I did it!

[PopcornNMore]

I finally took the plunge and ordered an Openbox S9 PVR HD receiver from HyperMegaSat for $175.89 including shipping.

With many channels like Montana PBS switching over to DVB-S2 I knew it was time to upgrade.

 

[toucan-man]

I'll pop some popcorn when I read your review -- do let us know how you like it.

 

[Blindowl1234]

Is this your first HD receiver? I have the Sathawk from when it first came out...after the firmware updates etc....I'm pleased with it. The picture on my 32" LCD Tv is really good
Blind

 

[FaT Air]

I also ordered an Openbox, from the same source. Mainly to give the 9200 a well deserved rest and to not miss anything while I go through the 9200's power supply. I've had it a week and am pleased with its performance. Still have to get used to it's less user friendly menu system.

 

[PopcornNMore]

Is this your first HD receiver? I have the Sathawk from when it first came out...after the firmware updates etc....I'm pleased with it. The picture on my 32" LCD Tv is really good
Blind

My first one. I have many SD FTA receivers, but never got a HD receiver until today due to lack of HD FTA channels.

 

[stanleyjohn]

I have a solomend which is the same as the Openbox and i think you will be satisfied on what it can do.There is a good amount of s2/hd out there and wait to you see the outstanding pic quality in HD.

 

[Blindowl1234]

Popcorn, I think you'll like it. There's a lot of S2 stuff in my opinion worth seeing. Seems more channels seem to be headed that way too.
The picture on the PBS Hd is really sharp looking. Blind

 

[Mr Tony]

I thought about getting one again after selling my Solomend....at the time too many bugs in it for me to deal with

 

[Dishman Dan]

I thought about getting one again after selling my Solomend....at the time too many bugs in it for me to deal with

These sound like better receivers to buy compared to all the problems and glitches with the AZBox!!! Who needs 4:2:2 when you cannot get keep the AZ up and running!?!?!?

 

[PopcornNMore]

Someday the perfect receiver will exist.

 

[Mr Tony]

These sound like better receivers to buy compared to all the problems and glitches with the AZBox!!! Who needs 4:2:2 when you cannot get keep the AZ up and running!?!?!?

what glitches? Mine has run smooth for over a year now

 

[PopcornNMore]

I just read this on another website that makes me feel good about my purchase:

The OpenBox S9 features a highly sensitive sharp tuner and a fast, accurate hardware based blindscan for DVB-S/S2 signals. The SD upconvert on this box is excellent, many SD signals can be mistaken for HD, its that good.

 

[PopcornNMore]

Product Review:

Review | OpenBox S9 HD PVR DVB-S2 Receiver, lowest price & best support in N. America

 

[toucan-man]

The SD upconvert on this box is excellent, many SD signals can be mistaken for HD, its that good.

Ah yes. Important to me too.

 

[stanleyjohn]

what glitches? Mine has run smooth for over a year now

I had what some others had as a problem seeing the satellite and channel lists getting corrupted and reverting back to the original list.I think i got that problem solved though! (crossing fingers)

 

[Dishman Dan]

what glitches? Mine has run smooth for over a year now

Look at all the threads and pages about the AZBox problems, the only thing that has more pages is the FreeDBS thread!!!

 

[PopcornNMore]

I just read that this receiver can only store up to 5,000 TV and radio channels. This is a real disappointment for a receiver with this many high end features.

One the bright side it can display Teletext like other receivers and I began to wonder does anyone use the Teletext feature in their receivers? I know I never have.

 

[PopcornNMore]

Does anyone know what is the maximum size external HDD that can be used with this receiver? Plus does it work better with a particular brand / model?

 

[Mr Tony]

Look at all the threads and pages about the AZBox problems, the only thing that has more pages is the FreeDBS thread!!!

most of what I see are channel lists being corrupt. I tried Diseqc 1.2 and had issues but I ended up slaving mine instead

 

[freezy]

Does anyone know what is the maximum size external HDD that can be used with this receiver? Plus does it work better with a particular brand / model?

High bitrate recording is a major unresolved issue for usb connected external hard drives. Someone mentioned that connecting a IDE drive to the internal connector may work better...but.......that appears to be in the experimental stage still. One Terabyte is the max for a fat32 partition