Thread: Review of Pansat 9500HDX

Although this new stb has been discussed elsewhere I thought I'd start a review here.
Here's what has been discussed before now & credit goes out to those members: http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air...t-9500hdx.html

When I first set this stb up for myself I had it connected thus: stb>DG380 HtoH motor>1.0DiseqC switch>Port 1 to 4x8 multiswitch>dual output Ku DMX522 LNBF on a WSI 36" Ku dish
>Port 2 to 2nd 4x8 multiswitch> dual output C DMX242 LNBF on a Orbitron 10ft dish

Second trial was set up thus: stb>V-Box 6 1.2DiseqC positioner>Ecoda 22kHz switch>22kHz port to Eagle Aspen 770 Ku-band 0.6 dB LNB, 10750 L.O. on Chaparral Corotor feedhorn set @ 0.30 f/D
>0 kHz port to Eagle Aspen C-band SLT+ 15*K, 5150 L.O. on same Chaparral Corotor feedhorn

Chaparral servo motor connected to Pansat 9500 for polarity control & V-B0x 6 already programmed for satellites from 83*W to 139*W, Positions numbered from 34 to 59.

All in all the 1.2 positioning & polarity control of the Pansat 9500 is really quite nice - consistent repeatable results & signal qualities made this experiment worthwhile. Given that the Orbitron dish had been damaged from being blown over on a temporary stand, the Ku captured was pretty darn good: 223 TV & 139 radio channels on Galaxy 19 97W, 5 minutes to blindscan. The "Normal" scan is much faster, provided the TP list is complete of course.
Initially I used an old Patriot C-band LNB, but because the signal quality wasn't up to par swapped it out for the Eagle Aspen SLT+ for the H2H on a DSR-922(loop out through an digital splitter, non-power pass port). Found TPs on 105*W are H only so added a DCII V TP & toggled polarity to watch the H2H sub.

Found that some active TPs for satellites triggered a yellow text indicating that that satellite is locked. Can be confusing because at times the lock indicates the wrong satellite - more than one satellite share the same TPs. Was able to manually add the CWs with PID edit & scan them in - no need to use the Channel Editor here. Will try the 9500HDX Channel Editor listed in downloads on Panarex site one day soon. Or someone else feel free to evaluate?

The Erom updater does not work correctly - their is a bug in the software causing the null modem serial connection to fail immediately. Tried this with something simple: a Windows XP P4M IBM T30 Thinkpad with serial port. I've used this same T30 many times to reload stbs & never an issue. Reported this bug to my local friendly Pansat dealer. Heard him tell the tech over the phone to inform Mr Kim of the problem, so hopefully this will be addressed soon.

The remote is comfortable with small buttons that might bother some. Haven't tried the U-30 UHF remote accessory yet. Supposedly a successor to the U-30 kit will be coming out soon.

Timed recording works well as long as the local time is manually set first. same trouble with keeping time on UTG if the EPG info on the satellite stream doesn't support it. Timeshift jumps are adjustable to 30 sec, 1 min, 5 min, 10 min or 30 min intervals. Recording using the remote red "record" button enables selection of time beginning at 2 hrs decreasing in .5 hr steps. Recordings are in TS stream as expected.

Overall I'm happy with this stb for the added polar control function & the menu GUI. Had the unit freeze once but think that was because I had changed the switch/lnbf setup without factory resetting the stb & then rescanning.

The manual needs proofreading for salient errors like the mention of an e-SATA port that doesn't exist. There is but one USB port under the front door. C'mon it can't be that much more to add another USB, or two.


Those that own one of these please contribute.
Feel free to add to this for the benefit of others.

Nice, does it do DVB-S2?

Some of the menus look like the Manhattan RS-1933.

The Ali processor is the common one found in most of these SOS boxes.
Don't know if it does the H8PSK but it does QPSK, 8PSK, DVB-S & S-2.
I believe the manual for this stb is already in the downloads section here.

BTW, my local Pansat dealer Sat-Pros in Monrovia, CA have it listed on Ebay right now for $219 with a free U-30 UHF remote & free shipping.
Not to take anything away from you Brian...I hope to buy one of the microHDs when they are released too.