You did not explain clearly how you connected your 2 TVs with the Astro Byond box. Is it 2 Byond box to 2 TVs ? So I assume you connected your 2 TVs to one Byond box. My audio comments do not apply to the normal Astro DMT box (non HD).

If these are the connections you made...


Then this is what happened...

1) The volume buttons (+) and (-) on the Byond Remote ONLY controls the audio volume output from the RCA (Red & White) connection to your Panasonic TV. So when you continually pressed the (-) button on the Byond remote, the audio volume will continue to reduce, no need to use Panasonic remote to change the TV's own volume.

2) The audio volume level is FIXED and NOT CHANGEABLE from Byond HDMI and Co-Axial output connections. Therefore the volume buttons (+) and (-) on the Byond Remote CANNOT change the audio volume from these connections. Therefore, in order to change the audio volume, you can only use the TV volume control.

3) The same thing happens if you connect from... Byond box >> to Amplifier >> to HD TV. In such cases, only the amp volume can control the volume for HDMI and Co-axial connections.

The Astro Byond DMT box is built to output SD and HD (max 1080i px) and is designed to output in this manner.

It is also designed NOT to output audio if you change the Byond box "Digital Output Audio" setting to "Dolby Digital 5.1 (Digital Only)". When this setting is used, there is NO audio from the Byond RCA Red & White output.

Refer here... Using Byond Remote, Press [HOME] > [Settings] > [Your Settings] > [Digital Audio Settings] > Digital Audio Output [Dolby Digital 5.1 (Digital Only)]. When changed to this, read the WARNING message below. If you changed this to [Stereo (analogue and Digital)], then you will hear audio from ALL connections BUT you will ONLY get stereo PCM audio (not Dolby Digital 5.1) from the HDMI and co-axial connections.

If both of your TVs are HD TVs, try reversing all the connections to both TVs and the problem will now appear in your Panasonic TV, not LG TV !

The are TWO main problems here which the Astro or third party engineers intentionally designed into the Byond DMT box...

1) The Byond Remote audio volume buttons is intentionally designed (in the mainboard) ONLY to control the audio volume from the analog RCA (Red & White) connections.

2) Too bad that it is also confirmed that the stereo PCM output from all SD channels is at a lower volume than the Dolby Digital 5.1 output from all the HD channels. The same thing happens for ALL channels whenever some advertisements appear such the fu***ing Supersport advertisement showing any latest Live sports events. I have phoned to customer support a few times for many years complaining about the sudden LOUD volume during (for example) an advertisement/program trailer whenever a documentary breaks. When the documentary continues, the audio drops way too low !

As long as stupid people like me and others continue to subscribe to Assteruk, I don't think they will listen. The only way Astro will listen and take action is when 60+ percent of existing subscribers complained and immediately cancel their subscription. I think such action will not happen as people won't cooperate together to go for massive cancellation at the same time ! Assteruk definitely won't listen if only 0.01 percent smart people took action to cancel their subscriptions. This "mahu Astro mari, kalau tak mahu, aku tak peduli" attitude is also made worse when Astro monopolises the Malaysian sat TV market including HD content, plus fat revenues from other income sources for transponder rentals, and so forth.

Although I am not too sure how the subscriptions works for others in the US, DirecTV sat subscriptions is US$ 29.99 per month for 120 channels which I suspect is all in HD ! This is a fuc**ing incredible price of about RM 90.10 per month. I don't know if there are other additional fees or Sat Box charges but for me, on the surface, its too cheap, my dear kakak dan abang ! Assteruk is getting more and more obese everyday and one day in the near future, I hope it gets diabetes or heart failure !

Did you know ?
Guess what ? Celestial Tiger Entertainment owns these channels... Celestial Classic Movies, Celestial Movies, Celestial Movies HD, Kix, Kix HD, Thrill. Celestial Pictures Limited is a shareholder of Celestial Tiger Entertainment. Guess who owns Celestial Pictures Limited ? Celestial Pictures is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Astro Holdings Sdn Bhd. So with many twists and turns, Astro Holdings Sdn Bhd owns a portion of all Celestial movies channels !! Refer here...http://www.celestialtiger.com/about-company.asp

My apologies if I have in any way sound a bit arrogant in any of my comments here. Be cheerful always as life is always a continuous challenge.

This post has been edited by jamesleetech: Mar 5 2012, 04:30 AM

You are welcome. I saw that there were a few of you (including nujikabane on March 3rd) struggling to get precise answers from members here that prompted me to chip in with my "ah-hem" loooong winded answer.

Allow me to relate just two incidents out of many that I have personally helped to solve many of my friends problems with their Astro Byond. These are not related to your situation.

My friend in Jerantut, Pahang phoned to me with an SOS for help last year. At that time the 2 Astro installers came and finished installing his new Byond. He subscribed to Superpack 3 with HD. After setting up the 2 malay guys said its done but my friend complained that the HD channels looked like very bad quality with edge fringing discolourations on his 46 inch HD TV. The 2 guys said they have connected using HDMI and its working, and commented that the quality is like that on a big screen LCD TV. My friend even requested them to help connect to his Pioneer Amp but they refused because they are not trained for amp setup! Fair enough but still LOL ! Ok, they left without solving my friend's problem. A day later, my friend came by car to my house (about 50 KM away) and fetch me to his place to find out. You know what ? The Byond settings were set to [Standard Definition] and [720p] ! Oh my goodness gracious !! It should be [High Definition] and [1080i]. I just wondered how Astro trained these installers and buta-buta paid them installation commission for it eventhough Superpack 3 customers don't pay them. My friend sighed with relief and treated me to a sumptious dinner, hehe.

NEW EDIT
Correction... wrongly stated [Standard Definition] and [720p]... it should be [Standard Definition] and [576p] because Byond setting cannot change to [Standard Definition] and [720p] using HDMI connection. Quoted wrongly when I speed type, hehe. Sorry!

Later, I phoned to Astro Customer Support informing them of my friend's incident so here's a little of what I can remember of the conversation in malay...

[Me] Sepatutnya pemasang-pemasang dari Astro ialah pakar dalam semua aspek berkaitan dengan penyediaan alat Byond ditempat pelanggan !! Penyediaan "Setup" yang tak tepat bukan perkhidmatan berkualiti yang diharapkan oleh pelanggan Astro.

[Astro CS] Mungkin ini ialah sesuatu kecuaian pemasang atau salah faham. Boleh encik beri nama-nama installer supaya kami boleh melanjutkan komplain encik kepada bahagian berkenaan ?

[Me] Saya hanya dapat berikan nama dan nombor akaun sebab perkara ini berlaku terhadap pemasangan dirumah kawan saya. (As I intended to make complaint on my friend's behalf, I did jot down my friend's IC and account number but forgot to get the installers name)

[Astro CS] Terima kasih. Komplain encik akan dilanjutkan kepada pihak yang berkaitan.

That's it. Actually I don't expected anything to happen and quality of service will still not improve but I still made complaint just to let them know.

Ok... this comes to the second incident which happened only 2 days ago.

Another friend of mine asked me to help and I went to his house to check. He complained that their 60 inch LED TV continuously flicker once in about 10 minutes for all HD channels and picture quality is dull colour. He tried changing 5 different HDMI cables and still flickers. He tuned the TV colour settings to 100% and still the colour is not strong. When I went there, I was really dumbfounded and scratched my head when I couldn't find out what was causing it ! I was also confused when nothing happened after I pressed the "Record" button on the remote ! After about an hour fiddling with different suspected causes, I suddenly noticed this in Byond settings... "b.yond v1.2". What the hell ! Why is the Byond box still using very outdated software version ? It should be version 3.0s ! I asked my friend how long ago was his set installed and he told me it was only about 2 weeks ago. How did the installer gave my friend a Byond unit with outdated software ? Version 3.0s already released many many months ago and should already be pre-installed in newer units ! Even if the installer was supplied with older stocks, he should have updated the software after installation because its his responsibility to check this.

2 weeks earlier, its also terrible when my friend called the installer complaining about it and he came a few times and still cannot find the reason so he blamed it to some Byond compatibility problems with his TV and Onkyo amp and there's nothing he can do about it. He even recommended my friend to make a report with Astro Customer Support !! Double LOL ! I am not a trained installer but they are, so they should check the software version whenever any compatibility problem is suspected loh.

After sweating for about 30 minutes, I was wondering how come my friend's Byond set was not updated automatically since its always left in "standby mode" since the first day it was installed. Mmm... how to update manually ? There is no "Update" or "Full Manual Reboot" setting in Byond. Aah... I got it. Switch off power completely to the Byond unit (not standby). Waited a minute and switched on power.. ah ha.. the message ... "Update in progress..." appeared so I waited, not touching any remote buttons.

Guess what ? After update to version 3.0s, all my friend's problems solved ! Colour is lots more vibrant and no more fickering every 10+ minutes !!

End of my long stories. These are only 2 of the many more incidents which I helped to rectify because of the fault of the Astro installers. It makes me wonder just how good are the efficiency of these installers. If I based on the number of incidents that I have handled, it should be around 10% efficient. That's bad in a big way ! I should make a commission claim with Astro and get paid for my services but I know Assteruk will not pay me, hehe.

Thanks for reading and bearing my extremely long kopitiam talk. Mmm.. don't know if its out-of-topic here, if it is, then so sorry for it.

Best wishes.

This post has been edited by jamesleetech: Mar 5 2012, 04:36 PM

This channel 133 belongs to Mustika package so you can only watch this channel if you subscribed to this package. Previously its B4U. Now its replaced with Bella.

You mean this channel 133 (Bella) is missing from your normal Astro DMT (or Astro Byond) channel selections ? I did not subscribe to Mustika package because I am chinese but I can still "see" this channel with a message "..not included in your subscription". I use Astro Byond HD, not the normal Astro DMT.

Maybe your astro box did not update when B4U was changed to Bella on 1st March 2012. Please correct me if I stated the wrong date.

Don't know if it will help, but try this... completely switch off main power to your Astro box. Wait about a minute. Switch on power, don't touch anything and wait.

If your astro box was not updated, then it should start updating so don't touch anything until the clock on the box shows the correct time. The display on the box should show "Update in progress...".

If after switching on, nothing happens and the clock shows the correct time, then maybe other problem. Call Astro Customer Support to send update/reset signal to update/reset your box again through satellite signal. They can do that.

If everything failed, report back to customer support to send installer to your place.

I hope I have been helpful with my suggestions.

This post has been edited by jamesleetech: Mar 5 2012, 05:09 PM

Yes, I do know that software update (and channel updates) is automatic during "standby mode" without the neccesity to switch off and on to initiate update. BUT... sometimes in some cases which I did encounter that such channel update did not happen in "standby mode". I don't know what was the reason when such auto update did not happen. I do suspect that sometimes that when an update was being done halfway and then disconnected without finishing because of heavy rain, it "may" somehow fail to continue to finish update. Anyway, only guessing the reason.

I suggested to stasio to switch off and on the power to make sure the software update is done IF it failed to auto update in standby mode. Of course I don't actually know for sure whether failure to auto software update caused the missing channel 133 for stasio. But no harm trying to refresh by switching power off and then on to make sure because it will NOT damage his astro unit. When software update did not complete, it may cause the new channel not to be updated too.

It has been known that auto update (during "standby mode") ACTUALLY failed to happen as I DID see this happened in at least 2 of my friends Astro box ! So I won't be surprised that channel update did not occur in standby mode too. Read my previous comment about one of my friend whose Astro Byond box was installed with Version 1.2 EVEN when he left his box in standby mode at night EVERYDAY since the first day of installation about 2 weeks ago. I also commented that there was no "Update" setting in the Astro Byond box. I switched off power to his unit and switched on ... then software update started. I don't know the actual specific reason why software update did not kick off during standby mode but it does happen.

Of course the latest Astro box with the newest and latest generation of internal board are different, with lots of newer innovation and improvements. In retrospect, I do remember way back sometime in 1998 (I think) when we used the old Astro Philips DMT box, where there were many Astro DMT that did not update in standby mode. My boss computer shop premises was at that time rented by Astro Technical department for a week to help to manually update the astro box. At that time, it was announced in newspaper advertisements and in Astro channels to inform those subscribers who cannot receive channels (due to software update failure) to bring their unit to temporary service centres nationwide. Our computer shop was just one of such temporary centres. When Astro switched to the new software after the 1 month period, many complained their astro box did NOT update during the 1 month period eventhough they did put the unit in standby mode. The Astro technician also rented one desktop computer from our shop and installed a special software, then connect the PC using COM port to the Astro box and did a manual update. About 250 astro subscribers came to the shop to have the software update done manually since its FOC. I asked many of them and many told me that they did put their box in standby mode but update did not start. Maybe some are lying and did not put the box in standby and switched off power. But failure to update in standby mode really DO happen.

This post has been edited by jamesleetech: Mar 5 2012, 08:57 PM

You are welcome but I did not actually help with my suggestions. Anyway, its great to know that your "problem" is solved. You posted your request for answers on why Bella was "missing" yesterday (04:34 pm) and you now mentioned that your wife noticed the change... also yesterday.

Hehe... I guess you were a bit impatient and did not wait without giving a bit of time for the auto channel update to finish and refresh, check with your wife and then post your request for answers here. You just need to have more patience and not rush for answers... only wait a bit longer and then your problem will be gone.

My suggested method is to be used ONLY when the channel is still missing after, maybe, 2 days eventhough the astro box have been left to auto update in standby mode.



NEW ADDITION
In future, try to be more patient and double check before posting for help or request for answers here. Lack of proper info and impatience can cause confusion for people who wishes to help you here. No problem for me to spend a little bit of time trying to find the solution.

This post has been edited by jamesleetech: Mar 5 2012, 10:15 PM

Hehe... what more can I say ? In my computer tech support work, I often come across people who phoned to me and wanted to know why his/her computer suddenly restarts sometimes on some days when he/she knows very little on computers. For goodness gracious, I won't be able to give the exact answer so I told him/her to bring it to me to check. No way to give an answer through the phone. This is why I have learnt to be patient to find out all the possibilities. Its like when someone phoned to a car mechanic and asked why his/her car engine suddenly gone dead and wanted to know the answer immediately !

Most people (not all) already knew about leaving (and DO leave) the Astro box in standby mode to allow for auto updates because Astro have constantly been informing subscribers about this in the astro channels many times in many years whenever a major update occurs. When I read stasio's post, I guessed that the auto update failed causing the channel 133 to be "missing" so I suggested to him to switch the astro box off and then on to make sure and to push the update to finish. Its not because I don't know updates are automatic in standby mode.

Still, no problem for me. Peace.

Wow ! SPT Networks, Asia's beTV will be the New Place to Be for Non-Astro subscribers in the future starting from 2 April 2012. They are smart not to launch on 1 April as many people will be busy celebrating April Fool's Day. Hehe... joking only.

Anyway, since last year 2011, we in lousy Astroland already have AXN Beyond HD (channel maybe only for Astro) and AXN HD with the following shows...

... that are now currently showing in Astro ...

AXN Beyond HD (Astro Byond)
Pan Am Season 1
Necessary Roughness Season 1
A Gifted Man Season 1
Chuck Season 4
Top Chef Season 8
Flipping Out Season 5
Combat Hospital Season 1
Jake Season 2 ... actually its Jake 2.0 ! There is no Season 2
Reaper Season 2



AXN HD (Astro Byond)
The Amazing Race Season 20 (shown 1 day after premiere in US)
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 11
The Voice Season 2



Other News
Walking Dead & new Hawaii 5-O ... I think Astro have already finished screening Season 2 and new Season 3 will be shown soon in April or May 2012.

USA TV episodes information here referenced from these sources...
http://www.tvguide.com
http://www.imdb.com
http://en.wikipedia.org



This post has been edited by jamesleetech: Mar 7 2012, 02:24 PM

* AXN channel
* AXN HD channel
* AXN Beyond HD channel (Only available in HD ?)

Not sure if AXN Beyond is available only in HD. I am guessing there is no AXN Beyond, only got AXN Beyond HD.

Anyway, if AXN Beyond is exclusive, do you mean that this is only available in Astro, and not available in other Satellite or Cable Channel Providers? Sorry if I don't really understand what you mean by "exclusive".

Read this at... http://www.axnbeyond.com/get-axnbeyond ... which states that ...
...AXN Beyond is available for these channel providers...
Hong Kong
* nowTV - Channel 513
* TVB Pay Vision - Channel 23
* bbTV - Channel 309
Indonesia
* Indovision Channel 155
* Telkomvision Channel 126
Singapore
* StarHub Channel 525
* True Visions Channel 55

Also from AXNbeyond.com, the TV schedule for Pan Am shows this...

... telecast every Saturday 9:50 pm in SG/HK (Singapore and Hong Kong), 8:50 pm JKT/TH (Jakarta and Thailand)

Declaration of fair use from jamesleetech
Screen capture image above extracted in part from axnbeyond.com. All copyrights belong to their respective holders. Usage of the illustrative screen capture image of the Pan Am TV show as depicted above was reproduced under the doctrine of fair use that permits limited use of copyrighted material without acquiring permission from the rights holders. This image was reproduced with the intention of commentarial discussion and reporting. Limitations and conditions may be applicable only to certain specific demographic regions. Article Reference on the description of fair use : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use

This post has been edited by jamesleetech: Mar 7 2012, 06:22 PM

Mmm.. what you mean is that AXN Beyond HD channel is exclusively available in Astro only... and... AXN Beyond (in Standard Definition) available for others.

Thanks. And my apologies for being a noob here.

This post has been edited by jamesleetech: Mar 7 2012, 06:40 PM

Astro launched Celestial HD (channel 309) and Kix HD (channel 729) on 1st March 2012. And on the same day, WaTV channel 315 was discontinued, B4U channel 133 was replaced by Bella channel 133.

I have phoned Astro Customer Support on 6 March 2012 and was informed that Celestial HD and Kix HD can be watched by ALL subscribers to the HD service, which is not tied to which package is subscribed. Was also informed that there is no time period before these are moved to different packages and any change will be until further notice. Maybe, maybe 1 month or many months later, they may change this and subscribers who did not subscribe to New Emporer package (or a few selected Superpack Packages) may not watch Celestial HD. Hopefully this never happens. For now, all subscribers to the Byond HD service can watch these 2 HD channels.

Hehe... maybe I guess that Astro wants to hook subscribers to the HD channels to make more money and when their target is reached, maybe they will lock Celestial HD only for New Emperor package (or a few selected Superpack Packages) subscribers.

Of course, for people who did not subscribe to the HD service (such as pay extra RM 20 per month or subscribe to Superpack 3), then they are locked out of all the HD channels, including Celestial HD and Kix HD.

This post has been edited by jamesleetech: Mar 7 2012, 09:34 PM

Hi,

Hujan lebat hanya memberi gangguan berterusan dan bukan sekejap hilang gambar, kurang sesaat bergilir-gilir ada dan tiada. Berapa minit lama tiada gambar bergantung kepada berapa lama hujan lebat berterusan yang memotong pancaran satelit kepada cakera satelit (satellite dish) anda.

Tanpa maklumat yang lebih terperinci dari anda, saya fikir kami disini hanya dapat meneka sebab-sebab keadaan ini berlaku.

Ok, allow me to go back to english.

I guess your situation maybe called "flickering" with the TV screen becoming black for about 0.01 seconds on and off which happened sometimes.

The BEST way for you to solve your problem is to call Astro Customer Support for help and if still cannot solve on the phone, request Astro to send their technician to come to your house. Maybe the problem is the LNB pointing to the satellite dish that was not aligned properly. I don't know the answer. If you recently changed to a new LCD/LED HD TV and the problem started, then call your TV seller to solve your problem. This is my common sense answer to you.

All of us here will not be able to know because of lack or not enough of info from you and its impossible for anyone here to come to your house personally to check. So this forum may or may not be able to find out the cause.

Here are a few questions that I believe many of us here may want to know too....

1) What are connections used from your Astro Byond ? Byond >> Amplifier >> HD TV ? Byond >> HD TV ?

2) What type of cable connections used ? HDMI ? Component Video (Red, Green, Blue) ? RCA (Yellow, Red, White) ?

3) Was the setting in your Byond correct or wrong ? If your Byond was installed recently, many times the installer can be lazy to properly set the Byond box settings. Was 576p used in Byond settings and connected to full HD TV (maximum 1080p supported) ?

4) Was your Byond installed many months ago with no problems and now only this problem appeared?

5) Did you change your old CRT TV to the new LCD/LED TV recently and the problem appeared. Do you know how to check and change Byond settings ? Did you change to different types of cables from RCA to HDMI after the TV change ?

6) Remember that sometimes it can be the HDMI cables that is causing the flicking problems. Why ? The HDMI cables can be "hanging" from Byond to TV which puts pressure on the cable head causing loose connections sometimes. Very good quality cables such as QED HDMI 1.4 cables (costing RM 400+) are very heavy and thick and can cause loose connections when hung from Byond, hehe.

7) Check your Byond software version. Is it version 3.0s ? Press the Byond remote [HOME] button and look below left. If you see "b.yond 1.2" or "b.yond 2.0", then maybe, I say maybe, old software is causing the flickering because of signal compatibility problems. If its not "b.yond 3.0s" then something went wrong when auto-update failed. Can be many reasons for this but that is not important for you now. To force manual update, just switch off power completely to Byond, wait a minute, then switch on. DO NOT touch anything and be patient. The TV screen will show.. "Update in progress...". If still cannot update, call Astro Customer Support for help and do a reset. I have already helped one of my friends whose Byond was still version 1.2 due to auto-update failure eventhough the set was put in standby mode. Updating to latest software may or may not solve your problem.

8) Two years ago, I also got signal lost and some flickering sometimes on my old Astro (not Byond) set. I found out that the head fastener connecting the satellite cable to the Astro box is a bit loose. Somehow the screw thread of the fastener was not tight. I used rubber bands to tighten it and problem solved. I have 3 astro units and when I changed one to Byond, the installer (who is my friend) found out that the previous installer used the wrong Head Fastener to connect satellite cable to the astro box. The older fastener used have a narrower screw thread lines so he changed to the correct type and now its really really tight, no problem getting loose !

* Oh, by the way Astro now put out info trailers on some channels to inform subscribers to put the Astro box on standby. I guess there is another update going on now.

There can be so many other reasons so my best advice is for you to read the blue text above. If not done, then do that first.

This post has been edited by jamesleetech: Mar 8 2012, 04:29 PM

Mmm... "removing the batteries & put them (the same batteries back) again" ?

What Qash-M meant is that you change to new batteries. Batteries will run dry after long period of use. Many remotes will flash the red light when buttons are pressed to show batteries is almost empty so not enough power to control equipment such as Astro, TV, Amplifiers, etc.

How long ago you used the batteries in your remote ? If new, maybe the batteries got problem so try changing to new ones too, just to make sure. Maybe also the remote itself got problem ?

I am not too sure in your case but I do believe that sometimes there may be "handshaking" problems between the Byond HD and the amplifier. I think handshaking involves communication and identification of the HDMI signal between the two connected equipment.

NEW ADDITION
If you haven't, try not to use amp to test and connect Byond HDMI directly to HDTV to see if flickering still happen.

I will let you know my situation which have similar "small" problems as yours. My Byond set is also connected by HDMI to my Yamaha RX-V1900 amplifier. Then from amp HDMI output to my HDTV.

Ok... in my case. Whenever I switched everything on and Byond is first tuned to an HD channel (can be any HD channel), my Yamaha amp will always flash on the amp display panel many many times and also the HDTV too. This flickering and flashing of the HDTV screen and the amp panel display will ALWAYS last about 20 to 30 seconds and after that, everything is fine. Its like my amp is trying very hard to grab the Byond HDMI signal. Once it managed to get connected, then all is ok. What I did is always quickly tune the Astro to any SD channel immediately when switched on. Then my amp immediately "caught" the signal and no flashing at all, and then I changed to any HD channel. Problem solved. No more flashing in any HD channels I tuned as long as my Byond set is on. The response I got when I called Astro Cust Sup is that maybe its my amp and told me to refer to my amp dealer, lol !

My Yamaha amp have no such problems when I use my Dune Smart D1 media player, Sony blu-ray player and Oppo BDP-93 player.

Used many different HDMI cables such as the cheapo ones to Audioquest Forest and Pearl, to QED Performance but still the same thing happened !! I always have to change to any SD channel first before I switched off the Byond, then when switched back on, it will be at the SD channel and my Yamaha amp can "grab" the Byond signal immediately, no flashing and no flickering, and then no problem changing to any HD channel. Funny, isn't it ? Could it be my amp got problem with the Byond HD output signal ? Maybe.

Another friend of mine in Temerloh, Pahang also reported to me the exact same problem as yours which only happened for any HD channels !! Sometimes his LED TV also flashes a few times while watching ANY HD channels. No problem with any SD ones! Its funny that this happens mostly on some HD channels in your case.

I am starting to believe that with my own "problems", my friend's problem and now yours, I somehow suspect it may not be our amp or TV that is causing the flashing problems. The culprit may be the Byond box that may have compatibility and handshaking problems in its own software. This is only what I personally believe and I can be wrong because I am not a technician or an engineer. I do hope Astro have corrected such compatibility "problems" with the software update that is now ongoing.

I am not sure if its software problems but its also known that software compatibility can cause unique problems. Even the Oppo BDP-93 did have problems such as playing the EU blu-ray release of "Kung Fu Panda 2 (BD, 2011)" where disc playback will automatically stop once you go to the disc Main Menu and select PLAY. Their latest 65-0302 Official firmware (06 March 12) corrected this problem. Luckily I don't have this disc to play in my Oppo BDP-93.

You can try changing the cables as I don't know if its the HDMI cable that is causing your flashing problem. Anyway, just don't blame me if you spent and wasted money on changing different cables and the problem is still not solved.

At the moment I am guessing only and pointing my finger to the Astro Byond box. My advice is you call Astro Cust Supp and ask them for help or let them know. The more people who have such "flashing" problems with HD channels report to Astro the better so that they know that their Byond software got HD problems. I don't know whether it will effective or whether astro software engineers will take action to correct the bugs.

I am afraid I am not much of a help to you or others who have such similar problems.

Over and out.

NEW ADDITION
Since your amp is Yamaha, it should be similar to mine. Set your Yamaha to "STRAIGHT" not "SUR. DECODE" or set "Pure Direct" to test. Try to use only 1 HDMI connection to only one assigned button. Example... Byond HDMI connected to [CBL/SAT] on amp, don't connect any other connections such as component video, optical or RCA to the same [CBL/SAT] amp input. In amp on screen Input Menu for [CBL/SAT], in "I/O Assignment" only assign the HDMI input correctly, ALL NONE for Component In, Coaxial In and Optical In. This absolutely makes sure that there are no interferences from other connections to the same [CBL/SAT]. Just my opinion as I am not sure if this is the cause. Maybe my amp is older model, but my amp display only shows nothing not "decoder off" when flashing occurs, and once connected it shows "Dolby Digital".

This post has been edited by jamesleetech: Mar 8 2012, 11:37 PM

Yes, before you posted comment on the AVR upscaling... I did realise this and which was why I inserted this additional test info for opjust...
NEW ADDITION
Since your amp is Yamaha, it should be similar to mine. Set your Yamaha to "STRAIGHT" not "SUR. DECODE" or set "Pure Direct" to test. Try to use only 1 HDMI connection to only one assigned button.

Setting Yamaha AVR to pure direct will effectively disable all video upscaling and also disable any audio tone (base & treble adjustments) including any surround sound field decoding such as Classical, Movie, etc. This will make sure video upscaling is not causing his flickering problems.

The TV upscaling also have to be disabled too. After ALL upscaling on TV and AVR have been disabled, then we will be able to find out if upscaling is or is not the cause.

Maybe this was causing Opjust's flickering problems which happens sometimes but I suspect the AVR upscaling may not be the cause as he mentioned that this happened ONLY to a few HD channels. Anyway, should test pure direct just to make sure. If its upscaling, it should happen sometimes to all HD channels. However I do suspect (not sure) that different programs are broadcasted from different source HD resolutions. Example... HBO HD broadcast some movies in 720p for older movies and 1080i for newer movies... which was why some movies "look" rough and bad quality.

The reason I did not mention the AVR upscaling earlier was that my earlier post was getting too long. Hehe... as usual.

I did test in my AVR...

... Completely no video upscaling
4 VIDEO MENU
-> VIDEO CONV. ...... OFF

... No HDMI upscaling, Component Video upscaling
4 VIDEO MENU
-> VIDEO CONV. ...... ON
COMPONENT I/P .... ON
HDMI RES ......... *THRGH

... Upscaling for HDMI and Component Video
4 VIDEO MENU

-> VIDEO CONV. ...... ON
COMPONENT I/P .... ON
HDMI RES ......... *1080p
HDMI ASPECT ...... THRGH

Unfortunately for me, flickering still happens (only for all my Byond HD channels) about 50% of the time eventhough I set "VIDEO CONV" to OFF or used "Pure Direct". At least its a little better. Maybe my amp bought in 2009 is a bit rosak loh. I finally set to "HDMI RES" to THRGH as I want to disable my Yamaha Anchor Bay's video upscaling processor when I play my Oppo BDP-93 which have a much better Marvell's Kyoto-G2 video processor.

Opjust did not mention which Yamaha amp model he uses so the video settings may be slightly different than mine but he can refer to my above illustrations for comparison.

I hope that disabling all upscaling on TV and AVR solved Opjust flickering issues. For me, its partially solved with reduced flickering occurrences.

Thanks for mentioning on the disabling of the TV upscaling clear scan. At least you solved your problem.

This post has been edited by jamesleetech: Mar 9 2012, 01:02 PM

Sorry to other members for being out of topic in this thread here but I have to answer a little since he posted here as I did give very looong pm answers for about 8 times to logit85 since 12-June-2011. I don't mind his pm questions but I think its time for him to do research on his own as I have provided enough info for him to google search such as providing this site "http://watershade.net/wmcclain/BDP-93-faq.html" for more info. Anyway, I do appreciate that he referred his questions to me, so my thanks. My apologies if I sound arrogant but all the info you need was already given by me but maybe logit85 don't seem to understand the explanations in those websites.

Okay, please bear with me folks. Just read as general info for other people here.

I did NOT mention anywhere in my previous pm that I have Denon AVR-3312 ! No, I don't have any Denon receiver. I have Yamaha RX-1900 and others but no Denon. Only have a Denon turntable to play LPs.

Answers...

I connected Oppo BDP-93 HDMI 2 direct to my Yamaha amp, Oppo HDMI 1 direct to HDTV. Setting in Oppo at HDMI 1 to use QDeo video processor.
EDIT : Correction ... wrongly stated HDMI 1 direct to my Yamaha amp and HDMI 2 to HDTV

Oppo BDP-93/95 can play from external harddisks for all blu-ray discs that were ripped and copied as BDMV/CERTIFICATE folders and also BD/DVD ISO files exactly like playing an actual blu-ray disc. BUT .... due to MPAA movie bad-ass giants complaints, Oppo have disabled BD/DVD ISO file playback from firmware (software) BDP9x-65-0302 released on 05-03-12. ISO playback was undocumented feature. This and future firmwares cannot play BD/DVD ISOs, but can still play BDMV for now. Don't know whether BDMV will be disabled or not in future. Oh... Oppo cannot play DVDs ripped as VIDEO_TS so cannot play like an actual DVD disc. Earlier, it can play DVD ISOs (like actual DVD discs) but this was later disabled as I mentioned above.

If you want Oppo to play both BDMV and ISO ripped from blu-rays discs, then upgrade ONLY to official firmware BDP9x-61-1219 (released on 21-12-11). Firmware later than this can only play BDMV from harddisks and of course, the actual blu-ray discs since Opp BDP-93 and 95 are BD players too.

Again, my apologies to all the other members here. My apologies also to Logit85 for making you feel like I was "ignoring" your pms.

This post has been edited by jamesleetech: Mar 9 2012, 06:17 PM

Semestinya saya perlu tegaskan bahawa saya bukan pakar dan hanya memberi pendapat saja.

Mengikut penjelasan yang anda berikan kepada setiap soalan saya, saya fikir besar kemungkinan alat Byond anda menghadapi kerosakan yang tertentu. Kalau disebabkan oleh kabel atau kurang kesesuaian alat Byond dengan TV anda, kehilangan gambar sekejap masa akan berlaku kepada semua saluran HD dan bukan kepada beberapa saluran HD tertentu. Dan tidak mungkin disebabkan oleh "amplifier" sebab ia langsung tidak digunakan.

Juga, saya rasa masaalah anda bukan disebabkan oleh TV anda sebab TV tidak akan pilih hanya beberapa saluran HD. Kalau disebabkan TV, semua saluran HD akan menimbulkan masaalah.

Ok... secara ringkas kepada semua jawapan anda, saya fikir lebih baik anda tunggu kedatangan "technician" untuk membuat pemeriksaan yang lebih teliti. Saya rasa "technician" tersebut akan periksa samaada alat Byond anda sudah atau belum "update" kepada Versi 3.0s. Kalau ia lupa, ingatkannya. Untuk mendapatkan maksima kualiti video serta mengelaki kemungkinan masaalah timbul lain hari, alat Byond perlu menggunakan ketetapan video (video settings) ini...

Sebahagian alat Byond "settings"
TV Type : High Definition
TV Aspect Ratio : 16:9
HD settings (Resolution) : 1080i

Masaalah saya berlainan dan hanya berlaku pada permulaan apabila saya menghidupkan (switch on) amplifier saya yang disambung kepada Byond. Ia memerlukan berapa saat (lebih kurang 20 saat) untuk "menangkap" saluran HD dan gambar TV berkelip-kelip hitam banyak kali. Selepas itu, semua saluran HD tidak menimbul masaalah. Kemungkinan amplifier saya menghadapi sedikit "kerosakan kecil", hehe. Semasa Byond dan amplifier saya hidup, semua saluran HD tiada masaalah.

Walaupun saya cina, saya rasa Astro perlu melayan kepada semua berbilang bangsa pelanggan dengan membuka sekurang2 satu saluran HD yang tetap (permanent HD channel) untuk Melayu dan India. Sepertimana Zhi Zun HD dan Celestial HD dengan kandungan cina. Saluran 962 HD (Astro Box Office) hanya sementara, bukan tetap dengan "Lawak Ke, Der? HD". Astro First HD pun bukan tetap kepada mana2 jenis wayang. Saya tidak tahu apa sebab2nya, padahal saya rasa bukan berkurangan filem2 TV drama atau siri melayu tempatan dalam format HD.

Tunggu anda memberi lapuran dari "technician" selepas lawatannya.

Sekian.

I don't have iPhone so I am not able to provide any help on the phone settings.

You did not provide some details which I need, in order to find out the cause of your problem so I am making some guesses here.

You got the "invalid card number" message when you click on "Link Here" as shown on the left of the screenshot image below...



I guess your account link failure may not be due to your phone.

Link to account is only done once so if you used your iPhone web browser to login and tried it, then don't use it. Use your desktop or notebook computer to login to "astro.com.my" and activate link. Don't block cookies in the web browser. Cookies are small text saved in your computer that identifies you with selected personal info such as login used.

Ok, anyone (including non Astro subscribers) can register a "new" account at "astro.com.my". Only the actual Astro subscribers can "link account" which you already know. This is where there may be problems linking the account !!

Confused ?

I will explain using a fictitious example here...
I registered a new online account using the name "Tan Ling Long" and using email "tanlinglong2012@gmail.com. BUT the actual Astro Byond subscription is registered under my father's name "Tan Fei Chee" with NRIC 120101012012. After login, when I tried to "link my account", I will not be able to link it because there is no astro subscriber with name "Tan Ling Long"

If this is the problem, its easy to correct it. Just change the online astro account name to the same name used to subscribe to Astro Byond. In example above, I changed the account name to "Tan Fei Chee".

Refer to the image above, here are the full checklist to make sure the details you gave are correct...

1) Check whether website online name is the same as the Astro registered subscriber's name.

2) The ID Type must be the same as the NRIC used in the Astro registered subscriber's name. Example : If Astro have records of both the old and new NRIC number of your father, you can use either one. If astro only have record of your father's old NRIC, don't use your father's new NRIC.

3) Check astro subscription account number... 0 12345678 0 which is nine digits. The first digit zero is already set for you.

4) Check the smartcard number. Put Astro Byond on standby, remove smartcard and reverse it. You will see the 12 digits (Example : 123400001234, no spaces, NOT 1234 0000 1234). NOT the serial number of the smartcard which have alphabets+digits (PVCN1234567890).

For Byond, you can also check smartcard number using astro remote... [HOME] > [Settings] > [System Versions] > Smart Card No.: xxxxxxxxx

I don't know whether you did or did not make any mistake in the details above but recheck to make sure.

I don't remember the exact message when link was successful for me.. something like this... "Please wait 2 days for link activation" which means link registration done successfully. So I have to wait for about 2 days for link to be active.

If you found the mistake, corrected it and link was successful, you have to wait for about 2 days. Then only after that, you can use iPhone to login.

BUT... if you have already done everything correctly earlier by using the desktop/notebook computer and still not able to link account... then I am not able to help you further. I tried. Maybe others here can offer better help.

NEW ADDITION


Because of my post size, please use [S p o i l e r] in the (advanced) reply to reduce overflooding the forum with unnecessary extra long quotes. Thanks.



This post has been edited by jamesleetech: Mar 10 2012, 09:00 PM

Ya, bandwidth ialah salah satu faktor.

Not all the information I stated below may be correct so please correct me if I am wrong.

I think there are also other factors that are involved too. There are many football matches in many stadiums in the whole of Malaysia. Many matches are played in different locations on the same day too.

There are many football stadiums nationwide that are small and not yet equipped with HD facilities and builtin equipment which allow for HD broadcasts. Big and well-equipped stadiums such as in KL and Penang may have been upgraded with HD facilities but smaller stadiums such as in Kuantan may not be fully equipped.

The stadium lighting in such smaller stadiums also may not be suitable or strong enough for HD broadcasts. Low dispersed lighting can cause low HD quality. So there are many stadiums that may need to have some kind of upgrade to its lighting facilities.

For those stadiums that do not have its facilities upgraded for HD broadcasts, then Mobile Outdoor HD Broadcast vans are needed. Such mobile HD vans are very expensive (maybe, not sure, costing RM 1 million each) so Astro need to purchase many more of such vans to cover the whole country. How many do Astro have ? Do they have enough to cover many of the matches in those smaller stadiums nationwide which do not have builtin HD facilities ? Also, mobile HD professional broadcast cameras are also very expensive (maybe RM 100+ thousand each). Astro needs many of these HD cameras to cover many different matches in different stadium locations.

I think Astro calls it as OB (Outdoor Broadcast) vans.

Here is a sample photo of an HD van that I extracted from a website, but not the exact same ones used by Astro...


If I am not mistaken, last year Astro advertised in their channels inviting malaysian graduate applicants as trainees for HD technical and camera crew so I believe that they are now training HD camera men/women and technical support crew.

With all these factors, I reasonably believe that it will take lots of time before all malaysian nationwide football matches can be broadcast in HD, hehe.

Actually how long it will take ? I don't know. It will depend on whether Astro is willing to buy many more mobile HD vans and employ/train how many more HD crew. Is Astro willing to pay for upgrade of the stadium facilities, infrastructure and lighting? If not, do each state have the money or willing to pay for such upgrade in their own stadiums ?

Yes, it will take time because of the funds needed and income from ticket sales and higher costs of purchasing HD broadcast rights from Football Association of Malaysia. So, its also economics, profit and loss, and so on.

I don't know if its true or not so here's a bit of news from this blog post link...
http://yourstop.wordpress.com/2011/09/10/sony-malaysia-awarded-contract-by-astro-for-hd-equipment-press-release/
.. which partly states... With this deal, Astro will be upgrading its broadcast studios and OB vans, allowing the creation of more variety of local programs and sports coverage offerings through its HD channels launched last year.

There may be other factors that I don't know yet so I mentioned those that I do know, hehe.

Peace

Aiya ! Komplimen anda buat saya rasa malu (blush, blush). Manyak Manyak Terima Kasih loh ! Barangkali hasil daripada penggilapan daripada pergaulan dengan orang melayu dan orang putih. Mungkin juga disebabkan dari taraf bimbingan pelajaran pada masa permulaan tahun tujuh puluhan.

Bagus! Masaalah anda dah selesai. Rupanya disebabkan oleh "signal alignment and connection of the LNB at the dish" Saya memang ter...lupa tentang ini. Mmm... salah anggap kerosakan tertentu di alat Byond. Malu saya.

Biasanya HDTV menggunakan label "Full HD" dan "HD Ready" kepada keupayaan memaparkan maksima resolusi HD video. Memang betul "Full HD" ialah 1080p dan "HD Ready" ialah 1080i.

* Hehe... tiada 768p.

Mungkin saya salah tetapi setahu saya, semua Penyiaran TV Satelit HD menggunakan 1080i kecuali beberapa Penyiaran Kabel HD yang menggunakan 1080p.

1080i digunakan kerana ada had-had dan isu-isu teknikal yang tertentu. Saya bukan pakar. Oleh itu, tak dapat menerangkan dengan jelas dan teliti disini sebab terlalu kompleks dan panjang, hehe.

Mengikut lapuran dari "Whathifi" bertarikh 10/06/11, pihak BBC telah menjalankan ujian siaran 1080p melalui saluran Freeview HD. Bacakan kandungannya disini...
http://www.whathifi.com/news/update-bbc-experiments-with-1080p-broadcasts-on-freeview-hd-but-viewers-complain-of-audio-dropo

Ya, memang kualiti HD 720p kurang kalau dibandingkan dengan 1080p. Sebagai contoh saja... ambil 720p sebagai saiz asal video berukuran 7 X 5 inci dimana ia perlu dibesarkan 10 kali ganda untuk memuatkan saiz skrin 32 inci di TV dan bandingkan 1080p berukuran 12 x 8 inci yang hanya perlu dibesarkan 5 kali ganda kepada TV yang sama. Sudah tentu pembesaran saiz yang lebih rendah memberi imej video yang lebih halus dan tajam. Saiz inci tak tepat, untuk bandingan saja.

Walaupun Byond boleh ditetapkan kepada (set to) 1080i, saya fikir bukan semua sumber filem digital yang digunakan untuk siaran ialah 1080p ! Banyak juga sumber ialah 720p dan oleh itu imej video yang diubahsuaikan kepada 1080i apabila disiarkan, akan mengakibatkan kekurangan kualiti video seperti kurang tajam atau menimbulkan gangguan artifak (video noise artifacts). Pendapat saya saja.

Aish... dari mana anda memperolehi info yang salah bahawa "Byond ni support Full HD" ? Saya pernah tanya installer semasa pemasangan Byond dan dia jawab bukan "Full HD", tanya aje walaupun tahu... kenapa tiada 1080p... jawabnya "siaran memang ditetapkan begitu". Jawapan semacam tak jawab. Lebih baik aje tak tanya lah!

Saya belum pernah dengar atau baca dari mana-mana sumber resmi Astro yang menyatakan "Full HD" lah. Astro juga tidak meletakkan tanda "Full HD" di alat Byond mahupun tidak ditunjukkan dalam kotak atau buku panduan, hehe.

Apa yang saya 100% pasti ialah alat Byond HD hanya berupaya sampai "HD Ready" iaitu maksima 1080i. Anda dah tahu.

Walaubagaimanapun, kualiti 1080i berbanding dengan 1080p tidak begitu beza dan mungkin tidak dapat dirasakan oleh sesetengah penonton. "Interlace video" dari 1080i boleh menghasilkan "video flickering because of timing interferences between 2 half frames". Aya... tak tahu terjemah ke bahasa lah !

Ya, mungkin sekarang RTM dan TV3 sedang menukar infrastruktur daripada siaran analog kepada digital (SD), termasuk HD. Saya terdengar berita bahawa kerajaan telah menetapkan tahun 2013 untuk semua penyiaran berhenti siaran analog (SD) dan menukar kepada siaran digital. Bila sampai masa tersebut, semua TV lama tidak dapat menerima siaran udara dari aerial dan perlu pasang alat "digital-to-analogue converter" untuk teruskan menerima siaran. Mungkin tak jadi, dilengahkan atau khabar angin saja. Itulah sebabnya RTM ingin naik taraf ke HD dan sudahpun menyiarkan digital (bukan HD) melalui satu saluran (channel) di Klang Valley.

Dah cukup. Peace

This post has been edited by jamesleetech: Mar 11 2012, 07:45 AM

Too bad... I am also scratching my head.

I may still not be able to help solve your online account link problem. However, I do have a few final suggestions...

1) Is it possible to call astro cust supp and request them to completely delete your online account registration ? I don't know if they can do it but its worth a try. If can, then you start fresh again to register a new online account and then try link again.

2) Is it possible to use another computer to try link again ?

3) If you have antivirus installed, could it be your antivirus that may be blocking it ? If so, try disabling it temporarily and try again.

4) Is it possible for you to go to Astro headquarters and bring a notebook there ? I know its troublesome and time wasting. Try to solve there.

Of course these are only my unqualified suggestions. You can choose to wait for Cust Supp to call you since they have opened a case for you.

Not much I can do now to offer any useful assistance as I have run out of ideas. Hope others in this forum can offer better ideas or help.

Stay cool