Help please - Time Zone settings.

 

New member
Username: Atb0423

Post Number: 2
Registered: Jul-05
Hi all,

I need Eastern Standard time but my box is set at GMT and no other options is available. Is this possible to change or need to reprogram again?

Thanks in advance,

Dave
 

LK
Unregistered guest
-MABLE LEAF-U lie like a rug..."U USELESS THING".
 

LK
Unregistered guest
Check out this guide devoted to demystifying the Time Zone and Zip Code
field on all types of CAMs.

Nagra Time
Preface
At any given moment, the time shown in the guide is correct, at least on
a properly subscribed system. Ever wonder why that is, what with
Daylight Savings Time, etc.? This document helps to explain how that
works.

Time Zone Byte
There is a field on all subscriber CAMs, that specifies the Time Zone.
As you can guess, to ensure smooth operation, this field is also
emulated in non-legit cards. Now, there is some correlation between the
Time Zone Byte, and the "GMT Offset", but I'll save that for a different
time. Here is the table:

Timezone Standard Time Daylight Savings Time
Hawaii D8 DC
Alaska DC E0
Newfoundland (NST/NDT) F6 F2
Pacific (PST/PDT) E0 E4
Mountain (MST/MDT) E4 E8
Atlantic (AST/ADT) F0 F4
Central (CST/CDT) E8 EC
Eastern (EST/EDT) EC F0

Zip Code Bytes
Along with that, is a Zip Code field. This field, for a customer in the
United States, is simply the Zip Code of the customer, converted to Hex.
Then, when everyone rolls their clocks ahead (or back) to change to
Daylight Savings Time, or back to Standard Time, Dish sends a command to
your CAM, basically checking if the Zip Code is in a certain range, and
if it is, modifying the Time Zone Byte accordingly. So, if you want to
ensure that your IRD time is correct, put in a Zip Code from your Time
Zone, case closed.

With (Bell ExpressVU), this is not so clear-cut. Being that they use
the same Nagra CAMs as their American counterparts, it seems logical
that they would have both the Time Zone and Zip Code field. It turns out
that the Time Zone field functions exactly as it does with Dish Network.
Hopefully you've recognized that Canada doesn't have Zip Codes
associated with addresses, instead there is an alpha-numeric "Postal
Code". Instead of trying to cram each possibly Postal Code into the
allocated area, Bell opted for an easier method. Certain ranges of
"pseudo zip-codes" are allocated to the different regions of Canada. You
will see here a table, captured from two specific datastream logs,
namely from when Daylight Savings Time took effect, and when it was
revoked.

Zip Start Zip End DST ST
5490 5718 E4 ??
1773 1773 E8 ??
4680 5461 E8 ??
3654 3654 EC ??
4121 4654 EC ??
282 282 F0 ??
3758 3758 E4 E0
5464 5483 E4 E0
5487 5487 E4 E0
5490 5490 E4 E0
5493 5493 E4 E0
5496 5718 E4 E0
6240 6266 E4 E0
4935 4935 ?? E4
4940 5462 ?? E4
3810 3810 E4 E4
5492 5492 E4 E4
5495 5495 E4 E4
3706 3706 E8 E4
5486 5486 E8 E4
5488 5488 E8 E4
5984 6006 E8 E4
4420 4921 ?? E8
4937 4937 ?? E8
3784 3784 EC E8
3921 3924 EC E8
4121 4147 EC E8
5982 5982 EC E8
1560 3654 ?? EC
4410 4410 EC EC
780 780 F0 EC
1560 3638 F0 EC
3732 3732 F0 EC
3900 3919 F0 EC
3926 4091 F0 EC
5980 5980 F0 EC
1281 1281 ?? F0
3680 3680 F0 F0
15 17 F4 F0
73 559 F4 F0
1040 1280 F4 F0
3836 3836 F4 F0
0 13 F6 F2
26 65 F6 F2

Some of the data is not filled in, if anyone would like to submit the
missing data, it would be appreciated! Still, this paints a fairly
accurate picture of how assigns Zip Codes, and should help you pick
a Zip Code that will ensure your IRD always displays the proper date.

I'll go through a quick example here. Say you're in a region of Canada
where normally its "Mountain Time" (MST), but during Daylight Savings
Time it turns to "Mountain Daylight Time" (MDT). We'd look up our
Standard Time Byte (E4) and our Daylight Byte (E in the top table.
Then we look in the bottom table, for a row in which the "ST" column
contains E4, and the DST column contains E8. Here is one such row:

Zip Start Zip End DST ST
5984 6006 E8 E4

So any Zip Code from the range of 5984 to 6006 should give you the
proper IRD time. Remember these are decimal values, depending on what
type of Smart Card you are programming, you may need to convert it to
Hex first.

Note about the ATMega
The ATMega deals with the Time Zone/Zip Code in a special way, so I'll
mention that here. It uses the Zip Code first. When sends down a
"Time Zone Update" command, it will change the Time Zone byte stored on
the ATMega. That is why those of you who set the Zip Code to 0 (zero),
get bumped to Newfoundland Time after a while: 0 is a pseudo-zip-code
for NST/NDT! So, you can either a) put in the proper zip code, or b) set
the zip code to 99999, therefore locking the Time Zone to the one
programmed onto the card. Note option b) will mean you have to reprogram
your card whenever Daylight Savings Time takes affect, or turns back.

Conclusion
I hope this has taught you all you need to know about the Time system
used by Nagra CAMs.
 

New member
Username: Atb0423

Post Number: 3
Registered: Jul-05
Hey LK,

Sorry for the late reply. Just been busy. Thank you for the information and that was very informative. By the way, I look up GMT online and compare different time zones. As for me, since I am located in NJ and it's says -4 or -5 compare to GMT time zone. I went into time zone and adjust the GMT setting to -4 to reflect my current position and it was able to work. Therefore, my tv guide is sync to current time. Still new at this satellite stuff. It's too bad I can't get all the channels I would want like Cinemax, etc.... Anyway, thanks again.

Dave
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