GTools How To Help File

[EVD]

GTOOLS BASIC COMMANDS & FUNCTIONS

When you open gTools you'll see three main panels: Satellite, Transponder (TP), and Channel.

Along the top are the commands: File, Edit, View, Tools, Option, and Help.

Under Edit you may Insert, Modify or Delete Satellites, TPs, and Channels.

Under View select SDX List to open a new panel in the lower half of the screen showing the satellite information provided by the SatCoDX site. This information is stored in the default SDX file installed by gTools. The SDX file does not presently include information on Echo6,8 (110).

Under Tools is the STB Connect command, used to Download lists to your receiver and Upload channel data to your computer. (Saved in the gtd format.)

INITIAL SETUP

Version 1.85 of gTools added functionality for new (March 04) models of FortecStar Lifetime and Ultra receives. Under "Option|STB Model", the dafault setting is "Type 1". Select "Type 2" to connect to new FortecStar Lifetime and Ultra receivers. For Pansat 2300A select "Type 1" [by loobie].

(Version 1.81 of gTools did not have the option to select STB model and is also not usable with the new Lifetime or Ultra.)

GENERAL OPERATIONS

In many cases you may select multiple objects by using the Shift key for a contiguous group, or the Control key for individual objects.

You may modify several Channels, such as add them to Favorites or P-Lock them, in one operation by first selecting a group of Channels, then select the "Edit" (or Modify) and the asociated dialogue will pop up until all channels are edited.

Right-clicking on a Satellite, TP or Channel will open a sub-menu.

Double-clicking a Satellite, TP or Channel will open its "Edit" dialogue.

You may sort Sattellites, TPs and Channels by clicking on a column heading.

In the SDX List you may right-click on a Satellite to copy the satellite and all available channels up to your channel list above.

You may add New Satellites, TPs and Channels by right-clicking. To add a New Channel you must first click on the appropriate TP.

On the "Channel Settings" edit menu, you may have up to five (5) Audio PIDs under "audio cnt". This will open the same number of audio pid fields. Each field may be set for AC3 functionality [credit to ACRadio]. The digital audio pid can be selected in the onscreen menu by pressing the appropriate audio button on the remote. You'll get sound out of the AC3 pid only if the program is braodcast in digital audio.

You may open more than one occurance of gTools.

DOWNLOADING AND UPLOADING YOUR LIST

In every new Channel List you should right-click on each Satellite then Edit the LNB Configuration and Positioner settings to correspond to your setup.

To download a list to your receiver: Connect the receiver to your computer using the proper cable, plug it in and turn it on. Open the channel file in gTools. Select "Tools|STB Connect". Select Download. The list will be downloaded to the receiver. A notice will appear when the operation is complete.

To Upload your receiver's list to your computer: Connect the receiver to your computer using the proper cable, plug it in and turn it on. Open gTools without any file. Select "Tools|STB Connect". Select Upload. A notice will appear when the operation is complete. You may edit the information and save it to disk as a gTools gtd file.

Manually Insert a New Channel

For each new channel, first collect the necessary information as follows.

Begin by locating the new channel at LyngSat.

Write down the following information: Satellite, TP (Transponder), Frequency (and whether it is V or H), VideoPID, AudioPID, PCR_PID and SID.

Note: If the Video PID and Audio PID are not shown, you can scan the appropriate TP Frequency first; then, for each new channel use the "Info" button to display the Video and Audio PIDs, along with the PCR, and write these down. (Alternatively, you can use gTools to "Upload" the channel info to your computer. You can then open two occurrences of gTools -- one with the file you just uploaded and the other with the target file -- to copy the information.)

In most cases the PCR_PID and Video_PID are the same number, and the Audio_PID is one number higher.

If the appropriate satellite and/or TP are not already installed you must add them prior to proceeding.

Once you've gTools opened with the appropriate file, click on the Satellite, then on the TP Frequency for the new channel. Next, right-click on a blank field in the Channel Name panel. Select "Insert," and a dialogue will open where you can add the information you've collected. Fields you must fill in are: Name, PCR pid, video pid, audio pid, and SID. You may want to begin the name field with the SID.

GTools automatically asigns each new channel a ChNo and inserts it at the bottom of the list. For services which broadcast programming across multiple satellites, gTools will asign new ChNos accordingly. The ChNo cannot be changed manually. With some limitations you can cause gTools to automatically asign a new ChNo by dragging the Channel to a new location in the list.

The "SIDs" correspond with the familiar channel numbers for each service. The SIDs won't always match the ChNos in gTools if you have many satellites installed. The SID field does not show up as a column in gTools, but it can be accessed by right-clicking on a Channel and selecting Modify.

The options for "PMT," "TTX" and "scramble" will be grayed-out and cannot be changed from within gTools.

Leave the option for "TV" selected.

Caution: Don't use the "Tab" key to navigate from the Name field to the PCR pid. Doing so will cause the Audio field to be selected and once the channel has been inserted it cannot be changed back to Video. This is an apparent bug in the program.

Also, be careful to put all numbers into their correct fields. Mistakes may cause the program to lock up.

GTools uses internal criteria to determine whether to flag a new channel "scrambl-d" (indicated by a $), or "free" and this cannot be over-ridden within GTools. See the section below on how to use a Hex Editor to modify this setting.

Customize your favorites, and check Parental Lock and Skip as desired.

Be aware that gTools has some bugs which will cause it to crash unexpectedly leaving the file corrupt. Save your file often if you are adding multiple channels, and occasionally use a different unique file name to protect your work.

FIXES & WORK-AROUNDS

Fixing the "Channel Already Exist" Error

Locals are sometimes spot-beamed and so what may show up on the Frequency for locals on one list will actually correspond to locals in another city, in which case the V-pid and A-pid may be the same. This will generate the "Channel Already Exist" error. The SID may or may not be the same.

TO FIX – you must determine which channel has the conflicting V-pid and A-pid the same as the channel you want to add. Modify the channel Name, SID, PCR, V-pid and A-pid as appropriate.

Change New Channel to "Scramble" in GTOOLS

When adding channels to a list, some channels may not show up as "scrambl-d". (Scrambl-d channels are normally indicated by the "$" symbol.)

Programming on Echo6,8 and Echo7 typically has a the number 33 in the PMT box which is grayed out. Nimiq 1 has the number 32 in this box.

The following example shows four newly-added (fake) channels. In this example, three of the newly added channels had numbers in the PMT field which were inconsistent with the above pattern.

Using a hex editor, open the gtd file and search for the new channel name. In this example, here is how it looks:

01 WABC.................J.H.".#.".t..#............... .....
02 WDEF.................K.I.".#.".#..#............... .....
03 WGHI.PBS.............L.J.".#."."..#............... .....
04 WJKL.................M.K.".#.".!..#............... .....

The important pattern is: [ ".#.".!..#] (quotes included). The channel that was coming in, WJKL, included an exclamation mark in the pattern. The three new channels not coming in did not have the exclamation. After editing the file using copy and paste, the first three channels were made to look like the fourth:

01 WABC.................J.H.".#.".!..#............... .....
02 WDEF.................K.I.".#.".!..#............... .....
03 WGHI.PBS.............L.J.".#.".!..#............... .....
04 WJKL.................M.K.".#.".!..#............... .....

Beginning with the first character in the Channel Name (including the number if used there) there are 28 character/spaces up to the first quote mark in the pattern. Following the exclaimation mark, there are 23 character/spaces up to the first character of the next channel. (In the hex editor the lines may wrap and not line up as shown above.)

After making the changes and saving, all channels showed "33" in the PMT box. On some of the modified channels the PCR and SID fields changed unexpectedly. These were corrected in the edit menu. All except one of the channels now showed the "$" symbol. Once loaded to the receiver, all four channels were viewable.

THINGS YOU CAN'T DO IN GTOOLS

You cannot export channel lists to text. Some third-party software can be used to copy text from the screen to the clipboard for editing and printing.

You cannot merge channel lists.

You cannot copy a Satellite, TP or Channel from one list to another.