Sonicview 8000HD ATSC OTA performance

JohninSD · #1 (**permalink**) 11-23-2009, 12:13 PM

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Anyone using the Sonicview 8000HD to watch OTA ATSC stations? I'm new to the FTA world and trying to decide whether to buy this unit so I can combine OTA and FTA setup. Right now I have two of the coupon converter boxes, labeled Sansonic - they work pretty well, get all the San Diego locals in SD using a Channelmaster 3018 antenna on the roof. I also have a Samsung SIR T451 HD Receiver which I bought about 3 years ago in anticipation of the digital switchover. It is sitting in the closet as it does not tune in all the stations that the Sansonic units do.
I had DirecTV for two years, dropped it about a month ago - I got it mainly so I could see the Tour de France and they dropped Versus from their lineup so I was paying for nothing - most of what I want to see is available for free OTA.
My interest in FTA is to get the Create TV network from PBS - I see it's available on one of the satellites. The local PBS station here had it on one of their sub channels for a while but they replaced it with V-Me - I emailed them and asked why and they said they had just been carrying it to test the technology - no one was expected to actually watch it - seemed kind of strange.
Anyway, before I hooked up the Sansonic boxes I was not aware of the large variations in ATSC receiver performance - thought the Samsung would do better than the Sansonics - but there is a big difference which is why I ask whether anyone is using the Sonicview's OTA capabilities.
thanks,
John

kirara386 · #2 (**permalink**) 11-23-2009, 05:08 PM

I've been using my 8000HD to watch OTA. It works very well. The tuner in it is better than the one that is built into my Samsung TV, which is why I ended up hooking up to the SV. Plus it will download programming info for the guide from many of my local stations that provide it.

I also like the signal meter...really helps when you're aiming the antenna.

JohninSD · #3 (**permalink**) 11-27-2009, 05:38 PM

The 8000 arrived today - I had ordered it Tuesday evening from Shop4FTA. Quick service. It has a manufacturing date of May 2009. I hooked it up to my antenna and did a scan or actually 3 scans - one on VHF Low, one on VHF high, and one on UHF. It only sees 4 channels versus the dozen or so that my Sansonic box sees. Repeated scans pick up a few more channels sometimes. The local NBC channel has 2 subchannels which the SV picked up without seeing the main channel. Seems kind of odd. Anyone had better luck using this box for OTA? I do have a preamp on order for the antenna - maybe that'll help. On the bright side, the EPG works nicely for the channels it does get. I have no satellite dish yet so can't report on that aspect of the box.

Splicer · #4 (**permalink**) 11-28-2009, 10:31 PM

You can try entering the channels directly to see if the scan is just missing them. But enter the real channel number and not the virtual channel number.

JohninSD · #5 (**permalink**) 11-29-2009, 05:16 PM

The SV 8000 doesn't seem to have any way to enter channels that the scan doesn't find. Anyone found a way to do this? (I'm only talking about the ATSC channels here - don't know what it can/can't do in FTA mode).

Splicer · #6 (**permalink**) 11-29-2009, 05:45 PM

Not sure, but FTA is satellite and OTA is, well, over the air.

I would imagine you just press the real channel numbers and then 'enter' on the remote. I honestly can't see why that wouldn't work. Especially for such an expensive and feature laden unit as the SD8000.

JohninSD · #7 (**permalink**) 11-30-2009, 10:15 AM

I've tried entering channel numbers with the remote - no response. As it is right now there are 8 OTA channels in the memory. Entering a number between 1 and 8 takes me to one of those channels. The CBS and ABC affiliates here are on channels 8 and 10, the same as they were before the switchover. Their "real" and "virtual" assignments are the same. My Sansonic boxes show them as 100% signal and between 90 and 100% quality, yet the Sonicview doesn't see them at all. I've tried a 6db attenuator, thinking maybe they were too strong - no help. Tried an amplifier that came with an indoor antenna - no help. I have a preamp on order -will see if that helps.

JohninSD · #8 (**permalink**) 12-01-2009, 12:06 PM

Yesterday I installed a drop amp, a PCT-MA2-2P I bought from Amazon. It is an 11db boost dual port amp. I connected the antenna to the input port and power to the power port (it comes with an AC adapter for the power). I hooked up one output port to the SV 8000HD and the other to the Sansonic "coupon" box. The SV connects to the TV via the S-Video cable and the Sansonic box connects to the TV via the RF connection to Channel 4. The result is that the SV still doesn't see the VHF channels but the 8 that it does see have higher signal quality. The Sansonic box sees the same channels that it saw before, still with 100% signal strength on the VHF channels. I can't tell the signal strength on the SV as the display shows 0 strength and various levels of signal quality on the "Signal" display. It looks like I'll have to send this Sonicview in for warranty repair - it doesn't do what they say it will do, at least not for the OTA channels.

Splicer · #9 (**permalink**) 12-01-2009, 12:42 PM

Thats too bad. I'm curious as to why the SV won't pick up the same stations. Keep us updated if you will.

JohninSD · #10 (**permalink**) 12-02-2009, 07:52 PM

There is a thread on the SV 8000 on the FTA forum. Look over there for details. Long story short, a firmware update helped.