Thread: VantageHD: Where to buy, analog outputs?

You miss the point completely. My TVs have 6 HDMI inputs. If I wanted to know which receiver sucks the least on HDMI, I would have asked that. (And the answer still wouldn't have been Pansat).

For the record, I use standard-def outputs so I can record to hard disk/DVD recorders.

Yes, I know some satellite receivers claim to have a PVR function if you connect a hard disk. That works about as well as everything else on the Pansat (barely), but it leaves you with H.264 files in DR.DOS2 format, which is useful for ... ??

--Gary

You miss the point completely.

You never mentioned exactly what you are doing, so a few ideas were floated.

Gary,
I wish you'd made this point earlier.

For my recordings , I use the s-video out of the AZbox to a PC based PVR, Plextor TV 402U .
The usb based critter packs away the file in a number of formats, but I generally use mpeg4 , AVI files for their size advantage.

The recording look pretty good. Of course, as earlier stated, I'm really not picky !

I'm sorry, but this really seems typical of the people who are always justifying equipment that doesn't work, instead of complaining. I clearly said I was interested in the analog outputs, and two people told me to "buy a new TV."

But thanks for the overall information, which seems to be, even though the Vantage might get NBC and ABC correctly, I'll probably be unhappy with it. (BTW, does the Vantage do 4:2:2??)

Of course I have looked at the AZBox, but in addition to the analog video being wrong, I've heard that the analog audio outputs are unreliable.

--Gary

"I'm sorry, but this really seems typical of the people who are always justifying equipment that doesn't work, instead of complaining."
Now THAT pisses me off !!! I'm starting to think you are a perfectionist JERK . No receiver works perfectly. The more features they claim, the more likely it is that more fault can be found with their performance. I think that YOU, Gary, need to get a grip on reality, and realize that these relatively cheaply made boxes are not going to give you laboratory quality results.
I'm done talking with you !
( No smiley face this time )

Sorry Brentb, I realized after posting that, that people were going to get pissed at me.
But honestly, I don't see how anyone could be satisfied with the DVB-S2 receivers I've tried. I'd just like them to work, and frankly, WORK is what they don't do. The list of problems is so long that every time I try to write it up, I get bogged down in the proof-reading, but some day I will post that list here, and you can all laugh or cry as you see fit.

Here's a good example of one of the Pansat's many reception problems, regardless of what kind of TV you use: While watching DVB-S2 channels, the video will suddenly "jump back" to some frames from 10-30 seconds earlier in the program. I posted this example on YouTube:



This problem only happens about 10-50 times a night on NBC/E/Ku.

By contrast, NBC/E/C-band didn't have smooth motion at all when I last checked it two weeks ago. Perhaps it's different today, but when I last checked it, instead of the frames updating like 1 2 3 4 5 6 (each frame being played once), that I was actually getting:
1 2 2 2 3 4 4 4 5 6 6 6 7 8 8 8 etc.
or maybe you would say
1 2 2 2 5 6 6 6 9 10 10 10 since it was actually skipping frames 3,4,7,8 etc.

Here's all I want in a satellite receiver, maybe this is too much:
HD channels downconverted to 720x480 correctly, with smooth motion, every frame displayed the correct amount of time, the audio in sync, and for the channel to change correctly the first time (maybe the second time) without a lot of "fiddling."

If that's too much to ask, then you can call me a perfectionist, but I think this is what everyone expects from a regular TV; why shouldn't we get it from a properly designed FTA receiver?

--Gary

I record to hard disk and all recording are flawless playback is another issue becasue s2 is procesor demanding even a high en system like latest nvidia core 2 quad may have breakups

I clearly said I was interested in the analog outputs, and two people told me to "buy a new TV."

I just think of all the people who could have helped you, but since you did not state your intent in your first post, you only attracted responses from 2 - who are just trying to help, and came to the same conclusion. LOL

I'd start a new post:
Issues recording from my HD FTA Receiver to a stand-alone SD Hard Disk/DVD recorder.

I could have said that, and then we could discuss all kinds of issues about DVD recording. For example, we could talk about the pseudo-Macrovision from the AZbox. But, I just asked if the analog outputs worked correctly, which is a legitimate question.

AZbox and Vantage aren't really designed for the U.S. market, so I could cut them some slack. But Pansat, Coolsat, Viewsat etc. are all California companies, so they have no excuse! All I want out of a $1200 pair of Pansats (you need at least two to get stereo+center on NBC, no?) is for them to work at least as well as a $60 digital TV converter box.

--Gary
P.s. Lak7, if you only use your Vantage for blind-scanning, I'm surprised you can tie-up an HDMI input for that, but perhaps you have a dedicated TV for blind-scanning?