DSTV Announcement

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I go through to the lounge on Wednesday and find a Window thrown up on the telly screen headed: Announcement, which said that our SmartCard expires on 30th November 2011, and we were to swap it for a new one before that date. I called a friend whose had DSTV way longer than we have, and she said she's not heard of such a thing and hasn't had a similar message.
Any ideas?

Jane
 
I've been told that one of our decoders at work showed a similar message. I was not aware of the 30th Nov deadline.
 
Possibly your friend has done a smartcard swap sometime in the past.
Which version is your smartcard? It's probably the older versions that start with 0006 etc. Is it a blue DStv card or is it one that still has the big Multichoice logo on it?
 
My father in law got the same message. Time to go and swap it. Means he loses his RAI international channel.
 
I swapped my "old" card last Sunday at DSTV in Randburg. Totally seemless and took less than 10 mins. Stuck it back in the PVR and watched Lewis win the Grand Prix. Priceless.

Hey Toilet_Duck, that's some machine you have there. I'm jealous.

Inter i7 Quad Core 3.4GHz
16 Gig Ram
2TB Sata 4 Hard Drive
NVIDEA Quadro 6000 Graphic Card
USB 3.0 x 4
LG DVD Writer
32 Inch Samsung LCD Monitor
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit
TP- Link 3420 Wireless Router
Whoosh 5Gig + 8ta 3 Gig (swappable in E1820)

Wanna swap? ::whistle:whistle:
 
Last edited:
Toilet_Duck said:
Possibly your friend has done a smartcard swap sometime in the past.
Which version is your smartcard? It's probably the older versions that start with 0006 etc. Is it a blue DStv card or is it one that still has the big Multichoice logo on it?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the kind replies. Nope, ours starts with 0007 and it's the one with the big Multichoice logo and the rainbow coloured background. Old then? Figures. I regard the service as a luxury and am sad to say a gremlin lives in our decoder box as we lose our screen picture regularly, and have to reload from scratch. The assurances from the supplier that if we wait a bit the picture will restore itself, is/are a joke. The set is a solid Panasonic and there's sod-all wrong with it, though with the brutal power cuts and load-shedding capers down our way that we endure, that's a testament to its quality.
I guess we'll head off to swop the card then, and just maybe that will sort out the mischief in the decoder box...;)

Jane
 
The 0007 cards are very old. It's almost guaranteed that the swap will sort you decoder issues out.
 
RainwaterHarvester said:
I swapped my "old" card last Sunday at DSTV in Randburg. Totally seemless and took less than 10 mins. Stuck it back in the PVR and watched Lewis win the Grand Prix. Priceless.

Hey Toilet_Duck, that's some machine you have there. I'm jealous.

Inter i7 Quad Core 3.4GHz
16 Gig Ram
2TB Sata 4 Hard Drive
NVIDEA Quadro 6000 Graphic Card
USB 3.0 x 4
LG DVD Writer
32 Inch Samsung LCD Monitor
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit
TP- Link 3420 Wireless Router
Whoosh 5Gig + 8ta 3 Gig (swappable in E1820)

Wanna swap? ::whistle:whistle:
Click to expand...

You need a SSD bro. No offence, but your entire system means nothing with the hard drive you have :)
 
Thursday now 6.02pm

So the old man called the Workshop this morning to see if we could swop the SmartCard at that outlet as it's the nearest, and they said no, we would have to take the box and the old card out to DSTV on the Ridge at Umhlanga. Nice people and ja, it took about fifteen minutes and it was done. Everything working just fine this evening, and no screen blackouts yet. *fingers crossed it's done the trick... J
 
-toady- said:
Thursday now 6.02pm

So the old man called the Workshop this morning to see if we could swop the SmartCard at that outlet as it's the nearest, and they said no, we would have to take the box and the old card out to DSTV on the Ridge at Umhlanga. Nice people and ja, it took about fifteen minutes and it was done. Everything working just fine this evening, and no screen blackouts yet. *fingers crossed it's done the trick... J
Click to expand...
What card did they give you. It will have something like ZETA written on it.
 
Time to go and swap it
Click to expand...

What is this ' go and swap it ' nonsense ?

Sheesh but we allow companies to order us around.

It's their card that has expired - they must make a plan to get it to you.

Who is paying for the service here ?
 
-toady- said:
Thursday now 6.02pm

So the old man called the Workshop this morning to see if we could swop the SmartCard at that outlet as it's the nearest, and they said no, we would have to take the box and the old card out to DSTV on the Ridge at Umhlanga. Nice people and ja, it took about fifteen minutes and it was done. Everything working just fine this evening, and no screen blackouts yet. *fingers crossed it's done the trick... J
Click to expand...

Interesting. Do you know what box it was? And was it replaced with the latest version?
Edit: Taking the box in was probably for the pairing to be done.
 
Last edited:
Toilet_Duck said:
Interesting. Do you know what box it was? And was it replaced with the latest version?
Edit: Taking the box in was probably for the pairing to be done.
Click to expand...

Nope, not a clue, and nope they didn't replace the box, just the card. Quite a complicated business, but the kids running the counters there know what they're doing. I hardly dare say it, but the screen hasn't switched off once, since the swop! :)
 
-toady- said:
Nope, not a clue, and nope they didn't replace the box, just the card. Quite a complicated business, but the kids running the counters there know what they're doing. I hardly dare say it, but the screen hasn't switched off once, since the swop! :)
Click to expand...
The card is basically the encryption system. Multichoice often mess about with encryption signals, which can make the screen freeze.
 
Lounger said:
The card is basically the encryption system. Multichoice often mess about with encryption signals, which can make the screen freeze.
Click to expand...

By freeze do you mean black out totally and without warning? At 2.45pm today the telly screen suddenly went black and didn't restore itself as DSTV assure you it will. A problem we'd had for some years, until we were advised to upgrade our DSTV SmartCard as per this thread, and the glitch appeared to be sorted up until a few days ago.
Oddly enough, only minutes earlier I'd lost the Server on the PC, and disconnecting and re-connecting hadn't helped, so I'd shut down. Crazy to think the two events could be in any way related, and that there might be a gremlin on our powerline? ;)
 
-toady- said:
By freeze do you mean black out totally and without warning? At 2.45pm today the telly screen suddenly went black and didn't restore itself as DSTV assure you it will. A problem we'd had for some years, until we were advised to upgrade our DSTV SmartCard as per this thread, and the glitch appeared to be sorted up until a few days ago.
Oddly enough, only minutes earlier I'd lost the Server on the PC, and disconnecting and re-connecting hadn't helped, so I'd shut down. Crazy to think the two events could be in any way related, and that there might be a gremlin on our powerline? ;)
Click to expand...
DSTV sends signals to the card to update the 'keys' and verify your card. Sometimes this doesn't do what it should and can freeze a picture. If removing and replacing the card sorts it out, then that's the cause.
 
***** ANNOUNCEMENT !!!!!*********

This is so old style, 80s - can they not have better means of communication

ANNOUNCEMENT" MonoChoice - you are out of touch with many things!!!
 
Lounger said:
DSTV sends signals to the card to update the 'keys' and verify your card. Sometimes this doesn't do what it should and can freeze a picture. If removing and replacing the card sorts it out, then that's the cause.
Click to expand...

Seems a bit harsh to have to remove and replace the card each time it happens don't you think? Switching off the set and restarting gets it going okay without a problem, until maybe a day or week later when it happens again. Obviously an irritation we're going to have to live with, but thanks for the help. J. ;)
 
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