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Viewsat 9000 Review
Ok, to start off, I bought this unit used locally from a college kid for $180, so you have probably already guessed, it was used for pirating. It did have one of the 8psk cards in it so I figure at worst, I can probably make my money back by selling the card alone.
The Look/Design
I think this is one sharp looking design for a FTA or any receiver. It has a pretty sleek face and decently laid out connection panel on the back. I like the display on the front, minimalistic, simple, small. Nice for a dark room.
Ok, let's see, where to start...
Well, I swapped my Pansat 9200 for this unit for the past 2 nights and have been playing around.
The menus structure is pretty much what is on my Viewsat Ultra that I played with a while back and now is used for mainly dish pointing out in the yard. So nothing really new.
The remote is just like the ultra remote, too big and not well laid out for me. I sometimes find myself using 2 hands with it.
My setup is as follows:
Receiver -->motor --> diseqc (QPH-031) and stationary G10r dish.
So I hook it up and configure like my pansat 9200, setting up USALs and all my switch options and nothing, no signal from my L side on my invacom from my TS sat. So I swing over to AMC 3 to check and still nothing. Try switching over to Nimiq 2 and see if the C side is working; dead. WTF is all I am thinking. I go out, double check and yep, my dish is moving. So I call my wife from the back yard, tell her to move the dish back to AMC 3 (not to talk bad, but by the time I talked her though this, I should have just come in and had her watch the dish
). A
Anyways, sure enough, dish is moving like I expect.
Got to thinking I fried my diseqc (it was a el cheapo that come with every receiver it seems), so I swapped it out. Still dead. Then I thought maybe I killed my lnb, boy that would suck. So I hooked my Pansat 9200 back up and everything fired up no problem.
After checking all my connections, I bypassed the diesqc and sure enough, the Viewsat 9000 looks good signal wise. So from here on, I am using a 22khz in place of my diseqc. Not ideal for long run since I'll not have a place for my G10 dish, but I can go without for a couple nights while I test stuff.
With everything running now I go to begin playing around and I realize I have not even loaded the factory firmware on it yet (still has old pirate stuff on there). At this point, I am kind of lazy from running out to the dish and troubleshooting.
So bear with me because the fact I left the old pirate stuff on at first helped me realize a couple features the factory stuff does not have (and NO I am not saying it's ok to have pirate software, but it's been noted here a few times that some of the old pirate stuff that does not work for theft is actually useful at enabling things and fixing problems).
Things I wanted to test and verify on this unit:
Blind scan
DVB-S2
ATSC features/tuner
HD comparison to my 9200
Blind Scan
I began by going to AMC 3 for my old standby blind scan test. I find not many boxes like to pick up the Montana PBS feed, but will pick up everything else. So I begin blindscanning in steps of 3mhz (unit goes from 3-12mhz) figuring "Ok, cool, this nice to choose". After a few minutes, I was not sure what was going on. The receiver appeared to be scanning and seeing things, but nothing was being logged. Then when it went to log channels, it found nothing. So I check the TP's and it logged only a couple. So I re-scanned, this time with 6 mhz steps and same thing, only a few TP's more and no channels. Then I realized a pattern and I am drawing this conclusion to what I saw: This unit's step measurement is just that, a step, with nothing in between. So if you choose 3 mhz steps, you skip the 2 in between, 6 mhz steps skip the 5 in between. Kind of worthless at this point why not throw in a 1 mhz step if that's how it works on this box.
I ended up programming in a few good solid TP's for comparison down the road.
DVB-S2
Short answer: yes, it appears to work with DVB-S2. Thanks to some DVB-S2 info PM'd to me, I was able to get a good signal on any DVB-S2 TP I programmed in. Good being around 70-75 on my quality meter. It was solid too, not jumping around on the meter.
Long answer: Yes, it does DVB-S2 and doesn't need the secondary board/ext tuner to do it, but... the option to change a TP to DVB-S2 is not there in the factory firmware.
I'd post pics to prove it, but I noticed iceberg blacked some of that info out in another post on some pics he uploaded so I would do the same. You'll just have to take my word for it; I tuned to a known DVB-S2 TP on Ku, Pansat 9200 didn't register anything, viewsat 9000 picked it right up.
This is where I found an actual benefit from the pirate software. Much like the AC-3 on the ultra's and I believe the Coolsat 5000's ver 1.01 (I can't remember what this benefit was) were not official things, but the pirates did get things working that otherwise were not.
Additionally, the non-factory stuff added the following Modulations in additon to DVB-S2
DVB-S28
Turbo
Turbo8
Factory only allows DVB
Also, I realized that the non-factory stuff allows TP's to be put in with a FEC of Auto and it will find the signal ok. Factory stuff seems to want the FEC hard coded in the TP entries.
That's the extent of what the non-factory added other than support for the ext tuner board which I didn't even bother to use. I know what it does and since it doesn't add any real FTA functionality, no need to have it in. I took it out and put back in the dual tuner board that ships with the unit (btw, I think that is what else got added in the version 2 of the receiver, a 2nd tuner in addtion to the cooling fan).
OTA Tuner
It works like any other one I have used. nothing special here.
PVR
Supposedly this is in beta or whatever. Either way, it didn't like any USB hard drive I plugged in.
HD PQ
I actually think the PQ on this unit is better then my Pansat 9200, but that is a subjective thing. Testing PBS HD and a couple sports feeds tonight, I was impressed. Not that my pansat 9200 is bad at all.
One thing that is annoying is some of the high SR HD feeds caused the box to stutter a bit, really annoying. I found no way to clear this up.
Little things that some might ask:
yes, it passes AC-3 and decodes it out of L/R
No diseqc 1.1 in the menus
It does not get hot, not even close.
Internal fan is not noisy, I had to check if it actually was spinning. However it does stay running even when the box is powered off by the front power button.
I'm sure by now, everyone realizes no 4:2:2
All in all, it's an OK unit. Without blindscan that at least has some clue on what it's doing, it does me no good, but I do like that it does seem to handle DVB-S2 stuff without additional hardware, but unfortunately like I said, it appears non-factory firmware.
I worked the crap out of the motor and it does seem to be doing quite well, no little adjustments or wild movement.
I figure for the $180 I paid it's not bad at all, but I will probably end up selling it on ebay and turn a little profit for my time in playing with it.
Ask away anything I didn't check or forgot to include, I'll try to accommodate.
If anyone really wants some pics, I'll upload them, but there is nothng special really that you can't find on reseller websites.
Ok, to start off, I bought this unit used locally from a college kid for $180, so you have probably already guessed, it was used for pirating. It did have one of the 8psk cards in it so I figure at worst, I can probably make my money back by selling the card alone.
The Look/Design
I think this is one sharp looking design for a FTA or any receiver. It has a pretty sleek face and decently laid out connection panel on the back. I like the display on the front, minimalistic, simple, small. Nice for a dark room.
Ok, let's see, where to start...
Well, I swapped my Pansat 9200 for this unit for the past 2 nights and have been playing around.
The menus structure is pretty much what is on my Viewsat Ultra that I played with a while back and now is used for mainly dish pointing out in the yard. So nothing really new.
The remote is just like the ultra remote, too big and not well laid out for me. I sometimes find myself using 2 hands with it.
My setup is as follows:
Receiver -->motor --> diseqc (QPH-031) and stationary G10r dish.
So I hook it up and configure like my pansat 9200, setting up USALs and all my switch options and nothing, no signal from my L side on my invacom from my TS sat. So I swing over to AMC 3 to check and still nothing. Try switching over to Nimiq 2 and see if the C side is working; dead. WTF is all I am thinking. I go out, double check and yep, my dish is moving. So I call my wife from the back yard, tell her to move the dish back to AMC 3 (not to talk bad, but by the time I talked her though this, I should have just come in and had her watch the dish
). AAnyways, sure enough, dish is moving like I expect.
Got to thinking I fried my diseqc (it was a el cheapo that come with every receiver it seems), so I swapped it out. Still dead. Then I thought maybe I killed my lnb, boy that would suck. So I hooked my Pansat 9200 back up and everything fired up no problem.
After checking all my connections, I bypassed the diesqc and sure enough, the Viewsat 9000 looks good signal wise. So from here on, I am using a 22khz in place of my diseqc. Not ideal for long run since I'll not have a place for my G10 dish, but I can go without for a couple nights while I test stuff.
With everything running now I go to begin playing around and I realize I have not even loaded the factory firmware on it yet (still has old pirate stuff on there). At this point, I am kind of lazy from running out to the dish and troubleshooting.
So bear with me because the fact I left the old pirate stuff on at first helped me realize a couple features the factory stuff does not have (and NO I am not saying it's ok to have pirate software, but it's been noted here a few times that some of the old pirate stuff that does not work for theft is actually useful at enabling things and fixing problems).
Things I wanted to test and verify on this unit:
Blind scan
DVB-S2
ATSC features/tuner
HD comparison to my 9200
Blind Scan
I began by going to AMC 3 for my old standby blind scan test. I find not many boxes like to pick up the Montana PBS feed, but will pick up everything else. So I begin blindscanning in steps of 3mhz (unit goes from 3-12mhz) figuring "Ok, cool, this nice to choose". After a few minutes, I was not sure what was going on. The receiver appeared to be scanning and seeing things, but nothing was being logged. Then when it went to log channels, it found nothing. So I check the TP's and it logged only a couple. So I re-scanned, this time with 6 mhz steps and same thing, only a few TP's more and no channels. Then I realized a pattern and I am drawing this conclusion to what I saw: This unit's step measurement is just that, a step, with nothing in between. So if you choose 3 mhz steps, you skip the 2 in between, 6 mhz steps skip the 5 in between. Kind of worthless at this point why not throw in a 1 mhz step if that's how it works on this box.
I ended up programming in a few good solid TP's for comparison down the road.
DVB-S2
Short answer: yes, it appears to work with DVB-S2. Thanks to some DVB-S2 info PM'd to me, I was able to get a good signal on any DVB-S2 TP I programmed in. Good being around 70-75 on my quality meter. It was solid too, not jumping around on the meter.
Long answer: Yes, it does DVB-S2 and doesn't need the secondary board/ext tuner to do it, but... the option to change a TP to DVB-S2 is not there in the factory firmware.
I'd post pics to prove it, but I noticed iceberg blacked some of that info out in another post on some pics he uploaded so I would do the same. You'll just have to take my word for it; I tuned to a known DVB-S2 TP on Ku, Pansat 9200 didn't register anything, viewsat 9000 picked it right up.
This is where I found an actual benefit from the pirate software. Much like the AC-3 on the ultra's and I believe the Coolsat 5000's ver 1.01 (I can't remember what this benefit was) were not official things, but the pirates did get things working that otherwise were not.
Additionally, the non-factory stuff added the following Modulations in additon to DVB-S2
DVB-S28
Turbo
Turbo8
Factory only allows DVB
Also, I realized that the non-factory stuff allows TP's to be put in with a FEC of Auto and it will find the signal ok. Factory stuff seems to want the FEC hard coded in the TP entries.
That's the extent of what the non-factory added other than support for the ext tuner board which I didn't even bother to use. I know what it does and since it doesn't add any real FTA functionality, no need to have it in. I took it out and put back in the dual tuner board that ships with the unit (btw, I think that is what else got added in the version 2 of the receiver, a 2nd tuner in addtion to the cooling fan).
OTA Tuner
It works like any other one I have used. nothing special here.
PVR
Supposedly this is in beta or whatever. Either way, it didn't like any USB hard drive I plugged in.
HD PQ
I actually think the PQ on this unit is better then my Pansat 9200, but that is a subjective thing. Testing PBS HD and a couple sports feeds tonight, I was impressed. Not that my pansat 9200 is bad at all.
One thing that is annoying is some of the high SR HD feeds caused the box to stutter a bit, really annoying. I found no way to clear this up.
Little things that some might ask:
yes, it passes AC-3 and decodes it out of L/R
No diseqc 1.1 in the menus
It does not get hot, not even close.
Internal fan is not noisy, I had to check if it actually was spinning. However it does stay running even when the box is powered off by the front power button.
I'm sure by now, everyone realizes no 4:2:2
All in all, it's an OK unit. Without blindscan that at least has some clue on what it's doing, it does me no good, but I do like that it does seem to handle DVB-S2 stuff without additional hardware, but unfortunately like I said, it appears non-factory firmware.
I worked the crap out of the motor and it does seem to be doing quite well, no little adjustments or wild movement.
I figure for the $180 I paid it's not bad at all, but I will probably end up selling it on ebay and turn a little profit for my time in playing with it.
Ask away anything I didn't check or forgot to include, I'll try to accommodate.
If anyone really wants some pics, I'll upload them, but there is nothng special really that you can't find on reseller websites.
12 Replies
·
24181 views
Ham Radio 2.0
Time for another AWESOME video from Ham Radio 2.0!
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V_Ny4b8gNo
Direct YouTube Link - Xiegu G7250: The NEW 100W Radio You Need to See
Ham Radio 2.0 Website
Ham Radio 2.0 on Facebook
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V_Ny4b8gNo
Direct YouTube Link - Xiegu G7250: The NEW 100W Radio You Need to See
Ham Radio 2.0 Website
Ham Radio 2.0 on Facebook
0 Replies
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0 views
Lifetime Supporter
Schedule drops tomorrow. Mandatory mini camps in June. Hall of Fame game August 6th.
132 Replies
·
2705 views
Mahomes is the biggest cry baby I have ever seen. He thinks he's privileged or something.
Pub Member / Supporter
Not sure saving $24/year is worth it unless you're a hardcore Philo user. I'll stick with monthly.
2 Replies
·
83 views
I have Dish with Hopper3. I choose to get local channels OTA and had a "guide list" established at my previous home. Having moved a few miles away, I wanted to update the list by appending a couple new stations via a rescan. As many would know, some stations come in with the UHF/VHF antenna aimed in one direction, while others come in better with a different direction.
Unfortunately, when a scan is done (bringing in 25-30 stations for that particular antenna aim), the dialog screen does not present the established guide list; it presents an empty field to the right that the scanned stations may be selected one by one and added to the empty guide. But because of antenna aim, some stations originally saved are missing, and would have to be retrieved with a different antenna aim. But as I explain, if a 2nd scan is done with a different antenna aim, the stations saved from the first scan are lost.
It troubles me that Dish didn't develop software that would allow a user to simply append only 1 or 2 channels to the established list.
Any thought on this? Has anyone experienced this or heard of this from others?
Unfortunately, when a scan is done (bringing in 25-30 stations for that particular antenna aim), the dialog screen does not present the established guide list; it presents an empty field to the right that the scanned stations may be selected one by one and added to the empty guide. But because of antenna aim, some stations originally saved are missing, and would have to be retrieved with a different antenna aim. But as I explain, if a 2nd scan is done with a different antenna aim, the stations saved from the first scan are lost.
It troubles me that Dish didn't develop software that would allow a user to simply append only 1 or 2 channels to the established list.
Any thought on this? Has anyone experienced this or heard of this from others?
11 Replies
·
364 views
Staff member
HERE TO HELP YOU!
Cutting Edge
Sometimes a thread gets so many posts in it that is can cause issues for the server so that why today we introduce The Song Name Game Part 3!
So let the game continue!
The last song was added by Bobby who posted...
One Meat Ball - Andrews Sisters
CONTINUE ON AND HAVE FUN! WELCOME HOME TO SATELLITEGUYS.US!
Here are the original rules for the game as posted by WebbyDude back in 2006. http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/68645-Song-Name-Game
Just name a song title and the band who performed it. The next person does the same thing, but needs to list a song title or band name which includes a word from the previous entry. Pick songs from any genre.
Example:
Long Live Rock and Roll -- Rainbow
Rainbow in the Dark -- Dio
Another example:
Ride the Lightning -- Metallica
Lightning Strikes -- Ozzy Osbourne
Get it?
An additional note: we all know that song titles, sometimes, use profane words. Because this is a family friendly website it is advised that you clean up that title up a bit. This is accomplished by using something like sh!t instead of the real word. Thanks....
So let the game continue!
The last song was added by Bobby who posted...
One Meat Ball - Andrews Sisters
CONTINUE ON AND HAVE FUN! WELCOME HOME TO SATELLITEGUYS.US!
Here are the original rules for the game as posted by WebbyDude back in 2006. http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/68645-Song-Name-Game
Just name a song title and the band who performed it. The next person does the same thing, but needs to list a song title or band name which includes a word from the previous entry. Pick songs from any genre.
Example:
Long Live Rock and Roll -- Rainbow
Rainbow in the Dark -- Dio
Another example:
Ride the Lightning -- Metallica
Lightning Strikes -- Ozzy Osbourne
Get it?
An additional note: we all know that song titles, sometimes, use profane words. Because this is a family friendly website it is advised that you clean up that title up a bit. This is accomplished by using something like sh!t instead of the real word. Thanks....
68735 Replies
·
2684207 views
TWiT Tech Podcast Network
Time for another AWESOME video from the TWIT Network!
View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/X5Yp6dbu76U
Direct YouTube Link - Ginux: A Rust Operating System Kernel Built in 11 Days #shorts
TWIT's Website
TWIT Live Feed
View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/X5Yp6dbu76U
Direct YouTube Link - Ginux: A Rust Operating System Kernel Built in 11 Days #shorts
TWIT's Website
TWIT Live Feed
0 Replies
·
7 views
Pub Member / Supporter
Pissed off at the crappy healthcare costs
My health Insurance renewal for 2027 just came in. Going from $827 a month to $1,187 a month. Deductible going up a $1k to $9,350. Max out of pocket also going up $1k to $11,000. Doctor co-pay of $40. Urgent Care co-pay $50. ER 50% coinsurance after deductible. That's all in network. Out of network is double, should it be needed.
Have to think about this. I'm really tempted to just go without now. I only go to the doctor once or twice a year. I pay out of pocket for Tirzepitide and can do without the Rosuvastatin (crestor) now. Really tired of spending over $10k a year and getting nothing out of it.
After years with Blue Cross I switched last year to Ambetter as my Blue Cross premium was going from $1200 to $1800 for a Silver plan and the Bronze plan was still going to be $1300 at BCBS. Ambetter was $827 for the same coverage with a Bronze plan. Didn't think it would jump this much so soon.
I'm guessing a Silver plan is probably over $2,000 a month for 2027.
70 Replies
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1026 views
Such a scam. Healthcare.gov shows me cheaper individual plans available for 2027 from ambetter that ambetter doesn't show on their website. Looked it up. I've spent $68,000 in premiums the last 5 years and got nothing out of it except a few doctors visits and labs.
AI is now deciding who gets healthcare in 6 US states – and it's already harming patients | BBC Science Focus Magazine
An AI pilot programme is attempting to cut down on ‘wasteful’ medical procedures, and patients are paying the price
www.sciencefocus.com
T
During the summer I was hospitalized prior to having a pacemaker inserted. Shortly after discharge I received a letter from United Healthcare denying the level of coverage during the hospitalization. The denial text was written by a AI that sounded like a third grader. The hospital appealed immediately and it was eventually overturned.AI is now deciding who gets healthcare in 6 US states – and it's already harming patients | BBC Science Focus Magazine
An AI pilot programme is attempting to cut down on ‘wasteful’ medical procedures, and patients are paying the price
I was bewildered with all the new DISH TV "Bonus View" channels, so I put together a web page table with all the info I could find. It's at:
https://anythingpeaceful.org/dishtv/DISH_TV_Bonus_View_Channels.html
Here's a partial screenshot of the table, as sorted by Channel Name. (You can click on a column header to sort.)
If you have any corrections or suggestions, please post here.
https://anythingpeaceful.org/dishtv/DISH_TV_Bonus_View_Channels.html
Here's a partial screenshot of the table, as sorted by Channel Name. (You can click on a column header to sort.)
If you have any corrections or suggestions, please post here.
45 Replies
·
6208 views
T
Two new Bonus View channels Added today:
And two Removed:
My full list is at: DISH TV "Bonus View" Channels
Thanks to Pat for the heads up.
And two Removed:
My full list is at: DISH TV "Bonus View" Channels
Thanks to Pat for the heads up.
T
One Bonus View channel added today. And one correction (on my part):
One Removed:
My full list is at: DISH TV "Bonus View" Channels
BTW, not a Bonus View item, but there was a temporary channel 304 Spooktacular added, I imagine just for the Halloween season.
Thanks again to Pat for the many tips.
One Removed:
My full list is at: DISH TV "Bonus View" Channels
BTW, not a Bonus View item, but there was a temporary channel 304 Spooktacular added, I imagine just for the Halloween season.
Thanks again to Pat for the many tips.
T
Three new Bonus View channels today:
My full list is at: DISH TV "Bonus View" Channels
As always, thanks to Pat for the tips.
My full list is at: DISH TV "Bonus View" Channels
As always, thanks to Pat for the tips.
TFLEV
Time for another AWESOME video from TFL Electric Vehicles!
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvCXgeUJXS0
Direct YouTube Link - Geely E5 (EX5) First Drive: Meet The Toyota RAV4 of China!
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvCXgeUJXS0
Direct YouTube Link - Geely E5 (EX5) First Drive: Meet The Toyota RAV4 of China!
0 Replies
·
15 views
Staff member
Pub Member / Supporter
Cutting Edge
The TPN Map Excel Presents all DIRECTV Channels:
Understanding the TPN Map
Making Sense of the TPN Map Display Conventions
National (50-States or wide/NAT+PR beams)
Local (Local-Into-Local or narrow/Spot beams)
Local (Local-Into-Local or narrow/Spot beams)
Additional tabs provide:
OTA the (Over-The-Air) Database
VOD (Video On_Demand) Records
Offline Records
Engr Records
Net Decoder a graphic presentation of all satellites and transponders
VOD (Video On_Demand) Records
Offline Records
Engr Records
Net Decoder a graphic presentation of all satellites and transponders
Domestic Satellites
@99W...... D11, D14
@101W.... D16
@103W.... D12, D15
@110W.... D5
@119W.... D8
@99W...... D11, D14
@101W.... D16
@103W.... D12, D15
@110W.... D5
@119W.... D8
Understanding the TPN Map
Making Sense of the TPN Map Display Conventions
2176 Replies
·
951280 views
