2012 - Whats the best blind search and sensitive receiver on sale?

[digi247]

I'm in the VS camp with the F15 absolutely love it and its tuner can certainly pull and lock those weak signals with ease, Certainly far better than my Vu Uno

 

[Vipersan]

Just read the ebayer sellers spec on this box ..
Its certainly cheap enough to have as a 'tool' for outside and dish setup use..
Same purpose as a meter but capable of resolving H264.
What caught my eye was the 16PSK claim in the spec ..plus its ability to blind scan rapidly.
I may well add one of these to my collection ..if only to avoid having to disconnect the F15 and tote it outside when I'm working on the dish(s)
The F3 plus a 15 inch lcd monitor and a flying lead would be preferable to a small screen meter when I'm working up a ladder ..as I could see it at distance.
Pity it doesn't do 4:2:2 ..or it would be substituted indoors for the AZbox.
rgds
VS

Well ...it looks like I'm getting one of these boxes afterall..
Did a data rescue for a relative today ..
Hard drive failed in their PC ...so I looked in my collection of salvaged drives and found one of a similar size ...and after several attempts managed to bit clone it ...the donar drive had to be placed at an angle of around 45 degrees with a slight sideways twist ...otherwise the drive refused to spin.
On the 7th attempt it completed and so the pc was effectively fixed.
They asked me what they owed me ..and being a relative ..I said ...Grattis.
Just had a phone call to say they learned from my mother that I was interested in the Skybox ....and one was on order from ebay via their recently fixed PC.

rgds
VS

 

[Lazarus]

Serendipity, VS!

And I've just found there is a newer M3 version which is supposed to have a more sensitive tuner.

 

[Vipersan]

Serendipity, VS!

And I've just found there is a newer M3 version which is supposed to have a more sensitive tuner.

Doh!...
Now you tell me ..
lol

Still ..a gift is a gift ...so not complaining
;)

 

[Lazarus]

Sorry! Didn't mean to slip you a crippler - It's a smaller box, but around the same price and I guess it has disadvantages too.

Thinking of getting one if I can flog my original non-PVR Foxsat (Going rate is £60, so a fair swop, it seems)

 

[aceb]

Well if it's alright by you chaps I'll sit back and await your respective reviews before taking the plunge and getting one.

 

[hdp160]

I just taken a look on ebay at the various (aka) openbox and skybox offerings. There are so many variants for sale. How are you (or indeed your grateful friends) distinguish between clones, originals genuine, oem and umpteen other "advertising" words beats me. I suppose rule number one would be to only buy if the item is in the UK. It looks a like a minefield. (The word "GIFT" also has another connotation on ebay with regard to satellite CS)

 

[Costactc]

I opted for the skybox f3 model over the m3 because the connections on the back of the receiver are more for North America as the m3 has Euro scart and also wifi.

 

[Huevos]

distinguish between clones, originals genuine, oem and umpteen other "advertising" words beats me.

A clone of a rock-bottom priced Chinese receiver? More than likely this is something just churned out of a factory for multiple manufacturers and branded later, i.e. no such thing as a genuine original.

Clones are normally found where there is some margin in making a copy such as with Vu+ and Dreambox receivers.

 

[hdp160]

Who knows. But about 50% sellers claim theirs as "original" why?.

Openbox started life as Solomend, then Skybox, then Openbox. The difference is the box and receiver front. AFIK they use the same firmware. But I can see where your coming from.

I've an idea that in some of these Chinese factories (when the boss is away or overnight) the triads put the pressure on and a black production line is put into place. Or the designs are copied in house by moles for resale.

Mayor manufactures have been stung by undercover filming of kids making designer sports shoes and designer clothes for pennies per hour. Who knows which factory we get our receivers from. Websites can look the dogs b'lks but hosted on a teenagers server in his bedroom.

On the other hand I might just be cynical ;-)

 

[Huevos]

hosted on a teenagers server in his bedroom.

Better that than a cocaine factory in his bedroom.

 

[hdp160]

A clone of a rock-bottom priced Chinese receiver? More than likely this is something just churned out of a factory for multiple manufacturers and branded later, i.e. no such thing as a genuine original.

Clones are normally found where there is some margin in making a copy such as with Vu+ and Dreambox receivers.

I don't have one of these to test but I think the following information suggests very strongly that clones exist.

If you have an Openbox/Skybox S9/S10/S11/S12 Receiver..there is a method to identify it is original or clone.
Follow these steps:
1) make backup of your box (USB or RS232)
2) install the firmware from 17-june-2011 or newest
3) go to Menu---> Tool---> Information---> Press "8888" on the remote conroller. or press Red-Green--Yellow--Blue--8--8 key on the remote controller, and you will see the CHiP iD.
If your CHiP iD is one from the following list (the list is updated continuously), then you have so called original box. All is fine for you.
the chip_id_list is the following, it will update everyday: (updated date: 20/02/2012)
00D0
00EA
085B
0D0C
98A1
98F2
9CF4
9D1A
1015
0D7E
38EC
10AA
1466
113C
1474
14D5

When you buy a new box , try to view the chip_id_list on our website. If you can not find the valid "CHIP ID" on the chip_id_list, it means your box is a clone box.

To put this thread back on track does anyone know of any "professional" receivers with have configurable blind search facilities?

 

[digi247]

Just had a look on the bay and there is only 1 seller with the Skybox M3 still has 3 available and 23 sold the sold ones went for 49.99 he wants 149.99 each for the remaining 3 LOL, A clone comes in at just under £51 delivered from china

 

[Huevos]

does anyone know of any "professional" receivers with have configurable blind search facilities?

What do you mean by 'professional'? And what do you want to be able to configure? Is it for feed hunting or DX?

 

[hdp160]

Professionl ........ The equipment you find in outside broadcast downlink wagens. Equipment similar to but more current to say the Agile MT830 Omni Broadcast Satellite Receiver. Which is a bit dated. I have several professional shortwave down to microwave transceivers "radios" I fancy branching into DX and feed hunting. My first satellite kit was bought in 1990 the squarial stuff. I progressed through several consumer receivers ... remember the Phillips Visiopass and D2Mac days?

So what I'm looking for is configurable technical equipment to "play" with.

 

[Huevos]

Well I don't know about pro-level gear.

As far as blind scan goes it is pretty unlikely that you are going to find a receiver that is good for both DX and feed hunting. If you want configurable look at the Linux receivers but the tuners are average so they are no good for DX. Most of the receivers that do have a mythical tuner (for DX) have commercially written closed source firmware so are very limited in configurability.

 

[hdp160]

Thanks yes thats really why I started this thread to find out what others think of the various receivers (in particular their tuners).

I already have a genuine Dreambox which has run for years like a dream (pun intended), it is as stable as a rock (about 3 years ago I fitted a computer fan over the tuner).

On another thread (on this forum) I have posted what I consider an ideal blind search receiver should have.

"Pro-level" receivers mostly have configurable gain, adjustable bandwidth, filters and several other nice features. But basically they facilitate re-broadcast quality, and simple access to BISS entry.

I might even be interested in purchasing an older dedicated spectrum analyser if anyone has any suggestions (I know the F15 has a software produced version) ideally with a breakout facility.

DXing really is a size thing, without square metres of dish the sensitivity of both the LNB and tuner front end will alway play second fiddle.

 

[martin123]

hi mate i had chance to play with tecnomate 5402 super + i think the got very sensiteve tuner
i try it on all weak signal outperforme all box what i got here

 

[Vipersan]

My Skybox F3 arrived this morning ...but I wont have time today to investigate it fully ...but my gawd is it small ..
Almost pocket sized ..assuming you have big pockets.
Anyway ..the first thing I did was a comparison test using blindscan...against the F15 as I know many were interested in this .
The F3 was at a small disadvantage being on the loop output from the F15 but this shouldn't make a huge difference as it doesn't seem to bother the S9HD when connected this way.

I chose Intelsat 805 at 55.5 W as the test sat (C band)
Scaned both fta and encrypted TV only no radio channels



First the F3 results ..
default scan step setting (this being fixed)
Total scan time 6 minutes and 45seconds ..
88 channels found


F15 results

used the default 4meg step setting (default)

Total scan time 15 minutes and 5 seconds

152 Channels found..

Yes the F15 takes longer ..roughly twice as long but the tuner is superior and little is missed as its very thorough.

The F3 looks like its going to be useful as a setup tool I can carry around easily..but falls well short of the F15 imo...at least with regards to blindscan.
rgds
VS

 

[Lazarus]

Keep the test results coming VS: We're off to France tomorrow for a fortnight, so my own putative purchase can wait. M3 is harder to get than F3, so the F3 is the most likely purchase.