FridgeFTA Free Blogs

Preface
Although Amiko Alien is the most advanced STB to ever hit North America (think AZbox but half the price with more features), I actually recommend that you DO NOT buy this product right now….

Quote:We have also evaluated Karmacom’s Optibox line. While they are very nice units with hardware blindscan and other features, they lack most of the advanced features of Alien and are more expensive. Basically AZbox price range with similar capabilities, no 4:2:2. Not really suitable for North America, and no point with AZbox basically doing the same or more.

We have been in talks with the manufacturer Karmacom and have been testing an Alien sample unit since early December. The guy that discovered it, Matrix74, has been “bugging” me about it for much longer, since it was released in Europe a year ago. Alien is certainly the most complete STB out there but unfortunately lacks one key feature that is almost a must in the North American market: blindscan. After much research on both sides of the pond, Karmacom has determined that it cannot be added to the current Aliens. This is what delayed our initial 1/1/2012 North American Alien release.

However, I have been constantly bugged by a certain person to release Alien anyway, since other than no blindscan is truly a revolution for the North American True FTA community. After previewing it to FridgeVIPs and getting some demand, I contacted the manufacturer. They are express shipping us a limited number of Alien on Monday February 6, and they will be here Tuesday or Wednesday.

A very limited number will be available outside of the FridgeVIP group at very low pricing. If you are interested, you will need to contact the store at http://store.fridgefta.info/?page_id=299 for more information. These are mainly for Linux/Enigma 2 geeks that want to play with these and contribute to development.

Since I am the one that made the decision to delay Alien, my recommendation for most people is to wait until we have a blindscan option. I cannot go into details due to confidentiality, but if you purchase an Alien now, it will NOT be able to blindscan in the future.

I also do not recommend purchasing an Alien on fleabay or anywhere else. Adapting Alien for North America was not as simple as flashing a new channel/sat list, and you need much more skill than the average idiot stealing or changing an OpenBox file with Ali editor since some critical settings for us are hard coded. There is no end user North America support from Spark, in the editors or from the manufacturer outside of what is provided to us for N.A. development. I’ve already spent dozens of hours properly modifying the images for North America and changing code, but this will only be available to the limited number of Alien available from us now and for the future product release.

99% of this information will apply to our future release.

As we had no intention of releasing this Alien as a regular store item at this time, a “formal” review and advertising materials have not been done. The following is compiled from testing photos, information released to FridgeVIPs, internal discussions and discussions with the manufacturer. It is more of a “first look”. Feel free to ask questions, I’m happy to answer them!

Enough said, let’s look at the thing…
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Alien is a STB unlike anything here. Other than the one problem (no blindscan) it is totally killer. Think AZbox at half the price, none of the problems, more features and 100x easier to use.

Here is what it does, in a nutshell. To go over everything it does would take forever:

True Linux, can tamper with everything ~ Duel boot, runs its own easy to use Linux, plus Enigma 2 on separate partition ~ Actual usable streaming/internet. Has tons of “apps” like YOUPORN ~ Opera Mini web browser/HTML5. Its actually fast and usable ~ Cinitrailer ~ music apps (one has a bunch of live concerts, cool) ~ SHOUTCAST RADIO ~ Picasa ~ Google Talk ~ GAMES ~Awesome Youtube, not cruddy like AZ ~ Kartina TV (I enabled the test channels) ~ WikiTV ~ youtube video rippper ~ many more

Flash file support ~ Plays just about every file format known ~ Pause live recordings, it cuts out commercials! ~ NETWORK RECORDING, play and record satellite directly to your computers ~ very easy to use ~ It actually puts up a scrolling ticker to tell you there is an update, click and it installs for you ~ Weather forecaster (not a pirate device, it does real weather) ~ Wired or wireless ~ USB hub support ~ 1080p ~ auto resolution & easy to change so no stuck in PAL ~ available wireless mini keyboard & integrated trackmouse (very nice) ~ HTML server (this not yet enabled but with what little I know of linux I found it and was able to pull it up. Will allow control of EVERYTHING via your web browser locally or across the world) ~ Super awesome motor & LNB controls (once I made them work for NA. Very speedy and can select 13/18 or 14/19 for example) ~ Just about endless LNB configurations, some not supported/configurable in any other STB ~ manual PID ~ polarity scanning ~ full FTP support of course. ~ advanced data, shows you just about everything with the stream, even bitrates!

Did I mention free YOUPORN???

There is a ton more, this is what is off the top of my head. The supporter of the spark O/S is constantly adding things, plus you can put different Enigma 2 on there, it is duel boot, so you can run both O/S. Linux guys can do a TON more, I did quite a bit barely knowing Linux. Nothing is really locked down from what I see.

I had to do a TON to make this work here. The current editor doesn’t allow certain changes needed to make the N.A. birds work, and there were no NA bird. Had to get into the code to make that happen, took forever. The complexity probably approaches the recoding vendig has to do for remapping/retiling the 4DTV stuff. But now that its done, works well. I also re-coded it to use our private browsing setup/server instead of the default EU one with a bunch of junk we don’t want/use. Reset a bunch of other stuff for our market.

Oh…picture…noticeably better than AZ or OpenBox.

Retail pricepoint was to be $190 – $200 shipped

Here is what stopped me: no blindscan. It is coming, but if you buy the current Alien STB you won’t be able to get it. I think the guys that use an OpenBox to blindscan and then an AZ to watch are hokey. I had to do this, sure it works but is a pain. Anyway, worked a ton with the manufactuer and I guess it just cant be done with current alien. I therefore had to hand enter all the active C-band and Ku band transponders. Once done it is a super fast scanner, way faster than any of our other STBs. Just not a feedhunter.

To correct one other misconception, it does NOT do 4:2:2. I’ve got AZ and Prof that do it and haven’t had anything decent 4:2:2 to get me to hook them up in many months.

I absolutely cannot understate how much different and awesome this box is compared to any other….except for the blindscan! Total night and day compared to OpenBox, much better with more features than AZ at half the price. Really makes OpenBox look Kmart and AZ look more difficult than it already is.

Main satellite screen with our N.A. database.

One of the available games/apps on the Portal.

Google Talk app. Live IM & more right on your TV. Super awesome with the wireless keyboard/trackpad.

Iconcerts app. Watched Black Eyed Peas, Korn & Johnny Cash for testing.

CineTrailer App. Watch full trailers for stuff on DVD, in theaters, and upcoming films. FYI all the “apps” are FREE.

Browsing thru the App Store on the Portal.

Initiating an online firmware update.

Background/booting one of the Enigma 2 images I tested on the duel boot.

Testing my ancient USB HDD. Alien will give you a good idea of the speeds you should be able to record & playback at.

Retail/giftbox for the wireless keyboard/trackpad. This makes browsing the web using the Opera Browser and much of the portal operation much easier, about like browsing on a computer….with a 47” screen!

Very easy to use and stable Youtube browser. You can also “rip” youtube videos to your HDD or network drive with a couple pushes on the remote. I also enabled HTML5 for Youtube in our image, so you can use Opera Browser on much of the main Youtube site.

FridgeFTA Forums on the Opera Browser. This was from earlier firmware, the “FreeDBS counter” java runs properly on the current version. I also did some re-coding and fixed a few minor bugs on my own and built a North American Opera Portal. The EU/Amiko was of little use to us here.

YOUPORN! You know you want it LOL. Clips and movies in every category imaginable. Has parental controls (pre-set in our image) and you can hide it on the portal list entirely if you want.

Easy access to many online features including Shoutcast radio. This is from the original test firmware, current has the “portal” on this list as well.

Wired and wireless N is very easy and quick to setup. Other than my security key I didn’t need to know anything, Alien set everything for me.

Main Menu. Quick access to everything from here. Newest firmware also lists the portal.

Audio/video setup, very easy. Alien also features “auto” mode that finds the best NTSC or PAL mode for your TV. There is a VFORMAT button that actually works and shows you resolution settings on the Alien LCD should you ever get stuck.

Notification and download settings. When set like this the engineers sent out a “merry xmas and new firmware available notice that showed up like a scrolling news ticker when I was watching TV.

The Alien internals are extremely high quality, unlike OpenBox or most others on the N.A. market. Most internals are designed/manufactured my Funai, and the Alien is built in Hungary. Sharp tuner, STi processor @ 450MHz I believe, 2×128Mb SDRAM.

Manual switches and cardslot are hidden behind the very nice front panel which is hinged at the bottom, magnetically secured at the top. When closed, Alien has a very minimalistic yet slick appearance.

Back panel options are HDMI at up to 1080p, SCART (EU), composite/analog/CVBS up to 576i, RCA audio and coaxial/digital audio out. 1-USB (hub compatable), 1-serial and 1-ethernet port. Wireless N is a thumb size module for approximately +$10USD.

Automatic scrolling firmware update available notification. This can be turned off in the options.

Other tidbits from discussions

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In addition to modding the linux and adding stuff, the “plugs” are simple linux based. The guide is like only a page long! If you can compile simple linux, you just made a plugin.
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Build quality is as good as AZ. Actually, it is the same case as S10 but the guts are quality rather than cheap. I think S10 uses the cheapest case version of this.

It runs cool, no problems at all with motor. It moves it super fast just using the 13/18 instead of 14/19 setting. Quality/warranty would be the last thing I would worry about with Alien.

The manufacturer proposed kinda what you are saying as a blindscan alternative. They offered to give me access to the spark download thing so I could post lists. 2 problems: our wildfeeds here come and go faster than I could input them, burn a file and update it, plus I of course wouldn’t release the Americanized code since none of the other idiots know how to re-code the USALS to work in NA.

If we went with this I would probably do what we do with SatHero, make a regular update file available on our Alien FTP.

For feeds, I can send our wildfeeds VIA the RSS feature, in the private browser or just get them here at fridge or ricks. Still have to manual input the TP and scan it though.
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It is a sharp tuner. Unscientifically speaking my observations put it in the same sensitivity range as OpenBox.
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Quote:Couple questions – any idea if it will stream from places like Amazon video on demand, netflix, and the network sites (nbc.com, etc)?

Any parental controls? I appreciate the broad range of apps, but would want to hide some of them from my kid.

Not Amazon or netflix at this time, but I see it either coming, or the flash implementation improving to where the linux guys might be able to “hack” it in there. For now, answer is no for netflix.

Youporn has parental controls pre-set in our image and can be hidden from the list entirely.
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Boot time is about 1 minute, vs forever on AZ. Box runs fast. Not duel core AMD HTPC, but fast for a STB doing all it does.

Real time software based 4:2:2 transcode and display? Agree, while it might work in software it would be beyond the processing power of any STB.
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Quote: I’m (ass)uming you can play a recording while recording a different program.

yes it has that feature, not sure how many at once. Different Enigma2’s can record like a billion and watch another I guess LOL. Update: Spark O/S can record 1 while watching any other on the TP, tested and works great!
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Here is one of the advanced info screens. Highlights include realtime info on bitrate, resolution, service ID, provider and CAS. It detects CAS systems that none of our NA or the other EU/Asia boxes I’ve seen can do such as PowerVu.

Alien automatically identifies HD channels. This was a quick “show me the HD channels” Otherwise if you pull up all, a single satellite pr favorite list, “HD” appears next to the HD ones.

This is what I have in there at the moment for SES-2 Ku transponders. For each transponder there is a S2 setting. It will only lock S2 when set to S2 and puts the little S2 icon next to the appropriate transponders, Positive way to ID S2. No cumbersome Qpsk/8psk or pilot settings, that is all automatic. FEC can be auto (the way I set all in the file) or you can manual do the FEC rate.

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1. USB port does everything. USB HDD, upgrade, wireless module, wireless keyboard and whatever else. I got a cheap $10 unpowered 4-port hub hooked to the test unit here.

2. It has 2×128Mb internal memory. I’ve dumped files on and off the internal using FTP/telnet. Might be a way for the linux guys to tell it there is a phoney HDD there, but that is not what the internal memory is for.

3. Red/white is RCA analog audio out, yellow is composite analog, just like any other STB except this should support 576i and 480i on there. Also coaxial digitial audio out on one of those RCA’s. Never tried it dont have anything to hook it to.

Yes, you can take the analog crap and hook to VCR or DVD recorder. But that defeats the whole purpose of this thing. Record on network drive (to your computer) and burn off your DVD burner in digital quality.

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Thanks for the reminder, testing out same USB DVD player as I used with AZ for testing….

In spark it wouldnt recognize it as a drive that I could see. I did remember that E2/Dreambox supports DVD players. Booted it in E2, went to the DVD explorer or whatever it is. Detected drive, showed 2 drives (I assume player + disc). Couldnt get to play. Could be me, could be drive. Also was too dumb to figure out how to back out of the DVD explorer, I am really E2 dumb. Did find that E2 would play from internal memory though like you asked about. Presented me the entire linux structure to look thru and find files to play.

For the Spark O/S assuming it just dont like this player I would think that they will have DVD player support in there soon since it is a big in demand feature for EU.
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Quote:I’m a crackhead when it comes to blind scan. Gotta have my blind scan. Hope that gets worked out because I like what I see … just gotta have my blindscan. Don’t EU birds have wildfeeds?

You wont get any argument out of me there. That’s why this wasn’t released on 1/1/2012.

Either they don’t have as many ITC or not as many people interested or both. Remember, every FTA receiver there is also a subscription receiver, plus they have hundreds of full time True FTA channels. Not crap Globecast ones either! That is their big market. All those transponders, satellites and services were pre-programmed into Alien or any other non-blindscan receiver, plus Spark Online has constantly updated downloadable lists for EU.

E2’s that I have tried even have the service channels in the image. Basically insert your CAM or card, tune the channel with one of these. Many of their STB’s like dreambox and AZbox take cable tuners and DVB-T (their OTA) as well.

Remember the hobby market here is very tiny. Same with EU, probably way less.

Many of the exchanges with the manufacturer involved explaining how our pay satellite market is so different than theirs and how our customers/users are all hobbyists aiming for feeds that come, go and change all the time.
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weather forecaster, set for my area:

Can bring up weather and other things 1-touch while watching tv. Notice the city name is cut off? Nope. EVERYTHING that is longer than a display area (channel name, file name, option ect) actively scrolls!

On the fly recording….except it is record-paused. Used to cut out commercials or anything else. Push record key again, instantly starts recording to the same file! Also played a bit with recording on RT, changing to Al Jazeera (same TP), messing around in menus, IP features. Many options work including Shoutcast Radio and Kartina IPTV while it is recording satellite.

Push the recall button. It don’t go back to the last channel, it shows you the last 10 you tuned to. I love it

Live streaming of Kartina TV (IPTV) on my 47″ screen. This is MTV Russia. They actually play Music Vids unlike MTV USA. It’s English videos right now. Alien is still recording RT off the satellite while playing with this.

Kartina TV test setup.

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Quote:Does the clock work right on this thing?

If you mean like the clocks in other FTA boxes….HELL NO!

I left Alien plugged in for over 2 weeks straight running on internal/manual set time. Total drift was maybe 2 minutes over the whole 2 weeks. Now which one drifted, my cheap alarm clock for reference or the Alien? LOL

OpenBox S10 drifts 2 minutes a day on a good day. I’ve seen Fortecs and Pansats lose 10 minutes a day, so with Alien losing 2 minutes in 2 weeks I’d say it has an awesome internal clock.
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As I said this certainly wasn’t a formal review. It’s a summary and clips from various questions and discussions. I’ve got more material I will add, and we will be doing Forum sections for Alien, E2, Linux development and more. I’ll put up some stuff there too, as well as our private Alien FTP for the guys getting the early Aliens.

Other than getting one, probably the best way to learn more is to ask questions in this thread. Ask away…..

October 27, 2010

After failing to bribe FridgeFTA into helping cover his tracks, Charles Carillo contacted FridgeFTA’s host in a bid for removal. Apparently Carillo attempted to cite violation of his privacy. Our host did an excellent job reading the story and determined that it is a legitimate story supported by facts.

The host did however request that Carillo’s contact information for his latest “venture” (address, phone number, email) be removed as that wasn’t common knowledge. This is correct since Carillo’s “business” “Power Online Solutions” is not listed with the address he is actually operating from. It was also pointed out that people like this tend to have many enemies and having that information publicly posted could be a real security concern for Carillo.

FridgeFTA is happy to provide this information and other unpublished information to Law Enforcement, Dish Network, Nagrastar, creditors, collectors and other interested parties. If you require this information simply contact us stating who you are, what your interest is and what company/agency you are with, if applicable.

We also removed the criminal conviction for Charles Carillo as it shows his current personal information. This is a public record that is available from the State of Connecticut free of charge by searching criminal court records using this form: http://www.jud2.ct.gov/crdockets/SearchByDefDisp.aspx

Carillo, liable for over $500,000 in Dish Network Lawsuit attempted to cover tracks

October 25, 2010
blog.FridgeFTA.info

FridgeFTA, having been a TRUE FTA Forum from day 1 is not often contacted by those in the pirate “community”, let alone those found liable to Dish Network for piracy of their system. One of these people, Charles K. Carillo, contacted FridgeFTA late last week in a bid to get our posting of the below linked court case against him deleted from the Forums.

Dish Network et. al vs Charles Carillo, Tequista Enterprises… http://www.fridgefta.info/forums/showthr…?tid=10424

The first of three emails from Charles K. Carillo

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From: Charles Carrillo [charles@power***********.com]
To: fridgefta gmail.com
Subject: info

Hi,

Do you mind removing this thread with my name in it? I am trying to move my life forward and this would help a lot.

http://www.fridgefta.info/forums/showthr…?tid=10424

Thank You

Charles Carrillo

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FridgeFTA True FTA Forums Administrators launched an investigation into Carillo and “powerpayservices” to aide in making a decision on the request for removal. During the investigation two more emails were received on Friday and Saturday, both duplicates, offering to pay (bribe) FridgeFTA to remove Carillo’s information.

The second/third email from Carillo

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Hi,

I will pay you $10 to remove my name: Charles K. Carillo eight times from this thread

http://www.fridgefta.info/forums/printth…?tid=10424

Send me your PayPal address.

Thank You

Charles Carrillo
Power Online Solutions, LLC
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New Britain, CT 06051
(***) ***-**** Ext. 27 – Office
(***) ***-**** – Direct
(***) ***-**** – Fax

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Please note that the contact information has been censored due to a security concern that was raised. We are happy to provide the contact information to law enforcement, Dish Network, creditors and other professionals upon request.

Carillo apparently did not realize that FridgeFTA is a TRUE FTA site with a strong stance against piracy, especially the IKS type Charles Carillo was and may still be involved in. Our members, reputation, business and the TRUE FTA community as a whole have been damaged by Carillo and others like him. Due to the attempted bribe we ramped up our investigation into Charles Carillo and his activities before and after the Dish Network lawsuit and $500,000 + non-bankruptcy dischargeable judgment against him. The results of our investigation have lead us to conclude that Charles K. Carillo is no reformed pirate dealer and that his activities to date including the attempted “bribe” to cover his tracks are consistent with shady business practices. We further conclude that Carillo’s attempts at a cover up are in fact part of an effort to continue operating questionable businesses.

The results of our investigation are as follows.

Our initial investigation started with a simple review of the federal court documents in Dish Network et. al vs Charles Carillo, Tequista Enterprises… http://www.fridgefta.info/forums/showthr…?tid=10424 According to these documents the case was settled and an injunction issued against Charles K. Carillo in March of 2010. Conditions included monetary payments to the plaintiffs Dish Network, Echostar and Nagrastar in addition to a $500,000 non-bankruptcy dischargeable $500,000 judgment in favor of the plaintiffs. Additional conditions were that Carillo was no longer permitted to operate or be involved with several piracy websites including nfusion.ws We immediately discovered that nfusion.ws had just recently been shut down by Nagrastar as announced on October 8, 2010 by Nagrastar here: http://satscams.com/?p=878 Nfusion.ws and other pirate sites controlled and/or operated by Carillo apparently were not shut down in March to comply with the injunction.

Our initial investigation also took a look at Charles Carillo’s current venture where the emails originated from,

This site and a related site apparently offer “high risk” and offshore credit card processing for merchants. The nature and appearance of these sites are shady, especially with who is behind them. Here in the United States, persons with poor credit/large judgments against them are not allowed to operate credit card processing services or even have access to a POS (Point of Sale) setup for obvious reasons. Most legitimate companies would not deal with such a person/business due to the high risk in transacting with someone subject to large judgments against them.

After receiving the email from Charles Carillo that attempted to buy a coverup, FridgeFTA dug further into Carillo and the “businesses”.

The Dish Network lawsuit was not Charles Carillo’s first venture into signal piracy. Another federal case exists and was settled with Carillo involving cable descrambling equipment distribution in Connecticut, CSC Holdings, Inc v Charles Carillo. After being sued for this operation Carillo went right on to distribute satellite piracy equipment for use against the Dish Network/Nagrastar system.

As part of our expanded investigation we looked further into “Powerpayservices.com” ; “Power Online Solutions, LLC” ; and “Offshoremerchants.net”. A business search in Connecticut where Charles Carillo resides indicated that none of these “companies” are registered there. Instead, “Power Online Solutions, LLC” and a host of other “companies” including “Tequista Enterprises, LLC” which was involved in the Dish Network case are all in fact front “companies” controlled and registered by either Charles Carillo or his brother. All of these companies are listed as registered to SPIEGEL & UTRERA, PA in Miami, Florida with an Indiatlantic, Florida address listed for the “company” itself. Charles Carillo or his brother are listed as “managers” for each of these “companies”.

Our next step was to discover the identity and operating details for SPIEGEL & UTRERA. This lead directly to a website,

which is nothing more than an online business registration service. This company/service offers to register a “company” for you, for a fee of course, in your choice of several different states. “SPIEGEL & UTRERA” is simply the name they use to do the out of state registrations and effectively provide a front name for the “company”. Each “company” is in truth only Charles Carillo or his brother.

We are certain that services such as the amerilawyer.com website could be used for legitimate business filings for those who do not know how to do so themselves. In the case of Charles Carillo the numerous companies and aliases registered it would appear that these are fronts and attempts to shield liability and the true identity of Carillo.

Another step in our investigation was to determine if any of the outstanding judgment against Carillo has been satisfied. At this time we are unable to verify if any of the judgment has been paid.

As part of our investigation FridgeFTA contacted and discussed the Charles Carillo case and current activities with several persons in the satellite industry, including one of the plaintiffs, Nagrastar. As of this writing Nagrastar has not commented specifically on the Carillo case. A highly placed official we spoke to at another satellite platform provider, speaking on the condition of anonymity, simply stated “f*ck him” when commenting on this investigation.

Based on the findings of our investigation FridgeFTA will not be removing the Charles Carillo casefile or commentary thread from our Forums.

Additional documentation

Registration information for “Power Pay Services, LLC” http://www.sunbiz.org/scripts/cordet.exe…ling_type=

Registration information for “Tequesta Enterprises, LLC”
http://www.sunbiz.org/scripts/cordet.exe…ling_type=

Dish Network case documents against Charles Carillo:
http://www.fridgefta.info/forums/showthr…?tid=10424

Business Front registration website:

Whois:
http://www.networksolutions.com/whois-se…lawyer.com

Nagrastar article about nfusion.ws
http://satscams.com/?p=878

Carillo criminal conviction:
http://www.jud2.ct.gov/crdockets/CaseDet…bf5a4457dd

offshoremerchants.net whois:
http://www.networksolutions.com/whois-se…chants.net

powerpayservices.com whois:
http://www.networksolutions.com/whois-se…rvices.com

Big changes for FridgeFTA TV…

The first is broadcast resolution. Since the March episode everything has been filmed in 720×480p NTSC. We’ve been downconverting it for streaming in a small window. No more. You can now watch FridgeFTA TV full size.

FridgeFTA TV is now available in several formats. The web stream is now embedded Shockwave flash (SWF) and can be watched as a popup, full screen or medium sized from the official FridgeFTA TV site, http://tv.FridgeFTA.info

Even higher resolution copies of all episodes can be downloaded on the official site. Available download formats are 720×480p MP4, 720×480p Apple Quicktime MOV, and FLV. There is now an archive with all episodes as well.

FridgeFTA TV is available on ITunes, and if its not already, will be available at the IStore for FREE, so you can watch FridgeFTA TV anytime on your IPod, ITouch, IPad or whatever. Resolutions up to 720×480p are supported.

You can download single episodes or subscribe using the IPod link at the official site.

Page is up on ITunes: http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/fridgefta-tv/id372321382

FridgeFTA TV is also available from several other sources listed on the official site, with more coming soon. Subscribe to FridgeFTA TV with your favorite media source/reader and get new episodes automatically as soon as they are available.

http://tv.FridgeFTA.info

Big changes for FridgeFTA TV…

The first is broadcast resolution. Since the March episode everything has been filmed in 720×480p NTSC. We’ve been downconverting it for streaming in a small window. No more. You can now watch FridgeFTA TV full size.

FridgeFTA TV is now available in several formats. The web stream is now embedded Shockwave flash (SWF) and can be watched as a popup, full screen or medium sized from the official FridgeFTA TV site, http://www.FridgeFTA.info/tv

Even higher resolution copies of all episodes can be downloaded on the official site. Available download formats are 720×480p MP4, 720×480p Apple Quicktime MOV, and FLV. There is now an archive with all episodes as well.

FridgeFTA TV is available on ITunes, and if its not already, will be available at the IStore for FREE, so you can watch FridgeFTA TV anytime on your IPod, ITouch, IPad or whatever. Resolutions up to 720×480p are supported.

You can download single episodes or subscribe using the IPod link at the official site.

FridgeFTA TV is also available from several other sources listed on the official site, with more coming soon. Subscribe to FridgeFTA TV with your favorite media source/reader and get new episodes automatically as soon as they are available.

http://www.FridgeFTA.info/tv

FridgeFTA has always been interested in getting the actual truth out there about FTA and satellite. On the other hand, certain others like to leech off the hard work of people that do actual testing and development in this industry and with the hobby.

Recently it was brought to my attention that a certain someone is making claims to be the “home of the original C-band project” so I looked into this a bit. Here is what I have found, and unlike the unsubstantiated claims and stories from others I have FACTS to back it up.

It cannot be said for sure what guy where grabbed a “handy bracket” (credit to MrP for the term, we don’t take credit for other people’s work at Fridge) and held it up to a Ku dish and saw something happen. Like many discoveries and inventions sometimes several people independently try something out. But here is what we can put together from available solid documentation rather than hollow claims:

Early 2006 – Two Canadians, Vito Carriero & Tony DiRienzo, experimented and documented C-band reception on both a 1.2 meter and 1 meter dish.

March 2006 – TeleSatellite Magazine reports on the work of Carriero & DiRienzo. This article is on page 58 here: http://magazine.tele-satellite.com/eng/T…e-0603.pdf We also have a copy onsite that Micki put here on opening day in April 2009: http://www.fridgefta.info/forums/showthread.php?tid=200

Feb 2009 – IS5 is moved into a position where it is receivable from NZ. Shortly after, using locally sourced equipment, Tony Dunnett conducts his C-band experiments on the small dish.

March?? 2009 – Tony Dunnett reports his work and results on “The FTA Show”.

Early to mid 2009 – Many other individuals, dealers and wholesalers begin experimenting with C-band on small dishes, and “conical scalar kits” become commonplace.

So, other than to report on the results of others, neither TeleSatellite or FTA Show has done any actual work on the project. TeleSatellite at least, makes no claim of having done any work.

If we go with documented FACTS, Carriero & DiRienzo did it here first, years before any other documentation on the project appeared over here. Tony Dunnett really did the scientific development and experimental work to turn the project from an experiment into quantifiable and repeatable results. Tony and JX were probably the first to take this idea into a production/retail environment, offering pre-assembled kits and installations geared specifically toward daily reception of C-band on Ku dishes. Tony has also contributed his research, expertise and time assisting those of us in North America that actually do the project to improve on our results.

Discussion link:  http://www.fridgefta.info/forums/showthread.php?tid=11605