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Foxsat HDR with Unicable LNB


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Old 25-11-2008, 14:03
nwhitfield
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Is anyone else using one of these? If you are, I'd be interested in comparing notes; drop me a PM, please.
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Old 29-11-2008, 13:52
nwhitfield
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For anyone else brave enough to do this, I've found that I'm getting much better results (in terms of reported signal strength) by changing the user bands from the default options of 1 & 2.
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Old 29-11-2008, 21:34
bluepeter
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Is anyone else using one of these? If you are, I'd be interested in comparing notes; drop me a PM, please.
I'm glad I've come across this post Nigel, I'm about to purchase a quad unicable lnb and am wondering which one you have?

Choices I've seen so far are: (all quad by the way)

1: Inverto = 73.90eur
2: Radix = 59.99eur
3: Lemon = 119eur

due to replace a single lnb on a motorised fta set-up

Regards
Peter
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Old 30-11-2008, 12:15
nwhitfield
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I'm using the Inverto quad; Lemon and Inverto are the same firm, so I wouldn't expect any difference between the two in terms of compatibilty. The model I have is IDLP-40UNIQD+S

Total cost from a german eBay seller was 74.22 including shipping; you can buy it from a UK supplier, but even after the VAT change, it'll cost you at least £109 including shipping.

Nigel.
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Old 30-11-2008, 12:55
grahamlthompson
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I'm using the Inverto quad; Lemon and Inverto are the same firm, so I wouldn't expect any difference between the two in terms of compatibilty. The model I have is IDLP-40UNIQD+S

Total cost from a german eBay seller was 74.22 including shipping; you can buy it from a UK supplier, but even after the VAT change, it'll cost you at least £109 including shipping.

Nigel.

You are thinking of buying a Lemon . Guess it does not have the same connotation in German
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Old 30-11-2008, 13:01
maxwech
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Nigel, stupid question no doubt, but how do you wire these things up to your HDR? Is it just connected to input 1, and then a loopthrough cable to input 2? They seem very interesting.
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Old 30-11-2008, 13:11
nwhitfield
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Yes, that's it. Or you could split the cable (the Inverto one comes with three two way splitters inside the box) and feed into each one.
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Old 30-11-2008, 15:11
bluepeter
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I'm using the Inverto quad; Lemon and Inverto are the same firm, so I wouldn't expect any difference between the two in terms of compatibilty. The model I have is IDLP-40UNIQD+S

Total cost from a german eBay seller was 74.22 including shipping; you can buy it from a UK supplier, but even after the VAT change, it'll cost you at least £109 including shipping.

Nigel.
Thanks Nigel - Ebay.de is where I'd found the prices for the three I'd listed.

I've not yet got the RX (Foxsat HDR) but from another thread I gather during set-up using a unicable lnb you can't used the wizard, any other downsides?

I'm considering fitting another dish, though with two motorised set-ups already bolted to the outside of my house I'm worried it might look too unsightly. As such I'll probably just loop it through a Clarke Tech HD rx that's on one of the dishes presently.

As you probably gather I'm a bit of a sat nut - So setting up, playing & fiddling around to get things to work is well within my capabilities, it's more a case of are there any limitations with using one of these lnb's with the HDR? I'm trying to avoid getting up ladders and fitting another cable this time of year switching to a unicable lnb seems a quick simple solution if not somewhat more costly.

I've yet to check whether the Clarke Tech will work with this type of lnb and could prove to be the fly in the ointment.

Regards
Peter
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Old 30-11-2008, 19:27
machare
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Choices I've seen so far are: (all quad by the way)

1: Inverto = 73.90eur
2: Radix = 59.99eur
3: Lemon = 119eur
Peter
I would be wary trying another type of LNB
See http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...&highlight=scd

Satcure sell an Inverto Unicable LNB. http://www.satcure.co.uk/accs/page1a.htm#unicable
It is not clear what the model number is though.
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Old 30-11-2008, 20:42
soulboy77
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The Satcure website says to only use with unicable-compatible receivers. So is the Foxsat HDR compatable with a Unicable LNB or is this what we are endeavouring to find out?
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Old 30-11-2008, 20:58
nwhitfield
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Well, it certainly recognises it, and can tune in channels using it. However, you can't do the initial setup via the wizard with Unicable; I'd say it's really only for those who are prepared to tinker at the moment.

I also have some questions that I've raised with Humax; until I have answers to those, and some more experience, I'd say don't rush out and buy one. Not unless it's tax deductable, at any rate.

I've had some issues - for example better performance on certain Unicable receiver channels - but I'm trying to work out if they're due to my installation, or to Humax Unicable support in general. I'm not going to give more details of those in public until I'm 100% certain, partly because this is certainly a minority way of using the box and partly because I don't want people to run around saying "PCW/Nigel Whitfield says this..." out of context.
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Old 30-11-2008, 22:28
maxwech
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Nigel, thanks for the information, and please keep it coming - I'm sure that the majority of people reading here would be very interested in what this has to offer; no doubt we'll see more in the full PCW review?
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Old 30-11-2008, 22:46
nwhitfield
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Yep; there will be more in the print review- in the March issue, most likely; if I were to get it into the February one, I'd have to get everything sorted by tomorrow.

As I get more publishable information, I shall update the PCW blog. There'll probably more more info there than in print, in fact - since stuff like this is a minority aspect of the mag, the review may only end up being half a page.
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Old 16-12-2008, 10:44
figrin_dan
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Any ideas why this one is so much cheaper?
http://www.intellectsystems.co.uk/ep...cts/LNB_000006

So as far as I can tell from here:
http://www.ftacom.com/UploadImages/U...0(V080807).pdf

The LNB is delivering 1 transponder to each tuner (from whichever band it asks for). Meaning only up to 8 transponders can be delivered off one LNB.

So when you are recording 2 channels on the Humax, where is it getting the EPG information from?
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Old 16-12-2008, 10:55
nwhitfield
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Just like with a normal setup, if you're recording two channels, then the EPG can't be updated from the home transponder at the same time - Unicable doesn't affect that.

I'm curious about that LNB from Intellect too - I suspect it's possibly one of the 'twin' Unicable LNBs; although there are 8 Unicable 'user bands' available, you still have essentially a twin or a quad LNB in the unit; the one I've been playing with is the quad, so can potentially supply up to four tuners. There are twin versions which will only support two tuners.

Think of Unicable as a standard LNB (twin, quad, octo), coupled with electronics that's also housed in the same casing, which uses a different intermediate frequency for each of those LNBs.
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Old 17-12-2008, 11:08
nwhitfield
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An update on my Unicable testing on the PCW blog.
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Old 17-12-2008, 12:37
peggle
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An update on my Unicable testing on the PCW blog.
Nigel - Re your blog, there is a way to check signal strength on both tuners.

Start 2 recordings, one of a vertically polarized channel & one horizontal.

Then while watching each in turn press the i button.

The signal strength bar graphs are displayed at the bottom.
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Old 17-12-2008, 12:44
nwhitfield
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Yep; but not via the diagnostics screen, which has the actual figures on it, rather than just the bar graphs. That's a bit annoying. And slightly silly.
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Old 17-12-2008, 12:50
peggle
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I think they just go in 10% steps, so its fairly easy to tell what the figure is.
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Old 22-01-2009, 13:54
dpeilow
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Hi,

I've got a friend with a Panasonic 42" Freesat plasma and is just getting the Foxsat PVR.

Do we know if the Panasonic supports unicable? that way we could run all 3 tuners off the same downlink.
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Old 22-01-2009, 14:13
nwhitfield
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I don't think so - and in any event, I don't regard the Unicable support as actually working properly right now; has anyone else actually had success with it, or am I the only person to try it?

Nigel.
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Old 24-01-2009, 19:33
RobinB
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Very interested, but it doesn't seem yet to have achieved widespread support yet. Humax seems to be ahead of the game in having any support for it.
We've just put our toe in the water by buying the Foxsat-HDR having bought a house with a left-over dish installation.
The dish is on the rear of the house, the living room is at the front - There was a single low-quality cable making the run round the house.

SCD/Unicable would be the ideal solution. The two tuners of the HDR could claim two of the potential 8 user-bands on the cable. We'd like to take a run into the office to allow a MythTV installation (currently for Freeview) to have a DVB-S card added to record Freesat. When the TV gets an upgrade it would be nice to have built-in Freesat. Conventionally that would be the usual mess of 3 cables to the sitting room (TV + twin HDR) and another 1 or 2 into the office for Myth - What a mess - ain't gonna happen!
But that *could* be 5 tuners working on a single cable....

Now waiting on signs of Unicable support from DVB-S card manufacturers, Myth and more LCD/Plasma TVs (I haven't seen it mentioned in Panasonic blurb).

So 5 cables OR a single cable from LNB to office, looped to living room into HDR tuner1, looped into tuner2 and maybe looped into a TV. The Uncable LNB giving each tuner its private selection of quadrant and transponder....

I'd happily replace the cable and get a Unicable LNB tomorrow, happy to fiddle a bit with the Humax if necessary - but I also want other devices (which might get purchased) to be compatible.

Its a great idea and I hope it takes off. We'll probably have to look to Europe to drive the take-up though. They seem far more into buying the equipment and selecting their services. Satellite viewing in the UK (like cellphones) has followed the model of the user getting a subsidised initial capital outlay followed by paying through the nose thereafter. The standard contract install wouldn't go for the higher cost. Cable is relatively cheap, quad LNBs give some redundancy. Its simple and many people don't seem to have much objection to a lot of badly routed cable round their house.
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Old 14-04-2009, 11:56
dpeilow
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It's been a few months - have there been any further updates on this?

I just got the box installed at my mum's place on a single feed LNB. Very nice piece of kit but of course I can't use it to its full potential at the moment.
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Old 14-04-2009, 12:07
nwhitfield
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Well, no firmware update for the HDR, so no change. And unfortunately, I suspect it's not going to be a high priority, either.
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