West coast dealer recommendations?

[Paul_C]

Just getting into this as a hobby, but finding it hard to find places to buy things like FTA Ku band dishes that aren't being shipped from Florida, East Coast, or Canada.

Surely there must be some good dealers on the West Coast, too? (I'm in SF Bay Area). Seems crazy to spend a good proportion of the cost of the dish to ship it across country. Particularly since in my past experience, the longer the ride, the closer to banana-shaped the package is at the other end.

Thanks,

- Paul

 

[KE4EST]

Welcome to SatelliteGuys!!!!

Dishes & Mounts - SatelliteAV

satelliteav.com

These guys are in CA.

 

[Paul_C]

Perfect - thanks, KE4EST.

 

[k1cza]

Dishes & Mounts - SatelliteAV

satelliteav.com

These guys are in CA.

SatelliteAV treated me right for my dish, motor, and LNB. I wouldn't recommend getting a receiver from them, though - the Amiko beats their receiver for half the price. Check out this post for receiver recommendations.

 

[clucas]

Take a ride up I-80 to Rocklin. They treated me right when I bought my 1.2 meter dish.

 

[Paul_C]

Take a ride up I-80 to Rocklin. They treated me right when I bought my 1.2 meter dish.

Certainly not out of the question. They shipped me a 90cm dish today, and if Fedex is to be believed, it should arrive tomorrow. So far, so good

 

[Paul_C]

SatelliteAV treated me right for my dish, motor, and LNB. I wouldn't recommend getting a receiver from them, though - the Amiko beats their receiver for half the price. Check out this post for receiver recommendations.

Don't worry, that isn't the plan - I have some particular needs from the receiver. For one, I want to be able to manage it remotely over the network, since it'll eventually end up at a remote location.

I'm planning to install the 'Channels DVR' software on the receiver, along with a couple of other software packages. Most of the bundled DVR software I've seen seems to be very basic.

Since I've been working on embedded Linux products for a few decades now, feel very comfortable with that aspect. I'd be looking for a popular receiver (never underestimate the power of community!) that supports firmware like OpenVIX or the like. Probably a higher-end model that's not going to notice some extra load

I'm currently experimenting with a VBox XTi 4134, which is based on Android TV. It's great in some respects, but Android TV gets in the way of some things I want to be able to do. While I haven't given up yet, I am beginning to think it'd be easier and quicker to switch to a receiver that's more 'maleable' on the software side to begin with.

 

[mr3p]

If you figure out how to integrate OS MIO 4k or other Linux receivers into Channels DVR, either directly installed on DVB receiver or using DVB receiver as a source, please share the details as I'd love to hear what you working on.

 

[Cham]

Brain (Ti) is close to you in CA, he sells the MIO and other FTA gear.
I have a MIO and use it almost exclusively through my LAN. I mostly use KODI as the front-end though.

 

[armadillo_115]

Brain (Ti) is close to you in CA, he sells the MIO and other FTA gear.
I have a MIO and use it almost exclusively through my LAN. I mostly use KODI as the front-end though.

I believe the OS Mio is sold out.

 

[Cham]

I believe the OS Mio is sold out.

Well... that's no fun!
Guess they are a hot seller, hope that's not the end of them.

 

[Titanium]

The Edision OS Mio STBs are now sold out. Will not be restocking. They are a consistent seller and niche market item. Spoke with another US based satellite equipment reseller, and there will likely soon be a product availability announcement from another vendor.

 

[Paul_C]

I mostly use KODI as the front-end though.

We use Plex here.

I found the Plex's DVR functionality somewhat lacking. particularly in comparison with Channels DVR. And Plex DVR development seems to be stagnant, in sharp contrast with the Channels developers...

 

[Paul_C]

likely soon be a product availability announcement

Speaking of which... the form on your website to sign up for your mailing list is broken. I'd tried to sign up a little while ago.

 

[Paul_C]

The Edison boxes appear to have only one DVB-S tuner?

For a DVR, I'd prefer to have at least four. A few receivers offer 8 tuners - you pay a premium for that luxury, of course. The VU+ Duo 4K SE looks interesting. ARM-based, more memory than most, easy to add a hard drive internally for the recordings.

 

[Titanium]

Speaking of which... the form on your website to sign up for your mailing list is broken. I'd tried to sign up a little while ago.

Sorry, I had forgotten to remove the mail list sign-up. Mail Chimp changed terms of service on their list management offering and I had opted not to give 3rd parties access to mailing list.

 

[cyberham]

The Edison boxes appear to have only one DVB-S tuner?...

Edision OS Mio+ has two tuners: one DVB-S2X and one DVB-S2.

 

[Titanium]

The Edison boxes appear to have only one DVB-S tuner?

For a DVR, I'd prefer to have at least four. A few receivers offer 8 tuners - you pay a premium for that luxury, of course. The VU+ Duo 4K SE looks interesting. ARM-based, more memory than most, easy to add a hard drive internally for the recordings.

Edision OS Mio Plus 4k has two tuners - DVB-S2 and DVB-SX tuners. You may add additional Haupaugge USB based DVB-S and ATSC tuners. Read up on the VU+ STBs and you will see why few true FTA hobbyists use them. If you only want to work off of predefined channel lists and hack satellite, they will do fine.

In my opinion, the best STB for FTA hobbyist is the Edision OS Mio. I have tested dozens of Android and Enigma2 based STBs. The Edision, by far provides the best hobbyist experience. The tuners are well supported and provide fast and the most accurate blind scan.

4 tuners? 8 tuners? How many dishes and what satellites are they aimed at? Fixed or motorized? Are there that many unencrypted satellite programs of interest running at the same time? LOL

 

[mr3p]

The Edision OS Mio STBs are now sold out. Will not be restocking. They are a consistent seller and niche market item. Spoke with another US based satellite equipment reseller, and there will likely soon be a product availability announcement from another vendor.

You can't tease us like that Linux? Android? Something else?

 

[Paul_C]

I'm not sure I qualify as a true FTA hobbyist, truth be told. Ultimately I'll be using the receiver with the UK Freesat service, so perhaps some features that are important to an enthusiast won't be as important to me. But the advice is well-taken, all the same - thank you.