Skybox F3

[pacmyc]

After reading thu the whole thread this receiver seems quite OK and Im thinking
of replacing my original Dreambox 800 HD with it.
There's just one thing I'm missing at this point.
In the dreamboxes there is a emulator called SCAM that decodes the Scandinavian government
channels, SVT1, SVT2, NRK1, NRK2, DR1, DR2. This emultor works without any need of a server.

Would it be possible to decode these channels (without a server) somehow on the Skybox F3?
(I haven't quite understood how the SCAM emu works, but I guess the encryption used on these channels are much more simple then on other channels and uses a certain algorithm, that is implemented in SCAM.

Also I earlier had a Viasat receiver (without subscription or card). I found a way to call the danish viasat subscription server,
type in a fake subscription number but the correct s/n of the receiver, and after 5 min the DR1 and DR2 channels were working).
I still can't figure out how it worked but it did.

So, please answer if there are any possibilites to decode these channels offline with the F3, and also if you find the time I would appriciate a short explanation how the SCAM emu works.

 

[rossy]

My Skybox F3 came today, and I tried pressing 6666 on the top entry of Network settings but nothing happens, also FTA channels say they are scrambled or no signal.

I did a blind scan with Network scan enabled and it came up with most of the channels on 28e apart from the ones that have moved over to 1N.

Roland

Hi there


Just had a couple of days playing around with this new toy which was seen as a temporary measure before getting a proper receiver. No need to look further for my needs. The blind scan is superb and great for finding feeds and is faster than most I have seen.

I was worried that the motorised section would be troublsome to use as I have always had problems getting usals to work properly and have used descq to move dish from 58w to 42e and was anticipating a long session of searching and nudging to get strongest signal levels on all sats but after having put in the lat and long and finding the ref satellite at 0.8w I was. Amazed and happy to find all sats were all on full signal including the notoriously difficult nilesat. Only minor issue was on badr on 26e but a minor adjustment and all were back on track.


The network capabilities worked easily and connected via Ethernet to my home network at first attempt but seems like on the firmware on there at the moment that the weather app does not want to work or I am just doing something dumb but tried many options to get it to work but just says no data with any city input.

I found an old biss key file which I updated to use for 10e and 30w sport channels .it was all very easy to edit and upload constant.cw via USB likewise with a softcam.key file as well. I have added channels on all sats but did come up with one niggling problem with a channel capacity of 5000 I had soon filled that up and will need some editing work to get rid of the excess and superfluous channels scanning for one transponder or all transponders was easy to navigate around and it can do a search on all sats but with my 5000 limit not much point in doing that. The lack of an rf output is a minor distraction which I had used before to feed the sat signal around the house will have to have a think about that one.

Thats where I have got to so far but I'm pretty impressed with it so far and pic quality on hd is excellent

Cheers

 

[Lazarus]

Excellent review, Rossy and I'm glad that your conclusion seems to be, like the rest of us who've acquired one, that the F3 is 99% of the Bog's Dollocks. There are always "issues", but frankly the scope and extent of them with the F3 is minimal.

Bit surprised about the Weather App as this was the first Networky type thing I tried and is absolutely fine. Possible finger trouble?

 

[tebaa]

the Weather App has stopped working on mine aswell but its still all good

 

[Lazarus]

Just tried and you are both right - now no longer works with a previously known "City" nor with bigguns (Like London).

Not sure why this is, but judging by shenanigans with PC Weather Apps over the last few months, I suspect it is either a glitch or a policy change at the Data Provider's end.

 

[aceb]

The lack of an rf output is a minor distraction which I had used before to feed the sat signal around the house will have to have a think about that one.

Same here but I managed to find an old modulator from what I think was a Ferguson video camera kicking around in a box, some trial and error finding the video and audio input and it works perfectly connected to a surplus 5V plugpack. I've also got a couple of old Phillips analogue sat receivers that will modulate what comes in on the Scart sockets so have one of them connected to a video camera overlooking the front but it would work equally well connected to the F3. No point spending £30 or more on a new modulator when this kind of surplus can be found FOC. The cheapest 'digital' modulator seems to be about £250 so it looks like we're stuck with at least a little bit of analogue for the foreseeable!

 

[rossy]

Same here but I managed to find an old modulator from what I think was a Ferguson video camera kicking around in a box, some trial and error finding the video and audio input and it works perfectly connected to a surplus 5V plugpack. I've also got a couple of old Phillips analogue sat receivers that will modulate what comes in on the Scart sockets so have one of them connected to a video camera overlooking the front but it would work equally well connected to the F3. No point spending £30 or more on a new modulator when this kind of surplus can be found FOC. The cheapest 'digital' modulator seems to be about £250 so it looks like we're stuck with at least a little bit of analogue for the foreseeable!

Found a small rf modulator on fleabay for£18 and signal going round the house. Simple but work . Happy bunny

 

[Hughes]

Well,it's done, I've ordered a Skybox F3 from Sat4all on the auction site. They weren't the cheapest, but mentioned they were anti cardsharing, which I liked. When I reached checkout however I discovered they probably are the cheapest for me as they only charged 7 pounds for Royal Mail International signed for to Spain.

Tivù, many thanks for your encouragement. I'll look into the pendrive at a later date. At the moment I'm extremely happy with the Foxsat HDR, also inspired by you, which I bought second hand a year ago on the auction site. Using an AB switch I toggle between Freesat 28ºEast, and non-Freesat, which gives me 9, 13, 19, and 26ºEast, 5 orbital positions in total.

Nano, I had no intention, nor did it cross my mind that I might be "winding you up" I'm not a comedian, but perhaps I was a bit euphoric this afternoon, possibly brought on by the thought of buying the Skybox F3. I'm totally opposed to illegal electronic activities. I never download books, music, films or series illicitly, unlike many people around here ( and I mean here in Spain, not here on the forum ). I do bend the rules a bit in that I have a UK Sky subscription using my parents' address in England, and I have a Digital+ subscription here, but have sent the box to my brother-in-law in Scandinavia.


Well, I've had the excitement of the purchase. Now the excitement of waiting for Mr Postman.

 

[Hughes]

Skybox F3 delivered this morning, pretty quick from London to Galicia. Now I have to learn how to use it!

 

[Lazarus]

Not a difficult job - It's surprisingly intuitive.

Setting up Ethernet/WiFi is easy.

If you use Softcams, go to the correct Root Menu and Press 6666 to activate.

The rest is much the same as any other Receiver.

It's all in the recent Threads in this Skybox section of the Forum (somewhere!).

 

[rossy]

TiVu is 100%. Correct. You will be up and running in minutes . If you want a copy of my channel list of sats and channels from 37w to 39e I can send. Only limit I had was the 5000 channels but by deleting all the unnecessary channels its more than enough . You can however use the blind scan to find them yourself as it does appear to be very sensitive and also very fast. It also has a good feature in that it will go and scan all sats if you want to get it going and just leave it to do its own thing. One minor irritation which was highlighted before is the message that pops up saying moving dish when in fact it is not moving which you have to hit exit toget it off the screen. The remote could do with being a bit bigger if you have chunky fingers! Hope you enjoy your new purchase

cheers

Rossy

 

[Hughes]

With little free time available, it's going to take a while, but so far I'm delighted with the Skybox F3. I've only got as far as installing four satellites with a 4x1 DiSeqc and have noticed that the SD pictures seem very good. I love the information button, which, among other things gives a large signal and quality readout, great for peaking the dish and LNB without a meter while peering through the living room window from the garden or trying to see the TV screen in the garden in bright daylight, and the information stays indefinitely until you press the key again rather than disappearing after a few seconds or when the signal is lost. Blindscan is a real boon, bringing in channels I didn't know existed as I rarely have the patience to trawl through satellite listings adding transponders to out- of- date receivers. So it's a yes from me!

Thanks for encouragement and offers of help.I'll be back soon with more comments, but for now Buenas Noches/Boas Noites, Spanish/Galician for Goodnight.

 

[Lazarus]

The Info bar can be "timed out" (when you find the Option!) >> Having it on permanently is great for setting up, but would become tiresome in normal use. IIRC, there are 5 sec, 10sec and Always On options.

 

[Analoguesat]

Might get one of these - my GDS7000 (used for 53E / 52.5E / 42E) is playing up.

 

[Lazarus]

And maybe an HD_Ready Telly ..................... ???

 

[Vipersan]

And maybe an HD_Ready Telly ..................... ???

A step too far methinks...
???

 

[PaulR]

And maybe an HD_Ready Telly ..................... ???

AS's TV is as HD ready as it ever will be!

Besides. there's always the scart.

 

[Analoguesat]

One quick question - does the composite (yellow) video work - with no scart on the box I would need that to connect it to the rf modulator I use in my distro system.

No tvs at all with hdmi here - even component is too new for out kit

I would swap one of the numerous spare SD only rx's but thats no good for looking at the S2 52.5E stuff.

 

[Lazarus]

AS's TV is as HD ready as it ever will be!

Besides. there's always the scart.

Slight problem there, then - no SCART on the F3. They clearly don't expect folk to use vintage technology!


Edit: Just noticed AS is aware of that.

 

[wod]

A step too far methinks...
???

analoguesat will be fine as there isn't engima 2 linux on them is there lol, do you still have the vu+ duo ?

does anyone have the m3 model i've seen about, could do with getting one of these as the dr hd f15 seems sold out.