Will Austar Satelite Box Work In Foxtel Area?

[bigkingfish]

Dear All,

A cousin who has Austar in regional NSW recently visited me in Sydney. They brought their satelite box with them to plug in at my place, as I have a 'no longer used' but correctly alligned Foxtel dish and cabling.

The box did not work and just had 'scan' up on the Menu. Thesignal strgth was 100%. It's a new AUSTAR 'Flinders' box with a valid, legal AUSTAR smartcard. I checked the installation out again by grabbing the neighbours FOXTEL sat box and it all worked, just not the Austar box.

I can;t even get into the MENU function, as it just sits on the openign page with all the signal readings and wont change.

I understand Austar is for regional use, but can anyone tell me if/how we can get this to work, or does the Austar footprint not cover city areas at all?

[mtv]

Both Austar and Foxtel satellite signals can be received anywhere in Australia where you have a clear view of the C1 satellite (they are both on C1).

Chances are the LNB setting of the Austar box doesn't match the LNB on your dish.

EG: one dish has an LNB with a local oscillator (LO) of 10700 MHz and the other dish may have the older LNB with the LO of 11300 MHz

[sjsh]

Dear All,

A cousin who has Austar in regional NSW recently visited me in Sydney. They brought their satelite box with them to plug in at my place, as I have a 'no longer used' but correctly alligned Foxtel dish and cabling.

The box did not work and just had 'scan' up on the Menu. Thesignal strgth was 100%. It's a new AUSTAR 'Flinders' box with a valid, legal AUSTAR smartcard. I checked the installation out again by grabbing the neighbours FOXTEL sat box and it all worked, just not the Austar box.

I can;t even get into the MENU function, as it just sits on the openign page with all the signal readings and wont change.

I understand Austar is for regional use, but can anyone tell me if/how we can get this to work, or does the Austar footprint not cover city areas at all?

The footprint of both providers definitely overlap. Your system should work fine, maybe the LNB (located on the dish arm) may be dead or maybe your dish isn't truly set to the Optus C1 satellite (Foxtel/Austar)....perhaps you could subscribe to Foxtel satellite and get a second IQ which your cousin could then use in the country, he'd need a dual LNB and two cable input, but....IQ is unquantifiably superior to a flinders box...

[mrfixits]

The footprint of both providers definitely overlap. Your system should work fine, maybe the LNB (located on the dish arm) may be dead or maybe your dish isn't truly set to the Optus C1 satellite (Foxtel/Austar)....perhaps you could subscribe to Foxtel satellite and get a second IQ which your cousin could then use in the country, he'd need a dual LNB and two cable input, but....IQ is unquantifiably superior to a flinders box...

Hey sjsh...he said he "checked the installation out again by grabbing the neighbours FOXTEL sat box and it all worked, just not the Austar box" so this means that the dish is fine.

[austartech]

Both Austar and Foxtel satellite signals can be received anywhere in Australia where you have a clear view of the C1 satellite (they are both on C1).

Chances are the LNB setting of the Austar box doesn't match the LNB on your dish.

EG: one dish has an LNB with a local oscillator (LO) of 10700 MHz and the other dish may have the older LNB with the LO of 11300 MHz

it should work as signal strength is 100% therefore lnb must be correct.Firstly i'd try the reset button on front of box.

[bigkingfish]

Both Austar and Foxtel satellite signals can be received anywhere in Australia where you have a clear view of the C1 satellite (they are both on C1).

Chances are the LNB setting of the Austar box doesn't match the LNB on your dish.

EG: one dish has an LNB with a local oscillator (LO) of 10700 MHz and the other dish may have the older LNB with the LO of 11300 MHz

Thanks MTV,

I would try to change the LNB setting, but I can't seem to access access the MENU function when I tunr the FLinders box on..., it doesn't seem to let me??

UPDATE: There is a button called 'ACTIVE" on the Flinders box. I pressed this and it allowed me to acess the menu and set up features. Changed the LNB to 11300MHz ..all fixed!!

Edited October 11, 2008 by bigkingfish

[viewer1503559544]

Thanks MTV,

I would try to change the LNB setting, but I can't seem to access access the MENU function when I tunr the FLinders box on..., it doesn't seem to let me??

UPDATE: There is a button called 'ACTIVE" on the Flinders box. I pressed this and it allowed me to acess the menu and set up features. Changed the LNB to 11300MHz ..all fixed!!

Ahhh....another happy chappy...

[pom11]

i have a dish with the two outlets on the lnb iam guessing these are for iq

what one do i use for my austar decoder box ?

first time user here please be gentle with me

[DrP]

You could use either connector for your Austar box, but you still may have to adjust the LNB settings under dish setup in the 'active' menu.

Are you under contract with Austar?

[pom11]

You could use either connector for your Austar box, but you still may have to adjust the LNB settings under dish setup in the 'active' menu.

Are you under contract with Austar?

yes iam with austar thanks for the info

[pom11]

i finally have the austar box up and running but some channels the picture is pixelated and others are fine what causes this ?

[mtv]

i finally have the austar box up and running but some channels the picture is pixelated and others are fine what causes this ?

The most common cause... LNB skew is out. (or LNB is faulty)

The dish itself is not aligned correctly, or deformed.

Try the other output of the LNB.

[pom11]

The most common cause... LNB skew is out. (or LNB is faulty)

The dish itself is not aligned correctly, or deformed.

Try the other output of the LNB.

will do many thanks.

[alexcs]

ok guys, so i cant find any info via search.

if i wanted to use an IQ2 in an austar area (bathurst nsw) what do i need to do. have someone in a foxtel sat area to subscribe to iq2, and then just use their box up here? im off contract with austar, currently using mystar.

thanks.

[DrP]

That you have a mystar should mean you have two cables to your mystar's location so it should just be a case of plugging the IQ2 in, possibly changing the LNB frequency in the IQ2 and away it goes. Depending on what you do with it you may also need to connect it to a telephone line.

Of course, doing this is a breach of the Foxtel contract terms.

[alexcs]

That you have a mystar should mean you have two cables to your mystar's location so it should just be a case of plugging the IQ2 in, possibly changing the LNB frequency in the IQ2 and away it goes. Depending on what you do with it you may also need to connect it to a telephone line.

Of course, doing this is a breach of the Foxtel contract terms.

ok thanks, so are they likely to find out though? as long as the legit subscriber keeps paying the bills, i assume they wont care.

[alexcs]

this also raises a question, in that if foxtel sat can use iq2, why isnt austar capitalising on this and immediately releasing a rebranded iq2 box for their area? it seems insane not to.

[mtv]

this also raises a question, in that if foxtel sat can use iq2, why isnt austar capitalising on this and immediately releasing a rebranded iq2 box for their area? it seems insane not to.

Because they are separate services and there is insufficient transponder space on the Optus C1 satellite.

Austar propose to offer the equivalent 'Mystar' when the D3 satellite is commissioned.

I agree, the logical move would be an almalgamation of Foxtel/Austar... one platform, half the transponder cost.

[DrP]

Because they are separate services and there is insufficient transponder space on the Optus C1 satellite.

...

I agree, the logical move would be an almalgamation of Foxtel/Austar... one platform, half the transponder cost.

Space has little to do with it since the HD and SD MPEG4 AVC streams are already there. All that would be needed to be done is simulcrypt (if Austar insist on using their own STB which will no doubt be a disaster ala mystar) or resell Foxtel's IQ2 if an acceptable financial arrangement could be reached with Foxtel. There would be no significant transponder cost savings either unless, for some bizarre reason, Austar decided to transmit an entirely separate lot of video and audio streams for their HD service (this of course excludes the FTA retransmissions).

The only reason I can see Austar needing to develop its own HD product would be to include FTA terrestrial tuners in it. If Austar realises that while this is an admirable thing to do its implementation is more trouble than its worth (see MyStar) and bites the bullet and resells Foxtel's IQ2 all Austar subscribers will reap the benefit of having a working, stable HD PVR for pay TV.

Edited May 14, 2009 by DrP

[Eddy Current]

Austar are definitely developing a HD version of mystar. Or are they developing their own version of HD? stay tuned for the black screen

The only reason I can see Austar needing to develop its own HD product would be to include FTA terrestrial tuners in it. If Austar realises that while this is an admirable thing to do its implementation is more trouble than its worth (see MyStar) and bites the bullet and resells Foxtel's IQ2 all Austar subscribers will reap the benefit of having a working, stable HD PVR for pay TV.

Edited May 14, 2009 by Eddy Current

[davmel]

Austar are definitely developing a HD version of mystar.

They still don't have Irdeto ECM's on the HD channels so there is no possibility of any MyStar HD unit (even in testing) receiving and decoding the HD channels just yet from the sat.

So if they haven't even begun testing then the 'development' of MyStar HD really hasn't gone anywhere yet beyond "Porter marketing BS".

[DrP]

Its possible that lab testing is being done where its easy enough to rollup a signal via a PC or other means for testing, ie it hasn't progressed to the point of 'live' use. However as you say its still likely to be marketing BS at this point.

[sjsh]

as long as the legit subscriber keeps paying the bills, i assume they wont care.

Exactly!!!

BTW have you got the setup working yet? There will be no need for you to connect the phone cable to the IQ2 as you will not be accessing the pay per view options. But on demand should work perfectly. Small drawback to achieve a massive quality boost.

Remember though, that if the LNB was single you will need to replace it with a dual (plenty of Sharp duals on ebay) and run a second cable. Let us know once you have everything up and running.

[alexcs]

Exactly!!!

BTW have you got the setup working yet? There will be no need for you to connect the phone cable to the IQ2 as you will not be accessing the pay per view options. But on demand should work perfectly. Small drawback to achieve a massive quality boost.

Remember though, that if the LNB was single you will need to replace it with a dual (plenty of Sharp duals on ebay) and run a second cable. Let us know once you have everything up and running.

Id dearly love to do this, but the cost is holding me back at the moment unfortunately. Too much other stuff to pay off I also find I dont watch pay tv much due to work hours etc. Might be a project for next year, I doubt Austar will get an IQ2-quality product to air by then.

[CRD]

Can i relocate my foxtel dish and box and get signal from C1 satellite any where in Asia?