[VU+ Solo4K] UHD / HDR from Hotbird

[rob56]

Hi,

Sorry if this is the wrong forum as it's more a config question, but not sure where else is best to put it. I've had a Vu+ Solo4k for a month or so and I'm really happy with it. Flashed to OpenViX 5.1.032, set up with picons and recording programs to my NAS. Got the hang of timers (mostly) and got favourites sorted out. This box replaced an old Samsung S7800, which about six years ago replaced an old Sky HD box and subscription. Still using the old Sky dish unchanged from the old Sky subscription days.

I've got a question around available channels on the Hotbird satellite. My installed tuner hardware is whatever comes with the box, i.e. the two non-modular LNB connectors, both hooked up to the old dish. When I set the box up, I set all tuners to the Astra satellite and did a scan. Got great result - 983 channels, of which about 300 are viewable (nice have Channel 4 HD again). Signal looked great - photo here: https://i.imgur.com/U2ePmBK.jpg

But I have a 4K TV and a now a 4K satellite box, so I'm interested in the 4K broadcasts. From the Astra scan, I only have Astra UHD and SES UHD, both of which look amazing. But according to this link https://www.eutelsat.com/en/services/broadcast/ultra-hd-channels.html , Hotbird has some UHD channels and some that even broadcast in HDR/HLG. When I reset the tuner to Hotbird, signal still seemed OK : https://i.imgur.com/awBaOuX.jpg. But when I did a scan, it only found 28 channels, all of which were weird and wonderful stuff like HUM News, Solar Radio and ATN Bangla UK. See https://i.imgur.com/oF8ZW26.jpg and https://i.imgur.com/0KUvHRJ.jpg for the channels I found.

So my question is, if I want to get the full range of channels from Hotbird as listed in the link above (mainly Travelxp 4K for the HDR UHD signal) do I need to change my settings somehow, or is my dish installation not set up correctly to just switch the tuner like this?

Box brand & model: Vu+ Solo4K
Chipset: 7376
System OE: OE-Alliance 4.1
Firmware version: OpenViX 5.1.032 (2018-07-24)
Kernel / Drivers: 3.14.28 / 20180702

Tuner config for Hotbird scan:

Configuration mode: Simple
Mode: DiSEqC A/B
Port A: 13.0E Eutelsat Hot Bird 13B/13C/13E
Port B: 13.0E Eutelsat Hot Bird 13B/13C/13E
Set voltage and 22KHz: yes
Send DiSEqC only on satellite change: no
Force legacy signal stats: no

Any help much appreciated.
Rob

 

[abu baniaz]

Do you have an LNB pointing to 13E on your dish?

Side issue:

Which picons are you using?

 

[rob56]

Hi,

I think you may have answered the question - it's just the same boggo Sky dish we've had installed since forever. It's whatever Sky were dishing out years ago. Still seems to work fine for Astra but I had no idea whether it could be made to work just by choosing the new satellite, or if I'd need a new dish/LNB. It just made me hopeful that I had 75% signal strength for the hotbird satellite. Is that nowhere near enough? I'm not techy about that side of the hardware at all so assume zero knowledge!

Picon pack was the MK one from the openvix site: http://www.openvix.co.uk/Picons/MK-Picons/400x240 SNPicons/MK 400x240 UK (SNP) 2017_09_10.rar

Thanks
Rob

 

[abu baniaz]

Get yourself a larger dish and fit multiple LNBs. 13/19.2/28 as a starting point.

 

[deepthort]

Just to be clear about it, if your dish is pointing only at Astra 28.2 you won't receive any signal at all from Hotbird. It's not like an aerial where you can pick up signals from transmitters which are roughly in the right direction for your aerial. The 75% signal reading is simply because there are some similar or the same frequencies used on both satellites and the box can't distinguish between them for itself; it only tells you there are some HB channels because you have told it that's where the dish is pointing. The channels it has found are really just Astra channels dressed up with a different name.

 

[gibbletts]

Before you do anything you might want to find out which channels are encrypted and if it’s worth the expense installing new eqpt

 

[rob56]

Hi,

Thanks all for coming back - as I imagined it's not possible to just choose the hotbird satellite and have it work magically without at least a new LNB. I'm not too bothered for now, plenty on Astra to keep me entertained. Still loving this box, it's amazing to have scheduled recordings all straight onto the NAS.

Thanks
Rob