FTA Reliability? Which ones?

[funsatpeep]

Ariza 700

- ease of use with FTA USALS, and setting up for 123 W or 97 W - good
- very fast auto rolling keys ( a minute or so ) - good
- simple to understand EPG with picture (when it works LOL)
- EPG is sporadic working usually only on packages only- bad
- slow scanning on satellites - bad
- loses time quite regulary - very bad
- s-video out hangs up picture sometimes - bad

Ariza 700s (same as Ariza 800s)

- nice picture on component out video - good
- very fast auto rolling of keys (minutes) - great
- works well with FTA USALS, blind scans - good
- faster scanning than Ariza 700 (128 MB memory vs 64 MB memory) - good
- auto loading EPG when turning on STB - cool
- keeps the time as it should - great !
- s-video does not hang up - good
- decent price < $ 100

Sonicview SV1000

- speedy scanning of 119 W in 1.5 minutes - the BEST
- in EPG - press user to get bigger preview pic - fantastic
- in EPG - press blue button to get up to 7 day EPG on that channel, press button to go day by day on each channel - very cool
- red themes button - will show all movies, for example, with nice details such as start and ending time, how many total number of movies, satellite, and capable to search by movie name or partial name - very good
- nice picture on component out video - good
- Sonicview 4000 has flash memory card to put new bins in - very cool
- bin 2.54 new feature - in EPG press FAV to get category themes in EPG - very very cool !!!
- bin 2.53, sometimes loses memory of themes, so have to reboot STB to get the proper themes - bad
- very slow auto rolling of keys (sometimes 15 minutes) - very bad
- a tad pricey $ 200 (but a good value)

Ariza Extreme

- picture quality on component video - great
- good at FTA, USALS and blind scans - good
- slow scanning speed on satellites - bad
- no picture in EPG - very lousy
- auto rolling keys slow (sometimes fake keys to search for) - bad
- last bin on 10/6/2006 auto rolls for some and not for others - bad
- confusing key entries .. must enter each key 2 X on alternate lines - very very confusing
- pricey $ 140 or so for almost working STB

Captiveworks 600S Premium

- 2 possible user choices for EPG you prefer (old style and new style)
- EPG which seems always there - good
- true Picture in Picture ... -actually watch 2 programs at once and toggle between them (is there 2 tuners ? ) - very very cool !
- nice pic on component out - good
- fast auto rolling of keys - good
- loading bins are confusing and setting up pressing F1 and 000 is confusing - confusing and bad
- attractive price $ 100 or so

Pansat 3500SD

- SD card can be used to transfer bins from computer to STB - good
- can play MP3's on the card slot - cool feature
- works well for FTA USALS - good
- EPG is very flakey and sometimes never there - bad
- latest bins from Pansat sometimes kill original units like mine requiring JTAg to bring it back to life - very very bad bad bad !
- component out picture is OK, not as good as some other though - ok
- overpriced $ 135 or so

ViewSat Plat

- very fast scanning of satellites - very nice
- nice themes button - good
- does not work well with motor or USAL's, and blind scans bring up many duplicates (so NOT GOOD for true FTA) - bad
- EPG is good and is always there - good
- auto rolls keys in minutes - good

- hard to find for sale now

Hope you find this helpful.

[shietface]

I did not know anything about STBs or satellites. I gained a sudden interest and purchased a Viewsat because there was a authorized dealer near my house. I swear to you when I bought this unit, i did not know anything about FTA stuff. I came home hooked up the receiver put in a couple pgm's via flash drive then saw that there was a signal bar and that there was activity because I used to have DTV and we never took down the satellite. I connected back to that exact dish and moved the dish around a little and started receiving 119 immediately. It was so simple and the picture is beautiful. I still don't understand what you guys are talking about with the CoolSats and the fixes because ViewSat has made it that simple for me.

[warged]

Originally Posted by falcon

There's always lots of talk on in the threads and even polls about which receiver is better.

Most of us vote and comment passionately on the receiver dear to our hearts because we're staring at that model sitting somewhere near the TV.

But while there are inherent physical and software differences between various receivers, most of us don't look at the whole picture, and the last few days demonstrate it.

While we can argue about the power and merits of Pansats vs. Coolsats vs. Viewsats, I think you can all agree that each of these brands has some powerful receivers, good programming, fast switching, EPG, etc. In other words, some decent programming coupled with good speed hardware.

Based on the last few days, perhaps some older and slower receivers won't make it. Whether due to not enough computing power or simply, support will be dropped for them in favor of inticing the hordes to upgrade and buy the latest and greatest coupled to various excuses why the old simply won't work.

Having blabbered on about this, consider that while Pansat's Blacklist, Viewsat's Mr. Viewsat and Coolsat's "programming team" are singly depended on when it comes to programming your proprietary boxes. That means if Blacklist gets run over by a truck or Mr. Viewsat gets fed up and leaves, THERE WILL BE NO NEW CODE OR SUPPORT for a while, if at all.

There's talk the Blacklist is on Vacation until the 9th, etc. Tell you what... If I was Pansat, I'd send him a 1st class ticket home and a 1-week all expense paid trip at some other time. So, the reason things aren't out quickly is not because of anything except that this is a hard fix and there are problems/issues with some receivers as well.

Consider: If you bought an apartment building with 1000 units. Would you rent it to a single tenant and depend on him to pay his monthly 1.5million in lease payments? You would? Then you would have to Enron, right? And you'd be bankrupt right about now.

I think you heard that putting all your eggs in one basket is always a bad idea. Instead of 1 tenant, why not have 1,000. If any leave, so what? There's a lot more. That's like 1 coder responsible for all the code vs. many all over the world.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, we're all playing with fire when it comes to standard FTA units.

I predict the following models will die like the Blackbird has in the past;

• Pantec
• Pansat all models up to 2500
• Fortecs as we know them
• any older receivers more than a year old
• any new receiver without good coders or coders who try to steal other's work by trying to decompile their work, and I wouldn't be too surprised to see some new big names fall, for lack of support (there's talk that even big names are trying to steal the code from Viewsat's fix)

I hope I'm wrong and the older boxes will take updates and fixes. Give them time. But even if these come back, they will be the first to die next time something like this happens.

What will have the best chance at long term survival?

• Dreambox (Linux computer based) and similar boxes (Relook, Triple-Dragon, etc.)

Simply because of their built-in power which is greater than anything else out there and the support and codes for it all over the world.

My main caution to all members here is this.

If you're going out there to buy a receiver, ANY receiver, do NOT buy a model which does not have a fix yet. Enough said!

For the latest FTA STATUS, click on this link...
http://www.dssrookie.com/forums/b-fo...ort-77311.html

Just my 2

Never buy anything there is poor support for, It says much about a company

[ken kapur]

how do i add mtv

[killercoder]

<Ahem> Unknown by many - the fix was available on the web for my SpaceStar a full 4 hours before the others. Its still working (based on reports on the web).

The spacestar is a four year old receiver. Food for thought.

Killer

[falcon]

As of today, I'll add all ARIZA models to my list of DON'T BUY!

The Dreambox, again, did not require any new software and bypassed the DN Auto-Roll problems.

[tuyo]

Falcon, what is your opinion on the Conaxsat Trio, the specs are impressive.

[sambo55]

i have a cs 4,5,6, and ther great thanks to u all

[falcon]

Originally Posted by tuyo

Falcon, what is your opinion on the Conaxsat Trio, the specs are impressive.

I don't have first hand experience with them. My view is you shouldn't jump on any new receiver that comes out.

There are many great receivers from true-and-tested companies that do an excellent job, like Dreambox, Viewsat and Coolsat, to name a few.

[warged]

I will buy a new box but you can bet I will never ever buy anything from Pansat.