Yea, really LOL. After looking at your pics here, I started scratching my head trying to find out where I went wrong. Switched on older Astro DMT box without smartcard to test again. Mmm... still no sound. I begun to wonder whether there was any hidden trick to this. I used S-Video and RCA (Red+White) to my amp.

Before I change to direct connections to TV to test, I decided to check my complicated connections to my amp again. Then I found the answer !! I connected the Astro box S-Video/RCA out to my amp DVD input and have also assigned my amp same DVD "Optical In" to also use [Optical Input 6] with my HD TV optical out connected to it. Woila... when I changed the DVD optical in assignment to [NONE], the radio channels can be heard !!

* My HD TV optical out was connected to my amp optical in labelled No. 6. which my amp auto disconnect my DVD RCA input when detected signal from TV. Once I disabled assignment from No.6 to NONE, I got sound !

That means the old Astro DMT box without smartcard can still be used to listen to all the radio channels.

I never bothered to check when I heard this from many people before since it was really not important for me. But when I tested, I did not get the sound. I thought wrongly that maybe got some hidden trick to make it work. Then... you posted your pics here... so this prompted me to recheck my connections again.

LOLouder... Thanks to your small push, I got it right with a 100% confirmation that the radio channels do work for Astro box without smartcard. I appreciate your indirect gentle nudge.

This post has been edited by jamesleetech: Mar 23 2012, 07:26 PM

huhu..how i can miss this news.thank you for highlight kawan
hmmm.. wrestler-mania coming soon, possible show in HD too ??

They are not encrypted : http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/astro.html

so dust off your old decoders and put them to good use, but don't tell astro about you new found discovery

but do it quietly, we don't want astro spies who are strolling these forum to report to report to their boss and decide to encrypt the radio signal

This post has been edited by neb: Mar 23 2012, 09:09 PM

So true... so true. It was also stupid of me not to check using one of my 2 other Astro DMT boxes which is directly connected to the TV and removing its smartcard. Sometimes my over-complicated brain failed to "see" the simple things. A simple mind is clearer, hehe.

Speaking of that, why is B4U and WATV is still there?

you could send email to lyngsat asking them to update the list

Good advice ! Unfortunately my 2 other Astro DMT boxes have active subscriptions used by my father and my uncle who pays for the 50% subscription price.

As you can see in my posted pictures, this left me with 1 astro box which I paid RM 100 to keep when I upgraded one box to Byond but now it can also be used for radio listening through my amp output to my Monitor Audio floor standing speakers.

My Home Theatre AV and HiFi and computer room is also my bedroom which I always "locked" myself inside my own world. So now I can choose to use either my old Astro DMT box or my Byond box to listen to satellite radio. The PCM stereo signal from the satellite boxes is always much better than the FM signal from the traditional radio.

Me? Tell assteruk about my use for radio listening ? Not stupid enough to do that, hehe. Anyway, since I am also a subscriber and do actually legally own my Astro DMT box when I paid RM 100 to keep it after Byond upgrade, I have very strong grounds to legally use this Astro DMT box without smartcard for radio reception. I know how to present my case if they try to terminate my subscription without proper legal justification. Have always paid on time for more than 14 years. Mmm... why throw a stone on calm water and create ripples ? Hehe... I just casual kopitiam talk only.



NEW ADDITION
I spent a short time comparing the audio quality of the radio channels between my older Astro DMT box and my Byond box. This confirmed what I already suspected. The radio channels audio quality from my Byond is much much better than my older Astro DMT box.

This is because the older Astro DMT box used analog RCA (red+white) audio connections and my Byond used digital HDMI connection. RCA analog cables are more affected by EFI electromagnetic interference which causes discolourations in the stereo audio.

The digital PCM audio from Byond HDMI for radio listening have a much better sound quality. The audio has better soundstage, much less ambient noise, better vocals and musical intrument clarity and better stereo separation.

Sob, sob... I guess my older Astro DMT box will still continue to be for "decoration" only. I might decide to give the older Astro DMT box to one of my relatives for use with a mini-compo but I am a bit stingy and reluctant to give it away because of paying RM 1400 for it in 1996. This box have been replaced twice or more since the 1st generation Philips one. Too bad my stupid ears are too choosy on audio and picture quality.

This post has been edited by jamesleetech: Mar 23 2012, 09:10 PM

Thanks for this tip. Time to find my old DMT box...

You have added "but do it quietly, we don't want astro spies..." to your original post so I think I should make a separate reply here.

Hehe... Not to worry lah. Nothing will happen for now. If it changes in future, it will NOT be because of finding out that people listened to radio channels without a smartcard.

You think assteruk don't know about this. If they don't want us to receive the radio channels without smartcard, then they would already have encrypted the radio channels a long long time ago. They do employ many technical engineers and also have international collaborations with satellite transmission companies so these people will be the first group to know about it.

If Assteruk wanted to shut us off, they would have already shut us off a long time ago and not wait until "ah-hem" ignorant people like me to find out, hehe.

There are businesses such as small hotels, mamak shops, kedai kopi, pubs, etc that subscribed to Astro as home subscribers which have a much much lower subscription rate. I did not make a survey but I suspect many kedai mamak did not use company name to subscribe. Yes... Assteruk is not stupid... they DO know ... do really know. It will depend on whether Assteruk is strict or not and constantly take 100% action or whether they "relax" their surveillance.

I do remember a few years ago when a friend of mine subscribed to Astro using the hotel business name. Its a small hotel with 15 rooms, all with TV inside. I could not understand why my friend was so ignorant when he subscribed. Why didn't the Astro people inform my friend clearly before he subscribed ? Maybe my friend mis-understood because he's a china-man with not much education so its not his fault. He should have contacted me for advice and I only knew about it after its too late. Astro installer came and also installed "signal distributor" with a shared sat dish. My friend did not mind to pay, I think about RM 600, for the installation because of lots of cabling work to each room and additional "equipment". What happened was... later he found out that the monthly bill is about RM 1000+ and it seemed the business subscription is very expensive and also charge for each individal room too. He almost got a heart attack ! He quickly terminated the subscription after only one month and don't mind to pay the huge penalty before the 1 year contract expires. Many months later, he quietly registered his name as a subscriber and did not mention the address is in a hotel. He secretly paid some "angpau" to the installer to keep quiet about the installation location in a hotel. Business or Home subscribers ? Yes, Assteruk already knew that such incorrect subscriptions exist and it depends on whether they are active enough to take action loh.

This is what I believe and also my logical reasoning.

This post has been edited by jamesleetech: Mar 23 2012, 10:18 PM

320GB most place no stock. 500GB and above plenty... that is why I ask.

there is better unencrypted sat radio alternative on-board satellite JCsat-3A at 128.0°E, but requiring 1.5m c-band satellite dish, bad news is astro decoder can not tune to these radio stations
http://www.lyngsat.com/JCSAT-3A.html


This post has been edited by neb: Mar 23 2012, 10:15 PM

Please correct me if I am wrong because I am not very sure.

I believe Astro uses the DtU (Direct-To-U) services using digital Ku-band to transmit digital TV and Radio channels to our homes. This means that the descrambler used to decrypt the protected satellite signals in our "decoder boxes" such as Byond box is based on Ku-band.

Because of this, am I correct or wrong to suspect that the Astro DMT, Byond and Byond PVR is built only to receive Ku-band signals... and NOT designed to receive C-band signals?

I think C-band transmission is less powerful which should require a larger satellite dish measuring between 10 to 12 feet in diameter. The stronger Ku-band spot-beam is precise enough to be received by a satellite dish measuring about 2 feet in diameter but is more prone to heavy thunderstorms.

So I am not surprised that satellite JCsat-3A at 128.0°E require a sat dish which is 1.5 metre (5 feet) in diameter. Maybe the Byond dish is too small.

from my understanding, signal transmission power as well as signal frequency determine the required minimum size of receiving dish

just look at those TV antenna, VHF has longer wavelength when compare to UHF, so VHF antenna is cut to have bigger size than UHF antenna

KU-band transmit at higher frequency, has shorter wavelength, thus required smaller dish, although bigger dish is welcome to reject more noise from adjacent satellite transmission helping dish to focus better, however at KU-band frequency more precision is needed to manufacture the parabolic dish

C-band at lower frequency, longer wavelength, bigger dish is needed

just like measat 3, jcsat got both KU and C band transponders on-board its satellite

Hi all,can i ask how to solve the live turner conflict?everytime i want to download 2 different channel movie in same time and try to press different channel,sure will encounter the conflict..i need to cancel one of the recording movie in order for me to switch to different channel..pla advice on this

Meanwhile...

http://www.tribunnews.com/2012/03/21/ceo-a...an-dpo-interpol

Not only This guy.............. BTW did u guys notice some latest updates on wiki regarding coming soon channels,check out for fun!!!

This post has been edited by smileguy: Mar 24 2012, 05:52 PM

U mean this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Astro_channels one? BTW, no update yet on ch.961/ ch.962 HD ABO HD

Yes about WBC,FOX ,SKY,CNN,E HD and a Malay HD Channel

Guys, you know what, my HD channels problem are all fixed! No more problem of HD channels disappearing often, it's really stable now. Some of you had recommended me to change the cable to RG6, well I didn't change it. I did intend to change it, but when I called to my friend's friend to come take a look (this time wanna try someone who is not from Astro), someone who knows how to handle Astro problems, they said it must be something loose from the dish.

I told them this time just change the cable to RG6, they said well let's check the dish first before changing the cable and then ok, I let them adjust the dish. While adjusting it, the people on the roof said "wow why everything here so loose, what kind of people do this kind of job??". This really surprised me because I thought the second guy that Astro sent to fix it many days ago had already tightened it, like I had told you guys over here many days ago. But now I know it's again a loosely done job by the second guy.

So after everything was settled, all HD channels are really stable now. The friend who fixed it even stay for quite long time to check whether the problem still recurring or not. It's really really stable now. So I can make one conclusion, the first two guys the came to install and fix my Astro B.yond, are utterly useless and can go to F OFF. Do this kind of shitty service, might as well don't do it. Suppose to help people, but actually bring more problems.