Thread: coolsat 8.1K ?

Originally Posted by B.J.

That's interesting relative to the 31 sat positions. That was certainly true up to about the last 2 or maybe 3 firmware versions, since there was a 31 sat limit on the receiver (one of the issues that the pirates "fixed"), however the last couple firmware versions didn't have the 31 sat limit, so it's surprising that 2025A would have that problem.

... I couldn't get stable video on those PBS scpc 4444 SR transponders. Before switching to the new firmware, these were very stable, but they were unwatchable with the newest firmware.

i must clarify that i have a complete sat list in the reciever with the later firmware. its only when storing the positions in a positioner that i have problems. using the adjust motor menu on the coolsat, i can store a 31st position. then the 32nd does nothing. like the command isnt sent. but ive come to the conclusion that ill store the 31 most used sats and use the gbox to manually move the dish for the other few cband sats. then ill have to give it a usals ku dish. or i may give up on this box all together and setup my htpc proper again.

i also have issues with those pbs feeds. the video kinda blinks or stutters. it sucks that the illegitimate use of these recievers drove the market. it gave true fta a bad name and a lack of support.

crackt out,.

Originally Posted by crackt

...
i also have issues with those pbs feeds. the video kinda blinks or stutters.

That's good to know. When I first noticed it (about the time of the switch from AMC3 to AMC21), I posted about it in some other forums, but no-one else ever mentioned seeing the same thing. Nice to know it's not just my receiver.
I seem to remember that it was mainly the 12163 (Hartford APT) channel that gave me problems. The other two weren't quite as bad. It was wierd, because other channels with similar parameters didn't give me any problems.

Originally Posted by crackt

it sucks that the illegitimate use of these recievers drove the market. it gave true fta a bad name and a lack of support.

crackt out,.

On the other hand, if it weren't for the pirate users, we probably wouldn't have the availability of receivers that we have now. The FTA market isn't big enough to make it profitable for manufacturers to make us receivers, so we'd probably only be able to get European receivers, ie nothing with ATSC for OTA like the 8100, or Diamond, etc.
Also, even if there were some receivers made for north America, they would be very expensive. Back before digital and DTV/DN, hobbiest receivers were very expensive. I spent over $1100 for two of my receivers, and about $750 for the third. The prices came down a bit when the 4DTV came along (I never got one of those), but they were still up in the $600 range if I remember right.
These new FTA receivers are dirt cheap compared to the old days. Sure, part of it is because there isn't much to them, ie they don't have to control a BUD, etc, but I think most of it is volume. Volume created by the pirate market.

Anyway, I'm grateful for the pirate community, because they're responsible for making these receivers available at an affordable price.