Orby TV Satellite Launches in USA

Discuss all aspects of the Orby TV (USA) satellite system.
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Re: Orby TV Satellite Launches in USA

Post by IntelPenny4 » Fri Jan 25, 2019 8:13 pm

so what i kinda want to know is is there any FTA channels???? or are they all secure???

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Re: Orby TV Satellite Launches in USA

Post by norman881 » Sat Jan 26, 2019 5:55 am

Orby is a pay service and uses encryption.
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Re: Orby TV Satellite Launches in USA

Post by IntelPenny4 » Sat Jan 26, 2019 6:55 am

norman881 wrote:
Sat Jan 26, 2019 5:55 am
Orby is a pay service and uses encryption.
thanks :) can someone add the channel line up to the satellite chart then? thanks again

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Re: Orby TV Satellite Launches in USA

Post by Arion » Sat Jan 26, 2019 7:54 am

Heh; the only ones that sell subscriptions when most of their lineup is FTA is our 'friend' at Rainier. :rotflmao:
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Re: Orby TV Satellite Launches in USA

Post by fatso » Sat Jan 26, 2019 9:39 am

I haven't said much about orby until I had a chance to analyze the data stream with TS-Reader.

First off, they are using two muxes:

116.8W
DVB-S2 - 11940 - V - 30000 -2/3
36 channels (3 in HD - CNN, Discovery, TNT)
1 software download

DVB-S2 - 11980- V - 30000 - 2/3
39 channels (4 in HD - History, HGTV, Epix East, Starz East)

Second, SD channels are using a variable bit rate that varies from a low of 250kbps to a high of 700kbps.

Third, HD channels are averaging just over 1.0mbps. Sometimes they peak at 2-3mbps. I am assuming these are actually HD channels, but they could just be high bit rate SD.

Fourth, audio bit rate is fixed at 66kbps.

All content is encrypted with Nagra. Some other channels are FTA but from the neighboring Tigo service which uses Conax for encryption. Orby uses fec=2/3 which makes it easier for smaller dishes to lock.

My conclusion: this is a poor man's satellite subscription service. The picture quality on SD must be really poor and will likely suffer from macroblocking, mosquito noise and other artifacts when the bit rate drops below 500kbps. Compare these channels to SD channels on c band like TV Decades or Movies! or Cozy where the bit rates are usually fixed at nearly 5.0mbps (or ten times more picture information). The HD channels if that is what they are will look a bit better, but most c band master HD content is delivered at average bit rates between 7.0mbps - 30mbps.

To top it all off the fec=2/3 means 1/3 of the bits are wasted on error correction. With c band master feeds and mostly fec=5/6, only 1/6 of the bits are wasted on error correction. And the audio rate (66kbps) is a joke when compared to 366kbps for c band master feeds.

Orby content probably looks good on a 30" or even 40" monitor (probable target demographic) but don't expect stunning picture quality if you plan to watch it on the big screen (e.g. 70" or larger). I don't see how the picture quality can possibly compare with DTV or Dish Network even though the latter still use mpeg-4 encoding. And it definitely can't compete with c band!

$40 per month for such a service does sound cheap when you compare it to the other services but you have to remember what you are getting for your money (poor man's tv). I still remember when dtv subs were just $15 per month and you got more channels and they were mpeg-2 encoded but probably looked a lot better.

No thanks, I'll stick to my BUD. Those of us who still watch TV with the big dish are spoiled rotten! :beer
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Re: Orby TV Satellite Launches in USA

Post by tvroadmin » Wed Jan 30, 2019 9:18 am

Highly unlikely that any of these channels are HDTV. I think they are all SDTV, with some transmitted at very high bit rates, so they should look excellent (at least for SDTV quality). The company itself is not advertising any HDTV channels.

At the moment, Orby uses 8psk (2^3=8) modulation and fec rate 2/3. So they transmit 90Mbps (30M symbols x 3), but only 60Mbps (90Mbs x 2/3) is used for about 35 programs per transponder. The other 30Mbps is for error correction so the antenna on the ground can be small. That works out to an average of 1.7Mbps per program. If they used 16apsk (2^4) and fec rate of 5/6, that would give them 100Mbps of program bandwidth, so 2.9Mbps on average per program. Since they encode with hevc, all their channels could have easily been transmitted in HDTV, but their customers would need much larger antennas for reception. Whoever was leasing that transponder on c-band 97W about 2 years ago was testing something like this. Was it Orby but they decided to go 8psk and SDTV? Was it someone else who has yet to launch their service?

16apsk + hevc = huge cost advantage over dish/directv who are stuck with more expensive legacy protocols until they can upgrade their customers
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Re: Orby TV Satellite Launches in USA

Post by rusty » Mon Feb 04, 2019 12:46 pm

Why no news from the msm about orby? A google search only turns up this place, Scott's forum and the happy satellite nerd. :lol: I don't see a single story from usa today, bloomberg, fox business or anyone else even acknowledging a 3rd satellite provider for the USA. Completely ignored :zzz even though it is big news for potential or past cord cutters.
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Re: Orby TV Satellite Launches in USA

Post by belter-one » Tue Feb 05, 2019 12:38 pm

fatso wrote:
Sat Jan 26, 2019 9:39 am
I haven't said much about orby until I had a chance to analyze the data stream with TS-Reader.

First off, they are using two muxes:

116.8W
DVB-S2 - 11940 - V - 30000 -2/3
36 channels (3 in HD - CNN, Discovery, TNT)
1 software download

DVB-S2 - 11980- V - 30000 - 2/3
39 channels (4 in HD - History, HGTV, Epix East, Starz East)

Second, SD channels are using a variable bit rate that varies from a low of 250kbps to a high of 700kbps.

Third, HD channels are averaging just over 1.0mbps. Sometimes they peak at 2-3mbps. I am assuming these are actually HD channels, but they could just be high bit rate SD.

Fourth, audio bit rate is fixed at 66kbps.

All content is encrypted with Nagra. Some other channels are FTA but from the neighboring Tigo service which uses Conax for encryption. Orby uses fec=2/3 which makes it easier for smaller dishes to lock.

My conclusion: this is a poor man's satellite subscription service. The picture quality on SD must be really poor and will likely suffer from macroblocking, mosquito noise and other artifacts when the bit rate drops below 500kbps. Compare these channels to SD channels on c band like TV Decades or Movies! or Cozy where the bit rates are usually fixed at nearly 5.0mbps (or ten times more picture information). The HD channels if that is what they are will look a bit better, but most c band master HD content is delivered at average bit rates between 7.0mbps - 30mbps.

To top it all off the fec=2/3 means 1/3 of the bits are wasted on error correction. With c band master feeds and mostly fec=5/6, only 1/6 of the bits are wasted on error correction. And the audio rate (66kbps) is a joke when compared to 366kbps for c band master feeds.

Orby content probably looks good on a 30" or even 40" monitor (probable target demographic) but don't expect stunning picture quality if you plan to watch it on the big screen (e.g. 70" or larger). I don't see how the picture quality can possibly compare with DTV or Dish Network even though the latter still use mpeg-4 encoding. And it definitely can't compete with c band!

$40 per month for such a service does sound cheap when you compare it to the other services but you have to remember what you are getting for your money (poor man's tv). I still remember when dtv subs were just $15 per month and you got more channels and they were mpeg-2 encoded but probably looked a lot better.

No thanks, I'll stick to my BUD. Those of us who still watch TV with the big dish are spoiled rotten! :beer
Very interesting,

Is TS-Reader the only tool for analyzing C/Ku band signals? I am interested in these tools, and others. Is the free version any good? Also, does one need additional hardware, and if so, is it expensive? Also is there any way to input more information in the Zgemma-H7's log file? The Zgemma H-7's log daemon bails and stops working after an uncertain number of days. I have to power down and up the receiver to get it to work again. Perhaps this could be solved with a cron job entry? Any information on these fascinating topics would be greatly appreciated.

Scanning the firmament, :hawaiiandance

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Re: Orby TV Satellite Launches in USA

Post by dishcrank » Tue Feb 05, 2019 2:30 pm

belter-one wrote:
Tue Feb 05, 2019 12:38 pm

Very interesting,

Is TS-Reader the only tool for analyzing C/Ku band signals? I am interested in these tools, and others. Is the free version any good? Also, does one need additional hardware, and if so, is it expensive? Also is there any way to input more information in the Zgemma-H7's log file? The Zgemma H-7's log daemon bails and stops working after an uncertain number of days. I have to power down and up the receiver to get it to work again. Perhaps this could be solved with a cron job entry? Any information on these fascinating topics would be greatly appreciated.

Scanning the firmament, :hawaiiandance

belter-one
You will need a tuner card to use TS-Reader. A good one to purchase is the TBS5927. It does all the modulation standards, including 16APSK and 32APSK. You can find it at the TBS store:

https://www.tbsdtv.com/products/tbs5927 ... r-usb.html

The TS-Reader Lite version (free) has limited capabilities. You might as well shell out $99 for the standard edition which will unlock all the features of the software. It is a good product and most of us use it to view the satellite transport stream.

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Re: Orby TV Satellite Launches in USA

Post by Pianist3 » Thu Feb 21, 2019 2:29 pm

tek2000 wrote:
Thu Jan 24, 2019 3:33 pm
All,

If anyone wants to try this new service, we have some solutions.

If you have an 8', 10', 12' or 13.5' C-band dish, all you need is a C/Ku LNBF like this one:

C/Ku Combo LNBF

c_ku_lnbf_1.jpg

If you don't have a big dish, you can always use our 1.2m offset dish:

1.2m Offset Dish

We also have a motorized package:

1.2m Motorized Offset Dish


1.2mkudish_1.jpg

If you are going for the small dish, I highly recommend getting the motorized package with both c/ku LNBF and quad output ku LNBF. In addition to the subscription service, you will be able to pickup dozens of quality FTA channels like the PBS feeds on 125°W, NBC feeds, RT, NHK, CGTN on 103°W, Infowars and Fox/CBS Feeds on 99°W, ethnics on 97°W, 95°W and 30°W, ABC News Feeds on 91°W, CNN/LPB feeds on 87°W and ku-band wild feeds across the arc.

Also our 1.2m offset dish is a heavy-duty actuator driven polar mount. It is not an hh-motor type. Those hh-motors can't drive a large/heavy offset dish like the 1.2m and will eventually break down. Something to keep in mind.

All these products have been tested with the new subscription transponders on 116.8°W so you won't have any issues.

Do I need to do anything special? I have a refurbed 8ft, and a dynosat reciever. I'm really interested in this service.

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