Viewsat Guide Management

[grynner]

c&p from another site, thanks goes to Seeker.

Viewsat Guide Management:

I have seen a few posts around the community regarding channel lists with Viewsats. Although in some instances they might be handy, to get the most performance, you should do your own scan and you can use a few tricks outlined below.

First this is only good if you have the factory transponders and satellites on your machine. After flashing your receiver with a 3rd party list you probably won’t have the factory transponders and if you scan you will not get the SID (system identification numbers - dish channel numbers).

If you still have a channel list but had the factory transponder/sat list simply restore your box back to factory condition (erase channel list) this is done with menu, installation, choose # 6 - Factory Default and hit ok on the remote.

Now that you are ready to scan, you need to know what diseqc settings you have for each sat (if you are using a switch) and the real name of the satellites.

61.5w. = Echostar 3
110w. = Echostar 6,8
119w. = Echostar 7
121w. = Echostar 9
148w. = Echostar 1,2

With the above information simply click the menu button and scroll up to the installation button and click ok on the remote. Use the right arrow on the remote to find the satellites you first want to scan. Go down to the lnb option and toggle to the correct type of lnb (using the left and right arrow on the remote) Do NOT hit ok or you will start the scanning process. If you did hit ok and it started scanning simply hit exit and don't save the changes. Then repeat the above to get back to the place you were before.

*Very Important*
The default for lnb type is dish pro which is listed as OCS-DP so if you are not using a DP than switch it to standard. Now if your testing the T5 (INtel 5) You might be using the standard or universal lnb setting (you need to know which one you have) With the LNB set to the correct one now go and make the necessary changes to the Diseqc and 22k tone settings (22k tone is for multi-switches for the most part)
*Another Note* if using a DP LNB use Diseqc #1 for Echostar 7 and #2 for Echostar 6,8. If you try using toneburst A and B (respectfully, you will not get the 110 channels)

After making the correct adjustment simply press ok to start the scan. The scan should take about 5 minutes during this time you can leave the receiver to do it's work and come back when it has a popup asking if you want to save the channels. Hit OK.

Now hit menu again and scroll to installation, hit ok to get into the installation. This time find the other sat. and again make the needed changes which include Diseqc and 22k on or off as well as the type of lnb. (standard or DP) Hit ok on the remote to start the scan and allow the receiver to scan the transponders and locate the channels. Once finished select yes from the pop up screen and hit ok to confirm via remote control.

With your scan complete you are free to surf through the list and you will notice that the 119 and 110 channels are separated and the SIDs are not in order this is because they are in transponder order (the way they were scanned). To get them in numerical order (100,101,102,103) simply hit menu edit channel list and hit ok. Right arrow to sort list and hit ok, a list of options will become available select sort by SID. Hit ok.

Now exit the channel edit menu and YES save the changes to your list. Now if you go through your list you will see the list is in numerical order but you've got a lot of channels that you may not want. For instance all the FREE 1, FREE 2, etc are annoying and you may wish to get rid of them. To do so: hit Menu, Edit Channels and right arrow to Delete Channel. Now you can scroll through your channels and when highlighted on a channel you wish to delete press OK. Use the page up and down arrows to expedite this instead of simply using the up and down arrow. When complete, exit and save the changes.

Now you can add "favorite" names and then channels into those lists. Hit the right arrow so that you are in the edit part of the favorite list. Read the legend on the bottom of the TV screen so you can better understand which key on the remote does what. If you hit fav on the remote you will see, you will change the favorite list (all should be empty) Favorite 1, Favorite 2, ETC

The first thing I do is change all the names:
To do so hit fav on the remote until you are back to Favorite 1. Now hit the key from the legend that allows you to rename, and then simply enter the name with up, down, right and left arrows on the remote. Once you have the name selected select ok.
Now you have renamed your favorite group. This can be done for all fovorites. You can now catagorize them: A&E etc, PPV, Movies, Adult, Locals, Sports, Spanish or make them whatever you like.

After you do this you are ready to add the channels into the Favorite lists. Simply select the first list (A&E etc) by hitting the fav button on the remote a couple of times or how ever many times it take to get back to it. Then switch to the left window and go all the way to the top of the list (101). Now simply go down using the down arrow via remote when you find a channel you want simply hit the ok button (the channels will then appear in the channel list on the right) You will notice that for the most part all your channels will be in a row. A&E is right next to the history channel and right next to the biography channel just use the down arrow and ok. Once you have finished adding channels to that list simply toggle over to the right window hit the fav button and then find the next group of channels. After all your favorites have been moved you can sort them numerically or alphabetically by choosing sort channels. If you do it correctly you will make all the favorite lists in a short period of time. All your Spanish (except for a few) are all together, All the PPVs are all together, All the Sports etc...When you are finished save while leaving the edit favorites menu and try out the list you made.

A very nice feature with Viewsat is that it remembers the last channel you were on from every favorite list. Meaning if you were on Biography and then switched over to a PPV on another favorite when you went back to the previous favorite list that Biography was on it would immediately show you it. This make going to your favorite news channel then favorite porn channel and then your favorite movie channel very easy.

Now if you want to change some of the ambiguous channel names you can either use the Viewsat's channel editor or use remote control using the edit channel menu. I personally use the remote and change the names mainly to local channels and move them in my guide to where I'm accustomed to seeing them. (0-99) Local Channels can be found in the 6000-9000 range.

If using ODSEdit remember you cannot simply hit the upload button. In ODSedit you need to first go to the upgrade screen in the menu setup and select Receiver Upgrade, choose channel, hit ok and it will wait until you start the process in the ODSedit program.

One nice funtion with the VS when it comes to scanning is that there is no duplicate channels. If the SID and name are the same you get one of them PERIOD. This is great for instances in which you try rescaning a certain transponder or the whole satellite looking for the one ellusive channel. If you scan the first time and you get 200 channels and the second time you get 201, only the 1 extra channel gets added to the list not another 201.