Using your Digibox

Last updated 2nd July 2008

 

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Dual LNBs.
A bent coat hanger and some zip-strips and I can watch channels from two satellites! [read more about this]

 

28.2°E (SkyDigital) Free-to-Air

News:
 
  • Coming soon - Zone Horror + 1
    If the scheduling of your regular dose of nubile chicks getting sliced'n'diced by a masked killer clashed with programming on other channels, fear not, for Zone Horror + 1 is coming!
     
  • Some other new channels...
    If you like hunting ghosts, UFOs, life after death, and such then perhaps your favourite haunt will be The Paranormal Channel which is available at 11489 V 27500 VID=2334 AUID=2335 PCRID=2336.
    (and if you think that was a bad pun, be assured that they get progressively worse! ☺)
    Alternatively, if you would like to enjoy obscure movies from equally obscure places, why not try out World Movies? It is at 11527 V 27500 VID=2360 AUID=2361 PCRID=2360.
     
  • AnimeCentral changes tuning
    The sister channel (PopGirl) has increased its broadcast hours. In response to this, AnimeCentral has changed to its own stream. They're still showing repeats of GITS:SAC/GITS:SAC2/Bebop, but let's hope this change means something good is ahead...
    Anyway, the tuning info is 11642 V 27500 VID=2341 AUID=2342 PCRID=2305; more details here.
     
  • Bubble Hits - try it...
    Bubble Hits logo One night I happened upon Bubble Hits. It was late at night, they were playing a segment (11pm-0am UK time; Mon-Thur) called "Bubble Cuddle" which I thought was kinda cute. On the strength of that I slotted Bubble Hits in as my channel 25, in place of the disgraced B4.

    Now lets get the bad stuff out of the way first... This channel plays too much rap. This is not so much a criticism of the channel as it is a reflection of how many people seem to think that it is a good style of music. I wonder, do so many people really like rap, or do they only like it because their parents really hate it? ☺ And, also, this channel plays way too much of Leona Lewis. I am probably alone in thinking that she is "okay" (yes, just "okay", nothing special), and it isn't really fair to comment on the channel playing a Leona song every other song because, well, I think she's got three or four tracks out at the same time? The word I'd use is "overexposed".
    Oh, and the Digital On-screen Graphic is too brash, a spot of subtle alpha-blending would be much appreciated! Now here's what is great about this channel. It is, I believe, an independent Irish outfit I feel this has given them a certain flexibility, they aren't "yet another clone music channel". Let's look at Bubble Hits. Possibly entirely unique in the world, they have broken up their schedule so that we have about three music videos, followed by a small number of adverts. In fact, the disembodied announcer takes pride in saying "got a stopwatch handy?" because they'll be back with the music in sixty seconds (I measured 63 seconds!). All in, we probably get the same amount of advertising as any other channel, but given in small doses like that it's almost pleasant. As soon as the Magnum Mayan Mystica (that is Eva Longoria isn't it?!?) advert comes on, I know I've just about enough time to run into the kitchen and grab a chunky-sized KitKat. If I get at all sidetracked (like pouring a pineapple juice to atone for the chocoholicism), it's a rush to be back in time for the next lot of songs; unlike some channels where I have time to put on the kettle, make a tea, drink it, digest it, pee it, and head back just in time to see that DFS has yet another sale... I don't know who thought up this idea, but it is brilliant! Fitting in advertising (the necessary evil) in as unobtrusive a way as possible.

    If I could make only one suggestion to the people at Bubble Hits, I would ask if it would be possible for them to look to including some of the lesser known artists and maybe some unsigned ones? Something outside of The World According To Simon Cowell at any rate. Perhaps once in a while some music that is not new, but is good and not the sort of thing you'd find a Clone Channel playing. How about Lamb's "Gorècki", for an example of what I mean...

    A Fine Frenzy - Come On, Come Out [picture 1].   A Fine Frenzy - Come On, Come Out [picture 2].
    Above is "Come On, Come Out" by A Fine Frenzy (aka Alison Sudol). The end of this song was the first thing I heard on Bubble Hits.

    For those with Sky Digital, it is a free-to-air channel. You'll find it as channel 374.
    For those with other receivers, this channel is available across western-central Europe from Eurobird (28.5° east). If you can pick up British television from the 'Sky' birds, you'll find Bubble at:
    12560MHz, vertical polarisation, 27.5Mbaud, and if you need it: VID=2337 AUID=2338 PCR=2337.

 

 

Lost your remote?
Argos it!

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Using a non-Sky receiver

 

Technical

 

Historical interest

This section is for stuff that is no longer really relevant, but may be of interest for historical reasons, or to see "how it used to be"...

 

Miscellaneous

 

[OLD] Using your Digibox at 19.2°E (European channels)

Following firmware updates in Summer and Autumn 2005, the Digibox now asks you to "Insert your viewing card" if you try to access "Other Channels" (in the Services menu) before the box has loaded the EPG channels list. This is, of course, assuming that you do not have any viewing card!
The important effect of this miniscule change is that it is now impossible to access any channels that may be added from other satellites (such as Astra 19.2°E) until the box has initialised and loaded the channels and other information from Astra 28.2°E. You could then swap LNBs with some sort of switch, but with cheap FTA receivers running in at around £30 (50 euros) - they being more flexible and generally friendlier to use on other satellites - why on earth would you want to bother using a Digibox to watch RAI Uno, etc?
 
I have my doubts as to the entire legality of this change - after all, I'm not a Sky subscriber, my box hasn't been used with a Sky card for a number of years now, and yet Sky have dictated something I cannot now do with my box...

 
Anyway, if you are interested in looking at the old Astra 19.2°E material, perhaps to get an idea of what is available, CLICK HERE!
Note that this only covers Astra at 19.2°E. There's loads more on Hotbird (13°E) and HispaSat, NileSat, the list goes on and on!

 

If you wish to email me, please send your message to heyrick at the domain merseymail.com.
I'd be interested to hear your thoughts and comments.

Important: I get an hour a week on-line at the local library, so please do not be annoyed if I don't answer for a couple of days! For involved emails, I download them one week, write a reply, and upload them the next week. Thank you for your understanding.

 

If you are looking for parts and 'spares' for your Digibox, then you might like to visit SatCure. I don't have any personal experience of SatCure to offer; however once you finally reach the catalogue (it could be better organised (spring 2006)!), you'll see that there are loads of things that you may find useful, from entire systems to spare remotes!

 


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