September 27th, 2008 by BGonaSTICK
When keen metal detector Mike obtained a significant reading from his satellite meter, he decided to investigate. Just hours later he had uncovered possibly the greatest structure ever seen by humankind - an alien craft.
A few swings of the adjustable spanner (amazingly, the bolts were metric - 8mm to be precise!) and the hatch was laying next to the stranded ship on the grass.
Alright, enough already. The large bump in Mike22’s lawn is his impressive-looking Fortec Star 2.4m petalised dish. It’s a cracker by all accounts.
I’m keeping an open mind on this one, but it looks more and more promising with each update from the dedicated two-man construction team.
Follow the progress of the build on the NoSky forum and see why these pocket-money dishes have been unfairly labled as cheap tat.
September 25th, 2008 by BGonaSTICK
Fortec Star Innovation
Here’s the manufacturer’s spiel:
“HDTV satellite receiver with PVR recording via USB HDD, plus in-built twin CI and 2 smartcard readers. Supports DiSEqC 1.2 and offers a 10,000 channel capacity”.
Would you have one under your telly? It’s not exactly an all-singing all-dancing machine, but it’s a pretty honest and moderately attractive looking slab of technology, no?
OK, so it’s not open source, and it maybe doesn’t have the latest looks (do people still want silver stuff?) but it does look like it will do a basic job of pulling some high definition TV into your home. It has all the slots at the front, the all-important HDMI port at the rear, PVR via USB HDD (this is becoming way more popular than internal HDDs, and with many good reasons) and a big fat memory.
Bored yet? Maybe you’ll think twice when you hear the price… a measly £175-odd.
Features
- High and Standard Definition satellite
- PVR recording via external USB HDD
- Favourite channel lists
- Plug ‘n Play installation
- HD upscaling
- DiSEqC 1.2
- 2 USB 2.0 ports (front and rear) for recording and software updates
- Plays MP3s from a USB memory stick
- Power Search and automatic channel updates in Standby mode
- HDMI and component (YPbPr) outputs
- Parental lock facility
- 2-CI slots and 2-embedded smartcard readers (Conax/X-Crypt)
- Multiple output resolutions: 1080i, 720p, 576p, 480p, 576i, 480i
- 10,000 channel memory
September 24th, 2008 by BGonaSTICK
Well this is a turn-up for the books… a satellite receiver that fits inside a SCART plug!
Very nice. Well it would be if it works well. No reason why it shouldn’t I suppose.
Wonder if it’s powered by the SCART socket itself, or if it has it’s own power brick? And how would the remote control work? Does it have one of those shitty IR-sensor on a wire thingamajigs?
Seems there are more questions than answers with this little box.
September 9th, 2008 by BGonaSTICK
The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) has announced the award in principle of the Classic Rock licence for Dublin and the commuter belt to Classic Rock Broadcasting Limited (trading as Radio Nova). The Board of the BCI considered three applications for the licence at yesterday’s meeting.
Commenting on the decision, Michael O’Keeffe, Chief Executive of the BCI said “the unanimous view of the board was that the quality of the application received from Radio Nova 100 was such that it warranted the award of the licence after phase one consideration. We now look forward to commencing contract negotiations with the successful applicant.”
The licence for this Classic Rock service is for a period of ten years and the award is subject to some clarifications with regard to the application, and the successful outcome of contract negotiations.
Source: BCI via Media Network Weblog
