first of all i would like to thank to anybody who post the real story, like....how long has it been since you all have been enjoying this hobby....and how it all started...and those facts....i'm curios....i found out only 6 months ago.....again...thank you......i know there is a lot of us wondering the same thing.....
thank you maple.....i would like to know...since when all of it started.....5 years ago..4.....3......i'm a late party guy.....but hopefully when can overcame this situation...again thank you maple......
Sugar that thing still works for what it ment for.It get quite a bunch right now.Why it when we get down 125 channells everyone goes chicken little on our @sses.Even sat radio cost you.These things been around long time back.Who got oldest pansat?So no more freebee.Still FTA.Still good units for FTA.Allways be.Last time down to 25 channells.But still comes back one day.After long wait but still came back.Get you a nice 30" dish and do the hobby thing and not just beg free stuff.
I seem to remember back in the 80's when to big 10ft dishes got too popular they started to scramble the signals thats probley when it started, but don't hold me to that.
MPEG-2 Reception Basics and A Brief History In the American Market
HISTORY & TECHNICAL BACKGROUND:
Asia and the Pacific Rim were the first places in which MPEG-2 free-to-air reception was used on a large scale. The difference between those markets and America was that prior to the mid 90s, it took literally very huge antennas to get even a few dozen channels...making TV reception of many channels an impossible dream. MPEG-2 technology was a breakthrough that allowed great reductions in per-channel transmission costs. Mass consumers in those regions never had the chance to spend lots of money on more costly analog equipment. Their first exposure to satellite TV was more often than not in a digital format. No 15 to 20 year learning curve of various stages of analog receivers prior to going to digital, like we did here.
So the Asia-Pacific market was a test bed on how to get it right, with costs coming down due to companies from the Far East trying to compete for the huge mainland Chinese market. Then Europe....now America.
Hyundai was the first receiver brought into the U.S., with its early versions of the HSS-100 series of receivers. Wholesale cost was around $700, it had a memory limited to 99 bouquets, or groups of channels, and the graphics only worked in the PAL video format. Viewing on our NTSC format required a direct connection to a VCR or monitor and some programming tricks to "make" an NTSC picture. We have come a long ways in the last three years, with many significant improvements in design of receivers, and great increases in memory capacity.
MPEG-2 is a worldwide satellite transmission standard for digital broadcasting. It is the wave of the future, because of the simple economics that can allow 8 or even 10 video signals to occupy the same space as one channel of analog transmission. Just as some analog signals can be scrambled for subscription use, digital channels can be transmitted either scrambled or in-the-clear. In-The-Clear is known in the digital TV world as FTA or Free-To-Air. Since it is a worldwide standard, there are more MPEG-2/DVB (digital video broadcasting) channels available in places such as Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, than presently found in the American market. National public broadcasters in other parts of the world have adopted MPEG-2 as a cost-effective way to distribute their signals on limited budgets.
Spread of free MPEG-2 signals into North America has been previously hampered by the dominance of the Digicipher 2 video standard made by the former General Instrument (now Motorola Broadband) group. Receivers such as 4DTV and other versions of the Digicipher 2 actually have the letters MPEG-2 stamped on them, but are not compatible with the rest of the world. The difference comes in the way that signals are layered together, especially in the encryption process. It has given the Digicipher 2 a protected monopoly in America. Scientific-Atlanta's PowerVu system is more closely related to MPEG-2, and it has a lion's share of digital channels in the rest of the world. It helps that the worldwide PanAmSat satellite system works closely with Scientific-Atlanta in promoting this digital alternative. What is unique is that when signals are NOT addressably encoded, the PowerVu system can be viewed in-the-clear (or Free-to-Air) on most consumer MPEG-2 digital receivers. Several DBS systems in North America use the MPEG-2 platform, and when they choose NOT to encode channels, signals are also available in the same manner. These include Echostar's DISH Network, Canada's Bell ExpressVu, Mexico's SKY MEXICO, and the former Sky Vista and AlphaStar...once on Telstar 5 but now out of business.
This unusual mix of compatible free-to-air systems has presented the opportunity for a great number of channels to become available to North American viewers. There are always a few channels in the transition between in-the-clear and subscription transmission mode. The ultimate goal in many cases is for a subscription service, but some channels have been in-the-clear for months and even years before reverting to scrambling. When a channel goes into that mode, arrangements are usually available with one of the small dish DBS services to sell a subsidized priced receiver when making a long-term commitment to a subscription. We shall concentrate on the channels that continue to transmit in a free mode.
A great number of the channels available free-to-air in MPEG-2 are those from other countries. Such availability is contingent upon somebody paying the bill for satellite transmission across the ocean, and then retransmitting to the North American market. In some cases, the North American signal is made available on one of the small-dish systems such as DirecTV or DISH Network for a monthly fee, but the incoming feed from overseas is left in the clear. The reason is primarily economic, with the logic that very few people will go to the trouble of installing a large C-band antenna in this day and age to view one free channel, when they can have it delivered by alternative methods for what some might consider to be a reasonable fee. Problem is that this "free" reception sometimes gets too popular, and the bean counters at DISH Network decide to encode the incoming international feeds, thus forcing all to subscribe. This happened recently with Polish services, then Russian, and who knows what next. A great number of Arabic channels are presently in the clear...a few are incoming feeds for DISH Network, and several others are sponsored and paid for by different governments in Arabic countries such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The latter wish to make their signals available around the world to expatriates as well as the rest of the world..as a window into their culture. These governments pay to keep these signals available free of charge to individual viewers with satellite equipment. Such benevolence goes against the U.S. model of commercialism and paying for TV, but it helps explain why some languages are readily available here and others are not. Somebody has to pay to get it on satellite, and if a country or a language does not have either a sponsor or an adequate number of paying customers, then it will likely not be available to our market.
thank you all!!! flatulant kitty....special thanks...you are right these recievers still works for what it was meant for.......but i was thinking on dish-free.... thank you..so it's been a while....at least...10 years...looks like...
More when dave go out 3 years ago for last time these fta units come more popular and sites give bins free.Then market for fta take off.Before subscription with fee for dave.Manufactures knew time limited 3 years back and price fall monthly to date.Back 3 years cost double/tripple of what cost now.Time tell all.
al7 website reads the folling.... Free help flash bin file software support for pansat, fortec, sonicview, colsat, captive works, extremeview and all the other great free to air satellite receiver boxes. we offer free file support for each and every box. we are upgrading the sever right now for more files bins help guides and info that will help you get what you need. Bookmark us now and come back next week!!!
!!!!! NEW FILE BINS COMING SOON !!!!!!!
Top Ten Things I Hate About FTA
Due to the changes in the boxes we thought that this is a great time to make the upgrades that way no one loses. We will be back just in time for your new software bin files. New files will be coming out some time next week and our website will be up and running. so bookmark us (HIT CTRL D)to get colsat pansat viewsat sonicview neusat extremeview fortec and all other boxes new files soon.
THANK YOU GOES to all the people that are spending time working and improving the site and not hanging out in bars, ha.