another idea related to blind search

[paults2]

I don't know if the Fortec Ultra has such a feature, but I was thinking of a feature where one would know by looking at the channel list which channels were active at a given moment. This would be useful for feeds where one might have a hundred channels on a satellite that are mostly dormant (not even a carrier) but come to life once in a while.

Since a blind search receiver has the hardware to scan the whole frequency band of the satellite, it would be a matter of the software looking for frequencies that are active and then highlighting the channels in the list that are associated with that active frequency.

Say, if freq 12011H is active, the channel(s) associated with that frequency would get highlighted in the channel list to let you know there is some programming currently on it. It would save the trouble of going through a hundred feed channels individually by hand to see if anything is on them.

A command such as 'Check for Active' would have to be done at the time when one is interested, as feed frequencies go active or inactive throughout the day and the highlighted list would become outdated quickly.

[dtsexpert]

1.It would be a nice feature IF the scaning time for the "check for active" took less than the "blind search", which I doubt about it becuase the tuner still basically does "blind search" to find active freq (even without scaning the channels), but once it found the active freq, the receiver then had to do some analysis (compare the new find freq with the existing one one the receiver, then do the highligh channels in that freq). How long it take the receiver to do that? I don't know, but I doubt it would be faster than blindsearch.
2. Another approach is the receiver just checks the existing freq which you previously blindsearch to see which one are active. This might take faster, but then defeat the "blindsearch" ideal.
3. Let's say this "check for active" works, all the active channels are hightlighted, but then there are no garantee you can view these channels right away due to the pids/pcr changes. The 24/24 active channels rarely changes pids/pcr and one easilly indetify them. But for the real "newfinds" (newsfeeds/sportsfeeds), pid/pcr change from time to time. If pids/pcr change, you then will have to rescan these channels again to get correct pids/pcr.
Just my opinion.
Michael

Originally Posted by paults2

I don't know if the Fortec Ultra has such a feature, but I was thinking of a feature where one would know by looking at the channel list which channels were active at a given moment. This would be useful for feeds where one might have a hundred channels on a satellite that are mostly dormant (not even a carrier) but come to life once in a while.

Since a blind search receiver has the hardware to scan the whole frequency band of the satellite, it would be a matter of the software looking for frequencies that are active and then highlighting the channels in the list that are associated with that active frequency.

Say, if freq 12011H is active, the channel(s) associated with that frequency would get highlighted in the channel list to let you know there is some programming currently on it. It would save the trouble of going through a hundred feed channels individually by hand to see if anything is on them.

A command such as 'Check for Active' would have to be done at the time when one is interested, as feed frequencies go active or inactive throughout the day and the highlighted list would become outdated quickly.

[paults2]

Yep. Those were all the issues that I was thinking about too.

I think just a frequency scan might be fairly fast, as it doesn't involve actually trying to find the symbol rate and lock onto the signal. It wouldn't be ideal, as you say, because the PIDS might have changed or a number of channels are on the same frequency and the one you want isn't transmitting at the time. But it might still be useful, particularly on feeds where there is usually only one channel per TP.

On my Fortec 786, I can go into the setup menu and then the search menu and check to see if the signal strength meter is green to check to see if anything is even active at all. It's a cumbersome approach. It would be nice if this info could be highlighted on the channel list, even though it's not ideal. It would also give a quick indication that a feed TP is active but that the PIDs have changed if one sees a blank screen. Then one would know it's time to check for new PIDs.

[Admin]

On the ULATR receiver, you can click on the signal button on the remote, and it wil show you the SIGNAL STRENGETH and QUALITY. However, you would have to surf each channel to check for that and that defeats your idea.