Ok, it looks like I spent a truck load of money and bought myself a heart attack box!
QA report:
Case 1:
1) Flash the box
2) reboot it and it comes up in PAL mode. Thank you very much DB for assuming that the whole world is using PAL
3) telent to the box and "echo ntsc > /proc/stb/videomode"
4) go through the setup wizrd process but only setup the rcvr A with simple setup. Also go to AV settings and save the NTSC video mode.
5) upload the new satellite.xml file to /etc and restart (I have not found another way to reload this file yet without restarting)
6)it works and can scan a satellite, but deosn't find all the transponders and channels
but at least it is working
Case 2:
1) Flash the box
2) reboot it and it comes up in PAL mode. Thank you very much DB for assuming that the whole world is using PAL. Why can you not save this value to the none-volatile memory forever ?????
3) telent to the box and "echo ntsc > /proc/stb/videomode"
4) go through the setup wizrd process but this time setup the rcvr A with simple setup and since rcvr B allows you to have a motorized setup for you to select. Also go to AV settings and save the NTSC video mode.
5) upload the new satellite.xml file to /etc and restart (Why not ship the box with a global list of satellites ????????)
6) this time it comes back not only in PAL video mode, but now it is not responding to the remote and nothing works. the box is frozen !!!!!!!!!!!!
So, I am heading towards the emergency room after 3 hours of frustration on a Saturday morning <Grrrrrrr>