Newbie Questions

[Darnat]

Your cam is locked so send it out to a dealer to be unlocked as this is the favoured method of testing at the present time,all AVR& Atmega's are easy prey to being hit and are being at the present time.
As for locks,this is your personal choice as there are many opinions about these devices floating around.

[Chapster99]

My 2¢....

if you have a jtag, locks are not that important...

Jtag is more valuable than the d/lock.

[Chapster99]

flagg,

Your next step is actually getting a Jtag. That is the #1 tool you'll need. Whether you're going plastic, ATmega, or anything for that matter. The first time you get ECM'd and you don't have a jtag, you'll know what I meant...


Darnat, I tried to attach a .zip file (Mega Volts Buffered) but can't seem to do it. Be a gent and post it for him...;)

[t160hq]

The advantage to a buffered jtag is writes and reads are right the first time everytime. Especially if you are writing or reading just one sector of the TSOP.

A simple jtag will work but if you are running without digital locks then a buffered is prefered. Just my opinion. The difference in cost and time to build is well worth the reliability.

Oh and you can't put a eeprom lock on a 3900. You will get a serious error nag.

If you want a fix and forget solution go with a EMU system like CEMU. No card required. No locks needed. Much more labor and hardware intensive but once set up very stable and long lasting.

t160hq

[Darnat]

At this point I am still entertaining all options. I am assuming that an emulator would require a PC to be hooked up to the IRD?yesIs there any documentation you would recommend reading on emulation?yes,will upload relevant files when I get time Also what makes EMU a "fix and forget" solution? Are they not also capable of getting ECM'd?it's not a fix and forget solution ,it's just that they haven't been hit on the CEMU side alot,but on WINVU they are getting hit

[t160hq]

Darnat is right. Now that I think about it fix and forget was a poor choice in wording. Of two EMU's I know of one a Bev setup with CEMU hasen't been touched in the last year and half. The second a DN system same CEMU has been up for the same time but the PPV's had to be fixed twice. New string.

t160hq

[Darnat]

External rs232 is great,am running one for the last year,never been hit.
Never bothered with the internal as I want to leave ird open to mods,for whatever comes our way.
BTW ...CEMU is your best option,but doesnt log stream,winvu has been hit many times .

[Darnat]

bought

[t160hq]

Externals are nice if you ever want to mod the receiver later for something else.

I like the internal max mel myself. Being inside the receiver it cuts down on the interference on the tv produced by the rs-232 interface. It only interfears if your watching on channel 3 on your tv and the receiver is close to the set. No interference at all if your running video or s-video cables with a external.

Mine are both home built max mel internal units. Bear in mind with a home built you also have to build a simple Atmel programmer for programming the mel part of the max mel.

Without some experience with building electronic projects I wouldn't jump into this one. Buy em already assembled and ready to go with detailed instructions.

t160hq