Review of Pansat 9500HDX

brex2001

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Jul 14, 2009
642
2
USA
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-fta-discussion/262556-new-pansat-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.:rolleyes: 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.:)
 

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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.
 
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Nice review,
I have always been happy with Pansat products. There are a few sites I work on that still have good Chaparral or other motorized skew feedhorns that might need upgrading soon because of changes to HD formats... This is the perfect drop-in unit to replace the 3500s. Saves playing around outdoors changing feed horns when it's a -50 windchill! Price could come down a bit though...
-C.
 
I bought Pansat 9500 last year but cannot install it as I just have time to set my dish correctly yesterday with help of a satellite finder. When I connect the satellite cable to this brand new Pansat 9500, I get a signal of 45 and a quality of 4 this mean the Pansat does not receive the signal. Then I install my old Coolsat that I bought 10 years ago, Coolsat work very well. So something wrong with my Pansat 9500 but I bought it more than a year now, warranty must be over! I plan to open it to see if I can fix it. Might be a wire is loosen inside?
 
I retried to install this Pansat 9500. The same thing happened.

But I tried blind scan anyway and I was so surprise to see it works very well. After the blind scan, the Galaxy 19 is now locked to a new transponder with Signal level of 98% and Quality of 75%. So my problem was using the wrong transponder that not exists on that satellite thus the receiver can not find any signal from that transponder. The new transponder recorded from this blind scan could be the strongest one.

Started to record somethings. It works very well now. :cheer2:
 
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I would like to know the meaning of "PS Record" in the time setting menu of Pansat 9500 to record broadcasts. No explaination in the manual but it asks for ON or OFF setting.
 
Humm, big plus that it has a servo controller since DMX 741 LNBFs are getting to be as scarce as hens teeth. BIG NEGATIVE that they didn't include the ATSC tuner feature that was in the 9200?? Wonder if that's available as an add in card???
 
I tried to set timed recording: All 8 timed recordings are set to DAILY for 8 records with today or tomorrow dates. After a record, time should be changed automatically to the next day.

Pansat 9500 changes recording date irregularly and unpredictible for the whole 8 settings from a few days to a few years with or without recording anything. I am tired to reset them again and again.

Upgraded the box with newest software version from Pansat site and problem still the same!!!

Note: this machine allows only 3 settings for timed recording: DAILY, ONCE and NONE. I think WEEKLY is very important to be added.
 
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I tried to set timed recording: All 8 timed recordings are set to DAILY for 8 records with today or tomorrow dates. After a record, time should be changed automatically to the next day.

Pansat 9500 changes recording date irregularly and unpredictible for the whole 8 settings from a few days to a few years with or without recording anything. I am tired to reset them again and again.

Upgraded the box with newest software version from Pansat site and problem still the same!!!

Note: this machine allows only 3 settings for timed recording: DAILY, ONCE and NONE. I think WEEKLY is very important to be added.

Turn OFF the GMT time setting in the menu, and set it to local time. That way it won't keep re-syncing to the bogus times a lot of transponders are set to. Sync it to the proper time as on your pc. Then, leave the receiver ON all the time during this test period. Reset your timers, and see if they now all keep proper time. If they do, then the issue was that the receiver was for sure re-syncing to bad time settings on the different channels/transponders.

Good luck, but I think it will work out for you just fine. Please let us know either way!
 
Turn OFF the GMT time setting in the menu, and set it to local time. That way it won't keep re-syncing to the bogus times a lot of transponders are set to. Sync it to the proper time as on your pc. Then, leave the receiver ON all the time during this test period. Reset your timers, and see if they now all keep proper time. If they do, then the issue was that the receiver was for sure re-syncing to bad time settings on the different channels/transponders.

Good luck, but I think it will work out for you just fine. Please let us know either way!


I turned OFF the GMT time yesterday and it works very well now. Thank a lot.:excited:
 
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As I turned OFF the GMT time setting in the menu, and set it to local time, my preprogrammed recording works quite well. But this local time gives an error of around 1 minutes/day so I keep reset the time every few days otherwise the recording times will be wrong as my machine time is off.

In addition, I also had to shut/restart the machine several times in 2 weeks as it was frozen.
 
As I turned OFF the GMT time setting in the menu, and set it to local time, my preprogrammed recording works quite well. But this local time gives an error of around 1 minutes/day so I keep reset the time every few days otherwise the recording times will be wrong as my machine time is off.

In addition, I also had to shut/restart the machine several times in 2 weeks as it was frozen.

Do you leave the receiver turned ON all the time, or do you allow it to go OFF or in STANDBY? If you allow it to go off or in standby, it will resync the local time to the closest "top of the hour" when it turns full ON. That will cause the 1 minute or so drift per day over multiple timers.

So, try leaving it ON all the time, and turn OFF the "inactivity timer" setting so it doesn't turn off by itself. Then see what happens over a few days with time drift.
 
Sorry, my computer was crashed thus I cannot come to this site. Today it's OK.

Yes, my receiver turn OFF or standby by itself and ON when it starts to record. I do not know how to keep it ON all the time! I will look for "inactivity timer" setting to turn it OFF.

I do not understand RTV, AAC and AC3 audio!

Thank you very much for your advices.

Regards.
 
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