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TELE-satellite International — The World‘s Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine
— 04-05/2012
— www.TELE-satellite.com
Blindscan
for the AZBox ME
Vitor Martins Augusto
FEATURE
In TELE-satellite 02-03/2012
we introduced the new Open-
sat super box by the name
of AZBox ME. At the time
we were not able to test the
blind scan function, as it was
not yet implemented. Open-
sat has meanwhile released a
new version of the receiver’s
firmware which features a
beta version of the blind scan
mode. The updated software
was launched much quicker
than we expected and thus
proves once again Opensat’s
commitment and customer
dedication. It is the feed hunt-
ers among us who will appre-
ciate more than anybody else
that Opensat always keeps its
promises and does not leave
us in the dark as far as new
features are concerned.
Naturally, we turned on our
AZBox ME right away to have
an in-depth look at how Open-
sat delivers blind scan func-
tionality. The new firmware
image needs to be flashed be-
fore the amended software is
available. Since the AZBox ME
comes with a large flash chip
that allows parallel installation
of up to three different firm-
ware versions, we decided to
install the new v1.6 firmware
in memory bank no. 2.
For the sceptics among you
we are happy to reveal that
the flash procedure does not
require a degree in engineer-
ing: You simply reboot the re-
ceiver and as soon as the boot
menu is displayed on the VFD
display you press the VOL+
button to get the boot loader
into flash mode. Next, the re-
ceiver’s IP address appears
on the VFD display and has to
be entered in a web browser.
We used Mozilla Firefox, which
works best with the web func-
tions of the recceiver. If you
prefer Chrome or the Inter-
net explorer, they can be used
just as well in this case.
The web browser then dis-
plays a website that is gen-
erated by the receiver. Here,
you first have to decide which
of the three available memory
banks you want to use for the
new firmware. In addition,
you may access the ‘MICOM
Upgrade’ menu to update the
front processor as well. Please
bear in mind, though, that this
should only be done when ab-
solutely necessary. Never use
a wrong file out of the blue, as
this may result in the remote
control not working any longer
and the VFD staying dark.
The ‘Device Info’ menu item
calls up various receiver pa-
rameters and ‘Reboot!’ will
restart the box. As mentioned
before, we had decided to in-
stall the new version in mem-
ory bank 2, so we selected
1. Browser showing the FlashMeTM Interface. The user can select between three memory-banks for parallel firmware installations.
AZBox ME Receiver Software