the rites

Free-to-air TV channels on PAS7/10 in South Africa

A while ago I posted a rite on how to receive Don't Panic TV, which was a channel broadcasting adult (XXX) programming to Southern Africa off PAS7/10. It was interesting, because when they weren't broadcasting shows, their encryption was off, and you could see their advertising card. Also, they came with 2 Italian music channels. Don't Panic TV are no more (for now).

However, there are a couple of free-to-air (FTA) Ku-band channels available off PAS7/10 in South Africa, as of this entry (check LyngSat for the latest details).

I've put all the settings I know about down here, with their appropriate tuning settings. Read below for directions. If the directions don't work for you, that's not my problem. Don't bother contacting me - I won't respond.

Channels available:

• Sentech Vivid




• SEN1-6, including Mindset Network channel 1 (education) and 2 (health), Jet TV.


• PTV1-6 (some Nagravision-encrypted).


• SABC1/2/3, e.tv (all Nagravision-encrypted).


• LCN, Hope, Ps91, ITV, DTBC, God Channel, TCT, DayStar (free-to-air, religious).


• Guide (interactive channel, probably won't work).


• There are also some audio channels available (some free-to-air, some encrypted).




• Botswana TV




• BTV (free-to-air, general entertainment channel). There are multiple audio tracks on BTV, which sound like radio stations.




• Fashion TV




• FTV (free-to-air).




• ManaSat




• ManaSat 1 (religious, free-to-air, Portuguese, 2 audio tracks).


• ManaSat 2 (religious, sometimes encrypted, Portuguese, 2 audio tracks).




• Novacom




• Novacom (test card).


• DayStar, LoveWorld, God Channel (religious, free-to-air).


• RTNC (free-to-air).


• APNA (free-to-air).


• BEStv (free-to-air).


• Extreme Sports (free-to-air).

Directions:

1. Using your remote control, press MENU.


2. Now select ADVANCED OPTIONS, and press OK.


3. Now select LNB CONFIGURATION, and press OK.


4. Select LNB 1 SETUP, and press OK.


5. Verify that LNB HI FREQUENCY is 10700. If it isn't, change it to 10700, and select ACCEPT THESE SETTINGS.


6. Press EXIT.


7. Now select DISH INSTALLATION, and press OK.


8. Enter the PIN number 9949.


9. Now select NETWORK CONFIGURATION and press OK.


10. Select each network setup from this screen, and enter the settings as below.




• The first option is only there for reference. You should not change settings in the home network.


• At each point, you may wish to select VIEW SIGNAL STRENGTH to check if that signal is valid for your installation.


• Select ACCEPT THESE SETTINGS for each network setup when you are done.




11. If your decoder does not give you any options and goes straight to the parameter input menu then you have a decoder with old software. You will only be able to have either DStv or another FTA bouquet, one at a time.

Network setup details:

• Network 1 Setup (home) [DStv South Africa @ PAS 7/10]
  
  
  
  1. Signal Setup: Enabled
  
  
  2. Orbital Position: PAS7/10
  
  
  3. Use NIT: Yes
  
  
  4. Frequency: 10970
  
  
  5. Symbol Rate: 30000
  
  
  6. Polarisation: Vertical
  
  
  7. FEC: 5/6
  
  
  

• Network 2 Setup [Sentech Vivid bouquet @ PAS 7/10]
  
  
  
  1. Signal Setup: Enabled
  
  
  2. Orbital Position: PAS7/10
  
  
  3. Use NIT: Yes
  
  
  4. Frequency: 11170
  
  
  5. Symbol Rate: 266652
  
  
  6. Polarisation: Vertical
  
  
  7. FEC: 5/6
  
  
  

• Network 3 Setup [BTV @ PAS 7/10]
  
  
  
  1. Signal Setup: Enabled
  
  
  2. Orbital Position: PAS7/10
  
  
  3. Use NIT: Yes
  
  
  4. Frequency: 11625
  
  
  5. Symbol Rate: 15000
  
  
  6. Polarisation: Vertical
  
  
  7. FEC: 2/3
  
  
  

• Network 4 Setup [FTV @ PAS 7/10]
  
  
  
  1. Signal Setup: Enabled
  
  
  2. Orbital Position: PAS7/10
  
  
  3. Use NIT: Yes
  
  
  4. Frequency: 12722
  
  
  5. Symbol Rate: 26657
  
  
  6. Polarisation: Horizontal
  
  
  7. FEC: 2/3
  
  
  

• Network 5 Setup [ManaSat @ PAS 7/10]
  
  
  
  1. Signal Setup: Enabled
  
  
  2. Orbital Position: PAS7/10
  
  
  3. Use NIT: Yes
  
  
  4. Frequency: 12577
  
  
  5. Symbol Rate: 3378
  
  
  6. Polarisation: Vertical
  
  
  7. FEC: 3/4
  
  
  

• Network 6 Setup [Novacom @ PAS 7/10]
  
  
  
  1. Signal Setup: Enabled
  
  
  2. Orbital Position: PAS7/10
  
  
  3. Use NIT: Yes
  
  
  4. Frequency: 12682
  
  
  5. Symbol Rate: 26657
  
  
  6. Polarisation: Horizontal
  
  
  7. FEC: 1/2
  
  
  

Scanning:

1. Now press EXIT and go to the DISH INSTALLATION menu again.


2. Select SCAN ALL NETWORKS.


3. Your decoder will now attempt to scan and add all the channels.


4. Once it has tuned and returned to normal viewing mode, press the TV button to display the bouquet list.


5. Select the last option (Public PAS7/10).


6. You are now in the public TV bouquet. Scroll through the available channels, which will appear in the order of network setup (DStv test channels, Sentech channels, BTV, FTV, ManaSat, Novacom).


7. Pressing the AUDIO button will switch to the public audio bouquet. You may find many South African radio stations here.

Notes:

1. Some of these channels are encrypted.


2. There's really nothing here for free worth more than you're paying for it. :) You'll see that if you want premium channels, your DStv subscription is the way to go.


3. Your installation may not be capable of tuning into these settings.


4. Do this while watching an decrypted channel on DStv (e.g. channel 4).


5. You need to have your smart card inserted.


6. To enter a 4-digit symbol rate, place the cursor on the line, press the 0 (zero) key on your remote control, then press OK, then enter the 4 digit number, then press OK.


7. These settings work for me, on my Dual View decoder, as of this date.


8. If they don't work on your decoder, that's your problem, not mine.


9. If you mess up your decoder, that's your problem, not mine. Select RESET TO FACTORY DEFAULTS and reboot.

More TV is never a bad thing

Africa's only pay-TV network, DStv could face competition for the first time this year if an application for a rival continent-wide station based in Botswana gets the go-ahead.

The venture, which would be called Black Entertainment Satellite Television or BEStv, would initially offer viewers between five and ten channels and cost less than R100 a month.

Andrew Jones, spokesperson for the venture, said once in place, the company planned to upgrade to a service that would offer viewers a sampling of between 100 and 300 new channels not available on DStv with no significant rate increase.

"How we will do it and what exactly we will offer remains of course a trade secret. However, we are 100 percent confident that what we want to do can be done," he said in statement.

It's that use of the word 'sampling', and the fact that I know what it takes to put one single channel on air, that makes me slightly suspicious of their claims of "between 100 and 300 new channels"...

DStv PVR released

The DStv PVR has been released. RRP of R2999. Monthly subscription fee of R449.

Read TV

M-Net introduces Subtitles for Hearing Impaired.

Good epitaph

"When they found him, he still had the remote control in his hand."

Interlaced TV, and Film-to-Video

Part of a review of progressive-scan DVD players, this is a great primer on interlaced TV and film-to-video conversion.

Desperate for Jesse

Desperate Housewives starts tonight, on M-Net. I can't wait.

Mainly because it stars Jesse Metcalfe.

As busy as an ant

Ant writes that he is "doing French classes twice a week, gym three times a week and having a games evening once a week. Trying to cram in yoga classes is proving somewhat challenging though. They don't have any post midnight sessions."

I still maintain that that is nothing compared to the professional TV-watchers hectic schedule.

To the Universe we choose

One of the greatest adverts on SA TV these days, is Road Trip (13th from the bottom).

Of course, it helps that the boy who plays the son in the ad is totally hot.

Additional channels

Many people ask me this, and an older entry gets a lot of hits because of this. So here are the step-by-step instructions for adding some public broadcast Ku-band satellite channels to your DStv decoder. Don't expect much - most of these are religious channels.

Try this at your own risk. It's your decoder, not mine. Etc, etc, etc.

Press Menu.

Select 'Advanced Options'.

Select 'Dish Installation'.

Enter PIN: 9949

Select 'Network Configuration'.

Select 'Network 2 Setup' (this is for Sentech's Vivid bouquet)

1. Signal Setup: Enabled
2. Orbital Position: PAS7/10
3. Use NIT: Yes
4. Frequency: 11170
5. Symbol Rate: 26652
6. Polarisation: Vertical
7: FEC: 5/6

Then select 'Accept these settings'

Select 'Network 3 Setup' (this is for Botswana TV)

1. Signal Setup: Enabled
2. Orbital Position: PAS7/10
3. Use NIT: Yes
4. Frequency: 11625
5. Symbol Rate: 15000
6. Polarisation: Vertical
7: FEC: 3/4

Select 'Accept these settings'.

Now do a 'Scan new networks' or 'Full rescan'.

The new channels will be at the very end of the channel list of the 'Public PAS7/10'. Switch to the audio on the bouquet to get the new audio channels as well.

Hello tomorrow

Can you believe it's a commercial for shoes?

TV logos

There seems to be an international trend towards monochromatic channel identification logos. What I mean by this is that no matter what the corporate colours of a TV station are, their channel logo (in the corner of the screen) is reproduced in white, at 50% opacity. So it doesn't detract noticeably from the viewer's enjoyment of the picture.

Except, it would seem, for every local South African TV station.

Recurse, zipped

Diaan did this.

Block Beginnings

On Sunday, 5 September 2004, the first episode of The Block went out. It's now on every weekday at 6:30pm, and on Sunday at 6pm. This is what I've been working on for the past 3 months.

Say what you think.

Ryking it in

Sometimes, there are reasons to watch sport.

Own a Samsung DVD player?

Have a look at this.

Opening ceremony

Don't you just love it when Google does a special logo?

Watched the opening ceremony last night. Phenomenal.

Soon, soon...

Only 23 days to go...

TivoToGo gets The Go

The article TiVo Wins Nod for Users to Share Digital Shows, relates how it will "enable a user to record and send a digital broadcast television show to up to nine others who have been registered on that person's service and has been given a key to see it."

I'm not sure if this is good or bad. Good, you can share good quality digital media. Bad, you're limited to 9 people.

Some of us have more than 9 friends.

Torrentocracy

Torrentocracy (pronounced like the word democracy) is the combination of RSS, bit torrent, your television and your remote control.

Arrested Development

Watched a couple of episodes of Arrested Development last night, courtesy of Adrian. It's extremely good.

Winnebago man

Ever have one of those days?

Why some people shouldn't be allowed near the Internet

I have discovered, after trawling various forums related to TV and the discussion of TV shows, that there are 3 main camps into which attitudes to local television fall. I'll illustrate this by using an example of a genre of a show being shown on local television, and a typical response.

Situation: an overseas show, usually of the reality TV style is shown.
Response: "Why do we have to see overseas stuff? They suck. Why can't we make a local version?"

Situation: a reality TV style show, the formula for which is bought, is filmed and produced locally.
Response: "Why do we have to copy overseas shows? They suck. Why can't we come up with a local original idea?"

Situation: a locally-originated reality TV show is filmed and produced locally.
Response: "This sucks! It's done so much better by television stations overseas!"

Sigh.

I've concluded that it's not about the TV, it's about the fact that they like to complain.

Sky+ Minus

Al writes: "Two crap things about Sky+. One, is when you watch live TV you keep trying to fast-forward through the adverts. Two, is when you watch recorded TV you see adverts for programmes that have already happened that you want to watch. Never happy..."

Episode Guides

Have I mentioned www.epguides.com? Excellent resource for episode information for your favourite TV shows.

Personal Video Blog

If you're interested in such devices as Tivo, ReplayTV and Sky+, then you definitely want to check out PVRBlog. I found this while searching for way for a friend of mine to upgrade his Sky+ hard drive.

No!

How can this happen?

Especially since ActionX shows no sign of Enterprise 3 starting.

Home DivX

I've resisted the DivX format for a while now, for a number of reasons. One, it's not completely quality of the original DVD, and two, it's so, uh, ungainly to have a PC hooked up to your TV. I'm not even going to elaborate on how one cannot possibly watch entire movies on a monitor.

But DivX is now becoming more seductive. For example, Cirrus Logic is enabling low-end DVD players with DivX, and Kiss Technology has a stunning DivX/DVD/all format player that includes a hardrive, PVR-style.

And if that's not enough, you can capture your own TV, in real-time, to DivX.

Now, if we could start to see digital TV broadcasts (cable and satellite) in DivX, that would be great.

B Back!

Guess what is coming to Go?

Loving what you do

Yes, I am.

You know that feeling you get when you're involved with something great? I've got that feeling right now.

You'll be able to get that same feeling 5 September 2004.

B in (or on) demand

So: you're an avid follower of the Rites. And you're not in SA. But you do have lots of bandwidth available to you, and you're just dying to see what Rory is involved in. You're dead keen to see what kind of stuff this new-fangled B on M-Net thang produces. Of course you are. Who wouldn't B?

You're in luck! B on M-Net is available on M-Net On Demand. You gotta register, and it costs a couple of dollars, but there's a free preview.

Go on. It's more fun than a barrel of gay monkeys on nitrous.

And it doesn't get much more fun than that.

Bone in Pussy

If you watched L8NITE tonight, then you would have seen Sharon Bone, talking about a new film, Pussy, in the Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. Looks good.

Some of you may remember being served drinks by Sharon at Therapy.

IronTV

I was chatting to my friend Graham the other day.

"So, you're a TV producer now?" he asked.

"Yeah," I replied. "And it's really not as glamourous as it sounds..." I replied.

"Well," he continued, "at least you're not sitting in front of a PC all day."

At this point, I paused before answering.

"Actually..."

(a TV producer, at least in this case, does, in fact, sit in front of a computer all day)

B on CNN

B on M-Net was featured in a segment on CNN last night, and again this morning. No article though on CNN.com.

Also, dreams do come true.

More L8nite in TV

Kate: "I would support child labour if it meant I could get a night off."

Vela, vela nice

Oooh, nice toys.

Red power

Earlier today we had a power-failure test, to check that the generators were working. All equipment on 'red' power is then immune from power loss.

And only 3 PCs for our channel happened to not be on red power.

They were the two playout servers, and the database server.

Sigh.

Watching closely

"All right. The spaceship is under your control tonight," said Glenn, as he exited the control room.

So as I'm typing this I'm keeping one eye on the playout servers, one eye on the satellite feed for Earth TV, one eye on the home satellite signal our subscribers receive, one eye on the transmission log, and one eye on the time signal.

Aye, aye, aye, captain!

B'ing naked

We just had our first dick on TV. Well, it was most of a dick. Give or take an inch.

There's nothing quite so funny as the combination of puberty and alcohol.

Now you know why you need to watch Channel 41 from 9pm to 10pm each night. Late night, uncut. And uncircumcised.

Late night TV, and coffee percs

I wonder: is this a TV ritual? Or a work ritual?

Both, I think. Good.

It's interesting working at a TV station, especially late at night. For example, there are people here all the time (the techs in the satellite-feed room next to us, for example, whom we briefly meet on nicotine runs to the outside). And, consequently, the building is always open.

Even in the nocturnal world of IT, there were at least some nights where the building was locked and the only activity inside was from cron jobs.

In addition, coffee seems to be eternal. What sweet, caffeinated bliss. I've never gone to the machine and found it empty: there's always a backup carafe (I've given up on those dinky little styrofoam cups. I brought my own uber-cup. Cuts down on trips back to the machine.)

Eye candy experience count this evening: 2.

Be here now.

Ah, a new year. A chance to just be yourself. To be known. To be outrageous. To be on TV.

Oh, and by the way, the new job started today.

SatcoDX

An extremely exhaustive listing of the transmissions on PAS7/10.

Video protection

Trying to lock the door on piracy: old, but interesting article on video encryption.

QQ SMS2TV

SMS2TV, on DStv, channel 84 (go), Monday to Friday, 5pm to 6pm. Very cool concept.

ZXMLTV

XMLTV for South African (DStv) listings. Available here. Nifty one, Flash.

Urban Trauma

Alan Davies: Urban Trauma. Occasionally broadcast on BBC Prime.

Its presentation here belies the effort of recording it into a 1.1GB pre-down-sample file.

Don't Panic - Don't Broadcast

From http://www.dontpanictv.co.za/:

"This is to confirmed that DPTV has temporary suspended their transmission (All other Satellite transmissions will remain as per normal). The reason for the suspension is the legal action that OtherChoice & decoder owners are taking against ICASA and MCSA, in order not to prejudice any rulings, DPTV has decided to suspend transmission until the outcome of the decision of the High Court of South Africa. When DPTV resumes transmission all viewers will have an extra 2 months added to their existing viewing cards.

Thank you for your understanding.

Quick update on Don't Panic

It seems that either Don't Panic is no longer transmitting from PAS7/10 on the frequencies I mentioned earlier (and hasn't been for some time), or there's some other technical glitch. So for the the moment, the only extra free channel you seem to be able to get is BTV.

Don't Panic TV

There are a handful of channels available to you if you are a DStv subscriber and are willing to add a few settings to your Network Installation.

The most fun one is Don't Panic TV - a porn channel, which sometimes forgets to turn its encryption on.

Press Menu

Select 'Advanced Options'

Select 'Dish Installation'

Enter PIN: 9949

Select 'Network Configuration'

Select 'Network 2 Setup' (this is for Sentech's Vivid bouquet)

1. Signal Setup: Enabled
2. Orbital Position: PAS7/10
3. Use NIT: Yes
4. Frequency: 11170
5. Symbol Rate: 26652
6. Polarisation: Vertical
7: FEC: 5/6

Then select 'Accept these settings'

Select 'Network 3 Setup' (this is for Botswana TV)

1. Signal Setup: Enabled
2. Orbital Position: PAS7/10
3. Use NIT: No
4. Frequency: 11594
5. Symbol Rate: 27500
6. Polarisation: Vertical
7: FEC: 5/6

Select 'Accept these settings'

Select 'Network 4 Setup' (this is for Don't Panic TV)

1. Signal Setup: Enabled
2. Orbital Position: PAS7/10
3. Use NIT: No
4. Frequency: 12722
5. Symbol Rate: 26657
6. Polarisation: Vertical
7: FEC: 1/2

Select 'Accept these settings'

Now do a 'Scan new networks'

The BTV and Don't Panic TV channels will be at the very end of the channel list of the 'Public PAS7/10' list, probably from channel 29 onwards.

Please note that this information is for information purposes only. It works for me (on a 660 and a 720i). I do not know if it works for you, and I make no such warranties.

Don't Panic TV is sometimes unencrypted, sometimes not. You need to contact them, and purchase a different smart card for their services.

Useable channels:
23: EuroNews
25: God Channel
28: Botswana TV
29: Don't Panic TV promo channel
32: Don't Panic TV encrypted service