Thread: Can anyone recommend a receiver please?

My parents' fta receiver that they use to get Persian channels stopped accepting remote commands, so I'm looking to get another box. Any suggestions on what to get? I want to spend between $100-150. They don't need any fancy features or anything, just a solid machine.

Thanks a ton!!

DSR200 from SatelliteAV:

Satellite AV, LLC - Satellite Broadcaster Support and Equipment Distribution

Bob

this is probably dumb but did you replace the battery in the remote? what receiver brand? sometimes you can change a universal remote to work if the remote is bad. charlie

Bob, that one does look quite nice, thanks.

Chaskuchar, that's definitely not a dumb question. I tried replacing the batteries, bought a harmony universal remote, and when the harmony didn't work as programmed, I even programmed the universal remote WITH the old remote, and the signal was accepted by the harmony universal remote so I assume the remote actually works fine...none of it worked.

Some guy offered me a Viewsat VS Pro for $40 + shipping, is that worth it?

If your on a budget and only watching standard definition DVB-S which it sounds like you are, then just look for a used pansat or coolsat, plenty of them out there for under 50 bucks, the viewsat you mentioned will also do the trick just fine, if you want something new for around 100 bucks then go for a traxis

one of our good standing members is selling 2 receivers...both have the capability to be a PVR

Visionsat
http://www.satelliteguys.us/satellit...-iv-200-a.html

CNX Trio
http://www.satelliteguys.us/satellit...iver-sale.html

Honestly I'd go with the Visionsat. I've owned a couple of them (and recently just sold one) and they are great little units. You can hook up a usb hard drive to it (has to plug into the wall for AC) but then your folks could record shows.

Openbox S series are a good deal for what they do. They also do DVB-S2 which many signals are converting to. Has a good blind scan and covers a lot of the bases pretty well.

I agree with Iceberg on those two units. The visionsat is well received by members of this forum. The trio is also a nice unit.
It has 2 usb ports for a hardrive/stick (back and front) , plus a second usb front for the second tuner which plays avi files,divx movies etc. Runs seagate drives fine with USB power only(2.5 portables). Blind scan can be slow, but has component output and great picture.
Also has time machine so can pause/rewind live TV.

Catamount

Wow, thanks a lot for the suggestions guys! Would you say buying used is ok? I just don't feel like wasting time figuring out what's wrong again if it dies lol, so maybe spending more money is worth it. Are some brands more well received than others? Appreciate any info!!

Parents just do some basic sd video watching.