DTT: Freeview and Top Up TV

Indeed, I really don't think the software has changed. How it's been coded I don't know, but I'm not entirely sure that the encryption software is a seperate piece of code - software in equipment like this is extremely tightly written to run well (if you can call it that lol...) in tiny amounts of memory and on very low powered processors. The idea of a different program running the encryption which was then interfaced to the rest of the box's software seems a bit unlikely to me. And (I may well be wrong on this) I think at least one of the boxes has an entirely different architecture, and thus no way in hell could it run code written for another box.

Added to that, they definately have not updated over the air, and I don't believe they are doing it from a smart card otherwise they would have supported the Sony and Toshiba boxes (indeed if the encryption hasn't changed these boxes probably will work, but Top Up won't officially support them because they are so scarce that it's unlikely they managed to get hold of any to test).

And as I said earlier, the actual 'update' procedure that I've heard described is identical to On Digital's 'card activation'.

Granted I've yet to actually see all this happen myself (the one top the post is delayed is when I really don't need it to), but there seems to be a lot more to suggest that they haven't had a software update than to suggest that they have.

Software before 00 0a 38 04
now 00 0a 39 04

api version before 00 12 2f 04
now 00 12 37 04

run version before 00 07 03 0c
now 00 07 03 0e

The title is Philips DTX 6371 (OnDigital)

Quick question: Can you recieve Freeview, or indeed any digital terestrial signal from the Republic of Ireland (Donegal)? I know somoene who will be moving over shortly and wants to know if its possible.

Freeview operates solely on the UK DTT service and thus isn't available in Ireland unless you happen to be able to pick up a transmitter from Northern Ireland.

I may be wrong, but whilst there were plans for a full scale DTT service in Ireland (which was to feature new channels from RTE, pay TV (they were going for 3 pay multiplexes as we did the UK, but in ROI they'd have one for 'normal' pay channels, one for premium, and one for PPV), bring BBC NI and UTV into ROI too, aswell of course housing the existing 4 channels, but this has never happened.

AFAIK, whilst DTT transmitters are installed in Ireland, they've never managed to get a proper DTT service off the ground and so DTT in Ireland is still confined to test transmissions of the existing 4 ROI channels available with analogue.


Are you sure you had the current version of the software before? I don't know about the other numbers, but I could swear blind that my old Philips DTX6371 had a run version of 00-07-03-0e before I sold it last year.

I'm sure that my run version ended in 'c' because when I wrote it down, I put 'small c' in the margin. According to the Philips' Dtx 6371 manual, the box updates automatically when switched on and everytime I've tried an Auto Update I get 'Update Error' which according to the manual means that I've already got the up-to-date version.
I regret the delay in responding but I couldn't find 'Reply'.
It is April One.

Finally got my card (good old royal mail, something put in the post on Monday took 4 days to travel 60 miles), stuck it on Discovery channel, got the 'This channel is not included in your subscription. Please contact ONdigital' prompt and then less than a minute later it came on. All channels working.

Having checked the menu, the software has not changed at all, I didn't get the simulated update screens they printed on the instructions and, again harking back to previous updates, I can't believe it managed to update itself in that amount of time, when every previous one has taken about 20 minutes to complete (which is why they wrote the screen advising you of an update in the software,so you don't change channel during the update).

I've seen no evidence to suggest that I've been through anything other than a card activation. It does only seem to be users of Philips boxes (is it confined to DTX6371, does anyone know what happens with the 6370/6375?) who can report anything more 'update like' happening. I think the update is confined to that box.

But if I haven't had an update, they can't have changed the encryption, the Philips box update must have been for something else.

As others have reported, picture quality is impressive, I've seen some fast action scenes without any noticeable blocking, it's the best I've seen from digital TV...ever actually. Better than some other DTT channels and indeed better than Dsat too.

I am wondering why the channel banners which stay up for so long - do they ever turn off? I just rapidly loose patience and press <info> then <exit> to remove them.

All in all, well worth the wait, well worth £7.99 a month, and DTT is now 110% more attractive for me. My only complaint is that Home&Leisure don't schedule The New Yankee Workshop between 6AM-12PM, so I can't see it.

Just a shame that the ITC didn't approve Freeview/Freeview Plus in the first place and give them a whole multiplex to play with - with 6 videostreams (assuming they would have stayed with 64QAM transmission) available to them this service would have that much more room to breathe.

EDIT: Having done a bit of looking around, it seems I'm both right and wrong about the situation with the software updates. People are describing the same quick card activation process as me, and cruicially are also describing being able to move that card to another box and have the channels appear instantly. People have also said that they are able to use it on the Sony D500, which can't be updated. This suggests that, initially at least, there is no update and thus they ARE still using Seca I encryption.

But, it seems that the 'limbo' period at night when they appear to have an hour or two of free space is being used to distribute a software update, hence the reason why they tell you to leave your box on overnight. People are describing boxes with MHEG updates (the version used on the new boxes is slightly more recent), left/right arrows on the channel list which weren't there before (although my Pace box has always had them), and of course, different version numbers listed. This update at present only seems to be affecting Philips boxes.

It seems then that they are starting with Philips boxes for now, and will gradually add updates for the other boxes they support until they've got updates for all boxes rotating around.

It does seem odd however that this small company would have a genuine interest in supporting these boxes any more than they have to, and since only very slight changes are visible, what has been suggested (and what I believe) is that they have bought the planned updates which ITV Digital would have rolled out (someone DID buy them) and are now deploying it themselves, almost 2 years after it was written (and dissapointingly (or not depending on how you seen it) it would appear that that update *wouldn't* 'de-ondigital' the boxes after all). We know that this update included implementing Seca II encryption, which of course is why Top Up TV are interested in it.

But as I've said earlier, boxes which haven't had the update (and indeed, will never get the update) are working fine, so they can't be using Seca II.

Putting all that together, I think that they have launched with the same Seca I encryption software allready in place just to get the service up and running for now, are gradually updating all the boxes to support Seca II, and at some point in the future will change to Seca II (at which point unsupported boxes will be knocked out).

This then is why their instructions say you will need to wait overnight until the next day to be able to see Top Up - in future if they stop using Seca I and your box hasn't been updated, you will need to wait for the overnight update slot to come around in order to get Seca II support.

I wouldn't however take this as genuine return of support for these boxes - they've just bought off the shelf software written by the box manufacturers and ITV Digital in 2002 and whilst they almost certainly will keep transmitting the updates indefinately, once you've got it I doubt very much that these boxes will ever be updated again.

If you're quietly commiting piracy at present, I wouldn't get too complacent - I don't think you'll be getting it for free for long.

Ok what's happening here? UK Gold is supposed to go on until 12:50. Instead, it's cut at midnight, and they are now running the Top Up trailer (but encrypted) with the UK Gold dog still on the screen.

What's going on?

Actually not: "in another place", people are already clamouring to have stations which are free to air on the SDN multiplexes replaced by subscriptions services.

They're having "teething troubles"?