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When I order a BO movie I can watch it upstairs but not downstairs.

According to Foxtel. "If you have more than one STU you can only view a FOXTEL Box Office Programme or Main Event Programme on the television attached to the STU through which you ordered it." from http://www.foxtel.com.au/1443.htm

They should be able to enable both cards for that account but it doesn't look like they do that.

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I find the Foxtel content quite good.

I find the Foxtel PQ (apart from movies) nothing short of ghastly or horrible or not up to standard; take your pick.

Thousands of people each month are upgrading their TV's and soon Foxtel will be feeling the heat.

Subscribers won't tolerate the rubbish Foxtel is transmitting when they see the quality they get on the FTA channels.

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Guest JimboTHX1138
I find the Foxtel content quite good.

I find the Foxtel PQ (apart from movies) nothing short of ghastly or horrible or not up to standard; take your pick.

Thousands of people each month are upgrading their TV's and soon Foxtel will be feeling the heat.

Subscribers won't tolerate the rubbish Foxtel is transmitting when they see the quality they get on the FTA channels.

It's funny you say that about the FTA channels. I was thinking the same thing. The FTA is a lot better than the Foxtel. They're going to have to do something about it because by going on the FTA vs. Foxtel comparison thier HD won't even look HD, imagine that.

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Guest garbohunter
I am no expert on satellite boxes but have you tried (AT YOUR OWN RISK) changing the LNB (High Band Low) Frequency from 10.7 to 11.3 or the other way via the installers menu (to get to that menu :- System Setup/System Settings (picture settings highlighted I think) then press 0611 then press Select).

Thank you cttc for taking the trouble to respond to my question - everything works fine now.

Your assistance is much appreciated...

Garbo.hunter

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the only thing that's digital is the audio and transmission source from sat feed, as for picture its still analog material until foxtel actually commits to hd/sd stb's with hdmi i doubt we will see 16:9 presentation the current generation stb's can't handle wide screen in it natural form they give us a bastardized 14:9 version of it..

yes i know of roll outs though they will be going much later than expected...

i'll give it til 2010 before we actually see sd/sd material to the masses on foxtel...

so just sit and wait...

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Digital refers to the transmission not how you connect your box to a display. Cable was analogue, every single cable subscriber will be moved to digital or find they have no service. For sat subscribers, it always has been digital.

As for Foxtel's DVB boxes not handling 16:9, they handle it as well as your FTA STB, your DVD player etc etc, perhaps even better. Most FTA boxes do not have a 14:9 'postcard' option, while Foxtel's boxes do.

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most of foxtels 16:9 presentations are shown in a 14:9 format, go through your settings, i've known for a fact that every foxtel stb i've had hasn't had true 16:9 support..

the stb works like a digital-analog converter that's why everyone's picture is degraded on an lcd tv, the only real thing that is digital in whole stb is the audio...

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i've known for a fact that every foxtel stb i've had hasn't had true 16:9 support..

I really have no idea how you came up with that unless you were using an analogue cable box. For any digital box (that is what we are talking about) if a program is shown on a 16:9 channel and is 16:9 it'll be 'full screen'. If a 16:9 program is shown on a 4:3 channel, it may be P&S, it may be letterboxed (14:9 or 16:9 letterboxing, depend on the program and the channel).

As for your statement of fact, you are wrong. Foxtel's DVB boxes currently support the following for 16:9 channels (analogue is dead now isn't it?):

  • 16:9 full mode for display on a 16:9 display
  • centre cut for display on a 4:3 display
  • 14:9 letterbox for display on a 4:3 display
  • 16:9 letterbox for display on a 4:3 display
  • some stretch and zoom modes

For 4:3 channels:

  • full mode for display on a 4:3 display
  • pillarbox for display on a 16:9 display
  • some stretch and zoom modes for display on a 16:9 display

Austar's boxes are capable of the same except for the zoom and stretch modes.

the stb works like a digital-analog converter that's why everyone's picture is degraded on an lcd tv, the only real thing that is digital in whole stb is the audio...

Foxtel's DVB boxes have component output. Unless your LCD panel is an elcheapo or defective, you won't see much (if any) improvement by using a STB that has some form of digital video interface.

No. I am not a Foxtel supporter! :blink:

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As for your statement of fact, you are wrong. Foxtel's DVB boxes currently support the following for 16:9 channels (analogue is dead now isn't it?):

For 4:3 channels:

[*]full mode for display on a 4:3 display

[*]pillarbox for display on a 16:9 display

[*]some stretch and zoom modes for display on a 16:9 display

Austar's boxes are capable of the same except for the zoom and stretch modes.

Foxtel's DVB boxes have component output. Unless your LCD panel is an elcheapo or defective, you won't see much (if any) improvement by using a STB that has some form of digital video interface.

No. I am not a Foxtel supporter! :blink:

The selection in the menu for 4:3 programs on 16:9 TVs allows 14:9 which on a CRT TV is quite effective.

I found this to be a fascinating thread with so many differing opinions as to what constitutes an acceptable picture quality.

I must admit that watching Foxtel on a plasma leaves a lot to be desired (I do not have one but Foxtel shopping centre displays are awful). But then I am still looking for a decent FTA picture on display at the main retailers (JB, HN, GG, BingLee, Myers, David Jones).

Currently I view Foxtel and FTA on Toshiba 36SW9UA which is not perfect but not lousy enough to go and spend money on an LCD.

hornblower

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Hi all! New member here.

For some reason I can't start a topic so i thought i might as well post my question here.

I have Foxtel iQ, and have just upgraded my tv to a new Samsung lcd.

I am using a Foxtel Scart to Component cable to connect iQ box to tv, and PQ is awful. I mean, i get EXACTLY the same quality as when i am using composite-to-composite connection. Surely, i should be getting SOME improvement, right?? I am getting none.

I have adjusted the video output setting in iQ to YUV.

what am i missing? or is that pretty much as good as it gets??

thanks heaps!

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Hi all! New member here.

For some reason I can't start a topic so i thought i might as well post my question here.

I have Foxtel iQ, and have just upgraded my tv to a new Samsung lcd.

I am using a Foxtel Scart to Component cable to connect iQ box to tv, and PQ is awful. I mean, i get EXACTLY the same quality as when i am using composite-to-composite connection. Surely, i should be getting SOME improvement, right?? I am getting none.

I have adjusted the video output setting in iQ to YUV.

what am i missing? or is that pretty much as good as it gets??

thanks heaps!

Hi Roo,

I too have a new sammy s series 40"lcd. :blink:

After much fiddling I have found the movie mode through the picture menu to give the best results.

Enough brightness and contrast because I found all the default settings way too dark.

Movie mode has colour tone of warm 2 which gives the best skin tone appearance.

Had to laugh the very first time I turned on the new tv the movie"Ray" was showing and Jamie Foxx looked paler than me. :P:P:P

Hope this advise helps you out.

By the way the rest of what you say is unfortunately valid for some foxtel channels. :D

But be careful,you might be labeled a whinger. :P

A lot of people in these threads don't seem to know the meaning of the word FEEDBACK.

Ols

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Hi all! New member here.

For some reason I can't start a topic so i thought i might as well post my question here.

I have Foxtel iQ, and have just upgraded my tv to a new Samsung lcd.

I am using a Foxtel Scart to Component cable to connect iQ box to tv, and PQ is awful. I mean, i get EXACTLY the same quality as when i am using composite-to-composite connection. Surely, i should be getting SOME improvement, right?? I am getting none.

I have adjusted the video output setting in iQ to YUV.

what am i missing? or is that pretty much as good as it gets??

thanks heaps!

I am not familiar with your Samsung LCD (or any LCD) but setting up the way the signal is handled generally needs significant amount of "fiddling". Thus brightness, contrast, saturation, sharpness, noise reduction, etc needs very careful balancing. In my case I find that when using YUV it is beneficial to turn noise reduction to OFF and significantly reduce sharpness setting (-23 on my set).

Of course the settings will need compromising to suit the best and worst PQ supplied by Foxtel. Again in my case the optimisation to suit not only Foxtel but also the DVD and FTA channels took several weeks before I accepted the fact that the final PQ is determined by the source, transmission, decoder and the display and you cannot hope to compensate for all of them with one setting.

hornblower

hornblower

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thanks for your suggestions guys. I know i should (and i have) play around with the settings. Its just that i (perhaps unrealistically) expected a major improvement with those component cables.

Actually, from a bit of a distance, the picture is not bad.

thanks again for your feedback!

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  • 2 weeks later...

In Post #67 in this topic I queried why I was getting B&W through the VCR when I changed to a SCART to S-Video Foxtel to TV cable, instead of the original SCART to composite.

I'm still confused as to what better quality connection cables can be used that will still allow the AV button on the Foxtel remote to operate correctly.

Or is the initial SCART to composite set up (Foxtel to TV & Foxtel to VCR) that Foxtel put in the only thing that allows this AV button to operate?

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SD FTA TV is far better quality than foxtel. They have the same resolution, but as a rule of thumb the FTA stations give a better pic because they use much greater bitrates.

IMO, there's not a massive difference in quality between the default SCART>composite cable and the SCART>component cable. The mpeg-noise is still extremely prevalent, and about the only thing that will improve is colour quality and very minor PQ gains.

That said, buying the component cable from Dick Smith or an offical foxtel reseller is an absolute rip-off. You can find cables that do exactly the same thing on eBay for a third of the price including delivery.

As others have stated, you'll want to adjust your sharpness settings down to avoid constant frustration while watching foxtel.

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I understand SD Digital TV is better quality then foxtel...so is foxtel the same or worse quality then normal analog tv?

That depends on how you measure it. All the 16:9 channels on a 4:3 set will give a better picture than analogue FTA. The 4:3 channels will give a no-snow picture, but won't necessarily be better quality (sharpness etc) than analogue FTA depending on your analogue reception.

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I'm still confused as to what better quality connection cables can be used that will still allow the AV button on the Foxtel remote to operate correctly.

The AV button just passes through what you have connected to VCR scart inputs (with no conversion) to the TV scart outputs. So the video connection you have going in must be what you have going out to the TV (eg if you have S-Video going from TV scart to your TV you must have S-Video going into the VCR scart for AV to work). I can't say I have tested anything other than composite input on the pace set top boxes though.

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OK quick question. I have two stb's in the house. The upstairs unit has the phone line connected, the downstairs doesn't. When I order a BO movie I can watch it upstairs but not downstairs. Shouldn't both units show the movie if the stb's are on the same account?

If you order via your foxtel remote, then you can only watch it on the box from which you ordered it (in your case, the upstairs box with the phone line).

HOWEVER, there is a workaround. If you order the box office movie by calling foxtel over the phone, then all your STBs on your account can access it!

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Is there an easy way to confirm exactly what model Foxtel Digital Satellite STU I have? The manual says "DSN700 Series Version 1.0 August 2004". It is a UEC model and the "Hardware Version" in "System Details" is DSN700.2.1.

The unit was installed on 17/8/2006.

The only thing is the front of the STU doesn't look anything like the picture in the manual of the UEC700 which is linked to in the first post of this thread. My "Video Out" in "System Settings" also cycles only between PAL, S-Video & RGB if that's another clue.

It sounds like it is the UEC700, and that if I upgrade my TV I will need a Pace 420 to give me a decent picture?

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It sounds like it is the UEC700, and that if I upgrade my TV I will need a Pace 420 to give me a decent picture?

Yes (or the UEC1000) if you want Component or Digital Audio output. That is probably the worst type of box still out there, only good thing is it has separate S-Video out.

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Ok I checked out Foxtel playing on a 42" plasma and it wasn't as bad as some people make it out to be....I was thinking it would be unwatchable/internet streaming quality.....by no means is it anywhere near HD/SD TV, however if you don't switch in between and compare it shouldn't be a huge issue if something good is on :blink:

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Ok I checked out Foxtel playing on a 42" plasma and it wasn't as bad as some people make it out to be....I was thinking it would be unwatchable/internet streaming quality.....by no means is it anywhere near HD/SD TV, however if you don't switch in between and compare it shouldn't be a huge issue if something good is on :blink:

If I was paying $100 a month I would expect to get AT LEAST sd free to air quality

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If I was paying $100 a month I would expect to get AT LEAST sd free to air quality

It's all got to do with how much bandwidth that Telstra can give Foxtel. Once analogue cable is shut down and the new sattelite is up, then Foxtel will have the bandwidth to increase PQ. THEN we can **** and whine when they don't :blink:

Mind you, on my SD CRT, it's not a huge issue for me. But on my parent's plasma, then YES, it is an issue.

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