Common FTA Forum Myths

[Fta Professionals]

Here's a list of several myths that you will see posted on the hundreds of FTA forums:

Myth: Blind-scanning circular satellites is not recommended because it produces duplicates.
Fact: When blind-scanning, your receiver scans one polarity at a time. First it scans Vertical or Right polarity and then it makes a second sweep through the same frequencies searching for Horizontal or Left polarity. Since DNPro LNBs are designed to take advantage of band-stacking technology, which converts all transponders to one polarity, your receiver picks up all channels with both scans, hence the duplicates. The way to avoid this is if you are using a DNPro LNB is to change the settings to only scan one polarity rather than two. If you are not using a DNPro LNB, duplicates are never an issue at all.

Myth: Channel lists don't work with Viewsat
Fact: Channel lists work just fine with Viewsat if you make sure you load both .sat and .cha files.

Myth: Factory bins fix receivers
Fact: Factory bins are no different than third-party bins, except that the latter contains decryption functions. Factory bins do not "clean" the receiver. Loading a third-party bin directly over another third-party bin is no different than loading a factory bin. A factory bin is only required when you must send the receiver back to the manufacturer for repair.

Myth: When updating to a new fix, always be sure to load the factory bin first before applying the new fix
Fact: Load the new fix directly on top of the old one. See above.

Myth: Always Factory Default three times before loading a new bin.
Fact: It is not necessary to factory default at all before loading a new bin. Factory Default clears channel information, antenna settings, and other user options. It is not the same as loading a factory bin (which, as described above, is also not necessary). If you factory default before loading the new fix, you will need to rescan your channels, re-set all of your antenna/switch settings, change your time, turn on your autoroll, and set your locals. None of that is needed and anyone who tells you that you have to do all of that is full of you know what.

Myth: Tuning your receiver to channel 200 will help the autoroll process faster.
Fact: There is nothing special about channel 200. Keys are sent every 3 minutes on DN (every 6 minutes on BEV) on all encrypted channels equally. Tuning to channel 200 will not bring your TV back any faster than tuning to channel 7032.

Myth: Tuning your receiver to channel 200 will help populate the EPG faster.
Fact: That's not a myth, it's true. channel 200 just happens to be on the same transponder as the EPG data.

Myth: Sort by SID has made channel lists obsolete.
Fact: For the average user who uses 110/119 only and who doesn't care that locals are in the 7000s and just wants to watch easy TV without any fuss, this might be somewhat true. Channel lists are still preferred by those who have the knowledge of how channel and transponder info works. They also allow for more personalized channel organization than what can be done with the remote control. This is particularly useful for multiple-satellite systems. The manufacturers themselves have propagated the myth that channel lists are obsolete and therefore have declined to continue to support SharpC's Channel Master project. SharpC now relies entirely on monetary and equipment donations.

Myth: FTA satellites require a universal LNB.
Fact: No North American satellite requires a universal LNB. Satellites other than DN and Bev are linear and therefore require a linear LNB as opposed to the circular LNB used for DN/BEV. A linear LNB can be either standard or universal.

Myth: When attaching a second LNB to a single-LNB dish, make sure that the 119 LNB is slightly higher than the 110 LNB.
Fact: This is TRUE if you live east of Las Vegas. If you live on the West coast, the 119 LNB must be slightly lower-- though in either case 119 must be to the right of 110 when facing the dish.

Myth: Brand X came out with a fix first, so they have proven they are better than Brand Y and Brand Z.
Fact: Next time, Brand Y or Brand Z might be first.

Myth: Viewsat and Sonicview are products of the same company.
Fact: This is not and has never been true. This misconception came from the fact that FTA** (formerly total ***) was at one time the ground-zero site for both brands. That is no longer the case.

Myth: Charlie secretly owns certain FTA sites and is collecting member information.
Fact: Charlie does not own any FTA site. Echostar, Kudelski, Nagrastar, or any other entity associated with DN and/or BeV would not seize control of a web forum consisting of third-party software that allows for unauthorized access only to allow that forum to continue posting that software. In other words, if Charlie took over a site, that site would cease to exist as a "hacker site". If you see bin files, keys, etc, then it is a pretty safe bet that Charlie does not own the site.

Myth: Because certain sites have been named in a lawsuit, it is best to avoid them.
Fact: Four sites were mentioned in a legal brief as examples of sites where authorized dealers advertise. None of these sites were named as co-defendants.

Myth: Never buy from ebay. You'll get a clone.
Fact: Never buy from a dealer that does not have the authorized dealer logo Many legitimate authorized dealers sell on ebay.