New Pansat FTA reciever

[phantomfsoc]

Hey people,
Just wanted to know if there is anyone on here that knows anything about the "NEW" Dish testing fad. Its the FREE TO AIR (FTA) system. I have the Pansat 2300a reciever. It has a serial port on the back for software updates, and a UHF port (looks like a headphone jack) I wanna use the system with sage but how would I go about channel changing? I know there is IR blasters out there, but I don't know what to look for. Are there frequencys I need. If anyone with the know how can point me in the right direction I'd be grateful.

Anyone wanna check out the system: pansatusa.com

[mikbro]

I think you need to separate your issue into 2 distinct areas:

1. IR control of the receiver. Yes, you can use the USB-UIRT to program the 0-9/enter buttons of your Pansat remote into Sage. Sage will then be able to tune to a 'channel' you have defined on the Pansat.

2. Guide/Channel/Program information. As you may know MPEG-FTA channels you can receive typically are international channels that do not have official guide listings through Tribune Media Services (where Sage gets it's guide info). Neither is there a 'MPEG-FTA' lineup that you can select when setting up a source in SageTV. Good news though... you can select the C-BAND - USA lineup which I created for my C-BAND/MPEG-FTA customers (and thanks to Jeff/Dan's willingness to support them) you can get a FEW MPEG-FTA listings for those channels that TMS has guide data... for instance say you recieve the "xyz" channel that is channel number 6777 in the C-Band USA channel lineup. Simply program your Pansat to tune itself to the XYZ channel at channel position 6777 and when SageTV tunes to 6777 your pansat will make the appropriate change.

For the multitude of channels available on MPEG-FTA that there is not guide data for, you are not totally out of luck... the C-Band USA lineup has a ton of 'blank' channels that you can correspond to channels on the Pansat and use to at least set timed recordings for.

[phantomfsoc]

Thanks for the help. I'm gonna go look into the usb-ird.

[mailman]

Can the FTA receiver be controlled via the serial port?

[phantomfsoc]

I don't think so. I ended up getting the usbirt and its working fine... slow, but fine