BEV to Dish Conversion

[TheKrell]

I bought an unsubbed Bell ExpressVu 4100 receiver off Ebay, and got it added to my Dish Network account yesterday. The rep I spoke with claimed she authorized it, and all would be well after 15 minutes. But the evening and the morning passed, and nothing has happened (yet) to enable the proper Dish channels. I deliberately bought a 4100 rather than a 111 because of it's full compliment of rear-panel outputs, in particular the S-video and audio RCA jacks absent on Dish 111's.

I get only 4 channels: 100, 156, 919, and 9900. (The EPG shows 3 more unauthorized BTV channels: 9601, 9611, and 9612.) Channel 9900 shows "Congratulations..." with music. 156 and 919 show "To get Sirius music, call 1-800-333-DISH." Channel !00 downloads the Dish Home application, but shows "channel unavailable" in all 6 frames. The banner interestingly enough shows video and can be selected and downloads games. Most of the games work. Most of the menu selections do not: they show "You must upgrade your dish antenna..." Another interesting fact is that hitting the cancel button on the Dish Home application results in a brief display of all 6 video channels before it reverts to the last regular channel selected.

The problem as I understand it is that this receiver still has BEV 4100 firmware on it. It has not downloaded any new firmware from the Dish stream to convert it into a 111. When I bought it, I had read just enough to be dangerous: many BEV receivers were inadvertently pointed at Dish satellites and got the wrong firmware foisted upon them. No such "luck" in my case! I have tried holding down the power key for 10 seconds, which seems to get me a soft reset (check switch followed by program guide download). But still the BEV firmware remains.

Any recommendations for conversion of this receiver to Dish Network? It was a privately owned (not leased) receiver in the Mountain Time Zone, with zero balance. Dish supposedly already authorized it.

 

[SatinKzo]

This is new to me and I might have completely missed something so someone may correct me, but:

I have never heard of anyone ever being able to re-initialize a bell box for dish service no matter how compatible they are, legally.

Also, I never read anything about bell boxes being pointed at dish sats and getting dish software updates. (maybe in the past, but maybe I missed that story)

Can you link to the sites that told you you can do this or the site that tells of bell units getting dish software? I am curious where you read this info.

I have no clue how the CSR could actually activate the box for you for dish

You shouldn't have any dish sats in the point dish screens.

If you didn't want the 111, why not get a 301 or 311 receiver?

 

[Mr Tony]

congrats...you lucked out and don't have a doorstop

You CANNOT activate a Bell box on Dish and vise versa. The R & S #'s are ONLY for said provider. Tried to activate a Dish 301 on Bell and it wont work.

Dish & Bell figured out a way to stop that from happening (the software thing). Older boxes still do it but the newer ones do not. If the box was fresh and accidentally was set to DIsh satellites it would download that software and render the box useless.

But back tot he orignal thing...Dish won't activate it. They can't activate it because the R & S #'s are attached to a Bell box.

 

[Mr Tony]

Also, I never read anything about bell boxes being pointed at dish sats and getting dish software updates. (maybe in the past, but maybe I missed that story)

the older Bell boxes (and DIsh boxes) that were factory fresh and never in the stream have done that. If you have a Bell box and aim the dish at Dish and let the software download, yes it has DIsh software but no one could activate it

Dish couldn't because it was a Bell box (R & S #'s show Bell box)
Bell couldnt activate it because of wrong software in it

 

[rcdallas]

To add to Iceberg's post, I recall if you take a dish reciever and point it at a bev bird and let it download, the reciever is rendered useless.

 

[boba]

I bought an unsubbed Bell ExpressVu 4100 receiver off Ebay, and got it added to my Dish Network account yesterday. The rep I spoke with claimed she authorized it, and all would be well after 15 minutes. But the evening and the morning passed, and nothing has happened (yet) to enable the proper Dish channels. I deliberately bought a 4100 rather than a 111 because of it's full compliment of rear-panel outputs, in particular the S-video and audio RCA jacks absent on Dish 111's.

I get only 4 channels: 100, 156, 919, and 9900. (The EPG shows 3 more unauthorized BTV channels: 9601, 9611, and 9612.) Channel 9900 shows "Congratulations..." with music. 156 and 919 show "To get Sirius music, call 1-800-333-DISH." Channel !00 downloads the Dish Home application, but shows "channel unavailable" in all 6 frames. The banner interestingly enough shows video and can be selected and downloads games. Most of the games work. Most of the menu selections do not: they show "You must upgrade your dish antenna..." Another interesting fact is that hitting the cancel button on the Dish Home application results in a brief display of all 6 video channels before it reverts to the last regular channel selected.

The problem as I understand it is that this receiver still has BEV 4100 firmware on it. It has not downloaded any new firmware from the Dish stream to convert it into a 111. When I bought it, I had read just enough to be dangerous: many BEV receivers were inadvertently pointed at Dish satellites and got the wrong firmware foisted upon them. No such "luck" in my case! I have tried holding down the power key for 10 seconds, which seems to get me a soft reset (check switch followed by program guide download). But still the BEV firmware remains.

Any recommendations for conversion of this receiver to Dish Network? It was a privately owned (not leased) receiver in the Mountain Time Zone, with zero balance. Dish supposedly already authorized it.

Re aim your dish at BEV and find a broker to subscribe through or go buy a box for the service you want you SOL with that box.

 

[TheKrell]

Thanks all for your collective wisdom, even if I don't like this answer. (One wonders how this policy benefits either company; seems brain-dead to me.)

Dish won't activate it. They can't activate it because the R & S #'s are attached to a Bell box.

You sure about that? My CS rep said she activated it. I'm still left wondering if this would work if I could get the 111 firmware onto the box.

Adding another dish for the Bell satellites may be my best bet at this point. Is there anything on either sat that is free to an un-subbed receiver?

 

[RVD420]

I bought an unsubbed Bell ExpressVu 4100 receiver off Ebay, and got it added to my Dish Network account yesterday. The rep I spoke with claimed she authorized it, and all would be well after 15 minutes. But the evening and the morning passed, and nothing has happened (yet) to enable the proper Dish channels. I deliberately bought a 4100 rather than a 111 because of it's full compliment of rear-panel outputs, in particular the S-video and audio RCA jacks absent on Dish 111's.

I get only 4 channels: 100, 156, 919, and 9900. (The EPG shows 3 more unauthorized BTV channels: 9601, 9611, and 9612.) Channel 9900 shows "Congratulations..." with music. 156 and 919 show "To get Sirius music, call 1-800-333-DISH." Channel !00 downloads the Dish Home application, but shows "channel unavailable" in all 6 frames. The banner interestingly enough shows video and can be selected and downloads games. Most of the games work. Most of the menu selections do not: they show "You must upgrade your dish antenna..." Another interesting fact is that hitting the cancel button on the Dish Home application results in a brief display of all 6 video channels before it reverts to the last regular channel selected.

The problem as I understand it is that this receiver still has BEV 4100 firmware on it. It has not downloaded any new firmware from the Dish stream to convert it into a 111. When I bought it, I had read just enough to be dangerous: many BEV receivers were inadvertently pointed at Dish satellites and got the wrong firmware foisted upon them. No such "luck" in my case! I have tried holding down the power key for 10 seconds, which seems to get me a soft reset (check switch followed by program guide download). But still the BEV firmware remains.

Any recommendations for conversion of this receiver to Dish Network? It was a privately owned (not leased) receiver in the Mountain Time Zone, with zero balance. Dish supposedly already authorized it.

Not much you an do without going to the Dark Side.

We don't like the Dark Side.

 

[DishSubLA]

Thanks all for your collective wisdom, even if I don't like this answer. (One wonders how this policy benefits either company; seems brain-dead to me.)

You sure about that? My CS rep said she activated it. I'm still left wondering if this would work if I could get the 111 firmware onto the box.

Adding another dish for the Bell satellites may be my best bet at this point. Is there anything on either sat that is free to an un-subbed receiver?

Uh, I'd believe Iceberg over any CS rep, my friend. Yeah, the rep pushed the buttons, but the system did not let it happen. I've had many times CS reps push all the button and say they did whatever, and it should be fine now, only to find out from CEO or other more knowledgeable Dish reps that they system didn't allow the attempts by the lower reps for such and such a reason. Then they--the CEO folks--explain why it is not allowed, or they make it happen.

In short: Trust Iceberg. However, if you don't, please contact CEO@echostar.com, and I am sure you will get the real explanation, but not the one you are hoping for.

 

[dishcomm]

Thanks all for your collective wisdom, even if I don't like this answer. (One wonders how this policy benefits either company; seems brain-dead to me.)

You sure about that? My CS rep said she activated it. I'm still left wondering if this would work if I could get the 111 firmware onto the box.

Adding another dish for the Bell satellites may be my best bet at this point. Is there anything on either sat that is free to an un-subbed receiver?

This is going to be something you won't like reading. I will politely tell you, go on to one of the sponsor sites here and purchase new receiver....Why beat your head against a wall..

 

[digiblur]

Even if you got the receiver to take the correct firmware you'd still have a big problem with the card.

 

[TheKrell]

I get the picture, metaphorically speaking.

Upon further research, it would appear no JTAG port exists on the 4100/111. So it's going to be kinda hard for me to experiment in a reversible way. I might plausibly apply the "junkyard fix", but (1) I can't reverse that procedure if it turns out that the CSR didn't really activate my 4100 and (2) I really like the design of this receiver and I don't want to have an accident and blow it's brains out.

Iceburg in a PM put me onto another possibility, which is to use a FTA receiver to get CD-quality audio which (at least today) is broadcast in the clear on 119. That was my original intent (along with Sirius channels and even DD) with the 4100, and why a Dish 111 won't do. (I have a 111 too.) Unfortunately, I see no way to buy all that equipment without spending double what I paid for my used 4100 ($50). Maybe there's a used FTA receiver I could get for cheap. But note I would likely have to buy a Dish Pro Legacy Adapter as well before I could even hook an old receiver to my DP34 switch.