ATV (Hong Kong) at G3C (95W)

[William Eng]

Although the video and regular audio portion of this channel is encrypted, the audio portion in the AC3 format is FTA. I just noticed that the broadcasters just added AC3 to this channel. So like the other 2 Phoenix channels, enjoy it while it lasts.

Does anyone know if AC3 is always unencrypted?

[kkkkkk]

Hi, I have coolsat 5000, AC3 cable and I've already set G3C, wondering how i can set them up to watch ATV and 2 phoenix channels ? thanks.

[William Eng]

Hi, I have coolsat 5000, AC3 cable and I've already set G3C, wondering how i can set them up to watch ATV and 2 phoenix channels ? thanks.

First of all, you need to connect your AC3 cable to your stereo system. Then rescan G3C, in the "ALL" mode so that all scrambled and FTA are listed. Go to ATV/Phoenix channel, and hit the language bottom. It gives you the option of regular audio and AC3. Switch it to AC3. You then can hear the audio coming out of your stereo system. The video is scrambled so all you get is a blank screen.

[wejones]

This may not work on all receivers. Some receivers don't play audio from scrambled channels, or at least they make it difficult.
I haven't tried my Mercury on this one, but I *THINK* the Mercury will work, because I've noticed that it will play audio on HD channels.
However my Ultra, (and I'm pretty sure my Lifetime also) will not scan in the 2nd AC3 audio stream on this channel. For example even though I scan it in using ALL, it only scans in the 1297 mpeg audio stream from the ATV channel. I thought that I would force it to scan in the AC3 stream by creating a manual channel, using the 1298 AC3 stream, and this almost worked, however it didn't scan it in as AC3, and there is no way to specify an audio stream as being AC3 using the remote. Finally, I used the Gtools channel editor to change this audio to being AC3, and it finally worked.
So anyway, with some receivers this might not be as easy as with other receivers.

[William Eng]

This may not work on all receivers. Some receivers don't play audio from scrambled channels, or at least they make it difficult.
I haven't tried my Mercury on this one, but I *THINK* the Mercury will work, because I've noticed that it will play audio on HD channels.
However my Ultra, (and I'm pretty sure my Lifetime also) will not scan in the 2nd AC3 audio stream on this channel. For example even though I scan it in using ALL, it only scans in the 1297 mpeg audio stream from the ATV channel. I thought that I would force it to scan in the AC3 stream by creating a manual channel, using the 1298 AC3 stream, and this almost worked, however it didn't scan it in as AC3, and there is no way to specify an audio stream as being AC3 using the remote. Finally, I used the Gtools channel editor to change this audio to being AC3, and it finally worked.
So anyway, with some receivers this might not be as easy as with other receivers.

That's odd, I brought the Fortec Classic from Sadoun here. I hit the red bottom on my remote to toggle between the different audio formats available. I thought that the Ultra, Mercury, Lifetime were more sophisticated models that is more capable than the Classic model.

[wejones]

That's odd, I brought the Fortec Classic from Sadoun here. I hit the red bottom on my remote to toggle between the different audio formats available. I thought that the Ultra, Mercury, Lifetime were more sophisticated models that is more capable than the Classic model.

Well the Classic came after the Ultra (I think). I'm not sure if it has anything to do with sophistocation, just the way it does things. I think this was just something that didn't occur to anyone as being important. I know that TSREADER wouldn't play audio from scrambled channels until it was suggested to the author that that might be handy, so he made it a feature. I think it was a GREAT feature, because before it was necessary to create manual channels to get the FTA audio.
Anyway, I didn't realize that the Classic did this too. I was happy to see that the Mercury did the audio from HD channels, beccause the Ultra wouldn't, and there are several HD channels out there that have FTA audio, so this was nice.

[William Eng]

I think half the fun is playing with the equipment and seeing what it can do. I was just scanning the new satellite at 75.5W, and found one active transponder, but nothing being broadcast yet. As tempting as it sounds, Sadoun selling 6 ft dish at a discount, my wife just about blew up which I brought up putting a 6 ft dish in our backyard. In my neighberhood, there is one other family who has a FTA dish, but their house is across from mine so that their front door faces south. They ended up incorporating their dish into their landscaping so that it doesn't stand out when you drive by.

Well, when I retire (shooting for 55), I would like to settle into a couple of acres outside Houston and bring along my dish assuming the satellites are still broadcasting.