OrbitShowtime + Al Jazeera Sports, Humax HDCI-5000-S, 7.0W - will this work?

[smashingly]

Hi there,

I do the A/V and IT for a large (133 metre) superyacht and we are about to chuck out our old Orbit receivers (Phillips XD330) and install new receivers for OrbitShowtime. The yacht-owner's family is very football-mad, and as the world cup is going to be happening during the summer cruising season (Jun-Aug), I want to add Al Jazeera Sports to the mix. We run 35-40 receivers with 4 fully motorised dishes (2 x 60", 2 x 97") and have no problems with Nilesat and BADR reception, i.e. we ran Orbit for 2 years using 25.5 and did a Showtime trial last summer season using Vantage FTA receivers with Irdeto2 CAMs and Showtime cards. (even though the CAMs put brown burn marks on the viewing cards!).

I don't know a huge amount about CI slots, CAMs etc so I need advice here. We are about to spend 50k or so on the following setup, and I want to make sure that the users will be able to seamlessly flick between OrbitShowtime (OSN) channels and Al Jazeera Sports channels (we will be pointing at 7.0W).

Receivers: Humax HDCI-5000-S (2 x CI slots)
CAMs: 2 x Irdeto2 CAMs per receiver
Viewing cards: 1 x OSN card, 1 x Al Jaz Sports card (full package on both).

I have been doing some digging on this website and can see talk about Viaccess and other stuff - so I am naturally concerned about whether I am ordering the right CAM modules for starters, let alone whether the Humax will work with all of this. We have chosen the Humax rxrs because they do component-out, have USB ports (with 35-40 receivers, you need to be able to easily replicate channel/config settings!), two CI slots, and they're HD. Unfortunately our Dutch A/V company can't pick up Nilesat from where they are so they could not conduct a test to make sure this setup works.

Last thing I want is to get out into the middle of the Med this summer and realise I've b*lloxed things up and not done my research. This forum seemed like the best place to ask.

See, just looking at receivers like the Humax IR1010HD it seems to have an Irdeto smartcard built into the main circuit board (they give you 1 year free Al Jaz Sports sub with the box) PLUS one Irdeto CAS slot. So in theory, we could use this receiver - stick the OSN card in the CAS slot, and the other Irdeto smart card is already built into the motherboard, so that gives us a basis to subscribe to Al Jaz Sports from year to year. Does that work? Here's the web page for that receiver:

-http://www.humaxdigital.com/ME/products/product_stb_satellite_ir1010hd.asp

I hope someone can shed some light on this multi-topic question!

regards

Ash Dando
IT/Electronics Officer
M/Y Al Mirqab

 

[Analoguesat]

The first thing to be aware of is that "Shorbit" will be moving over to mpeg 4 transmission format in the next few months so new receivers will be required.

-http://tinyurl.com/ylb8cr7

 

[smashingly]

The first thing to be aware of is that "Shorbit" will be moving over to mpeg 4 transmission format in the next few months so new receivers will be required.

That's a good point - that model doesn't support MPEG-4. The HDCI-5000-S (which I can only find references to if I let Google include dutch-language results) does support MPEG-4, and has 2 x CI slots.

I've done some more digging on Satbeams.com and it seems that with both the BADR4/6 and Nilesat 101/102 options, Irdeto2 is the most common encryption. Many of the Al Jaz channels also do KeyFly and Viaccess in addition to that. But I think Irdeto2 is going to cover me.

So the only missing piece of the puzzle now is to ensure I get MPEG-4 capable receivers, and that the provider subscriptions work OK together. I am assuming that the STB will automatically know which CAM/card to use depending on what channel is being watched? I.e. change to an OSN channel, it uses the OSN viewing card in slot 1 to decrypt, change to an Al Jaz Sports channel, it uses the AJS viewing card in slot 2 to decrypt... does it work that way?

thanks for pointing out the mpeg-4 bit - I'd missed that on the IR-1010HD model.

If anyone else has any comments on my original post, I'd really appreciate it. A/V and especially satellite TV isn't my strongest suit.

cheers
Ash

 

[Zorba]

Also,Showtime do not have the rights to Premiership football next season. I heard its gone to Abu Dhabi Sports but as yet they have no platform to broadcast it .They might join JSC or even Showtime or maybe you might need a third card ?

 

[smashingly]

Also,Showtime do not have the rights to Premiership football next season. I heard its gone to Abu Dhabi Sports but as yet they have no platform to broadcast it .They might join JSC or even Showtime or maybe you might need a third card ?

Well, luckily we also have 30x Sky HD receivers, so we'll be OK there hopefully, so long as we don't sail too far west. But thanks for pointing that out. It's tricky for me as I know bugger-all about football, the various leagues, seasons, etc. But I think with Sky and OSN and Al Jaz Sports we should be completely covered. JSC = Al Jazeera, yes? (Last summer after a receiver re-scan, suddenly I could no longer find Al Jazeera (the Arabic news channel, not the company and after flicking through 300 channels I found that it was labelled as "JSC" on 7.0W and 26.0E so I now assume they are tied together somehow).....

Thanks for your input, the more I look into this the more I think we'll be OK, now that I know I need to cover the MPEG-4 angle, and that both 7.0W and 25.5/26.0E will be OK with Irdeto2, and have read an article or two on rapidtvnews.com about the world cup packages Al Jaz Sports will be charging and arm and a leg for.

So, can anyone provide an answer to my last outstanding question, which was (i've edited it for clarity):

So the only missing piece of the puzzle now is ...<snip>... will the STB automatically use the relevant CAM/card depending on what channel is being watched? I.e. change to an OSN channel, it uses the OSN viewing card in slot 1 to decrypt, then I change to an Al Jaz Sports channel, it uses the AJS viewing card in slot 2 to decrypt... the viewer notices nothing except the usual delay when changing channels...... does it work that way? Seamless and invisible? I've never used multiple CAMs/cards in one receiver before...

cheers

Ash

 

[ggp759]

Also,Showtime do not have the rights to Premiership football next season. I heard its gone to Abu Dhabi Sports but as yet they have no platform to broadcast it .They might join JSC or even Showtime or maybe you might need a third card ?

Zorba am from Cyprus as well. can you please contact me at this email: [Moderation] Email Address removed] I would have send you a private message but there is no option. Can you please contact on these email. urgent help needed. thanks

 

[satelliteman]

We advise not to post email address on the open forum > http://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/...es-please-read-before-posting.html#post181885

Also see here regarding private messaging which you raised > http://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/...eb-site-operation/173325-private-message.html

 

[Huevos]

Well, luckily we also have 30x Sky HD receivers, so we'll be OK there hopefully, so long as we don't sail too far west.

That's not the problem. A lot of the HD stuff (maybe 50%) is on the North beam. For me on a 1.5m dish I get about 50% of the transponders 50% the time. Only sports channel this affect is Eurosport HD I believe.

It's tricky for me as I know bugger-all about football, the various leagues, seasons, etc. But I think with Sky and OSN and Al Jaz Sports we should be completely covered.

No premier league on OSN from this season. No premier league on Al Jazeera. Loads of quality football though.

JSC = Al Jazeera, yes?

Yes.

I look into this the more I think we'll be OK, now that I know I need to cover the MPEG-4 angle, and that both 7.0W and 25.5/26.0E will be OK with Irdeto2, and have read an article or two on rapidtvnews.com about the world cup packages Al Jaz Sports will be charging and arm and a leg for.

One other thing, neither 25.5ºE nor AB4A at 7ºW are receivable from here on a 2m dish.

So, can anyone provide an answer to my last outstanding question

Every box I've used you just put in the card and it works. There's no option to select between cards. If you have multiple cards the box knows what to do automatically.

 

[antenna1]

Off topic about where in europe can you receive DirecTV Latin America i heard of a few people receiveing it in south west spain in ku-band with large dishes it was talked about in tele-satellite magazine.

 

[antenna1]

Also please remember the that orbit showtime (osnetwork) will end transmission from 25.5 east over the next few months and only broadcast from 7'w and some of its transponders will also switch over to the new nilesat 201 when it launches,

 

[smashingly]

Off topic about where in europe can you receive DirecTV Latin America i heard of a few people receiveing it in south west spain in ku-band with large dishes it was talked about in tele-satellite magazine.

Well, speaking of bizarre reception stories, and hopefully not to go off topic too much.... we crossed the Atlantic from Gib to the Caribbean (and back) over the Christmas period and received viewable Sky TV (not on all Astra 2's beams of course) up until 21 deg 53.50 N, 47 deg 33.67 W - more or less right over the top of the Atlantic trench (viewable on Google Earth etc). Our 94" dishes were reading an elevation of about 5-6 degrees. It was crazy. I reckon this was because one of the Astra beams' footprint has a small spill area to cover the Canaries (for the ex-pats in Tenerife?), and this spills out a lot further than a typical footprint picture would show (why would they bother measuring footprint in the middle of nowhere anyway!)

We picked up Astra again on the return voyage at more or less the same point.

Not sure when we lost DirecTV Latin America on the return voyage, we were using 118.8W and 119W (annoyingly, different LO freqs, so had to use twice as many dishes as we normally would - you can't get twin LNBs for Seatel marine dish systems unfortunately), but I don't think we lasted very long before we lost it - day or two at 15-16 knots out of Puerto Rico.

 

[smashingly]

No premier league on OSN from this season. No premier league on Al Jazeera. Loads of quality football though.

Thanks for letting me know about this - I was under the impression this is still up in the air, i.e. nobody knows if one of the MENA networks is going to pick it up? Again we'll fall back to Sky for this if we have to.

One other thing, neither 25.5ºE nor AB4A at 7ºW are receivable from here on a 2m dish.

Hmm, strange, we have no probs with 28.2E, 7.0W or 25.5/26.0E in Mallorca on either our 1.5m or our 2.5m dishes, but you're a little further west, our dishes are at about 18 metres above sea level and with no structures (just open sea) in the way. Wonder if that helps.

Every box I've used you just put in the card and it works. There's no option to select between cards. If you have multiple cards the box knows what to do automatically.

Awesome - this is what I figured, but given the huge investment of time & money, I was being a little paranoid and making absolutely sure. I appreciate you sharing your experience on this - thanks.

 

[smashingly]

Also please remember the that orbit showtime (osnetwork) will end transmission from 25.5 east over the next few months and only broadcast from 7'w and some of its transponders will also switch over to the new nilesat 201 when it launches,

Oh dear. Thanks for mentioning this - I had no idea that this was their plan. Any idea on timeframe - specifically, before, or after, the world cup?

 

[smashingly]

Also please remember the that orbit showtime (osnetwork) will end transmission from 25.5 east over the next few months and only broadcast from 7'w and some of its transponders will also switch over to the new nilesat 201 when it launches,

Antenna1, I just realised I'm talking at cross-purposes ... the problem with trying to talk about work on a Sunday :-p The world cup is of course on Al Jaz Sports which is on 26.0E and is independent of what OSN is doing. But the info about OSN ditching 25.5E is valuable too. Darn, I liked that footprint, it's huge. But I guess keeping two satellite networks going kinda negates the whole point of the two companies merging...

 

[antenna1]

Al Jaz Sports i see now, orbit now called osnetwork told me that i would need to get rid of my xd300 philips seca receiver as they are converting all their customers over to 7'W and all their new installations are done on 7'w and also soon they will move over to mpeg4,

Antenna1, I just realised I'm talking at cross-purposes ... the problem with trying to talk about work on a Sunday :-p The world cup is of course on Al Jaz Sports which is on 26.0E and is independent of what OSN is doing. But the info about OSN ditching 25.5E is valuable too. Darn, I liked that footprint, it's huge. But I guess keeping two satellite networks going kinda negates the whole point of the two companies merging...

 

[antenna1]

As for receivers use the humax ir1010hd it will work fine for Al Jazeera Sports and osnetwork and has a irdeto card slot and had 1 year free Al Jazeera Sports and the receiver can receive OTA firmware updates via 7'w the receiver is made for the middle east market and will work fine when OSnetwork move over to mpeg4 i am going to buy one soon for myself see the receiver here _http://www.humaxdigital.com/me/Products/product_stb_satellite_ir1010hd.asp and _http://www.humaxdigital.com/me/Products/new_leaflet/IR1010HD_leaflet.pdf and here is the user guide _http://www.humaxdigital.com/global/products/new_manual/UM-IR1010HD_300GB_10-0127_low.pdf

 

[antenna1]

Here is some screenshots of the humax id1010hd

_http://www.adslgate.com/dsl/showthread.php?t=543789

_http://diwania.alazraq.com/showthread.php?t=246124

_http://diwania.alazraq.com/showthread.php?t=245838

 

[smashingly]

Al Jaz Sports i see now, orbit now called osnetwork told me that i would need to get rid of my xd300 philips seca receiver as they are converting all their customers over to 7'W and all their new installations are done on 7'w and also soon they will move over to mpeg4,

Yep, we have 30 XD300 (or 330?) receivers we now need to get rid of. Tell me, is there *anything* we can do with these other than chuck them out? I'd have thought it's not even worth eBay'ing them...

 

[antenna1]

Nothing can be done with the old receivers

Yep, we have 30 XD300 (or 330?) receivers we now need to get rid of. Tell me, is there *anything* we can do with these other than chuck them out? I'd have thought it's not even worth eBay'ing them...

 

[Turok]

Hello!
how about the price structure,from the old orbit package,the prices was much diffrent,then now osn charge for the channels!
what happens with the owners,of the old cards and orbit box,will the now automaticly pay all the same price,or is it still diffrent?