Satellite PC Card Help Needed

[adamf154]

Hi i have just bought the VIDEOMATE S350 tv card for the pc and i have been fiddling with it all day and now its making me mad lol.

First of all when i start it i pick my country which is UK (scotland) and then it asks for area and it has no data in the box and nothing else to pick.

Then i have to search for the channels which i have to pick from a list of over 50 satellites, so i go for the astra 2a, 2b and 2d which doesn't give you all the channels, but i skipped that last time and went into option and it gave you over 500 channels

So none of the Five Channels work, sky 3 doesn't work, i only get the cbs drama channel but cant get the cbs reality or action and those were the ones i wanted most.

Now it has stuck again so im going to have to restart pc, does anyone have the same card or the same problems that can give me some help or any info about getting the channels that dont work.

Oh and the epg doesn't work either

Thanks in advance for any help

[DB83]

Well the first question is at which satellite is your dish pointing at. Only that 'bird' will actually give you any channels.

Now I do not know anything about your card but most channels on Astra 2,2a are either encrypted (subscription) ie the main Sky ones or 'soft-encrpyted' which are free but your still need a viewing card to be able to see them.

If your tv crad does not allow you to insert a viewing card then you will not be able to see very much.

To get 'Free-to-air' channels - those that do not need a viewing card - your dish would have to be pointing at Astra1, Hotbird or Eurobird (some of the channels that show up on Sky use that one)

[adamf154]

Well to be honest i have no idea to what bird the dish is pointing to, on the astra 2a, 2b, and 2d it is giving me 587 channels with 197 free but there is sometimes 4 or 5 of certain channels i had hoped the satellite would be detected by the card automatically, astra 1d has 14 free to air channels, hotbird 1,2,3,4,6 gave me most of the channels, it thought i had scanned that 1 earlier but i obviously didn't got the cbs but the five channels still aren't working, eurobird - 6,7a and 8 have 138 free channels but the hotbird doesn't give me the main five channels and there offsprings, eurobird 1 gives me 106 free channels, eurobird 3 has 14 channels none free.

So it seems there isn't 1 bird that can give me all the channels and ill have to switch between astra and hotbird but that is a pisser as there doesn't seem to be an easy way of switching between them and it takes a good 5 to 10 mins to scan for the channels, there is no card slot but there is an svideo slot and i have seen card readers on ebay with the same s video connection but not sure if it would work.

The epg still doesn't work

[DB83]

I should expand on the question.

I assume you have a Sky subscription and a standard size Sky dish ?. Or do you have a larger dish - 80 cm or bigger ? Is the dish 'fixed' or is it 'motorised'

A small - 60cm - dish pointed at Astra 2,2a will just give you the channels you could normally pick up through a Sky Box. Without having a motorised dish you could not reasonably expect to receive any other satellites or even be able to scan them to pick up a list of the channels on them. So I do wonder whether the channel list you are actually seeing is pre-stored in memory on the card.

[adamf154]

well no i dont have a subscription at the moment i cancelled it a few months a go i got the card so i could record programs on the pc i assume i have the standard sky dish, is there other software i can use im using comprodtv 4

[DB83]

The sofware for the tv card is not going to help you.

Your dish, take a look at it on the wall (it will be quite small and the same as almost everyone else's in your locality) is pointing at the main Sky satellites. This dish is highly focused and cannot pick up reception from other satellites.

To be able to view the channels, you need a card unless the channel is pure Free-to-air and is carried on the Sky satellite. When you cancelled your Sky subscription your card should have been reset for Free-to-air/Soft Encryption so you could still view channels such as the BBC. So if you cannot use the Sky card with your satellite card you will not be able to recieve many channels certainly not with the dish pointing at the main Sky satellite.

But do not think of trying to move the dish to point at Astra 1 or Hotbird or anything else. Your dish is simply too small to be able to get a signal of any strength. That might work in South East England. It would never work in Scotland which is right on the reception border for these other satellites AND with a larger dish.

So as it stands, you have wasted your money in buying this tv card. For it to work you will need a larger dish and one pointing at another satellite. And even then that satellite may not carry the channels you want to watch or if they do they could also be encrypted for the country they are intended for.

[adamf154]

well i updated a couple of posts back about how many free channels i got when i searched different satellites and if i switch between astra and hotbird i get what i need although it will be a bugger scanning the different satellite every time, but that still doesn't fix the epg problem thats why i was asking about different software

[DB83]

I was going to reply to this last night but I was tired - tired of trying to explain the basic concept which you simply fail to understand.

I will give this one more go.

Your dish is pointing at one satellite - this is actually a series of satellites all at essentially the same location. These are Astra 2A,2B,2D and Eurobird and positioned at 28.2E. It is these satellites that carry the channels that appear on the Sky EPG. The Sky EPG does not, nor can, display the channels from any other satellite.

In the sky there are many, many satellites. Some of the common ones are:

Astra 1H,1KR etc - positioned at 19.2E
Hotbird 6,7,8 - positioned at 13E

With that basic information it is IMPOSSIBLE for a fixed dish of the size of the standard Sky one to be able to locate these satellites and be able to scan them for the channels they carry.

Your tv card has some internal memory. It is quite likely that it has come to you pre-programmed for all the major satellites - you have probably seen other names on your list such as Turksat, Eutelsat, Intelsat. It is equally possible for the card to have been pre-programmed for a list of the channels that these satellites carry.

I will ask you to ask yourself one question. How much time did your card take to scan these satellites ? Five minutes, 50 minutes, several hours. To scan just one sateliite for all the channels it carries will take at much more than five minutes. If you saw these channels listed quicker than that then no scan actually took place.

In fact, as I have tried to explain to you, no scan of these other satellites can take place as your dish simply cannot see them.

If you want to prove this then use your software to clear the channel list and then try to do a scan of a satellite other than Astra 2 etc or Eurobird. After an hour you will be wondering why you now see no channels.

A tv card like the one you have works no different to any standard satellite receiver. It can only pick up the channels of the satellite your dish is pointing towards. If this was not the case anyone would buy such a receiver and pick up all the channels all over the world.

Now, to conclude, I suspect you still have your Sky receiver and the Sky card which enables you to receive some tv. There are much easier ways of being able to record the channels you are still able to receive - and these would not increase with this new card even if you were able to obtain a reader capable of accepting a NDS encryption card such as the one Sky uses - than what you are attempting to do.

[adamf154]

Well i hope that is rant over i think it was you that was failing to grasp what i was saying and i dont think even you knew what you were ranting about satellites not finding other satellites when in fact it was and for your info i didn't waste my money on a card that doesn't work and it was scanning and finding satellites it turns out that the software was to blame for not getting the astra/eurobird satellite as i have tried 5 or 6 other software programs and only a couple work but dvb dream and progdvb finds the proper satellite and gives me all the channels i need

[DB83]

Well i hope that is rant over i think it was you that was failing to grasp what i was saying and i dont think even you knew what you were ranting about satellites not finding other satellites when in fact it was and for your info i didn't waste my money on a card that doesn't work and it was scanning and finding satellites it turns out that the software was to blame for not getting the astra/eurobird satellite as i have tried 5 or 6 other software programs and only a couple work but dvb dream and progdvb finds the proper satellite and gives me all the channels i need

So happy for you. Now tell me what you can watch on Hotbird or Astra 1. Remember that earlier you did say you were switching between these and getting channels. Or do you want to blame the software for that as well.

[adamf154]

it was astra 2 and hotbird i would have been switching between and i have only scanned for the eurobird/astra 2 as it is just a trial i was just seeing if i could get the proper satellite, the software is clearly to blame and there is no update available so i will use another

[DB83]

This story is older than the Dead Sea Scrolls.

When something does not work then blame the software. Except it is normally the person using the software who has not read, can not be arsed to read, or does not understand the manual who is to blame. Rubbish in = rubbish out.

But you are so right. I know absolutely nothing about Sat tv. I will just go away now and watch my tv switching between Astra1, Astra2, Hotbird or anything else that is in my line of view (and there are plenty)

And when you have 'experimented' and can prove to me that you have actually watched something on Hotbird then do come back and continue to keep me, and everyone else who has read this thread, amused.

[adamf154]

well i proved it was the software by others working if that is not good enough for you then tough luck, and if you know nothing about sat tv then bugger off and stop commenting on my posts all you have done is moan and talk crap, its not like you have made any difference

[DB83]

I will not report you for that totally offensive remark in your last post although I believe I would be justified to do so.

However, the next time you consider it neccessary to ask a question in these forums, and there will be a next time, I hope that there will be someone courteous enough to do so, who will know more about the subject than you ever will, and not be subjected to the same level of abuse that you deemed neccessary to use here.

[adamf154]

you started the abuse ealier on today i just finished it conversation closed

[[_chef_]]

well i proved it was the software by others working if that is not good enough for you then tough luck, and if you know nothing about sat tv then bugger off and stop commenting on my posts all you have done is moan and talk crap, its not like you have made any difference

Dude, you need learn behaving, heavily!

I say YOU have no clue about sat, you come here, throwing useless info in a thread and then expect miracles and someone with a crystal ball showing up.

Grow up L8ER or expect a kick!!!

[ricardouk]

its seems he doesnt understand the concept that one fixed satellite dish can only scan one satelite position for example sky (28.2E), i recall having a skybox that was programmed for satellites at 13E (free european channels) but i had to move the dish to that position, whilst i was watching channels from 13E the sky box firmware showed me other positions and altough i could select them in the menu i could only watch those if i moved the disk to that position.

get a dual LNB and a larger disk so that you can scan 2 satellite positions at same time...problem sorted...or like DB83 suggested get a motorised dish.

[adamf154]

look i knew what i was talking about it seems know one else did, perhaps it could have been worded better, and i wasn't trying to scan 2 satellite positions at once, god knows where you got that from and hey chef u dont know what your talking about and i dont really care or understand what your trying to say if you want to throw insults about then try and speak and type proper english first or you'll be getting a kick

[DB83]

look i knew what i was talking about it seems know one else did, perhaps it could have been worded better, and i wasn't trying to scan 2 satellite positions at once, god knows where you got that from and hey chef u dont know what your talking about and i dont really care or understand what your trying to say if you want to throw insults about then try and speak and type proper english first or you'll be getting a kick

So glad that this thread as been resurrected from a premature grave.

Maybe someone should re-read post #3 of this very thread where he talks about SCANNING Hotbird. Only later that same someone says that was only an EXPERIMENT. You CANNOT run an EXPERIMENT on an IMPOSSIBILITY.

Oh. And before you RANT about people typing proper english take a closer look at your own contributions.

You will NEVER admit that you knew nothing about what you were asking of. Since if you did then you would not have written those words in the first place.

You have a real problem. You ask for help then pretend you know more than the person(s) prepared to help you. Not a very clever way to go about things.

[adamf154]

Thought i told you to stop commenting on my posts if you were going to talk rubbish and there you are talking rubbish again, and im not having a rant about anything, but come on what does Dude, you need learn behaving, heavily mean its sounds like a drunk yoda, i have finished with this post and thought everyone else had aswell, now people are just trying to start fights which is not good

[[_chef_]]

get a dual LNB and a larger disk so that you can scan 2 satellite positions at same time...problem sorted...or like DB83 suggested get a motorised dish.

sorry ricardouk,

"dual lnb" is the wrong term! A dual lnb is a completely different lnb, you wouldnt use one nowadays. A DULA LNB has two outputs, 1 for each ZF level, so no real usage even more these days where 4 ZF levels are necessary for universal ku band lnbs.

What you mean is clearly a monoblock lnb or as some peepz in benelux call them duoblock lnbs etc...

[[_chef_]]

Thought i told you to stop commenting on my posts if you were going to talk rubbish and there you are talking rubbish again, and im not having a rant about anything, but come on what does Dude, you need learn behaving, heavily mean its sounds like a drunk yoda, i have finished with this post and thought everyone else had aswell, now people are just trying to start fights which is not good

Start reading the location under my avatar and allow your brain starting to think and making conclusions!

You are a lamer... a real douche, you will always be one, because you have no clue what you are talking about.
You have no clue about sat reception, about sat dishes, even the easiest basics about it, and clearly you cannot even handle your basic sat receiver aswell. LOL

Start reading carefully and maybe you'll get some useful knowledge at some times in the future.

[adamf154]

Chef = total twat end of

[Baldrick]

Please try and behave. Closed.