Skybox F3

aceb

aceb

Specialist Contributor
Joined
Oct 2, 2007
Messages
1,537
Reaction score
842
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
Prof Tuner 7301 /
1.25m Gibertini + Inverto B.Ultra/C1W, Moteck H180, 68.5E-67W Ku/C-Band /
1.8m Precision PF + ESX241/Inverto Black Pro, 66E-63W Ku/C-band /
2.4m Fortec Star+Titanium C1W/Pride plate, 49E-58W
My Location
Sussex
I finally managed to get the dish up and am now watching the TdF in stunning HD from the NBC feed. There's the usual 422 feeds on that sat like ITN Newsnet and the box appears to throw up random blocks of colour but audio is decoded OK. As I don't know the difference 422 is to 420 what chance is there that new firmware could render 422?
 
M

Mickha

Super Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Dec 10, 2004
Messages
6,056
Reaction score
931
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
1.2M Channel Master, 1224 motor, VU+ Duo 2
My Location
North West
4:2:2 feeds require decoding via your PC as I think only the AZ Box has the ability to do so without using a PC.
 
Vipersan

Vipersan

Emmett Browns Ghost
Joined
Jun 29, 2009
Messages
10,918
Reaction score
6,663
Points
113
Age
67
My Satellite Setup
IP9000HD +
TD110 Dish and TD88 Dish in Tandem
66°East to 60°West.
AZbox PrmHD + OpnbxS9HD + Skybox + DrHD F15
2x VboxII AZ-EL
2 m+ Alcoa PF + BSC421 C-Band lnbf...
+SS2/TwHnS2-3200 pci/TBS6925 pci
1.5 Fortec Star -Gbox - HtoH Ku/Ka/C
My Location
UK
@ Tivu

Well ...as promised I reformatted a 100gb sata drive in a pocket caddy with ntfs..
So ..single wire usb male to male standard to mini connection...
No external power source needed ..
Made a 1 hour recording of CH4HD ...
Playback smooth and uninterrupted.

BUT ...the fly in the ointment..
Silly stupid design flaw ..
The USB connection is on the front unlike the S9HD which has it on the rear.
The obvious annoyance with this is the inability to close the front flap when a drive is connected.
Definately an oversight and bad design as most users who want the F3 as a PVR ..will most likely want to leave the drive permanently connected ..
A usb stick would be less intrusive but still requires the gate leaving open.
so 10 out of 10 for functionality ...but minus 100 for good thinking ie bad design.
rgds
VS

Oh ..and worth mentioning that Huntington beach live cams @22 west produced pictures on the F3 with the TV_prog data copied (with channels scanned) from the S9 to the F3 ..
Thus the issue _is_ definately isolated to the S9HD
 
Lazarus

Lazarus

Retired Moderator
Joined
May 29, 2009
Messages
27,190
Reaction score
8,726
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
80cm Motorised.
Several small Dishes.
Much else.
My Location
North York Moors
Thanks, VS.

Glad to hear about the HDD success.

The issue with the front panel USB port was the reason I constipated getting an M3 instead - but I rather felt the M3 would run v.hot and not cope well with driving a motor.

My little WiFi dongle actually looks quite neat plugged into the front panel, though and it does (ahem) all that one might wish, quite happily.
 
sonnetpete

sonnetpete

Grumpy Old Retired Moderator and quiz inquisitor..
Joined
Dec 13, 2008
Messages
8,963
Reaction score
3,508
Points
113
Age
74
Website
wordpress.com
My Satellite Setup
Laminas 1.2M fibre dish with an IBU, on a Clarke Tech USALS motor, covering 57E - 24.5W to an Octagon SX88. Displayed on a 20" Dyon LED TV.

Seperate 80 cm dish on 28E with a Humax Freesat for SWMBO.
Free Sat V8 meter. Sony Bravia 46" LCD, Sony BluRay and Home Cinema.
My Location
Normandy, France
Vipersan said:
Made a 1 hour recording of CH4HD ...
Click to expand...

Not around the time Countdown happened to be on by any chance?.......
 
Costactc

Costactc

Regular Member
Joined
May 30, 2012
Messages
811
Reaction score
763
Points
93
Age
59
My Satellite Setup
3m channel master mesh-24" vonweise actuator-ps1 x2 lnbf(L)-pansat ap3500 positioner-x2 premium III-vu+solo2.
2.4m fortec solid-24" vonweise actuator-esx 241 lnbf(c)-vbox 7 positioner- dm800.
1.2m fortec-24"sj actuator-invacom snh-031--tm 5402 m3.
My Location
Canada
aceb said:
I finally managed to get the dish up and am now watching the TdF in stunning HD from the NBC feed. There's the usual 422 feeds on that sat like ITN Newsnet and the box appears to throw up random blocks of colour but audio is decoded OK. As I don't know the difference 422 is to 420 what chance is there that new firmware could render 422?
Click to expand...

4:2:2 and 4:2:0 feeds can be seperated by audio, if your receiving audio then it's 4:2:2. A receiver being capable of opening these feeds is a hardware issue not firmware.
 
Vipersan

Vipersan

Emmett Browns Ghost
Joined
Jun 29, 2009
Messages
10,918
Reaction score
6,663
Points
113
Age
67
My Satellite Setup
IP9000HD +
TD110 Dish and TD88 Dish in Tandem
66°East to 60°West.
AZbox PrmHD + OpnbxS9HD + Skybox + DrHD F15
2x VboxII AZ-EL
2 m+ Alcoa PF + BSC421 C-Band lnbf...
+SS2/TwHnS2-3200 pci/TBS6925 pci
1.5 Fortec Star -Gbox - HtoH Ku/Ka/C
My Location
UK
Sadly no Pete...some sickly program about hosting a dinner party for a cash prize..
Not my bag really ...so will be erased forthwith.
;)
rgds
VS
 
Lazarus

Lazarus

Retired Moderator
Joined
May 29, 2009
Messages
27,190
Reaction score
8,726
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
80cm Motorised.
Several small Dishes.
Much else.
My Location
North York Moors
VS, did you try Live Pause/TSR on the HDD?
 
Vipersan

Vipersan

Emmett Browns Ghost
Joined
Jun 29, 2009
Messages
10,918
Reaction score
6,663
Points
113
Age
67
My Satellite Setup
IP9000HD +
TD110 Dish and TD88 Dish in Tandem
66°East to 60°West.
AZbox PrmHD + OpnbxS9HD + Skybox + DrHD F15
2x VboxII AZ-EL
2 m+ Alcoa PF + BSC421 C-Band lnbf...
+SS2/TwHnS2-3200 pci/TBS6925 pci
1.5 Fortec Star -Gbox - HtoH Ku/Ka/C
My Location
UK
Tivù said:
VS, did you try Live Pause/TSR on the HDD?
Click to expand...

Hi Gordon..
Not a feature I use really ...but in the interest of experiment ...and because you asked..
I enabled the feature with a 10 minute buffer ..
Switched to CH4HD again ..and hit pause after 1 minute ..
9 mintues 50 seconds later I hit play/resume...and the action continued flawlessly ...
Finished watching the program 4 rooms without any problems.
Conclusion therefore ..is that it works just fine with the 100gb sata portable drive.
rgds
VS
 
Lazarus

Lazarus

Retired Moderator
Joined
May 29, 2009
Messages
27,190
Reaction score
8,726
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
80cm Motorised.
Several small Dishes.
Much else.
My Location
North York Moors
Excellent news, VS: Instead of fannying about with USB sticks, I am now minded to get the dinky 80gb Portable Drive I saw on fleabay a few days ago.

Next month's budget, though - spent too much already this month.

PS: Didn't twig how to specify the Buffer size before, but I guess it should be easy enough.
 
Vipersan

Vipersan

Emmett Browns Ghost
Joined
Jun 29, 2009
Messages
10,918
Reaction score
6,663
Points
113
Age
67
My Satellite Setup
IP9000HD +
TD110 Dish and TD88 Dish in Tandem
66°East to 60°West.
AZbox PrmHD + OpnbxS9HD + Skybox + DrHD F15
2x VboxII AZ-EL
2 m+ Alcoa PF + BSC421 C-Band lnbf...
+SS2/TwHnS2-3200 pci/TBS6925 pci
1.5 Fortec Star -Gbox - HtoH Ku/Ka/C
My Location
UK
Tivù said:
Excellent news, VS: Instead of fannying about with USB sticks, I am now minded to get the dinky 80gb Portable Drive I saw on fleabay a few days ago.

Next month's budget, though - spent too much already this month.

PS: Didn't twig how to specify the Buffer size before, but I guess it should be easy enough.
Click to expand...

Easy enough to change the buffer size ..
Its located in the PVR menu..
The only problem I can see in your case is that there is only one usb port ...which ..ahem...will most likely be in use ..
So where to plug your drive ?
I use cat6 hardwired ethernet ...so don't have this problem ..
..but I guess you could use a usb hub ??
rgds
VS
 
Lazarus

Lazarus

Retired Moderator
Joined
May 29, 2009
Messages
27,190
Reaction score
8,726
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
80cm Motorised.
Several small Dishes.
Much else.
My Location
North York Moors
Well, possibly a hub, but I think that's messy.

So if I waqnt a full range of features at one time, Ethernet it will be (which is where I came in!) - the Dogle was only £1.99 plus pp, and may have other uses.

But I'm not that sure that, as my hobby box, I'll need Interweb and PVR (chiefly Live Pause) simultaneously often - if at all.

Still, it's all good fun.
 
Lazarus

Lazarus

Retired Moderator
Joined
May 29, 2009
Messages
27,190
Reaction score
8,726
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
80cm Motorised.
Several small Dishes.
Much else.
My Location
North York Moors
Just bunged the 8GB stick in to check - If I select Record and TSR, it automatically allocates 2/3 to Rec and 1/3 to TSR.

No option to adjust.

BUT, I suspect this is due to the stick being FAT32 - I tried to format it as NTFS both using the Skybox F3 and with a suitable (ie non-Microsh*t!) prog. on PC. Fails
 
PaulR

PaulR

Dazed and Confused Admin
Staff member
Joined
Jun 28, 2003
Messages
18,060
Reaction score
4,074
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
-----------See sig-----------
My Location
Wirral, NW UK and Vaucluse, France.
TSR?

I remember a time when that meant a Terminate and Stay Resident program that was launched in the autoexec.bat at startup.

Ah well, :-topic
 
Lazarus

Lazarus

Retired Moderator
Joined
May 29, 2009
Messages
27,190
Reaction score
8,726
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
80cm Motorised.
Several small Dishes.
Much else.
My Location
North York Moors
Now it just means Totally Sh*t Recordings!
 
Topper

Topper

Amo Amas Amant Admin
Staff member
Joined
Nov 18, 2004
Messages
24,009
Reaction score
4,024
Points
113
Age
70
My Satellite Setup
Has gone to a good home elsewhere
My Location
Blackburn, Lancashire
PaulR said:
TSR?

I remember a time when that meant a Terminate and Stay Resident program that was launched in the autoexec.bat at startup.

Ah well, :-topic
Click to expand...


Yes I also remember that but before DOS was using it TSR was a car, The Triumph TSR
-http://www.revingtontr.com/shop/carhomepage.asp?CarType=TRS&

OK back on Topic again, it sounds like a lot of stb's these days some features are great and others not so great, in a strange sort of way, I am glad I have not got the dosh to sit being frustrated by the situation.
 
PaulR

PaulR

Dazed and Confused Admin
Staff member
Joined
Jun 28, 2003
Messages
18,060
Reaction score
4,074
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
-----------See sig-----------
My Location
Wirral, NW UK and Vaucluse, France.
Dyslexia rules K.O.

That's a Triumph TRS!
 
Topper

Topper

Amo Amas Amant Admin
Staff member
Joined
Nov 18, 2004
Messages
24,009
Reaction score
4,024
Points
113
Age
70
My Satellite Setup
Has gone to a good home elsewhere
My Location
Blackburn, Lancashire
PaulR said:
Dyslexia rules K.O.

That's a Triumph TRS!
Click to expand...

Haha yes shows my current state of mind
 
Vipersan

Vipersan

Emmett Browns Ghost
Joined
Jun 29, 2009
Messages
10,918
Reaction score
6,663
Points
113
Age
67
My Satellite Setup
IP9000HD +
TD110 Dish and TD88 Dish in Tandem
66°East to 60°West.
AZbox PrmHD + OpnbxS9HD + Skybox + DrHD F15
2x VboxII AZ-EL
2 m+ Alcoa PF + BSC421 C-Band lnbf...
+SS2/TwHnS2-3200 pci/TBS6925 pci
1.5 Fortec Star -Gbox - HtoH Ku/Ka/C
My Location
UK
Topper said:
Haha yes shows my current state of mind
Click to expand...

Try to relax Topper ...take a chill pill ...and ..and ...and...go out and treat yourself to a new pair of shoes...
rgds
VS
 
R

Rolandh

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 30, 2011
Messages
97
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Age
46
My Satellite Setup
Zone 1 Mini Dish with a Quad LNB Feeding Astra 2 and EB 1 to a Humax Faxsat-HDR 500 and a Humax Foxsat-HD, A Quad LNB on the same Zone 1 Mini Dish Feedind Astra 1 to a Humax Foxsat-HD via a 2 port DiseqC Switch
My Location
Sheffield
I ordered my Skybox F3 yesterday after a month of deciding and looking around eBay for a good bargain, finally ordered one for £47.95 from a UK seller & impatiently awaiting for it to arrive.

How easy is it to setup CCCAM as I'm thinking about ordering a 1 month free gift when I've had the chance to set the box up and get a good idea of how it all works?

Roland
 
Top