Revealing the Secrets of the Super Box Part 1: - TELE-satellite ...

FEATURE AZBox ME Receiver Software
Revealing the
Secrets of the
AZBox ME
Super Box
Part 1:
Blindscan
• automatically looks for all active
transponders
• also detects channels with very low
symbol rate
• makes full use of the AZBox ME
tuner’s capabilities
• finds all active channels
• blind scan mode currently in beta
mode
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FEATURE
Blindscan
for the AZBox ME
Vitor Martins Augusto
In TELE-satellite 02-03/2012
we introduced the new Opensat
super box by the name
of AZBox ME. At the time
we were not able to test the
blind scan function, as it was
not yet implemented. Opensat
has meanwhile released a
new version of the receiver’s
firmware which features a
beta version of the blind scan
mode. The updated software
was launched much quicker
than we expected and thus
proves once again Opensat’s
commitment and customer
dedication. It is the feed hunters
among us who will appreciate
more than anybody else
that Opensat always keeps its
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AZBox ME Receiver Software
promises and does not leave
us in the dark as far as new
features are concerned.
Naturally, we turned on our
AZBox ME right away to have
an in-depth look at how Opensat
delivers blind scan functionality.
The new firmware
image needs to be flashed before
the amended software is
available. Since the AZBox ME
comes with a large flash chip
that allows parallel installation
of up to three different firmware
versions, we decided to
install the new v1.6 firmware
in memory bank no. 2.
For the sceptics among you
we are happy to reveal that
the flash procedure does not
require a degree in engineering:
You simply reboot the receiver
and as soon as the boot
menu is displayed on the VFD
display you press the VOL+
button to get the boot loader
into flash mode. Next, the receiver’s
IP address appears
on the VFD display and has to
be entered in a web browser.
We used Mozilla Firefox, which
works best with the web functions
of the recceiver. If you
prefer Chrome or the Internet
explorer, they can be used
just as well in this case.
The web browser then displays
a website that is generated
by the receiver. Here,
you first have to decide which
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of the three available memory
banks you want to use for the
new firmware. In addition,
you may access the ‘MICOM
Upgrade’ menu to update the
front processor as well. Please
bear in mind, though, that this
should only be done when absolutely
necessary. Never use
a wrong file out of the blue, as
this may result in the remote
control not working any longer
and the VFD staying dark.
The ‘Device Info’ menu item
calls up various receiver parameters
and ‘Reboot!’ will
restart the box. As mentioned
before, we had decided to install
the new version in memory
bank 2, so we selected
1. Browser showing the FlashMeTM Interface. The user can select between three memory-banks for parallel firmware installations.

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2. On the first step, the user must upload the desired firmware
image.
3. After the upload, the receiver can be configured to
automatically reboot after the flashing process. This is usually
a good idea.
4. Existing channel and satellite settings can easily be backed
up and restored, by just using any FTP client. Navigate to /etc/
tuxbox and copy the existing files.
‘Firmware Upgrade (BOOT
2)’. In actual fact, it does not
make a difference at all which
position you choose – the result
always stays the same. All
you need to know in the boot
loader menu is which number
(0, 1 or 2) corresponds to
which image.
On the next page you can
select the required firmware
by pressing the ‘Browse’ button.
Once the right file is chosen
a click on the ‘Upload!’
button initiates the file transfer
from the PC to the receiver.
This process only takes a few
seconds and after it is com-
pleted the next page appears
on the screen.
On this third page you can
determine whether or not the
receiver should re-boot automatically
after the new firmware
has been flashed. We
recommend activating this
function because it means
you can leave the box unattended
during the entire upgrade
process. Once the new
firmware is installed the receiver
will boot all on its own
with the new software. Simply
press the ‘Flash!’ button
and let the magic begin. You
104 TELE-satellite International — The World‘s Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine — 04-05/2012 — www.TELE-satellite.com
should avoid by all means to
interrupt this process or, even
worse, unplug the receiver.
But then again, this would not
really cause any major damage
since the boot loader will
be unaffected and the worst
that could happen is that you
have to restart the flash process
for the memory bank in
question. What’s more, even
with a failed flash process
there are still two other intact
firmware images in the memory
that can be used to boot
the receiver. And if the worst
case occurs and you manage
to screw up both the firmware
and boot loader the AZBox ME
boasts a kind of panic button
on the back panel which activates
an emergency image to
allow a new flash process.
So now that the new v1.6
firmware was in place we
called up the installation wizard
to adjust the software
according to our requirements.
Instead of initiating a
channel search we decided to
use the settings list we had
saved previously, because we
wanted to get a first impression
of the revised firmware
straight away. It always pays
off to have copies of one’s current
settings on the PC as it
saves valuable time in cases
like that. A number of settings
editors for Linux receivers are
available from the Internet,
but in actual fact all you have
to do is copy a directory with
the help of an FTP client. The
settings can be found in the
/etc/tuxbox directory and you
may use any standard FTP application
such as Filezilla, for
example, to create backups of
your existing settings and to
restore those backup copies
onto the receiver again. The
only thing you need to know
is your receiver’s IP address
to access its file directory.
Key in ‘root’ as user name
and leave the password field
empty by default. If your receiver
can be accessed via the
Internet you should, however,
change the default setting and
set a password to protect unauthorised
access. With MS
Windows press the ‘Windows’
key plus ‘R’ and key in ‘telnet
192.168.1.100’ (make sure

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5. The new blind scan functionality is seamlessly integrated in
the service scan menu.
6. Initialisation of the tuner.
7. Pass 1: The tuner searches for active frequencies.
8. Pass 2: All found frequencies are analysed to determine
the correct Symbol Rate and to obtain other transponders
broadcasted in the NIT.
Tabel 1
you use your receiver’s actual
address!). Use ‘root’ without
a password to log in and once
you’re in the Linux shell type
in the command ‘passwd’.
Then you set the password
and key it in a second time to
make sure it is correct. From
now on that password is required
for logging in as ‘root’
user.
Now the time has finally
come for checking out the new
blind scan functions. All features
are seamlessly incorporated
in the firmware and can
be found in the signal search
menu – right where we would
have expected them. With the
new firmware the ‘Blind Scan’
option is added to the existing
‘Multisat’, ‘Single Transponder’
and ‘Single Satellite’
modes.
Blind scan with the AZBox
ME is a three-step affair:
First, the tuner scans the entire
frequency band for transponders.
Next, reception parameters
are determined for
each found frequency. In case
‘Network Scan’ is active all
associated transponder data
are extracted from the NIT
stream. The third step comprises
the actual blind scan,
which means the individual
transponders are scanned for
channels.
In our test we were looking
for answers to the following
questions:
• How many channels are
found using blind scan as opposed
to the pre-defined transponder
list?
• How fast is blind scan?
• Are channels with low
symbol rates also found using
blind scan?
• Are the data of transponders
found with blind scan
stored in the transponder list
so that those transponders
will also be found using regular
search modes?
To find those answers we
started out with deleting all
channels transmitted from
HISPASAT 30.0W and initiated
a standard transpon-
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der search (‘Single Satellite’
mode) with active network
scan. In general, providers
take advantage of ‘their’ transponders
to transmit information
on other transponders
they also use, so that users
can be sure their receivers
find all channels of individual
providers, no matter over how
many transponders they are
spread. More often than not,
pre-defined transponder lists
are not fully up-to-date and
therefore it makes sense to
always use the benefits of network
mode to make sure your
receiver can find all available
channels. The search on HIS-
PASAT 30.0W took some 24
minutes and yielded a total of
548 channels.
We then proceeded with
performing the same search
on the same satellite using
the newly added blind scan
function. Once again, we
made sure ‘Network Scan’
was turned on. This time the
search only lasted 18 minutes
and resulted in 613 identified
channels. Needless to say, we
were rather impressed with
the capabilities of the AZBox
ME’s blind scan mode.
We gave the channel list
a quick look and stumbled
across three channels that
might be of particular interest
to satellite DXers. (table 1)
Many tuners struggle with
symbol rates of around 2000
Kbit/s and if that happens
these channels are either not
found at all in a search or not
demodulated correctly. We
were all the more surprised
to find out that the AZBox ME
seems to be in a league of its
own as far as low symbol rates
are concerned.
Excited by those promising
first results we hooked our 1m
offset antenna to the AZBox
and aligned it towards TEL-
STAR 12 (15.0W). This is a position
that is not widely known
and used in Central Europe
as it only transmits few FTA
channels. Transponder 10 at
12608H seems to be the most
obvious choice – it is used by
Globecomm to broadcast BBC
Persian, among others.
To be frank, there is another
reason we chose TELSTAR
12 for a blind scan search: It

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is the position of choice for
a number of regular feeds
which come with totally outof-the-ordinary
symbol rates.
To make matters worse, those
rates usually are also very low
and hardly exceed the 2000 to
5000 Kbit/s bracket.
To make sure the AZBox
ME’s new firmware does not
rely on ‘dirty’ tricks or use
any shortcuts we performed a
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blind scan with the HISPASAT
satellite configuration still in
place. In such a case a regular
transponder search would
hardly bring a result since
transponders on different satellites
generally have different
frequencies and deviating reception
parameters.
One of the found channels
was TUNIS TV with a symbol
rate of 2893 Kbit/s, which goes
to show yet again how capable
the tuner of the AZBox ME really
is. It should definitely be
able to meet even the exacting
demands of feed hunters
and satellite DXers.
As our in-depth test progressed
we moved the antenna
9. Thanks to the NIT, the
transponder search is speeded
up a lot.
10. Pass 3: On the last stage,
all listed transponders are
scanned for valid channels.
11. Blind scan of Hispasat
30.0W.
12. Pass 1: Frequency scan.
13. Pass 2: Transponder
analysis.
14. Pass 3: Channel scan for
each of the 55 transponders.
15. Ribamontana TV: FTA
channel with particularly low
Symbol Rate
16. The AZBox offers detailed
information of the active
channel.
17. Visualization of the different
PIDS used by the current
channel. This is important for
channel- and feed-hunters: they
further west until we reached
INTELSAT 905 (24.5W). Apart
from NTA International and
RTI 1 there are no FTA channels
transmitted in the Ku
band from that position. There
are, however, numerous transponders
dedicated to feeds
only, which prompted us to
perform another blind scan.
This time, many transponders
were found again in steps 1
and 2 of the blind scan process,
while not a single result
was achieved in step 3, when
the actual channels should be
scanned.
To obtain a second opinion
we attached our reference
meter (Spaun Sparos 609)
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can compare these PIDs with
the ones specified on popular
satellite websites to make sure
they did indeed find a new
channel and not just an existing
channel with a different name.
18. Service Info of Ribamontana:
the Symbol Rate is specified in
Bit/s instead of the usual Kbit/s!
Clearly a very low SR, showing
the excellent capabilities of the
tuner.
19. Tunisia 1 on TELSTAR 15.0W.
Also a channel with low Symbol
Rate. Most receivers are not able
to receive such channels.
20. Verification of TELSTAR
15.0W with our spectrum
analyzer. We compared the
number of found transponders
with the number of spikes seen
on the spectrum (only one image
shown, but of course we used
all four bands: V-L, H-L, V-H and
H-H). The blind scan did not miss
any transponder!
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to the antenna output of the
AZBox ME and looked at the
spectrum analyser to find out
what was going on. It turned
out that the beta version of
the blind scan mode has a
bug which can prevent the
receiver from switching from
high band to low band (0 kHz
signal instead of 22 kHz signal)
in the final step of a blind
scan. What happens then is
that transponders found in the
low band are later scanned in
the high band, which of course
yields no results.
When we examined the ‘satellites.xml’
file, which Linux
receivers generally use to
save their transponder list, we
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found that details of transponders
found using blind scan
unfortunately are not added
to the general transponder
list. Opensat’s software engineers
are currently addressing
that issue and will offer a
fix shortly.
While the new blind scan
mode still leaves some room
for improvement, feed hunters
may nonetheless use it at this
stage to write down the frequencies
of all detected transponders
and then perform
manual scans using that data.
In addition, we have nothing
but praise for Opensat’s
speedy firmware development
which keeps adding great fea-
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tures to a receiver that never
ceases to amaze us. We’re all
looking forward to the final release
version of the blind scan
feature, yet even now the AZ-
Box ME is a fascinating box al-
ready. It’s hard to believe such
a small and inexpensive satellite
receiver can offer so many
useful functions. You can be
sure this isn’t the last time you
read about that super box.