Thread: took the dive...finally...getting a CS 8100

So I saw a Coolsat 8100 for $305 free shipping on Ebay. It was an auction ending overnight when NO ONE would be up except for cops, DJs, news producers, and security guards. Luckily, news producers such as myself have internet access!

I did a little reading around about the 8100 and the similarities to the 8000. Anything new I should know about as of this month? Is it still unable to be edited with a channel master program just like the 8000? Just curious what's been up with it lately. I can't wait!

congrats on the 8100...I have the 8000 which is pretty much the same thing minus the PVR

no channel master support
menus a re different than the 4/5/6000
does DVB-S2 out of the box
no blind scan

I got a used ( a demo) two weeks ago; I have been trying to get one new, but everywhere they were saying out of stock. They are no longer made, or what ?

Mike

Since Channel Master still doesn't support us HD folks, I may end up blind scanning in the order of which my channels fall into my 4000. Shouldn't be too much of an issue. I hope they straighten that out soon.

I hope you enjoy the box! I have one as well and while it's certainly made the hobby a lot more fun (PBS HD! NBC S2 Feeds! Ball games in HD! PVR!), there are a few little quirks that I've had to work on.

- If you bought it on Ebay and it's not the most recent firmware upgrade, do that ASAP. I bought one out of the box and the Firmware didn't let me use the PVR and didn't save most of the channels. It took the "clean" file to get the firmware to load.

- Scanning is picky for me. For example, I only scan one PBS channel in the HD mux, even though there's two. I had to manually add in the other channel.

Originally Posted by DiscoLoveGrapes

I hope you enjoy the box! I have one as well and while it's certainly made the hobby a lot more fun (PBS HD! NBC S2 Feeds! Ball games in HD! PVR!), there are a few little quirks that I've had to work on.

- If you bought it on Ebay and it's not the most recent firmware upgrade, do that ASAP. I bought one out of the box and the Firmware didn't let me use the PVR and didn't save most of the channels. It took the "clean" file to get the firmware to load.

- Scanning is picky for me. For example, I only scan one PBS channel in the HD mux, even though there's two. I had to manually add in the other channel.

I'm curious how you were able to "add in the other channel". I agree with both of the "quirks" you mentioned, and there are other quirks too. I had exactly the same issues with the PBS channels on a couple of occasions (when my signal wasn't peaked well), ie I was only getting one of the 2 HD channels on 12140, and was only getting a couple of the 9 channels on those 12180/12120 SD muxes before they did the changeover. However I was NOT able to manually add them as you say. I could manually enter in the PIDs, however there is no way to tell the receiver that the channels have AC3 audio, so all I'd get was the video. I struggled with it, and the only way I could do it was to switch coaxes, and fool the receiver by giving it a stronger signal from another dish. Ie it seems like that symptom of scanning in just some channels must have been related to a marginal signal with errors. Once I got the signal strength up, I had no problems.
But I'm still curious re how you were able to specify AC3 audio on manual entry of those PBS channels? Sure didn't work for me. Although I must admit that when I tried it, it was before the new 2025A firmware came out, so maybe the new firmware recognizes the AC3???


Also, re buying an 8100 on Ebay. I've bought 2 on ebay, one used one from an individual, and one "new" one from an authorized Coolsat dealer. The one from the individual was fine (until we got hit by lightning). The one from the dealer was defective right out of the box. I sent it back, and after 2 months, got it back and it still had the exact same problems. The guy said he didn't want to take it back, because "it's hard to get rid of returns", although he offered to trade me one of those Nuevo HD units that take the so called 8psk board. I basically said no, that I'd rather have a defective 8100 than one of those, because I didn't trust the claims on their web page that it received DVB-S2 channels while I was reading on hacker sites that it was for DN turbo 8PSK (and now we're reading posts from people saying that it doesn't do either well).

Anyway, beware of some of the authorized Coolsat dealers selling "new" stuff on ebay, because I'm suspecting that it may be returned merchandise.

Off topic.... I was trying to look up the above transaction to see if it was the same dealer, but it doesn't seem like you can search for completed transactions on ebay anymore??? Or at least they've made it harder to find the link?

Been keeping an eye on the 8100 too, waiting for DISH to go all Nag3...

Originally Posted by B.J.

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Off topic.... I was trying to look up the above transaction to see if it was the same dealer, but it doesn't seem like you can search for completed transactions on ebay anymore??? Or at least they've made it harder to find the link?

From main page, Select "Advance Search", see "Search Including" checkbox "Completed Listings"

Or from a standard search, i.e. coolsat 8100, look at left side, about 2/3 down for "Show only"...

Originally Posted by concord

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Or from a standard search, i.e. coolsat 8100, look at left side, about 2/3 down for "Show only"...

Boy, I must be going blind. I swear that wasn't there earlier. (obviously it was). I remember looking at the free shipping item right below it, but somehow missed it. Thanks.

BTW, that is NOT the dealer I had issues with, although from the ebay description, it sounds like this one isn't going to be any more cooperative.