Foxtel Owners & Discussion Thread

[gsxrboy]

Just checking in to see if the upgraded hdd is still working fine and you've loaded it up to see if it crashes or not! My stock hdd is getting really noisy now and thinking I'd try an upgrade. Cheers!

Edited August 21, 2013 by gsxrboy

[garyvx]

I'm about to try and get my brother-in-laws Foxtel box (Pace DS250NF) connected to the AV input on a Toppy TFR-2400.

Currently he has his Foxtel box connected to his TV via Component (YUY setting on Video out) using the TV SCART connector.

Does the VCR SCART connector also output Component?

Regards Gary

[laurie]

Does the VCR SCART connector also output Component?

Regards Gary

hmm I think its only RGB ? way back people here were asking about RGB ----> to component converters

cheers laurie

[mark92]

hey guys, I have a quick question regarding my foxtel setup in my home. In my household I currently have two foxtel iq2/hd boxes. I am looking at moving one of the boxes from one of the bedrooms to the living room (other one is located in the family room). My initial plan was to add another set of coaxial cable from the satellite to the living room, leaving the coaxial set in the bedroom alone, incase I decide to relocate the box back to it. After I have talked to an electrican regarding the setup and getting a quote for the job, the electrician said the foxtel satellite only allows two sets of coaxials to be ran at one time, so my option was to disconnect the one running in the bedroom to the satellite. Just confirming whether the electrician is right and if there are any other possible options?

[doodlefeatures]

We have three satellite IQs, I don't know how it's done with regard to splitters etc but they all work and that's 6 cables

[BamBBBam]

Hey All

A friend's place had a big power surge recently, the Foxtel box eventually came back on but it may ave been recording at the time, it required the full 0611 reset before the hard rive could be accessed.

Now it's recording ok, but the menus are extremely sluggish, you can almost see it drawing the EPG, line by line. I'm not sure why - if the power was screwed, it wouldn't work at all but is working and recording ok, just very slow. Any suggestions?

[ajohn99]

fsjk85 can't Foxtel IQ now take 1TB hard drive now that they have the other models? So how do you open up the IQ to change the drive? Pics of how would be great. Also theoretically if some program's have been deleted can you recover them using data recovery program if the drive is removed and put directly into a pc hard drive cady?

[ajohn99]

Hi milo when you said 1tb drive did you say that it crashed, is that because changed the 320 gb original internal hardive?

[Amoeba with special needs]

Ajohn99, when I changed the internal 320 Gb drive for a 1 Tb drive, it worked fine for a few months, but once the drive filled up past 500 Gb, Foxtel wouldn't boot (crashed). I took the drive out and reformatted the drive back to 500 Gb and all was good, It's been stable for probably a couple of years. Would love to have the full TB of space though. Maybe the upcoming IQ3 will have a 1 Tb drive.

[Guest DarkAvenger1503564407]

I have a number of questions:

1) Brisbane, Melbourne & Sydney can receive the commercial network channels (Nine, Seven, Ten) over satellite, yet Adelaide, Canberra, Perth and WA, who also receive Foxtel by satellite, can only receive ABC & SBS. Does this mean Adelaide, Canberra, Perth & WA are on a different satellite otherwise why would they not receive the same channels if they are on the same satellite?

Foxtel's 'Facts Sheet' states:

Q "Do you broadcast free-to-air channels through your set top unit?"

A "No. FOXTEL transmits a uniform satellite signal. Due to time delays associated with the different regional free-to-air signals, FOXTEL cannot retransmit the free-to-airs via its satellite service"

Well this simply isn't true as we've had Foxtel for at least 11 years and from day one were able to get ABC and SBS through Foxtel. As for the three commercial networks, well given that Sydney Foxtel satellite subscribers can receive them yet Canberra satellite subscribers can't, despite Canberra being in the SAME time zone (AEST), suggests Foxtel's answer of "time delays" and "different regional FTA signals" doesn't hold true either!

If we (Canberra residents in my case) are on a different satellite, why, is it a capacity issue? What satellite/s are Foxtel using and what is the channel capacity of each as is it true each time Foxtel adds yet another channel the bit rate (image quality) of existing channels could go down since satellite channel capacity is finite.

I thought Foxtel announced a while back they were intending to streamline ie simplify or reduce the number of channel or programming offerings, but that seems to have gone to buggery as every few months new channels are being added. At some point capacity will be reached or will Foxtel rent more channel capacity from another satellite?

2) Our Foxtel box is connected to a phone port put in by the Foxtel installer. In reading the FAQ someone stated the phone line connection is ONLY REQUIRED for 'Box Office' and 'Main Event' and if you don't subscribe to these you can disconnect the Foxtel box from the phone line. Now we never order the latest movies or watch 'special sporting events' so I unpluged the Foxtel box from the phone port, yet on doing this we later discovered voices can no longer be heard on our phone instead all that can be heard is static! (plugging the Foxtel box back in to the phone port restores our phone service to normal).

How can this be? Did the Foxtel installer do a 'dodgy' install! Our phone is in a different room and connected to its own phone port so WHY would unplugging the Foxtel box from its phone port affect our phone? This doesn't sound right to me! The Foxtel manual states:

'What is the return path and how does it work?'

"The return path is how your Digital Set Top Unit communicates your selections to us. It will be installed by your technician and runs from the back of your set top unit into your phone line. It is important your return path always remains connected otherwise you won't be able to purchase and watch FOXTEL Box Office"

Again this simply ties in with what is already stated in the FAQ, namely a 'return path' ie phone line connection is ONLY REQUIRED if you subscribe to 'Box Office' or 'Main Event' No where is it stated you will not be able to make or receive phone calls unless your Foxtel STB is plugged in to its phone socket. As I already stated this definitely doesn't sound right as Foxtel should NOT be interfering with our phone service! and if one doesn't require 'Box Office' or 'Main Event' why should the Foxtel box have to be connected to the phone line!

I think the installer was just 'bullshitting' us when he said Foxtel REQUIRED a phone line to work! Isn't the EPG data carried along with the programming anyway? Well it certainly doesn't require a phone line connection. Nor do firmware updates as again the manual states:

'Updates to your digital set-top box'

"From time to time your digital set-top box may be updated. Updates will usually occur automatically. You should not unplug your digital set-top box from the power point as this may affect the installation and the availability of any updates which may occur. Updates provide enhanced features and new screens may become available..."

So updates definitely do NOT require the STB be connected to the phone line!

Also what will happen when by the end of the year Tel$tra have ripped out all the copper cables (for the NBN) as per the letter we received from them. How are we to get Foxtel and make phone calls if Tel$tra take away all the phone lines given that at present it seems we can't makes or receive phone calls unless we have Foxtel connected and we can't have Foxtel unless we have a phone line! (due to the dodgy way the installer has installed Foxtel) Has anyone at Foxtel or Tel$tra bothered to think this through!

3) We have the following Foxtel (branded) STB with the following A/V connections:

UEC DSD/DSN 1000

(L to R):

VCR - 21 pin SCART

TV - 21 pin SCART

RF IN (top)

RF OUT (bottom)

S/PDIF (top) - RCA orange

VIDEO OUT (bottom) - RCA yellow

AUDIO R (top) - RCA red

AUDIO L (bottom) - RCA white

We also have the following DVD Recorders with the following A/V connections:

Panasonic DMR-EX87

(L to R):

RF IN (top)

RF OUT (bottom)

DIGITAL AUDIO OUT (PCM/BITSTREAM) - Optical

COMPONENT VIDEO OUT (Y, PB, PR) - RCA green, blue, red

AV1 (TV) (top) - 21 pin SCART

AV2 (EXT) (bottom) - 21 pin SCART

AV4 OUT (top) - AUDIO-R - RCA red, AUDIO-L - RCA white, VIDEO - RCA yellow, S-VIDEO - 4 pin Mini-DIN

AV4 IN (bottom) - AUDIO-R - RCA red, AUDIO-L - RCA white, VIDEO - RCA yellow, S-VIDEO - 4 pin Mini-DIN

HDMI OUT

Panasonic DMR-XW390GLK

(L to R):

HDMI AV OUT

RF IN (top)

RF OUT (bottom)

DIGITAL AUDIO OUT (PCM/BITSTREAM) - Optical

AV OUT (top) - AUDIO-R - RCA red, AUDIO-L - RCA white, VIDEO - RCA yellow

AV IN (bottom) - AUDIO-R - RCA red, AUDIO-L - RCA white, VIDEO - RCA yellow

We also have the following TV with the following A/V connections:

Panasonic VIERA TH-32A400A

(Top to bottom):

HDMI 1

HDMI 2 (ARC) - HDMI with Aspect Ratio Control

DIGITAL AUDIO OUT

AV COMPONENT IN (L to R) - AUDIO-R - RCA red, AUDIO-L - RCA white, PR/CR - RCA red, PB/CB - RCA blue, YVIDEO - RCA green

Given the Foxtel STB and Panasonic DVD Recorder/s and TV what is the best way to connect all together so as to give, in order of priority:

1) The best possible viewing experience from all

2) The easiest switching between Foxtel & PVR/DVD

3) The least cable/connector clutter

One setup will be with the Panasonic DMR-EX87 DVD Recorder as we still have programmes (nearly all Foxtel) stored on the hard drive we have yet to watch. However the recorder no longer reads DVDs (probably a worn laser) so at some point we'll be replacing the DMR-EX87 with the DMR-XW390 which connection wise is a downgrade since Panasonic have left out S-Video, component video & RGB video so 'crappy' composite video in is the only choice now (talk about going backwards!).

I have read the following on the FAQ:

"What most people do is SCART to component cable from the Foxtel TV SCART for watching Foxtel. (And record composite from Foxtel recorder SCART (using SCART to SCART (composite) Or SCART to RCAs (composite)))"

I think I have it correct that the connection order is Foxtel box to DVD recorder to TV (A to B to C). Can our Foxtel box be set to output component video through the SCARTs as the manual only lists S-Video and RGB as options. RGB is superior to S-Video and presumably the Panasonic DMR-EX87 will accept RGB on its SCART inputs? But the DMR-XW390 only has composite video input.

Will the following setup give the best possible video quality?:

Foxtel RGB out (SCART/VCR) to DMR-EX87 RGB in (SCART/AV1 TV) then RGB out (SCART/AV2 EXT) to TV component video in

Is there any point in going RGB video to component video as won't this require an imperfect 'colour space' conversion which will slightly downgrade image quality, though still better than S-Video? In an ideal world I'd want component video all the way from STB to TV.

Also once we replace the DMR-EX87 with the DMR-XW390 won't this mean going from RGB (Foxtel) to composite (DMR-XW390) to component (TV) which seems completely pointless since image quality would be no better than going composite video all the way through ie from STB to recorder to TV which is what we had with our previous setup with a Sony Super Trinitron TV.

Surely there must be a way around this ie a better way to connect all three (other than the obvious way of A to B to C) to achieve better than plain old composite video image quality? Maybe being able to watch Foxtel and DVDs in better than S-Video quality with only 'recording' of Foxtel in less than S-Video quality, which would be composite video.

Of course there's the same problem with the audio side as to the best set up to achieve the best audio quality. The Foxtel box outputs digital audio (S/PDIF) as do both DVD recorders and the TV (DIGITAL AUDIO OUT), but the DVD recorders and TV only seem to have analogue audio in (Audio L & R).

Edited June 26, 2014 by DarkAvenger1503564407

[Reveen]

Is it possible to change the Live Pause on-screen display from the left over to the right-hand side?

Edited July 31, 2014 by Reveen

[ron12]

I have a number of questions:

1) Brisbane, Melbourne & Sydney can receive the commercial network channels (Nine, Seven, Ten) over satellite, yet Adelaide, Canberra, Perth and WA, who also receive Foxtel by satellite, can only receive ABC & SBS. Does this mean Adelaide, Canberra, Perth & WA are on a different satellite otherwise why would they not receive the same channels if they are on the same satellite?

Foxtel's 'Facts Sheet' states:

Q "Do you broadcast free-to-air channels through your set top unit?"

A "No. FOXTEL transmits a uniform satellite signal. Due to time delays associated with the different regional free-to-air signals, FOXTEL cannot retransmit the free-to-airs via its satellite service"

Well this simply isn't true as we've had Foxtel for at least 11 years and from day one were able to get ABC and SBS through Foxtel. As for the three commercial networks, well given that Sydney Foxtel satellite subscribers can receive them yet Canberra satellite subscribers can't, despite Canberra being in the SAME time zone (AEST), suggests Foxtel's answer of "time delays" and "different regional FTA signals" doesn't hold true either!

If we (Canberra residents in my case) are on a different satellite, why, is it a capacity issue? What satellite/s are Foxtel using and what is the channel capacity of each as is it true each time Foxtel adds yet another channel the bit rate (image quality) of existing channels could go down since satellite channel capacity is finite.

I thought Foxtel announced a while back they were intending to streamline ie simplify or reduce the number of channel or programming offerings, but that seems to have gone to buggery as every few months new channels are being added. At some point capacity will be reached or will Foxtel rent more channel capacity from another satellite?

Foxtel doesn't broadcast the TV channels by satellite, the TV channels do this and pay for this. Foxtel just includes them in their channel numbering scheme. Only the Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane free to air channels do this, and only for their SD channels. Adelaide, Perth, Canberra and others do not.

2) Our Foxtel box is connected to a phone port put in by the Foxtel installer. In reading the FAQ someone stated the phone line connection is ONLY REQUIRED for 'Box Office' and 'Main Event' and if you don't subscribe to these you can disconnect the Foxtel box from the phone line. Now we never order the latest movies or watch 'special sporting events' so I unpluged the Foxtel box from the phone port, yet on doing this we later discovered voices can no longer be heard on our phone instead all that can be heard is static! (plugging the Foxtel box back in to the phone port restores our phone service to normal).

How can this be? Did the Foxtel installer do a 'dodgy' install! Our phone is in a different room and connected to its own phone port so WHY would unplugging the Foxtel box from its phone port affect our phone? This doesn't sound right to me! The Foxtel manual states:

Not sure on the strange behaviour of your phone line. Maybe try plugging in a normal phone instead.

The return path is only required to order main event and pay per view movies. If your box can be connected to the internet (some can) and you have done this and activated the connection then you don't even need the return path phone line, as the internet can do this.

'Updates to your digital set-top box'

"From time to time your digital set-top box may be updated. Updates will usually occur automatically. You should not unplug your digital set-top box from the power point as this may affect the installation and the availability of any updates which may occur. Updates provide enhanced features and new screens may become available..."

So updates definitely do NOT require the STB be connected to the phone line!

No. Updates are installed over the air.

Also what will happen when by the end of the year Tel$tra have ripped out all the copper cables (for the NBN) as per the letter we received from them. How are we to get Foxtel and make phone calls if Tel$tra take away all the phone lines given that at present it seems we can't makes or receive phone calls unless we have Foxtel connected and we can't have Foxtel unless we have a phone line! (due to the dodgy way the installer has installed Foxtel) Has anyone at Foxtel or Tel$tra bothered to think this through!

If your NBN connection will use the NBN's voice line then it will probably support the return path up to a certain speed, as the NBN is supposed to support fax transmission up to 9600 baud. However if your provider uses the data port for voice over IP then you'll have to ask Foxtel as they'd probably be aware of this problem given that they will be affected by the transition to the NBN. Once again, newer Foxtel boxes can connect to the internet so that is one possible solution.

3) We have the following Foxtel (branded) STB with the following A/V connections:

UEC DSD/DSN 1000

(L to R):

VCR - 21 pin SCART

TV - 21 pin SCART

RF IN (top)

RF OUT (bottom)

S/PDIF (top) - RCA orange

VIDEO OUT (bottom) - RCA yellow

AUDIO R (top) - RCA red

AUDIO L (bottom) - RCA white

We also have the following DVD Recorders with the following A/V connections:

Panasonic DMR-EX87

(L to R):

RF IN (top)

RF OUT (bottom)

DIGITAL AUDIO OUT (PCM/BITSTREAM) - Optical

COMPONENT VIDEO OUT (Y, PB, PR) - RCA green, blue, red

AV1 (TV) (top) - 21 pin SCART

AV2 (EXT) (bottom) - 21 pin SCART

AV4 OUT (top) - AUDIO-R - RCA red, AUDIO-L - RCA white, VIDEO - RCA yellow, S-VIDEO - 4 pin Mini-DIN

AV4 IN (bottom) - AUDIO-R - RCA red, AUDIO-L - RCA white, VIDEO - RCA yellow, S-VIDEO - 4 pin Mini-DIN

HDMI OUT

Panasonic DMR-XW390GLK

(L to R):

HDMI AV OUT

RF IN (top)

RF OUT (bottom)

DIGITAL AUDIO OUT (PCM/BITSTREAM) - Optical

AV OUT (top) - AUDIO-R - RCA red, AUDIO-L - RCA white, VIDEO - RCA yellow

AV IN (bottom) - AUDIO-R - RCA red, AUDIO-L - RCA white, VIDEO - RCA yellow

We also have the following TV with the following A/V connections:

Panasonic VIERA TH-32A400A

(Top to bottom):

HDMI 1

HDMI 2 (ARC) - HDMI with Aspect Ratio Control

DIGITAL AUDIO OUT

AV COMPONENT IN (L to R) - AUDIO-R - RCA red, AUDIO-L - RCA white, PR/CR - RCA red, PB/CB - RCA blue, YVIDEO - RCA green

Given the Foxtel STB and Panasonic DVD Recorder/s and TV what is the best way to connect all together so as to give, in order of priority:

1) The best possible viewing experience from all

2) The easiest switching between Foxtel & PVR/DVD

3) The least cable/connector clutter

Foxtel Box TV 21 pin SCART to TV via Scart to component cable

Foxtel VCR out 21 pin SCART to the first DVD recorder's AV input via SCART to SCART cable or SCART to composite cable

Foxtel VIDEO OUT, AUDIO-L and AUDIO-R to the other DVD recorder's AV input via composite cable

Each DVD recorder to the TV via an HDMI cable

Antenna to RF in on one DVD recorder (the one you'll use most to record)

RF out on that DVD recorder to RF in on the other DVD recorder

RF out of the other DVD recorder to the antenna input on the TV.

I assume your TV has an antenna input even though you don't mention it.

One setup will be with the Panasonic DMR-EX87 DVD Recorder as we still have programmes (nearly all Foxtel) stored on the hard drive we have yet to watch. However the recorder no longer reads DVDs (probably a worn laser) so at some point we'll be replacing the DMR-EX87 with the DMR-XW390 which connection wise is a downgrade since Panasonic have left out S-Video, component video & RGB video so 'crappy' composite video in is the only choice now (talk about going backwards!).

It has an HDMI output which is better than component. For the best picture you should connect your TV via HDMI.

I have read the following on the FAQ:

"What most people do is SCART to component cable from the Foxtel TV SCART for watching Foxtel. (And record composite from Foxtel recorder SCART (using SCART to SCART (composite) Or SCART to RCAs (composite)))"

I think I have it correct that the connection order is Foxtel box to DVD recorder to TV (A to B to C). Can our Foxtel box be set to output component video through the SCARTs as the manual only lists S-Video and RGB as options. RGB is superior to S-Video and presumably the Panasonic DMR-EX87 will accept RGB on its SCART inputs? But the DMR-XW390 only has composite video input.

The TV output SCART can output component video. Set the set top box to YUV.

Will the following setup give the best possible video quality?:

Foxtel RGB out (SCART/VCR) to DMR-EX87 RGB in (SCART/AV1 TV) then RGB out (SCART/AV2 EXT) to TV component video in

Half yes if Foxtel outputs RGB to the VCR and your DVD recorder can handle it. In any event you should connect the DVD recorder to the TV via HDMI.

Note that when the TV output is set to YUV, the VCR output is composite, so not sure what happens when the TV output is set to RGB.

Is there any point in going RGB video to component video as won't this require an imperfect 'colour space' conversion which will slightly downgrade image quality, though still better than S-Video? In an ideal world I'd want component video all the way from STB to TV.

Also once we replace the DMR-EX87 with the DMR-XW390 won't this mean going from RGB (Foxtel) to composite (DMR-XW390) to component (TV) which seems completely pointless since image quality would be no better than going composite video all the way through ie from STB to recorder to TV which is what we had with our previous setup with a Sony Super Trinitron TV.

Surely there must be a way around this ie a better way to connect all three (other than the obvious way of A to B to C) to achieve better than plain old composite video image quality? Maybe being able to watch Foxtel and DVDs in better than S-Video quality with only 'recording' of Foxtel in less than S-Video quality, which would be composite video.

Of course there's the same problem with the audio side as to the best set up to achieve the best audio quality. The Foxtel box outputs digital audio (S/PDIF) as do both DVD recorders and the TV (DIGITAL AUDIO OUT), but the DVD recorders and TV only seem to have analogue audio in (Audio L & R).

Unfortunately no.

To get the best possible picture from Foxtel you would nee to get an IQHD box even if you subscribe to the non HD package. This will cost you a one off fee. Then you connect the HDMI output directly to the TV. You will then be able to record and watch the best quality audio and video from Foxtel but only to the Foxtel box. The newer boxes only have one set of analogue video and audio outputs. They output composite and component at the same time (via different video out cables), but no RGB.

Are you sure your Foxtel box doesn't have an HDMI output? Some of the slightly less older ones do.

EDITS: Minot spelling corrections

Edited July 31, 2014 by Ron12

[gbb]

Has anyone on here recorded from a Foxtel IQ 4 or 5 to an external source via an HDMI to composite & rca converter via a stabliliser or has Foxtel prevented this?