Hi All, Was wondering if anyone is using a Foxtel Satellite set top box (Std, IQ 2or 3) while travelling.
We have brought our home satellite IQ2 box away with us this time and have it working well except for an annoyingly long start up time. In our van we have a portable Sat system picking up the satellite well with the Vast system then swap to the foxtel system and start it up. The foxtel box finds the 220+ foxtel channels within about 1-2 mins. Then it tries to tune the FreeToAir channels and is trying to find all the channels in our home Cairns region which of course it can't find. This takes about 45mins to happen and then finally the set top box shows the normal foxtel channels. If we put the foxtel box on standby the foxtel channels stay tuned when we turn it on again. However if we power off the box completely when we turn off inverter, the box looses all the channels and we have to wait the 45 mins to next watch any show. We are only using the foxtel box intermittently to get certain NRL games and of course Game of Thrones so don't want to leave it powered up for long periods due to its power usage.
Haven't been able to find any settings to stop this tuning of FTA channels. There is some comments on the web of people taking a second home standard foxtel box away with them. I understand the Standard box doesn't tune FTA channels so my problem wouldn't happen.
Does anyone know a) how to stop the foxtel IQ2 box tuning local stations?
or b) how to change the region setting on the foxtel box? ( Perhaps this is something only done at the Foxtel end of installation)
Can't talk to Foxtel cause they only say to use Foxtel Go when you are travelling and mobile. - How ignorant are they of the expense of mobile data charges and the lack of broadband coverage where we travel !!!!!
We take our Fox box with us and have no problems in tuning it. We have a dual LNB and a seperate cable to the fox and vast box. Have been doing this since they started having free to air on the fox box.
We only use Foxtel because it gives us all our local (Sydney) channels that we are used to.
Each time we setup and put out the dish and turn on the Fox it finds everything in a few minutes, never really timed it but it tunes in while I put the TV on the bracket and connect the TV to it.
I've never bothered with Vast but do you mean you have them both connected to the same coax cable?
Are you using a dual LNB or single (as mentioned by WAssa41)?
Thanks for your reply
We only have single cable LNB and van has one out put. We just connect either the Foxtel or vast separately with the one cable depending on what we need to watch. My understanding is that the two inputs into the Foxtel IQ2 box is to allow recording.
What box are you using? Standard or IQ2 or IQ3?
Is your box from a cable installation or home satelitte installation?
Do you get the local FTA (free to air) stations that you normally get at home or the ones in the place you are travelling to?
Foxtel and vast while traveling and not haveing to interchange cables. What you need is a lmb that has 4 outputs, 2 of these would go to your foxtel receiver and one of the other cables would go to the vast receiver. This would leave the 4th as a spair or a second vast receiver, say in the bedroom. I have done a lot of electrical work on a big double deaker bus a few years ago and that was the easyest way to get around the cable issues. Work a treat.
If you have only a single cable you can use a splitter inside the van behind the fox box. A splitter allows you to have say one input and several outputs.
The splitter idear will work providing that both of your vast and foxtel receivers are on the same polarity channels, the polarity is set by the voltage that is sent up the coax cable ( 13 or 17 Volts. Vast use 13 Volts but foxtel use a combination of 13 or 17 Volts and this is set by the channel that you wish to watch. Some channels are vertical polarity and some are Horizontal.
Beter to use a duel lmb and run two seperate cables or use a quad lmb and use three cables
Chutneylover, to answer your question we're using an IQ2 box.
Valiant 81 hasn't said it in as many words but I think your problem is the single LMB as far as the slow Fox startup is concerned.
Obviously he has the experience so run with his advice, again though with all that is on Fox I can't see why you wouldn't keep it simple and go with it alone.
Just my opinion for what it's worth.
When we're away from home, by the time we watch the news and a program after that we're stacking Z's.
We mainly use Fox and Tivo at home for time shifting programs and avoid adds.
We have the old austar box (now foxtel) as well as the Vast box. We have a single LNB which hooks directly to the vast box , then from the vast box another cable out to the LNB in on the Austar box and works perfect, no need to swap cables all the time. Obviously you can't run both at once as the vast box needs to be in standby/off mode to send signal through to Fox box. Fox have been wanting me to change to the new IQ for ages now , but then I would have to go to a dual LNB as mine is automatic and roof mounted , it seems like a lot of work and exspence to change.
Cheers
Mick
