Starview Expert-**no email posting or BANNED**

Hi ppl

Just purchased a Philips HD 37 high end LCD, I know Starview does not have hDef capability, but is there anyway I can improve on pitc quality from a scart on the Starview, as on a scart some channels bring up imperfections. The PHilips LCD has many connectors, HDMI, PDIF, SCART, S Video and others, All help welcome. Thanks H

 

Hi
Can anyone tell me do all starview boxes have the fault with black bars to the sides and is it permanent . Thanks Chris

 

hi chris
the only way to get rid of the black bars is to back upo your chanels lists ie. upload to your pc
do a factory reset then change the setings to 16.9 then load the 257 bin file then load the saved channels from your pc and dont ever go back into the menu where the option is to change from 4.3 to 16.9 or the black bars will come back no mater what setting its on .
what a chew on but it does work

the drawback is the bars will now be at the top and the bottem on some channels !!!!!
i dont know if its worth the hassel

 

I was getting that. I put in the old pin then for the new pin I just put in the old pin again. Then I pressed info 2004 and all was well

 

I have no idea if your box is stuffed but it won't hurt to do a factory reset then scan again. Just take the bits you need from the the guide below
--------------

THIS GUIDE WILL HOPEFULLY HELP THOSE HAVING PROBLEMS SETTING UP, FLASHING AND SCANNING THEIR BOXES.


1 Make sure you have and active cable feed- this will be true if you have a subbed box or a modem subscription and digital service is available in your area. If you have no subscription just because you have a cable there doesn't mean it's an active line. Or it may have been active but been disconnected at the other end in the box on your street or at the point where it enters your house. There are only a limited number of taps in these boxes, sometimes not enough for every house in the street, so if a subscribing customer needs access and they have no spare connections left they will disconnect a house that is connected if they no longer have a subscription. Or if you were subscribing and are now not it may be disconnected as a matter of course.

2 Make sure your cable is working correctly-get a new pre- crimped cable not one that you attach the connectors on the end of the cable yourself, or check the cables with a tester if you know how to do this. Also make sure all your connections are tight and secure. (on the wall and into the back of your box and the RF adapter). If you are using a splitter make sure it's working correctly and not losing too much of the signal. Test by using the feed directly without the splitter 1st. (If you need a splitter get a Qamtex or vocom one). If you have signal problems you may have a fault in the small brown box where your feed enters the house- there is an adapter there too so you may have to check the cables in there too. Water may have got in etc. Or the Tap your house cable is connected to in the box on your street maybe faulty or the cable under your road from this box to your house faulty.

3 Make sure the feed is plugged into the correct input at the back of the box- plug into the cable feed input NOT the RF input!

4 Goto the Receiver section of the forum not the talking boards and download the latest WORKING firmware. and the GT Rom loader software. If the firmware is a zipped file extract it to its bin extension. If the loader is zipped or rared extract it to its exe extension.

At present as of 26/01/07 this is 257 dated 16th August 2006- (same as 26 Jan. 2007) OR the 255 dated 22nd July 2006 also known as Cryptstar v1.1 In menu check your system information. If it shows the November 2006 firmware you may need to flash with the above or later if appropriate as this one may not work correctly in letting you access the CAS SYSTEM menu to enable EMU.

(Please remember that this applies to UK only- sometimes if you are in Eire you may have to use an older firmware maybe the 257 for your box for it to autoupdate)

5 Connect your box and PC with a Null modem cable and switch on your PC then cable box. Make sure your box is connected to the TV by a tested and working Full scart cable and the TV is set to the correct AV input that matches the scart that you are using.

6 Make sure you know which com port on your PC the null modem cable is using and make sure the baud rate is set to 115200 in device manager in system settings in control panel.

Make sure you know that the serial port on your PC is working and is connected securely to the PCs motherboard if appropriate. Its a good idea sometimes to remove all other devices such as printers/scanners or other unnecessary USB devices as sometimes there may be a conflict if the device is sharing a com port with the serial connector. This may be more relevant in older pcs with pre XP OS, such as Win 98 and you may have to alter BIOS settings to enable com ports or settings to let windows allocate them.

7 In GT Rom software make sure that you set the correct com port that matches the one that is being used in device manager. Press the Help button and read the instructions.

8 Make sure App file only is selected and click Bin File then browse to the firmware in the directory on your PC and select it.

9 You will then see "GCR 3510" in the STB model box.

10 If the box has had an older software installed which was working but no longer decrypts then switch it off at the back then back on again and tune to an unencrypted channel (No $ symbol)quickly before it gets caught in an auto-updating loop. ( Select OK and the channel list appears, move up or down to select a channel without a green dollar symbol on the right ($) & hit ok.) Make sure the channel is working then switch it into standby on the remote or the front of the box. You will then see the clock. If an older firmware is on the box and it starts to autoupdate the keys, but then sticks and then you put it in standby you will not be able to flash the box correctly. You must go into standby from a working unencrypted channel first.

11 Run the GT Rom loader flash the ROM chip by pressing Download and watch the % progress increase until you see Download completed message on your PC. DO NOT SWITCH OFF UNTIL COMPLETE! That means you see the DOWNLOAD COMPLETE pop up on pc. The Starview will then switch on again.

Its always a good idea not to do anything else on the PC while flashing to minimize the risk of corruption during the flash. And make sure you close any other running applications and make sure no
applications are scanning or start scanning during the flash. eg. Antivirus/antispyware. Or that you are downloading anything from the net. It may not be an issue but better safe than sorry as maxing out the CPU can sometimes cause the flash to fail, the last thing you want is to damage the ROM chip in the starview.

12 You can now disconnect your your Null modem cable from box and PC if you wish.

13 If you have a previously bad flash switch it off then on at the back and make sure its on standby. Then Flash as guided above.

14 If you don't know the state of the box switch it on see what happens see if there already has been a channel scan done before-meaning there are channels on it working or not. if so tune to an unencrypted channel as above then standby then reflash.

15 If No channels at all goto standby then flash as above.

16 You may want to do a factory reset then flash as above.

17 If done after flashing the 1st thing you will have to do is a full auto channel scan in the installation section of the menu.

18 you may have to alter the provider to a suitable one or scan on all to pick up the channels. Pure N*l areas have a symbol rate of 6887 whereas x C + W, Tw or om are 6952 sometimes you may have to auto scan more than once on the same provider.

19 Once completed it will tell you ....channels found, exit on the remote and enter the Parental control section of the menu. Press "i " (info) then "2004" and you will enter the CAS system menu. (alternatively from the Main Menu press 1570). Scroll down to Key EMU and switch it on by toggling the volume arrows on the remote. Then move up to Nagravision and press OK select your area provider pure N*L or another then press OK. Exit and scroll down to Default key and hit OK. It will flash "Please wait for saving" Exit all way back to main menu.

20 Select User Setup and then set your desired language. Aspect ratio- 4:3 if you have an older set or 16:9 if it's a widescreen. Set the TV type. In UK its PAL (Phase Alternate Line) or you can set it to Auto but make sure it was on the correct one before that. Video output is best set to RGB if your TV can take this through the scart but make sure the setting on your TV for that scart AV input is also set to RGB in the menu or settings area on your TV set. Otherwise use CVBS (composite signal). On the TV scart will give give you RGB output, the video scart is only composite video.

Set the time- when highlighted move the arrow to the right and Time setting sub menu appears. In the time zone area set the GMT+..:.. section. This must be correct or your EPG times will be off. This will depend on the time of year, clocks going back forward will affect this. In the UK it will be either GMT+00:00 (In winter) or GMT+01:00 (in summer). Set the Current time by scrolling down then inputing the numbers in 24hr clock. The Timer section is for setting the box to come on or off to record from for example. Remember this only works on a 24hour basis, but you can set 8 changes and repeat daily if you want.

21 In modulator use the arrows to select the output RF (radio Frequency) signal. If your box is connected to your TV with an aerial lead- again make sure the connections are firm the cable is previously tested as working and you have connected it to the correct output on the back of your box. The UK setting is PAL-I other regions may vary, in other PAL settings the picture may work but the sound may not work properly.

In Rf channel select a number that you know that there is no existing channel being broadcast on or another device outputting on such as a video/dvd or other box. Sometimes its best to select the channel on the TV you wish to use then tune to a blank area with just clear snow and save. making a note of the frequency number on the TV if you can (21 to 69). Then set the same number on the starview then fine tune your TV. If you can't note the number on the TV just go through the numbers on the starview hitting OK until the picture appears. This a pain though as you'll keep having to flick from scart to RF on your TV. The default on the Starview is 38 I think you could tune your TV to this if you want to see if there is any interference.

22 Set the On Screen Display (OSD) as preferred for time and opaqueness.

23 The S/W Transfer enables you to transfer firmware or channel order/scan data from one box to another. There are guides on this in other sections of the forum so use the search function to find out how.

24 Exit back out of the menu and check all your channels are there working. All that remains is for you to re order your channels if you wish in Channel edit in the menu the default pass is 0000. If you've changed it and forgotten the master code is 1668 then go into settings again and set it to what you want.

 

hi, i am trying to find the PPV channel and i cant find it :S:S:S i had it when i 1st had my box but now its not there, i want to watch the WWE but i have have tried everything even formated again and still nothing, is it just me or what?

 

Is anyone else's box showing distorted pictures and displaying scrambled or bad channel?. I dont think my box updates. I watch a channel for 2 mins and it starts freezing and digital pixelating and and is somewhat
un-watchable.

aLL SUGGESTIONS WELCOME grahamcroal1@hotmail.co.uk

 

make sure you have the software 257 and not 259 or anything else for that matter

 

hi all i got my starview box 8 months ago only ever had problems 3 times and thanks to this site usually sorted out in 24 hours in my experience the best way to stop the n*l box communicating about what your watching is to cancel your cable subscription altogether i've had 10 meg bb for over a year and a starview box for 8 months and a modded n*l reciever for 5 months before that and never had any problems my hardware came from a former n*l engineer who tells me they very rarely switch connections off to customers homes so go forth and cancel them subscriptions anybody who owns a starview box doesnt believe in paying for something they can get for free (myself included) so take the plunge and cancel.

 

hi all can anybody help me on how to connect my starview box up to run on my pc as well as tv so i can record certain things onto my hard drive using windows media center any help much appreciated many thanks richy6976@yahoo.co.uk

 

Hi, I just wanted to say that this is a great forum. I'm so thankful for all the advice on here, and in particular the help given by tommycomm. My starview box is now working

Thanks,
Yasmin

 

Hi,i just bought a starview box today,i am wondering if i have it set up right as when i select ntl as my area and then automatic scan it cant find a single channel !! . basically i have a coaxial lead going into the starview box( cable input socket) which connects to the box via a coax to f adapter and the box connects to my tv via the tv out and antenna in.The picture i get is perfect so i assume the problem must be with my coax feed to the receiver.Is it possible that the coax to f adapter that i bought from maplins can be faulty?
Hope you guys can help as its driving me insane !!!

 

you must conect the box to you tv via a scart lead
the select avi on the telly

 

are you conected to the ntl box or internet box

 

Hi,yes just tried setting it up with a scart and still no joy!! its still failing to find one single channel,i can only assume that the coax to f adapter i have bought from maplins is faulty( i take it i have it in the correct fitting on the starview box,i have it plugged in the cable input one ,so my currenset up is cable input to coaxial cable and scart to tv,

 

sorry forgot to say i have a my main coaxial cable coming out of the wall,then this goes into a 3 way splitter,one ito my ntl box,one into my ntl broadband modem,and one into my starview box.I have also tried removing the splitter and putting the coaxial cable from the wall directly into the back of the starview box,therefore having a direct connection,but still no joy.

 

set up is correct

is they a bin file on the starview ie. the 257 image

do you get a no signal on the tv or a blank screen
are you splitting the feed between the internet and the tv (this is ok) or straight to the starview .

 

it must be a software problem

do you have a cabel nul modem 9 pin female type if so i can upgrade the soft ware for you step by step

 

Hi just checked the version its vers 2.58e - boot version 7.0 and is dated the 18th sept 2006,hope this helps and you can help me .

 

thats the problem 258 dont think it works mate you need 257

do you have the cabel i mention