Dear DStv - technical faults thread

[ABDurbs]

I am desperate. I had to replace our HDPVR yesterday with a new Explora 3B. I connected it up to our main decoder which is an Explora 1, using a diplexer and a connection diagram. I have connected it right, but I cannot get anything out of the 3B except E143 , No communication with Primary Decoder and E48-32 There is no signal.
I have checked all the settings on both decoders and the Explora 1 is sending a heartbeat, but the 3B is receiving nothing. The LNB I have is a LMX500
Please help as I am at my wits end

 

[Geoff.D]

I am desperate. I had to replace our HDPVR yesterday with a new Explora 3B. I connected it up to our main decoder which is an Explora 1, using a diplexer and a connection diagram. I have connected it right, but I cannot get anything out of the 3B except E143 , No communication with Primary Decoder and E48-32 There is no signal.
I have checked all the settings on both decoders and the Explora 1 is sending a heartbeat, but the 3B is receiving nothing. The LNB I have is a LMX500
Please help as I am at my wits end

That diagram is just wrong! Where did you get that rubbish from?

Are the two decoders in the same room?

does the 3B have any RF ports on it? Or just the LNB port?

There are two ways to do the connection.

Option A combine the HB from the Explora 1 with the LNB signal behind the Explora 1

Or

Option B run a separate HB cable to the Explora 3B and inject the HB signal there.

Option A is the more reliable measure because it reduces/eliminates the need for the HB cable.

What model diplexer do you have and how are the ports labelled?

 

[ABDurbs]

That diagram is just wrong! Where did you get that rubbish from? Every diagram I have seen has this setup?

Are the two decoders in the same room? YES

does the 3B have any RF ports on it? Or just the LNB port? LNB ONLY

There are two ways to do the connection.

Option A combine the HB from the Explora 1 with the LNB signal behind the Explora 1

Or

Option B run a separate HB cable to the Explora 3B and inject the HB signal there.

Option A is the more reliable measure because it reduces/eliminates the need for the HB cable.

What model diplexer do you have and how are the ports labelled? ARIEL KING SE PIC FOR LABELS

 

[Geoff.D]

Okay so place the diplexer behind the Explora 1. Connect the RF IN or OUT port on the Explora 1 to the "ANT" port on the Diplexer, the LNB port on the Explora 1 to "SAT"
and the cable to the LNB to the 1/O port.
Connect the second LNB cable directly to the LNB port on the Explora 3B

That should now get the decoders to boot up properly

Explora 1 set to use settings 1 and 3B to use explore 2 or 3 settings.

Reboot the explore 1 first and confirm it is working properly, then switch on and reboot the Exolora 3

 

[Nemesys]

That diagram is just wrong! Where did you get that rubbish from?

Are the two decoders in the same room?

does the 3B have any RF ports on it? Or just the LNB port?

There are two ways to do the connection.

Option A combine the HB from the Explora 1 with the LNB signal behind the Explora 1

Or

Option B run a separate HB cable to the Explora 3B and inject the HB signal there.

Option A is the more reliable measure because it reduces/eliminates the need for the HB cable.

What model diplexer do you have and how are the ports labelled?

Here is an old diagram I have for the option a Geoff mention

 

[ABDurbs]

Seems to working OK now.
Thanks so much Geoff and Nemesys you are stars. That original diagram I found was completely wrong !

 

[upup]

Guy phoned me over the weekend, no signal on screen. got there at his house, remove the lnb cable, connector is wet. He said someone cleaned the decoder, but later say with no water. then took cable out of the cab, let it hang down, and water started to drip out. Advise him to let it dry for 2 days, there was heavy rain the prevouis evening . His other tv works fine, from the same antenna.

 

[Geoff.D]

Guy phoned me over the weekend, no signal on screen. got there at his house, remove the lnb cable, connector is wet. He said someone cleaned the decoder, but later say with no water. then took cable out of the cab, let it hang down, and water started to drip out. Advise him to let it dry for 2 days, there was heavy rain the prevouis evening . His other tv works fine, from the same antenna.

Yup. The el-cheapo cable we get in SA acts like capillary tubes and will suck the water all the way to the decoders. As soon as the UV damages the screening at the antenna, water gets in and if there are no drip points, that water will migrate all the way to the decoders.

 

[HAL 9000]

Seems like there are numerous issues with NatGeo (Ch.181) on DSTVNow - The program title STILL displays as 'UNKNOWN', the subtitles are on CONSTANTLY, and the vertical scroll bar is still visible on the right of the screen when Chrome is maximised...

 

[Brian_G]

Just discovered a third online guide - when on DStv Now it's in the top line menu (Edit: or on the DStv homepage click on "Discover" at the top), that doesn't take you to the newer guide but rather its own simplified version of it.

Haven't tried it much yet, just noticed that it's faster but difficult to get to the 14th day.
Anyway, more chance of finding something that works, even if its search feature is also useless.

Older guide: http://guide.dstv.com/
Only proper search for 14 days, only one that offers remote Explora recordings.

Newer guide: https://www.dstv.co.za/guide/
Now guide: https://www.dstv.com/en-za/discover/tv-guide/

 

[HAL 9000]

I notice there are a few discrepancies between the 3 DSTV Guide choices:

1. Now Guide - set to DSTV Premium - All Genres

It has an unidentified channel 111 (no logo ident) - channel 114 (KiX) doesn't appear at all, channel 115 still displays the old MNET City logo (not the new rebranded Me logo) with NO programming info, and the discontinued channel 116 (Vuzu) still displays as well.



2. Older Guide - set to DSTV Premium - All Genres - no unidentified channel 111 visible, channel 115 displays correctly with the new rebranded Me logo, and the discontinued channel 116 (Vuzu) does NOT display any more.



3. Newer Guide - set to DSTV Premium - Movies & Entertainment - channel 115 still displays the old MNET City logo (not the new rebranded Me logo), the discontinued channel 116 (Vuzu) still displays as well - and ALL of the channels have NO programming info visible

 

[Brian_G]

I notice there are a few discrepancies between the 3 DSTV Guide choices:

1. Now Guide - set to DSTV Premium - All Genres

It has an unidentified channel 111 (no logo ident) - channel 114 (KiX) doesn't appear at all, channel 115 still displays the old MNET City logo (not the new rebranded Me logo) with NO programming info, and the discontinued channel 116 (Vuzu) still displays as well.

They're likely referring to a 111 on the other satellite system mostly for more-northern Africa. Usually our combined channel numbers are sensible if all looked at, in this case it's strange as 111 is normally used for the main movie pop-up channel so could be a numbering error as well.

The rest is mostly their typical lack of effort, always been like that even before Africa Time took hold.

3. Newer Guide -...and ALL of the channels have NO programming info visible

View attachment 1182704

That's related to your browser, fine on my Firefox. And that's their regular discrepancies...

 

[Brian_G]

Here's a bit of history for those interested in the different African systems involved.

The northern other-satellites service starts more or less from above Zambia but only above Malawi on the eastern side (except for Mozambique being included in that which is further south than Malawi ).

The channels are mostly the same everywhere, but some will for instance be a French or Portuguese version, and regional channels vary for each country involved.

A few, like M-Net are more odd. We have 101, other Southern African countries have 102 M-Net Africa, northern countries get M-Net West or M-Net East on one of those numbers.

Last checked we are missing nothing of importance here. I've got access to most Southern African channels as well due to past involvement (wasn't an employee), just a bit more soccer really and little else of any note.

 

[Brian_G]

There was an unofficial guide (TV Guide Plus) that used to scrape the older DStv one's coding daily, and included things like Rotten Tomatoes movie ratings and an auto future-desires search & notify facility.
Seems to have disappeared but turns out the author is a MyBB member, I've contacted him for details and will advise if anything helpful.

(Personally I prefer imdb.com for content ratings.)

 

[Fulcrum29]

I haven't used DSTV Now in a while. Just watch on the television, but today I had to crunch, so I opened the 'new' DSTV Now app... Oh, my, what a horrid experience. The streams are stable, but the app has gone backwards, and I can see what they are trying to achieve, but its user experience needs work, and it isn't very responsive.

 

[zoozi]

I noticed three new issues this morning on DSTVNow...

1. When you try and select any live TV channel, it now seems to throw up the 'Unable to Play This Content' error message TWICE, before it eventually begins to actually stream the content.

2. It appears that, even if you have set the Quality to LOW (up to 360p), once you have closed your browser & then re-load a new DSTVNow session, it now automatically defaults back to HIGH (up to 1080p) & you have to then reset it manually back to LOW again.

3. This morning's episode of 'Father Brown' on BBC Brit (Ch.120) - and the preceding programme as well - 'Tipping Point' - both have a vertical scroll bar visible on the right side of the screen, even when you select the 'maximised' (full screen) setting, and the programme title STILL displays as UNKNOWN.

View attachment 1180284

1 + 2 have been around for a few years already.
Glad they finally updated the volume slider, god, don't know how they thought that was acceptible for so long... nice new little niggle though: when you maximize/full-screen, the mouse cursor stays on the screen, doesn't fade away.

 

[Brian_G]

nice new little niggle though: when you maximize/full-screen, the mouse cursor stays on the screen, doesn't fade away.

I find that on my screens one of the four corners will manage to hide it.

 

[HAL 9000]

So, the eMatic AGT-419 Android box that I set up for my brother last month, has now updated the DSTVNow app to the latest version sometime during the last 12 hours or so - there was much swearing & cursing at the totally different interface layout & menus when he fired it up earlier this afternoon to watch motorsport programming... especially the completely restructured 'TV Guide scrolling format' for selecting Live TV channels - and the glacial interface lag when using the remote to scroll or select various menu options...

 

[HAL 9000]

The latest DSTVNow glitch, when using Chrome on Windows 11 - the programme playback suddenly freezes and the only way to get it to continue playing is to use the blue playback scroll bar to go back then go forward past the point where the 'hiccup' occurred - or to close & then re-open it and use the scroll bar to do the same procedure mentioned above...

 

[Geoff.D]

What is the latest sw dl for the Explora 1 that refuses to complete and just causes a loss of all sound on all channels?

Does anyone know what the latest sw level is supposed to be on the Explora 1?