Fashon TV; MTV Portugal; Playboy TV Iberia, CNN International; M6; Lusomundo Action; Sport TV1; Lusomundo Gallery, Lusomundo Premium


11891 H SR 27500 FEC 3/4

Canal Progamação(TV Cabo); TVE International Europe; RTL Deutschland; TV5 Monde Europe; CNBC Europe; Arte Français; Eurosport News; RAI Uno; RTP Memória; RTP Madeira(for Madeira Islands only); TV de Galicia Europa; Lusomundo Happy; Lusomundo Premium +1; Lusomundo Gallery +1


12012 V SR 27500 FEC 3/4

Euronews; Sic Mulher; People + Arts; Canal Parlamento(Portugal); National Geographic Channel Portugal; AXN; RTP Africa; Cartoon Network U.K.; Extreme Sports Channel; BBC World(FTA); France 24 English(FTA); VH1 Europe A; Sport TV2; Venus Argentina


Curiosities:

Known for there bad image quality, to save bandwidth, most of the channels are reduced to the resolution of 480 x 576 (ex.: RTP1, 2: , SIC, TVI), others at 540 x 576 (ex.: SIC Noticias)and just a very few are at the regular PAL norm of 720 x 576 (ex: Fox, Disney), not to mention the number of channels per transponders. None of the Lusomundo Channels have the option of Dolby Digital and are also reduced in terms of image quality. The Video On Demand shows a "streched to fit screen"type of image, but the bad image quality is there( no Dolby Digital option either). At least Portugal is one of the few countries in Europe that has subtitles in every program or movie that's not in Portuguese, so the only language choice in the language menu is Portuguese, but you get to hear the original soundtrack.

Sport Tv1 & 2 must have the most audiences on the weekend, due to the fact that they have contract with certain football clubs and the rights for F1 season. The sport commentators are in Portuguese and are very annoying(sorta' like watching a Chelsea vs. Man. Utd. game with a golf commentator!). When an F1 race is on, you get more commercials than any Shop TV channel or Ringtone ads and most of the races, they cut the transmission off right after the finish! Since RTP which is the public tv channel lost the F1 rights, a lot of Portuguese started putting up 1,00m dishes pointing to 28,2ºE and prefer to watch it on ITV(like me).Image quality on Sport Tv gets so bad that sometimes there are blackouts for half a second!!! They redirect so many signals back & forth that when it gets directed to transmit on Hispasat, the signal that gets to the Powerbox(which isn't any better either with signals), it's seems that the football field is a mixed green blob of ...well, you know what I mean. Forget about the English Premiere League, only a few games are shown and some of them are not live, so scrap the idea of getting a TV Cabo card for watching as an alternative to Sky!

One of the most complained companys to consumers rights organizations in Portugal, the lack of customer service, awful & rude customer support via phone(saying to the customer that they"..... well will order to reinforce the sat signal"), or at the Tv Cabo shops, low quality STB boxes(Octal TV) a.k.a. "Powerbox", sometimes the installer changes up to three brand new STB that fail on installation, the term kaka(Portuguese for crap), has been used as a nickname on online forums. A par from having a 12V transformer, the Powerbox has a tendency to think it's a toaster, so don't even think of putting anything on top or in a cramped place! From so much heat, I've seen some cards in the Powerbox even change color! If you are thinking of getting the TV Cabo package abroad, be sure that who gets you it with an address in Portugal can then give you the support! Believe me that they are prone to fail! Mostly the transformer will die on you after about a year, but that you can get anywhere. If it's the Powerbox that faulty, that's a headache. You can't just take a Powerbox to the TV Cabo shop and say"I'm having a problem with my Powerbox!". They don't even touch it! They'll just say that someone must be sent to the address that the Powerbox is registered and pay the technician just for going to the address, plus hours(believe me, I've had the experience with my dad's Powerbox!). So be prepared, if your living out of Portugal and that "toaster" dies on you, forget it. Get a new one.

Any signal below the 55% quality mark is scratch so it's a good idea to get a bigger dish or a LNB with a lower dB factor. The Powerboxes don't get along well with Invacom's. They like Inverto's though but not the twin ones. If you leave a Powerbox off for a long time(ex. that villa home you have down in the Algarve), it will take a while for it to "warm up" and start showing you the image(sorta' like your grandad's old tube tv) So don't call up TV Cabo support number, unless you like waiting on the phone for more than half an hour, the call being billed & when you get an assitant on the line, the Powerbox is now working!

The EPG only shows what's on and what's next. Info is very limited and repeated on th EPG. Don't expect British punctuality here with show timing, they tend to be a little off(except for news at 20h). The interactive menus only works on the Powerboxes. Interactive menus are basic to crude, only showing multiviews choices when there are football matches(UEFA; Champions league). For selecting a Video On Demand movie, you can use the interactive menu which takes over a half a minute to download from the sat!

The Nagravision encryption system has been know for it's security faults, and is one of the most sought out package for software in STB boxes and CAM's. Tv Cabo has upgraded from Nagra 1 to Nagra 2 two years ago, making a massive card change to all of there customers(sat & cable), but after two months, Nagra 2 was cracked.This summer they have changed again all of there customer cards to a more upgraded version of Nagravision(ROM142), and this begining of Sept. 2007, a switch to the new version.

The card is "married" with the STB, which gives no chance in using it in a CAM and in another reciever. When lauched in 1998, a CAM+card option was available, and you could either get a Sagem or a Humax NA-FOX STB, but that luxury of options ended in the first month's of 2000. It was the arrival of the famous Octal micro DVB. I was fortunate enough to still purchase CAM + card when I bought my Nokia 9800 in 2000. When they changed the cards to Nagra2 and said it would not support the CAM anymore and had to exchange for a Powerbox, I cancelled my contract.

My only advice is if you REALLY like Portuguese football, you can always watch a game or two on Al Jazeera 1 at Nilesat 7ºW or on Santana Sports(even DigtalAlb has Portuguese football with better image quality & with English language option). Otherwise if you want just the Portuguese channels, you could bet on the new sat provider TV Tel which at least is more cheaper(7,95 Euros a month for 20 Conax coded channels). Sure the Techotrend STB is a clone of the Powerbox, but at least you can use the Conax card with a compatible CAM in you favorite receiver. Taking out the Fox & AXN channels(which you can get the same programs on Four & Five), it's not a good investment. The Lusomundo movies have no image quality on a plasma or LCd screen above 32 inches, no Dolby Digital option, and what they show has been available at you local DVD rental shop for at leat a year(with better video quality & soundtrack of course), and have been already shown on the Digital +Taquilas 6 months earlier with way better image quality and you can choose the movies you want. Some of the Video On Demand movies are shown on Film Four!

__________________

rato

At the Tv Cabo website:
_http://www.tvcabo.pt/Televisao/ComparativoCanais.aspx

There is also an exclusive "2nd home" package for sat users, but when you least expect it,you still have to buy an extra Powerbox kit, another 99,90 Euros(There goes the "exclusive")So the best advice is take your receiver with you and put up a dish yourself.

The Powerbox kit + dish & a so called "LNB"(pics of the LNB plus the dish very soon), was at 148,90 Euros, but with TV Tel in the game NOW they lowered it to 99,90 Euros(Imagine all that money they made throughout all these years). Installment is 80 Euros, but sometimes it's included with an offer. Watch out for a technical assitance to the address that the Powerbox is registered! Prices are 50,84 Euros(4 hours included), plus 25,42 Euros just for the tech guy to go to your house!!!! A whopping 76 Euros is billed to you and still your not going to know what you are going to pay next(no Powerbox substitute while yours is being fixed & your also still billed the regular month)! So it's better off getting a new Powerbox(well... at least it's brand new & will work for another year or so.), or if you get the package in the Algarve at a local satellite dealer(where you got you Sky dish installment), give them a nice smile and they might just fix it for a minor fee.

What do you get in the kit:


1 - The famous Powerbox + Nagravision card(white color now)
2 - Remote(incredibly batteries are included!)
3 - 12V Transformer(estimated life span: 8 months to a year!)
4 - Scart Cable(for hooking up to the camper tv or the one in the kid's room)

You also get a 60cm white "TV Cabo Serviço Digital" dish, an LNB, and dish support.

Manuals & Tutorials(in Portuguese of course) are available at the TV Cabo website.

The Video On Demand is charged with your bank card. Minimum charge is 10 Euros. The balance is shown on screen when you change a channel at the right bottom corner" Saldo VOD"





The famous "Powerbox:



Famous for being a second living room heater, it's crude image quality, poor tuner, yawning power-up times & doomed failure from time to time, the Powerbox has also been nicked in Portuguese:"Powerbosta", which means "Powerpoop". Since the year 2000, it has received minor upgrades in menus and in electronics, due to the fact that it was possible to extract the bk & ird keys for making the famous MOSC cards, but still continues to work poorly in terms of tuner and video output. No word whatsoever in terms of HDTV, but neighbouring Spanish provider Digital + is thinking of launching a few HD channels & a receiver by the end of the year. Tv Cabo should first worry about the standard tv signal and a better STB box before getting into HDTV!

__________________

mike1

I have a cabo 'powerbox' its the worst bit of kit ever always crashing etc..

T_G

Interesting information Rato, thanks!

T_G

Please post in English in this section!!

__________________
I only believe stuff that comes straight from Mr. Horses mouth

bula_boys

5 star rato is not better to past the tread to portuguese section is lots a problems whit channel frequence there this tread will help lots of people sorry about my english lads

__________________

jimstar

I have read Rato’s post with interest but I have to disagree with few points he makes.

TV Cabo does have a bad quality (we do live in the digital era, for goodness sake at least upgrade your systems) and punctuality is only for 13h00/20h00 news and football matches whose transmissions will start 30 seconds before kick-off.

I disagree with Rato’s views on Sport TV weekend programs: I mean, if you really like football you could start watching football (recorded and live) from Saturday at 14h00 to Sunday 00h00. It’s Premier League, La Liga, BWIN Liga, Ligue 1, Seria A, Champions League review, I mean, it’s sickening!!!

True about the commentators. Jesus, they are boring! And do they love to “throw petrol into a fire”. A Portuguese league match never ends without controversy. Actually, being Portuguese myself I can say this with ease: we are sore losers. Any defeats and the referee gets the blame. Remember Euro 2000, World Cups 2002 and 2006?

About the Powerbox, that’s another one. Ok, you must have a Portuguese address, but when my box did go kaput, I sent it to my sister in Portugal, she took to TV Cabo shop and 10 minutes later she had a new box in hands. Granted, the box was under its 2 year warranty. But 3 years later this new box also went. I sent it back again but no warranty. Rather then buy a new one I got a new contract and rented a box for €2.50 a month. So, this way, if it goes again I’ll just send it back and get a new one. No payment, no fuss.

Apart from that, Rato was dead on the money. Boy, it’s frustrating trying to get EPG from the Powerbox. Put it this way: with sky digital you feel like driving a Formula One McLaren car and with TV Cabo will feel like driving a 1902 Fiat.

I strongly agree with his assessment regarding the Fox & AXN channels. Great channels and with almost british punctuality. Those are the ones I watch unless my team is playing (come on Sporting).

Now, the technical stuff: man, I’ve been given a Dreambox 500S and the last 4 weeks have been hell. Can’t get the damn thing to show the TV Cabo channels. Just 5 or 6 Spanish channels and the worst ones.

But I’ll get in there, with the help of users from this great forum.

I hope Rato does not get upset with me, I just trying to say that not all is bad with TV Cabo.

Sorry man.

All the best.

rato

Hi jimstar,

This is a open forum, where all opinions are respected, as long it's in a civilized, non offensive manner. I wish that certain members of this forum could see this thread and the way it was responded by you. Very polite and in a constructive manner to view your points that you disagree with the ones posted by me. My hat's off to you for your politeness.

I did this thread to give out the most information on a package that is most sought out in Europe(mostly because of the k*ys), but also to give my experience and feedback of other consumers that cancelled contracts with TVCabo because of the issues stated above in my post. That way, member who read this thread will have some info on what they are getting in to before joining up.

Yes, SportTV does have a filled up weekend with football. What I stated is that you can see the same games on other providers with English commentary and with better picture quality. The schedule is very filled for footie indeed. That is a positive note for SportTV, but who want's to see matches in crude image quality if there are other providers out there transmitting the same game(sometimes in FTA), with way better quality? If you want quantity, yes I do agree strongly the SportTV does have matches for you to see until the misses leaves you on Sunday night!

In terms of the Powerbox, consider that with your case, everything went great. I have heard terrible stories(even in the warranty time), and I went through one myself, so this is also a gamble with the Powerbox & there so called: customer service. It's sort of like going to a doctor here in Portugal: maybe he got lucky on the weekend and he's in a good mood, great service. If he's not, watch out!

Cheers,

__________________

jimstar

Hi Rato,

Thanks for your post.
You are right, I heard of horror stories about TV Cabo customer services. But apart from being on the phone for 30 minutes just to activate the service nothing else bad has happened to me.

So, I'll keep my fingeres and toes crossed in hope the treatment stays that way.

Thanks for your post, man.

Stay cool.

Jim Star.

ROSU

EDIT - Ingles por favor senor - Admin

palhinha

hi guys well i have kaka and have tvtel for last two months and i was gona cancel kaka a couple months ago but ...kaka gave me a super deal and i decid to stay with contract.Yes the box it's crap but the chanells are good at least for a ''portuguisa''Best regardspalhinha

Scalabis

Only one little thing about all that truces that Rato said: The work you had doing this post is more than they deserve.....
resuming: bad quality, bad commentators, bad assistance,.... the only thing good is that they never forget about your payments in the right time !!!! (even when you get bad services)

januario1963

EDIT - Ingles por favor senor - Admin