Advice Needed China Radio on 45W

[Manikm909]

Bin them mio's, they are not worth house room compared to an SF8008 for low SR, narrow bandwidth frequencies.
Alternatively, stick them up on eBay, recover what you can of the purchase price.

i dont even think the tuner is that sensitive on the MIO either

 

[AndyX]

Does the SF8008 Mini use the same silabs tuner as the non-mini?

 

[Manikm909]

Does the SF8008 Mini use the same silabs tuner as the non-mini?

looks like it - see tuner image:
MINI: _OCTAGON SF8008 MINI 4K UHD E2 COMBO DVB-S2X & DVB-C/T2

STANDARD: same...

Octagon SF-8008 with low SR - AMSAT-DL Forum

I found that the Octagon model Sf-8008 could be used for low symbolrates.. I want to share the first results with you I got yesterday from Helmut DG3KHS.. He wrote me the following:The SF8008 Single has the Si2166D Tuner and with the actual firmware it…

forum.amsat-dl.org

 

[AndyX]

looks like it - see tuner image:
MINI: _OCTAGON SF8008 MINI 4K UHD E2 COMBO DVB-S2X & DVB-C/T2

STANDARD: same...

Octagon SF-8008 with low SR - AMSAT-DL Forum

I found that the Octagon model Sf-8008 could be used for low symbolrates.. I want to share the first results with you I got yesterday from Helmut DG3KHS.. He wrote me the following:The SF8008 Single has the Si2166D Tuner and with the actual firmware it…

forum.amsat-dl.org

thanks

I cannot see a "Sat" button on the remotes for this series which I do get on my Edision.

 

[Manikm909]

you press down arrow, and then select satellite from the on screen menu (standard Enigma2 control)

 

[AndyX]

Thanks for that. I am using an Edision mio at the moment and am wondering if changing to a SF8008 is worth the money for better feed hunting. I blind scan a lot.

 

[Manikm909]

well based on my experience in this thread, yes! as you might be missing channels on low SR's currently - i guess its a trade off though, no point if the tuner isnt as sensitive as the MIO... which is the lesser evil ?

 

[Manikm909]

i just did a test tonight....i wanted to see which had the better tuner \ sensitivity.

my setup is a twin output LNB - on DISEQ motor, 1.2m dish.

for this test, one connection (via the motor) is going direct to Octagon SF8008 - the second connection going direct to the Edision MIO + 4K.

(in theory the second connection should be a better signal, as it is straight from lnb to receiver, no passing through the motor)

i drove my dish to 53e where my channels are weak atm - and found a channel, i then made it weaker but fudging my USALS to simulate a weak signal....i got it down to 3.2db - and was checking \ switching between both receivers as to which was maintaining picture stability - winner - Octagon SF8008.

see from photos, the Octagon held the signal \ picture (rather) much better than the Edision - the Edision was total breakup at 3.0db, the Octagon, maintained the image mostly, with an occasional pixelation - as ive been typing this, its hardly broken up at all.

So, all in all, between these two, the Octagon wins hands down, not only does it win for low SR tp's but also - has a more resilient \ solid tuner.

pics attached

 

[moonbase]

Nice test, possibly increased volumes of mio's up on eBay

 

[Manikm909]

something else i noticed re the DB ratings....

the Edision, gives a HIGHER DB readings than the Octagon, so where i thought i had 20db at 34.5w - Octagon only read about 17.5db.

same for sky news on 1w - Edision reported 15.8db - octagon said 14db

one of them MIGHT be correct? not sure which...

 

[moonbase]

something else i noticed re the DB ratings....

the Edision, gives a HIGHER DB readings than the Octagon, so where i thought i had 20db at 34.5w - Octagon only read about 17.5db.

same for sky news on 1w - Edision reported 15.8db - octagon said 14db

one of them MIGHT be correct? not sure which...

It might be time to consider getting an internal DVB card or an external USB DVB device to use with software such as EBS Pro, CrazyScan or IQmonitor?
Personally, I have more faith in the dB readings from something like IQmonitor or CrazyScan compared to those from a satellite receiver such as an Edision or an Octagon.

 

[Manikm909]

cool - ta - whats a good USB option...?

 

[moonbase]

cool - ta - whats a good USB option...?

The TBS 5927 is supposed to be a decent external USB device but I dont think it is DVB-S2X capable.
I have the previous model which is the TBS 5925 and it is OK. I think the only difference between the two of them was better cooling on the TBS 5927 model?

TBS seem to be the most prolific supplier of DVB card/devices. Have a look on their website, a quick google for TBS USB brings up their range of USB products.
There are several UK based retailers selling TBS stock on eBay and Amazon so you should be able to get one easily enough.

One point re the DVB-S2X offerings from TBS is that there are a few reports of driver issues but I think they might be associated more with the internal TBS 6903-X card rather than the external USB devices?
It might be worth reading up on it?

Considering the small amount of DVB-S2X stuff that is available I have refrained from buying any of the TBS S2X products and stick with their non S2X stuff.

 

[Channel Hopper]

something else i noticed re the DB ratings....

the Edision, gives a HIGHER DB readings than the Octagon, so where i thought i had 20db at 34.5w - Octagon only read about 17.5db.

same for sky news on 1w - Edision reported 15.8db - octagon said 14db

one of them MIGHT be correct? not sure which...

Did you swop out the cables from the twin LNB, just to discount any difference attributable to the internal switching matrix, connectors or the runs indoors ?

 

[Manikm909]

Did you swop out the cables from the twin LNB, just to discount any difference attributable to the internal switching matrix, connectors or the runs indoors ?

HI - no i didnt bother doing that on the basis that the motorised connection was holding a picture better than the other one which "in theory" should be more solid, as direct from lnb to receiver.

my test was valid enough to prove what i wanted to prove

 

[Channel Hopper]

HI - no i didnt bother doing that on the basis that the motorised connection was holding a picture better than the other one which "in theory" should be more solid, as direct from lnb to receiver.

my test was valid enough to prove what i wanted to prove

Since the receiver is looking for a signal in amongst background noise, the motor components could be filtering out certain parts of the unwanted stuff, or lowering the maximum incoming signal to an acceptable level that the tuner can cope with, without gain control software having to kick in.

What is on the IF cable is a huge amount of frequencies, many of which are outside the receiveable band of the tuner and therefore invisible to the components and the manufacturer's programming, two of which will be signal strength and 'quality' on the on screen display.

 

[Manikm909]

Pretty much.

what happened to the PRIMO - discontinued...why?

did they have power supply issues or something...​

 

[Manikm909]

Pretty much.

what happened to the Edision Primos? they seem to be discontinued....and not mentioned anyway other than here really.

 

[Manikm909]

yes, Octagon SX88 4K and Edision MIO 4K plus - both capable.

i will try a manual add later on but i have been blindscanning up until now...

how wrong i was - NEITHER can handle low SR's

 

[Lazarus]

what happened to the Edision Primos? they seem to be discontinued....and not mentioned anyway other than here really.

Long since superseded.

That said, mine is in daily use and still doing a great job.