Fta On Mystar=joke

[redunderthebed]

Well i got it installed thinking that ill be able to record programs off FTA.First time around the installers didnt hook it up to even test it.I did that and rang back to the technical staff and they booked a time with the technician,technician comes around and tests it again nothing.What has happened is that in my area (and a good chunk of regional SA which central southern cross and southern cross ten cover) the local digital channels are broadcast on the same frequency so mystar gets confused and doesn't know which channel to assign each signal.

The installer said that in about 20-30 boxes they have installed only two in which the FTA has worked.You would think that Austar would research and pre-empt such situations if they are going to advertise the mystar as having FTA channels.The technician said that the problem will be fixed and i will get a phone call from Austar with a solution i do not hold my breath.

/rant over

[Reaper1503560721]

My FTA worked fine, the tech didn't stay to even check if it was working but I got all 5 channels I wanted. I do have to use an adjustable RF attenuator which has stabilised the signal but apart from that I have no complaints. So far I've recorded and viewed successfully from FTA.

It's more an issue with the frequencies over which the channels are broadcast in your area.

[Chappas]

My FTA worked fine, the tech didn't stay to even check if it was working but I got all 5 channels I wanted. I do have to use an adjustable RF attenuator which has stabilised the signal but apart from that I have no complaints. So far I've recorded and viewed successfully from FTA.

It's more an issue with the frequencies over which the channels are broadcast in your area.

I tend to agree that the poor FTA service on your Mystar is to do with your FTA in your area rather than the decoder itself. I'm sure they'll figure out to make it work... eventually.

Remember, you might have TOO MUCH signal in which case you could be getting messages saying you have none.

[ross_w]

I tend to agree that the poor FTA service on your Mystar is to do with your FTA in your area rather than the decoder itself. I'm sure they'll figure out to make it work... eventually.

Remember, you might have TOO MUCH signal in which case you could be getting messages saying you have none.

I have 12 db attenuator and the Starserve distributer gain turned to minimum and I still get a signal strength of 255 (which I assume is maxed out on an 8 bit range). Very strong signal from Mt Sugarloaf (direct LOS and about 22km).

Sometimes it goes too high or disappears (don't know which) and the signal strength becomes 0. Last time this happened I tried removing the attenuator and got FTA back but satellite wouldn't work until I put the attenuator back and reset the Mystar box.

[Reaper1503560721]

Mine was on 255 and would cut to 0 constantly with the signal going crackly and stuttering. I've managed to find a sweet spot that is between 75-125 reported by the mystar box with occasional peaks @ 255. The signal is now great and I don't get the issues I once did. This is all from a $9 adjustable attenuator from jaycar. It seems the mystar box is not very forgiving with any decently strong signal.

[vk2him]

From the checks I have done, when your Mystar decoder is installed Austar associate your Mystar with a list of the local FTA stations in your area. When Mystar is reset it scans through each of these and you can see this on the screen as it cycles through the various transmitters in your area. If the Mystar detects more than one signal on a FTA channel this is what causes the box to lock-up when that channel is selected. For example, where I live I can receive CAPITAL from two transmitter sites. When Mystar resets and scans through, you can see it gets a CAPITAL signal on two of the four transmitters in its table. After the scan finishes, when I select WIN or PRIME it works fine, however as soon as I select CAPITAL the box locks up and I have to reset.

To prove this, I reset the Mystar and when it started to scan through the CAPITAL transmitters I disconnected the FTA antenna and reconnected it when it displayed my LOCAL Capital transmitter. It then worked fine on Capital when the scan ended. I then bought a Jaycar 20db variable attenuator and an inline 7db attenuator so that when Mystar resets and scans it only finds one CAPITAL signal. The interesting part of this is that once Mystar scans and finds only one station, I can then decrease the attenuator setting to zero without any problems, until the Mystar resets again and I then have to turn it to full attenuation.

Austar are aware of this and they say the next Loader version will allow us to manually select the FTA transmitters to lock onto. I think when this happens (they said mid April??), we will be able to disconnect the Attenuators we have.

Maybe give my trick of disconnecting/reconnecting the FTA antenna might work as a short term fix for those who can't get FTA working? Let us know if it works ..

Cheers

Edited April 12, 2008 by vk2him

[vk2him]

xx duplicate post xx

Edited April 12, 2008 by vk2him

[mlaichtastic]

Just a side question - are normal Austar boxes (so not the Mystar) meant to pick up FTA channels? Mine does not.

[DrP]

Only ABC and SBS. The commercial channels are not available via Austar.

[Bobbsy]

The FTA--surprisingly--works fine on my installation.

However, some big buts:

First, initally the technician couldn't get it to work and had no test gear with him to check channels, signal strength etc. He was about to leave (saying it was my antenna) but fortunately I was able to point out that he'd seen FTA digital on the set when he arrived--luckily for me there'd been a programme on that caused him to stop and watch a moment.

He called his supervisor who--again luckily--happened to be in the area with a signal strength meter. He came over, checked, and found no signal at all. It turned out the technician had accidentally broken the antenna lead while running his cables in the loft space.

While the supervisor was there, he also pointed out to the technician that he hadn't installed the "loop" from the Mystar box to my TV to allow me to watch FTA directly. (Why would I want this? I have a HD plasma and like to watch some programmes in High Definition.) The technician told the supervisor they'd been told NOT to do this in their training course; the supervisor said, in effect, "That's bollocks. You're supposed to connect it". It was connected.

So, I fear at least part of the problem is patchy training for the installers. Had I not been lucky I'd have been another one complaining in here about FTA not working.

Bob

[aeon1503559541]

We're getting Ten Digital up here (digital only Free-to-air), apparently as of next week, I wonder how quickly Austar will include this channel on MyStar...

[Douglas]

Three possibilities:

1. You'll go to your MyStar, and it's magically appeared.

2. You'll restart your MyStar, and it will magically appear.

3. You'll wait until the next update comes out, and add it manually.

[aeon1503559541]

Ok, Ten Darwin started up here this morning, and I gave Austar a call - they were actually quite accommodating and after a couple of redirects they put me straight on with a Technician. He asked for the frequency of the channel (though he said they probably did have it already), and said that it will probably become available via Mystar at the next enhancement updated - which he said would be around mid to late May. A fair wait for those customers relying on Mystar for their free-to-air digital TV. I asked if there was any chance it could come through earlier, and he said it has to be coded into the next enhancement.

[barrylb]

Two big disappointments regarding FTA:

* Series Link does NOT work (eg Big Brother and WIN News). It does work with satellite channels. Called technical support about this and they told me this situation is UNLIKELY to improve.

* Local ABC TV is not received so I still need a separate digital set top box/PVR to view/record local ABC TV. The ABC channels sent through the satellite carry different content to my local station (eg local news and sports). Technical support showed little interest and no explanation on why they can't allow the box to tune into local ABC TV channels like the other local channels.

[Douglas]

Two big disappointments regarding FTA:

* Series Link does NOT work (eg Big Brother and WIN News). It does work with satellite channels. Called technical support about this and they told me this situation is UNLIKELY to improve.

Possibly because FTA channels don't transmit series information, which is required to determine whether or not it needs to be recorded (For instance, say you have a series link on Frasier (like me). A series has just ended, and they take you back to the start. The MyStar will assume that it has been recorded, and won't record it again, because recording it would be wasting your time)

* Local ABC TV is not received so I still need a separate digital set top box/PVR to view/record local ABC TV. The ABC channels sent through the satellite carry different content to my local station (eg local news and sports). Technical support showed little interest and no explanation on why they can't allow the box to tune into local ABC TV channels like the other local channels.

Hopefully with the next updates ability to manually tune FTA channels, this will allow you to do so. Hopefully.

[lthompson]

* Local ABC TV is not received so I still need a separate digital set top box/PVR to view/record local ABC TV. The ABC channels sent through the satellite carry different content to my local station (eg local news and sports). Technical support showed little interest and no explanation on why they can't allow the box to tune into local ABC TV channels like the other local channels.

My understanding is that the Mystar shows the Sydney feed of ABC on channel 102, with local ABC available on channel 196.

[barrylb]

My understanding is that the Mystar shows the Sydney feed of ABC on channel 102, with local ABC available on channel 196.

I don't think so - my unit does not have channel 196. It does have channel 195 but that is the Victorian feed.

[barrylb]

Possibly because FTA channels don't transmit series information

This is a likely explanation and I think this is what tech support told me. However, I would prefer it if the MyStar would simply record all programs based on the name of the program. If I set a series link on Big Brother it should record *every* episode with that name. They never repeat episodes. Same with the nightly news. There aren't a lot of repeated programs on free-to-air and I would much rather record everything than nothing at all.

[ozbrit]

If I set a series link on Big Brother it should record *every* episode with that name.

Thats what Mystar did for a time and it was a pain. On Austar many programs are repeated 2-3 times per day/week. We only need one of them in the planner thank you.

Filling your hard drive with big brother - when there's all those great docos on Nat Geographic or Animal Planet or movies in dolby 5.1 what a waste. But your prerogative I guess.

[barrylb]

Thats what Mystar did for a time and it was a pain. On Austar many programs are repeated 2-3 times per day/week. We only need one of them in the planner thank you.

Filling your hard drive with big brother - when there's all those great docos on Nat Geographic or Animal Planet or movies in dolby 5.1 what a waste. But your prerogative I guess.

I am referring to free to air TV only, where they don't often repeat programs. It works the way it should for satellite channels and that is fine but at the moment there is no working Series Link for free to air and my suggestion would pretty much fix the problem.

[DrP]

I am referring to free to air TV only, where they don't often repeat programs.

Except for anything shown on 10 - Medium, House, Numb3rs, Law & Order etc. While its true that the repeat rate pales in comparison to pay TV, 10 still strives to not run new programming.

[barrylb]

Except for anything shown on 10 - Medium, House, Numb3rs, Law & Order etc. While its true that the repeat rate pales in comparison to pay TV, 10 still strives to not run new programming.

You might be thinking of repeats in a different sense... Even though channel 10 shows old episodes of House I don't believe they ever repeat the same episode in the same week (or month etc).. so there would not be an issue with the Mystar recording every episode of House on 10. eg unlike say, the ABC, which shows Four Corners on Monday night at 8.30 then show the same program again at 11.30pm on Tuesday night. This is a true 'repeat'.