Bad People Selling Clones!

[Scott Greczkowski]

I don't own an Openbox, but if I was in the market searching for a new receiver hearing this would make me stick away from the Openbox receivers since it appears you can't tell where to buy legit units and who is selling clones. For me if I were Openbox while I would be concerned about the clones I would also be concerned about scaring away potential customers away from my product out of fear of bricking it because of buying a clone.

 

[Lone Gunman]

Ya know Scott, I was thinking the same thing especially after I found out that my 0200 "might" not be a clone after all? There has to be some way to identify a clone other than that number, which doesn't seem to be an accurate way to know. PPL reading this stuff will surely think twice before they throw down for one of these.

 

[highskies]

OK so I went looking this morning to see what I could find out about the clone issue and my CCID of 0200 and here is something I found.



So I guess that my CCID of 0200 "may" not be a clone after all since that guy had one with 0201 and it changed after a firmware upgrade.

I think that the Skybox firmware is safe as far as the "brick" issue is concerned and I plan to upgrade mine to the latest version to fix the green tint and blind scan issues as soon as I find a backup copy of the version I'm running now. If it turns to stone I'll let you know.

I have no clue if there is any truth to this, but according to another link I found while Googling yesterday, one person said that the clones are killed after 10 power off and ons of the box. This got me to worrying since I've already done 2 successful FW upgrades, but haven't as of yet had the box powered off and on 10 times or more. So I checked my ID numbers yesterday..it turns out I have a legit box and not a clone. I got this box off Ebay, so I guess I lucked out.

 

[Anole]

Sounds like a lot of unsubstantiated FUD to me.
FUD, for those who don't know the term is:
- Fear
- Uncertainty, and
- Doubt
A well known term (look it up).

Or, maybe this from and old fast food commercial will ring a little clearer:
"Show me the beef!"

So far, all I hear are what we call: rumors.

 

[radio]

I just want to be able to shut off the power.....and turn it back on without reboot.... Willing to check/upgrade FW.....and try whatever is recommended.....aside from that, the unit renders a nice picture and operates well.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Or, maybe this from and old fast food commercial will ring a little clearer:
"Show me the beef!"

So far, all I hear are what we call: rumors.

I believe that quote was "Where's The Beef!"

The simplest thing that would end this issue once and for all is for the Openbox maker to issue a statement on what's up. The longer they wait the more harm they are cuasing to their own name.

 

[FaT Air]

Mine is CCID 0100. Has had 2 FW updates so far. Last was the "Green Fix". I think that there's no such thing as a Chinese clone, in China. The gov there doesn't behold to copyrights. They just say "sell, sell, Sell!" as they take their "ownership share", 50%+ (guesstimate) off the top. Not long ago, 50k+ music CD's were destroyed at the border, as they were Chinese produced copies. They are legal to sell in China, but not here. ( I think the RIAA had/has their own border inspectors. The Chinese Gov. has said they'd "crack down", but haven't) Who is the actual "original manufactory" of the Sathawk, Solomend or Openbox? Don't think the Chinese original manufactory is worried about it. If they were, I'm sure the US retailers that deal with the "original manufactory" would have received correspondence from them. I've read about the "clone CCID's" in many forums, but none originates from the retailer dealing SSO's. Nor have I read, yet, about a "Confirmed Kill" of a supposed SSO clone. Pansat clones, a few years ago, yes. SSO, no. If "confirmed Kills" arise, or the designer/manufacturer of the "original" posts something on their website or via a well respected Western Hemi retailer, I will change my posture on this.

 

[WTguy]

I think Anole is on the mark. Who knows what company is the "original"mfg.er considering the same box has been spun out with several different brand names, etc.

My thoughts are: the idea behind a clone is to make it cheaper than the original mfg.r but to sell it at the "original's" price and considering all of these are made in China (and all labor will be the virtually the same price, cheap) then the parts being used in a clone is more likely the difference, the most likely suspect would be the chipset. So if someone thinks they have a clone they should open the box, take some photos and note the part number and brand and try to compare it with someone who's unit is running without problems.

 

[Pixl]

In the case of bad FW bricking the OpenBox, is there not some recovery file out there to get going again? If so then testing FW shouldn't be that big of a risk.

 

[Mr Tony]

I think folks are worrying over nothing.....just my opinion but on the 3 units I've owned (yeah I know) I did reboots and upgrades all the time and had no issues

 

[radio]

I think folks are worrying over nothing.....just my opinion but on the 3 units I've owned (yeah I know) I did reboots and upgrades all the time and had no issues

I tend to agree, but what the discussion DID do for me is raise questions of the validity of changing software versions to correct an inconvenience.

Two questions if I may:

1) What is the latest known version's string, (I'm at CHDS2-11-05-05:03F8CM now) or would it read differently on each unit when loaded? I'd like to try to smooth out the power-down reboot issue and make sure I'm up to date. I had no issues updating the old PVR unit by visionsat, but I'm still a bit confused as to what version is the latest one recommended by those posting here.

2) Will an FW update cause me to have to reprogram all the TPs and favorite info I selected with the "out of the box" version or are there specific files-only I should save in the dump to a separate thumb drive aside from the ".abs" file?

Apologies to the assembled if I've missed this elsewhere. I understand the procedures and basics, but am confused by the "latest" version being identified against mine (doesn't look like a date ID is in the string anywhere??) and how to not lose the personal settings while checking and changing versions.

 

[Jim S.]

The date string is 11-05-05. The latest one is 11-08-08 (C2HS2-11-08-08:05A6CMT, to be exact.)

To save your satellites/transponders/channels/favorites to load into a new version, save the TP_PROG.dbs file.

You'll have to re-enter your coordinates in the USALS menu if you're using USALS, and reset your video mode (hopefully you can view the mode the latest version comes up in, I think it's 1080i/50 -- the composite output now works in SD when an HD mode is selected for the HD outputs, but it too might come up in 50Hz instead of 60, I don't know.)

 

[radio]

Thank you! That makes sense! (date.) Is the latest version to which you refer one of the files uploaded here to our trusted site?

 

[RT-Cat]

The date string is 11-05-05. The latest one is 11-08-08 (C2HS2-11-08-08:05A6CMT, to be exact.)

To save your satellites/transponders/channels/favorites to load into a new version, save the TP_PROG.dbs file.

Uhmmm, I thought I read that C2Hs2-11-07-31_LFTA.abs was the newest. I think Iceberg posted that. Or do I have the wrong receiver???

RT.

 

[brentb636]

There is a version of the 8-8-2011 file for the S9 and a version for the S10. I'm using the S9 version on my Solomend 800 , and I like it well enough to keep using it. Since there are 2 different versions, make sure you use the correct version for your receiver. Just be prudent.

 

[radio]

Are these here on this site? Which is proper for the S-10? Only saw reference to the S-9 with any date of near-late.

 

[crackt]

the clone kill code probly works as good as the clock on the s9's. haha. im sure its why we havent heard of any deaths. probly more bs spread by a vendor to try and grab more sales.

crackt out,.

 

[brentb636]

Are these here on this site? Which is proper for the S-10? Only saw reference to the S-9 with any date of near-late.

If one of our members is using the software successfully, perhaps they'll upload it. I can't send anything up that I haven't loaded and worked with. The only thing that makes our files "trusted" is that one of our members vouch for them and the Admin staff decide to pass it on.

 

[Zeb128]

There is a version of the 8-8-2011 file for the S9 and a version for the S10. I'm using the S9 version on my Solomend 800 , and I like it well enough to keep using it. Since there are 2 different versions, make sure you use the correct version for your receiver. Just be prudent.

Brent have you noticed any screen freeze or loss of audio in the latest version on your S9? I have the (Solomend) Chip ID 9CF4, and for some strange reason and only on one sat. Gal 23 C 121 W 3780/ V/ 29273 does it freeze the video after a minute or so, and will let you power down with the remote. Restarting does the same after a minute with either a hard drive connect or not. The only reason I cannot use this 8-8-2011 version is this issue.

 

[brentb636]

Brent have you noticed any screen freeze or loss of audio in the latest version on your S9? I have the (Solomend) Chip ID 9CF4, and for some strange reason and only on one sat. Gal 23 C 121 W 3780/ V/ 29273 does it freeze the video after a minute or so, and will let you power down with the remote. Restarting does the same after a minute with either a hard drive connect or not. The only reason I cannot use this 8-8-2011 version is this issue.

Any particular channel ? I just scanned the tp and I'm watching V-Me without a problem , so far. The info key shows an SNR of 71%. I have the same receiver and chipset ID.