BASIC CARE OF YOUR DIGITAL SATELLITE TV DECODER; DSTV, QSAT, ARABSAT, NILESAT, ETC

If you own a digital satellite decoder system like DStv, Qsat, Arabsat, NileSat etc, there are basic things you need to know to keep your service free of incessant breakdown or service interruptions.

Subscribers to these different networks suffer from one biggest challenges – service interruptions. Although there might be other technical hitches or electronic breakdowns, the bottom line is that you discontinue viewing your channels. In this post, I shall teach you the basic care of your digital satellite TV decoder especially DStv, Qsat, Arabsat, Nilesat and so on.

Of all these satellite TV services with Africa in view, DStv has got the biggest customer base, who are legal subscribers to the DStv network. Most other network users usually tap channels or services from DStv. Whatever platform you find yourself, the method of caring for your satellite decoder system largely depends on this platform.

Let me straight this out; If you are a legal subscriber to DStv services, all you need to learn about caring for your DStv system lies on physical factors and hardware troubleshooting while renewing your subscriptions to ensure your services never get interrupted. Physical factors here refer to keeping your decoder in a well ventilated, dry and dust-free environment while you can learn about DStv troubleshooting here.

However, if you are on a dongle or any other device which relies more on another network or free-to-air channels like Qsat, MyTV etc, more work need to be done to ensure 100% uptime of your channels.

In addition to the physical factors mentioned above which applies to all electronic digital satellite receiver systems, you also need to get busy with your descrambler or telecommunication network provider, which is usually the gateway. Example, a dongle makes use of micro box, SIM card and other setup devices. If your SIM card network is down, the entire service trips off.

The role of decoder software versions for your device is very important. For devices like Qsat, some of its software versions usually fail to unlock scrambled DStv channels because of the incompatibility of the software version being used. Oftentimes, the user is asked to upgrade his Qsat decoder to a higher version to continue using the service.

Even as at date, most available software versions for Qsat have failed to unlock DStv HD channels. They are only able to show the SD contents from DStv, showing how limited such option is.

Therefore, if you rely so much on free-to-air tapping services, or a descrambler micro box or something else not available conventionally, you stand to experience these software upgrade issues, network failures and very importantly, decoder model incompatibility problems.