Newsgroup: it.hobby.satellite-tv.digitale
Titolo: 4DTV BIG DISAPOINTMENT

05/14/97
Received my $4dtv on Tuesday, installed in a couple of hours, switched it
on and... BIG DISAPOINTMENT.
The Receiver takes a long time to respond to the Remote command
In comparison with my GI 650I, the Analog and Videocipher video
looks washed out, looks like some processing was done to make it look
like the Digichiper.  DigiCipher looks a little better than a VHS
recording(Not like SVHS)
In comparison with my 650i receiver the signal grabbing ability of the 4dtv
is worse.
On some transponders of C1and Galaxy 1, were I get a noise free but not
full
quality signal with my 650i,(signal quality=80) I get a lot of sparklies
with the $4DTV.(signal quality=60) Kids want the old receiver because of
better signal on Denver 5
You can program only those satellites preprogrammed with the unit. You
can't
add new satellites by yourself, they have to be programmed by GI.  I have a
Horizon to Horizon mount and can't program the Pan-American, Intelsat and
the Hispasat sats.
Very little Digicipher programming available, only HBO on G1 and TVN on G9,
no court TV, Request, Adam&Eve etc.
Sometimes channel acquisition time takes forever to determine the type of
signal tuned to.
NO Even or Odd channels tuning to extend the life of the polarizer motor
Dish fine tuning cumbersome due to background going blank while moving the
dish.  
Hope GI will fix all this problems soon, if not I'll have a nice looking
boat anchor for sale, In the meantime, back to the 650i.
Eng. Alejandro Luciano
San Juan, Puerto Rico
huc...@prtc.net
05/15/97
All the TVN DgiCipher channels On G9 were OTC this morning.  VHS Video
quality.
Possible GI download reset some sats to preprogramed skew.  So back to the
installation screen to set the skew.
05/16/97
No IPG this morning called SuperStar for new hit, still waiting.
Skew setting reset by themself on G1, W1 and T4

 boat anchor for sale, In the meantime, back to the 650i.
You're not going to send it back or a full refund?
Sure sounds like a"pig in a poke" to me!
-- 
John
jsum...@ultravision.net
http://john.ultravision.net
http://www.ultravision.net

 on and... BIG DISAPOINTMENT.
Both G.I. and H.B.O. can rot in hell.  Glad to hear the 4DTV is a bomb. 
I would strongly recommend no one buy any G.I. garbage.  All should wait
until other companies introduce their compression video satellite
recievers.  Alejando, send that piece of shit back immediately and
demand your money back.  Thanks for reporting what a miserable,
substandard, poorly designed excuse for a satellite reciever this 4DTV
really is.  G.I. and Orbit Magazine can take all their 4DTV
advertisements and stick them up their asses!

 
Typical GI garbage. Send it back and demand your money. 
You can also use it for building a coral reef.

It gets worse my friend.  According to the Transponder magazine,
this is a different kind of receiver in addition to the common
attributes that have been touted.  It seems that we dealers will be
screwed (again & again) in more ways than one.  Here's the deal.  GI has
incorporated a software data base in each receiver and ONLY it (GI) can
preprogram the receivers to recognize ONLY that programing GI has
entered in it.  The dealer CANNOT override or access this receiver data
base.  ONLY GI can access the receiver database.  Example, PBS is
transmitted without an encryption key on say INTELSAT 601.  The user can
receive INTELSAT 601 and should be able to receive this "open" signal. 
WRONG!  GI must tell the 4DTV receivers(via satellite delivery) that
INTELSAT 601 is a valid satellite for the receiver to receive, that the
PBS transmission is on a certain frequency and authorizes then to be
received.  As a dealer/installer, there is NOTHING you can do.  GI once
has the public by the balls as it screws us one more time.  According to
the Transponder article, the commercial version of the 4DTV takes
approximately 10 minutes for the receiver to recognize where it is and
what programing it is authorized to receive.  Can you envison a user
waiting 5 to 10 minutes everytime he/she change satellites to view these
wonderful digital signals.  I take great pride in never ever handling
any GI products for the past 16 years except for the VCII and VCII+
modules which gave us no practical choice.  GI did not develop the
technology.  MACOM did and GI bought them out some years ago.  It looks
like I'll miss all this digital magic.  I'll just sit out this
technological "breakthrough".  You distributors/dealers that continue to
support GI by using their products will continue to get what you
deserve.


proclaimed:
#Alejandro Luciano wrote:
#> 
#> 05/14/97
#> Received my $4dtv on Tuesday, installed in a couple of hours,
switched it
#> on and... BIG DISAPOINTMENT.
#
#
#Both G.I. and H.B.O. can rot in hell.  Glad to hear the 4DTV is a
bomb. 
#I would strongly recommend no one buy any G.I. garbage.  All should
wait
#until other companies introduce their compression video satellite
#recievers.  Alejando, send that piece of shit back immediately and
#demand your money back.  Thanks for reporting what a miserable,
#substandard, poorly designed excuse for a satellite reciever this
4DTV
#really is.  G.I. and Orbit Magazine can take all their 4DTV
#advertisements and stick them up their asses!
But how do you really feel about GI?  No holding back.

 proclaimed:
#It gets worse my friend.  According to the Transponder magazine,
#this is a different kind of receiver in addition to the common
#attributes that have been touted.  It seems that we dealers will be
#screwed (again & again) in more ways than one.  Here's the deal.  GI
has
#incorporated a software data base in each receiver and ONLY it (GI)
can
#preprogram the receivers to recognize ONLY that programing GI has
#entered in it.  The dealer CANNOT override or access this receiver
data
#base. 
[edit]
 
# As a dealer/installer, there is NOTHING you can do.  GI once
#has the public by the balls as it screws us one more time.
[edit]
This, of course, comes as no surprise.  When you think about it, the
whole consumer TVRO movement was rather spontaneous.  Those signals
were out there, primarily for network affiliates and other programmers
when the receive only technology became cheap enough to allow
consumers with a degree of tech savvy or $$ to watch them. 
 Remember the early days of alleged "signal theft" before the
Satellite Communications Act of 1984.  
The point is that C/Ku band programming was never really intended for
us.  As a result, the big boys either never had or quickly lost
control of this grass roots consumer movement.  For the last 10 years
or so they have been trying to placate us by "allowing" their signals
to continue to be available, albeit at an ever increasing cost, while
they have been working to regroup and consolidate their power.  Your
good friends at GI and the providers of other propriety systems (and
programming), especially digital, are just now taking the next step to
take back control and limit us to the same pablum, crappy customer
service and limited choice of programming the cable companies (who, of
course, mostly control the satellite industry now) have been dealing
folks for years.
Having said that, a curse on all their tribes.

received. 
<snip...>
I'm going to put this information in the "rumor department" for now subject to 
independent verification.  Because if it is true, it makes 4DTV unacceptable 
at any price.  Some software guy a GI is going to decide which ITC programming 
I can watch?  How in the world did somebody dream this up?  At best it is 
going to piss of customers and dealers, at worse it opens the door to abusive 
practices and yes, censorship.
The more I follow the 4DTV story the more I become convinced that GI has 
intentionally designed a turkey to assure its failure as a viable consumer 
product.  I don't know how else to explain this.
best regards,
   Jerry Schonewille


This fits in with what I was thinking they would do.  This means that U.S.
consumers are unlikely to watch Canadian programming for long, yet G.I. can
use the same receiver in Canada- and not let them watch any U.S. stuff
either!
Mark
Sat...@ez-net.com