FTA Forum Changes

[gpflepsen]

I've never looked at the dedicated receiver forums as support forums. They are just discussion forums. Discussions should be arranged topically for ease of use. That's all the MicroHD and AZBox forums were. Just populate a receiver forum with brand sub-forums. Damned what some manufacturers think.

When has this forum's management ever cow-towed to what a business wants? The forum is about the users and their needs, not the company's.

I understand; your house, your rules... I don't have to like them. But I can voice my opinion.

 

[gpflepsen]

Scott...come clean. That doesn't make sense! You can have a forum on any topic you like. A manufacturer who isn't advertising with you has no control over what you do as long as you don't claim to be their official site.

Damn straight. Sometimes it helps to step back and see the forest.

 

[PopcornNMore]

I like the changes and thus will soon be renewing my pub membership.

 

[pwrsurge]

Really?
Since when has the production of the AZBox miniMe started again? Are you telling me you are the sole (official) distributor on planet Earth?
OpenSat/DTinnovation stopped doing business. They only manage RMA.
There is no official statement from any kind of manufacturer, or from DTinnovation for that matter, that says it is producing miniMe's (again).
For all I know, those ones that are available could be Chinese clones or old stock.

Production of the miniMe never stopped, it was merely transferred to HTCE Limited when ownership of the AzBox brand was sold to them. As you mentioned, OpenSat and DTinnovation don't have anything to do with current AzBox models anymore.


Best regards,


PwrSurge
AzBox Canada

 

[Kraven]

I must be the minority here because I really dont care either way.

Cheers, K

 

[vc2]

Sorry folks, we will not be switching back. I want to make more forums for other brands but was told NO by the other companies as they did not want it to appear that we were an official support forum for their product. If you remember correctly we actually had more dedicated support forums for other brands and was asked to remove them.

Scott,

Would you post the complaints that you have received or at least provide a list of manufacturers that complained? I would like to know which products and manufacturers to boycott. I think that we all would like to know.

I can see where this site might be a source of embarrassment to those manufacturers that don't adequately support their own products.

 

[Keith Brannen]

Sorry folks, we will not be switching back. I want to make more forums for other brands but was told NO by the other companies as they did not want it to appear that we were an official support forum for their product. If you remember correctly we actually had more dedicated support forums for other brands and was asked to remove them.

If I remember correctly, wasn't it the 4DTV forum that was removed because of their complaints?

Well then, if certain companies don't want to have their own sub-forum, then don't make them one! But I can't see any reason not to have any sub-forums at all, just to kowtow to whatever company or companies that seem to be paranoid about sub-forums equaling official support forums! Even a disclaimer that all forums are not official support forums should be sufficient. At least keep the MicroHD and AZBox forums as sub-forums, doubt you got any complaints from them about their having their own separate forums! Or were these paranoid companies complaining about those two forums? Makes no sense, unless the complaining companies were the anti-FTA circular subscription type! LOL!

 

[vc2]

Production of the miniMe never stopped, it was merely transferred to HTCE Limited when ownership of the AzBox brand was sold to them. As you mentioned, OpenSat and DTinnovation don't have anything to do with current AzBox models anymore.

Best regards,

PwrSurge
AzBox Canada

HTCE Limited is a Chinese company located in Hong Kong. Does this mean that all of the clones coming out of China really aren't clones at all? - They must be the real thing! I did a quick search on Google and I'm even seeing ATSC Tuners advertised for the AZBox HD Premium Plus - something that was never available from the original owners.

Registered through: GoDaddy.com, LLC (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: AZBOX.COM

Registrant:
HTCE LIMITED

Administrative Contact:
LIMITED, HTCE htcelimited@mail.com
Hong Kong
Hong Kong, CENTRAL
Hong Kong
+852.960252252

 

[pwrsurge]

HTCE Limited is a Chinese company located in Hong Kong. Does this mean that all of the clones coming out of China really aren't clones at all? - They must be the real thing! I did a quick search on Google and I'm even seeing ATSC Tuners advertised for the AZBox HD Premium Plus - something that was never available from the original owners.

1. Hong Kong and China are two separate countries.
2. There are AzBox clones from China in the marketplace.
3. Initially there was supposed to be ATSC tuners made for the Premium HD Plus but unfortunately it never materialized. We at AzBox Canada made substantial efforts to convince OpenSat at the time but OpenSat's argument was that there would have not been enough demand to cover the costs involved in manufacturing one. There was an ATSC tuner made for the Elite and the Premium (non-plus) however.


Best regards,


PwrSurge
AzBox Canada

 

[Babadem]

1. Hong Kong and China are two separate countries.
2. Initially there was supposed to be ATSC tuners made for the Premium HD Plus but unfortunately it never materialized. We at AzBox Canada made substantial efforts to convince OpenSat at the time but OpenSat's argument was that there would have not been enough demand to cover the costs involved in manufacturing one. There was an ATSC tuner made for the Elite and the Premium (non-plus) however.


Best regards,


PwrSurge
AzBox Canada

In response to item 1 of your post. Hong Kong is not a country, but a special Administrative region (territory) of China. Though, it pursue's the one country two systems policy, it is not a separate nation from China, thus it is part of China. Taiwan maybe, but that is also debatable as they are not recognized by the United Nations as a separate country. It should be noted however, that Taiwan is also a Chinese territory. Read more here for Hong Kong and here for Taiwan.

 

[vc2]

1. Hong Kong and China are two separate countries.
2. Initially there was supposed to be ATSC tuners made for the Premium HD Plus but unfortunately it never materialized. We at AzBox Canada made substantial efforts to convince OpenSat at the time but OpenSat's argument was that there would have not been enough demand to cover the costs involved in manufacturing one. There was an ATSC tuner made for the Elite and the Premium (non-plus) however.

Best regards,

PwrSurge
AzBox Canada

I have the ATSC tuner installed in my (non-plus) AZBox but the software, simply stated, is "crap". I can send you a test report if you'd like. The test report was sent to Hugo Condessa along with several other test reports well over a year ago.

There was at least one post on this forum a while back stating that the ATSC software was going to be fixed "very soon". I believe that you were the author of that post. As far as I know, nothing ever materialized. ATSC fixes were never mentioned in any of the software release notes. I sent you a couple of queries regarding that ATSC post, but there was never any response.

I'm hoping that one of the third party firmware projects will provide a solution, but thanks to recent changes, there's no longer a forum for discussion of this topic. Since there is no "Official Support" available, I'm the proud owner of an AZDoorstop (as far as ATSC is concerned).

Edit:
PwrSurge - In the interest of staying on topic, please feel free to PM me if you care to respond.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Not sure what all of this has to do with the forum changes so back on topic please.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[vc2]

Not sure what all of this has to do with the forum changes so back on topic please.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

Hi Scott,

Actually, it is on topic - well, sort of. The post would normally be posted in the AZBox forum. Any place else, the post gets lost in the noise. Since AZBox forum was removed as a direct result of forum changes (Topic of discussion), the post has no home. Words to that effect were mentioned in the last paragraph.

You also stated:

I want to make more forums for other brands but was told NO by the other companies as they did not want it to appear that we were an official support forum for their product.

Couldn't this be resolved by placing the word "Unofficial" in front of "Support" in the Forum title and perhaps add a disclaimer? There are plenty of unofficial forums around. This is nothing new.

 

[beavs2112]

Sorry folks, we will not be switching back. I want to make more forums for other brands but was told NO by the other companies as they did not want it to appear that we were an official support forum for their product. If you remember correctly we actually had more dedicated support forums for other brands and was asked to remove them.

However with that said I do have another idea which should keep everyone happy and make it easy to find specific brand receivers going forward. But I do need help compiling a list of CURRENT FTA Receiver brands (Not models) If you guys could work at putting that together for me then I can get to work on it.

Hi Scott I am glad you took the time to respond. Rant begins .... However this topic REALLY makes me mad After reading your reply SEVERAL times to be sure I would like you to clarify to everyone who THEY are to tell you (and by association with forum changes ) me what to do. Don't forget I am a PAYING member who should have more say in the operation of this forum than a phantom company who does not financially support it. I am seriously considering removing my financial support and participation in this site. If help is needed to make up a list get the "other companies" to do it since they seem to be running the show now. My advice is to apologize for your error ..... setup a poll and come up with the best solution to make everybody happy. Several excellent suggestions have already been made.

 

[PopcornNMore]

I like the changes and thus will soon be renewing my pub membership.

I just made my payment to become a pub member once again! Thank you Scott for making the changes and allowing us the opportunity to talk freely about all the new FTA equipment out there that might or might not come from a gold sponsor.

 

[eurosport]

 

[rv1pop]

My time is MONEY. My INTERNET TIME is MONEY. The OWNER OF THE FORUM has made his decision and statement. My statement is " Brian will get my business. If updates are not quickly visible from him, here, I will not look here for any updates. His company does send me updates by email, which load to my computer in less that 10 seconds. This website has taken 45 seconds or more to load each forum page. It now appears that the number of pages required to load will be greatly increased. Therefore TIME to get the information I want will also."

I do not have a choice in my internet speed -or quality. I do not have a choice in OTA broadcast stations - or even 'Pizza dish' providers. If it is not 12 VDC I will not use it, especially in the darker times of the year. There are now 2 units for sale that I can/will use. At least 14 members of the solar group have dropped pay TV for GeoSat - FTA strictly because of the DC units. ---- And I did not sell (or even get credit) for even one.

Yes, I will guess the One Huge "pizza Dish" provider probably is one of the complainers. Is Google another one? They bought M's business.... and now no 4DTV section. ??? These are only my GUESSES.

 

[concord]

Sorry, but never understood not having sub-forum/folders for each of the most popular 8-10 receivers; dumping all into one forum is going backwards. Up for renewal, but I think I'll hold off for now.

 

[Cham]

I would prefer having sub forums for the sponsors' receivers and another for "others". That way the sponsors get preferecnce without discriminating against other manufacturers/equipment. My 2 cents worth...

 

[FaT Air]

If there's actual mfg support, label as such, BRAND - OFFICIAL SUPPORT
if there's no mfg support, label as such, Brand - User to User Discussion ONLY.
There can be too many sub forums, such as switches, LNB(F)'s, etc. The one experiencing the trouble will normally not know where the trouble lies, switch, lnb, receiver(?), so what area to post in??
So, I'm under the impression, the receiver section is just for comments on this or that brand/model. (bashing or hyping)
Requests for a particular FW. The general area is now for all problem solving requests. As many will not now if it's a receiver problem, or a switch, or what?

Recommendation for all forum participants. To decrease unrelated results in searching:
Put make and model of your receiver first in the thread title.
Short forms ok. Az=Azbox, SSO= Sathawk,Solomend,Openbox or Sat, Sol, OpnB, Van=Vantage, etc. Followed with model.