3.5" Portable Satelllite finder meters

[Johnson114]

Hello my fellow forum members, I have been looking at some 3.5" portable Sat finder meters on eBay one in particular Satlink WS- 6906 and WS- 6908 and another off brand model which are from China. But i was able to find two U.S sellers, I will like to have the one with mpeg4 compatible which is very expensive. The 6906 and 6908 are mpeg 1 and 2 compatible. Do you think the meters with mpeg 2 are ok. The reason is because as you guys know we are in a world which things get upgraded all the time. I don't want to buy a device and I will have to buy another one later. I'm still new to this FTA world but reading few forums here about some sat changing from mpeg 2 to mpeg 4 broadcast.

 

[SatelliteAV]

If you are interested in the Satlink meters and wish to be future proof for several years, consider the MPEG2/4 version, WS-6822. MPEG2 will be around for many years more, but already you will find a satellite that does not have an active MPEG2 transponder and would need an MPEG4 to lock.

 

[rrob311]

I bought one of those satlink units for a good price and it works pretty good for setting up dishes. It is no good for DVB-S2 but I have found that once I peak whatever transponders I can find the DVB-S2 ones come in pretty good so it saves me a lot of time.

 

[Xizer]

Purchasing a new meter which cannot handle MPEG-4 or DVB-S2 is quite unwise.

The number of DVB-S and MPEG-2 feeds available continues to shrink. Even PBS is finally going all MPEG-4/DVB-S2 by the end of July.

 

[Stargazer]

I wonder when newer technology will take hold, or if this is going to be mainstream at DVB-S2/MPEG-4 for a while. I am guessing it will be years before anything newer will take hold for most stations especially after they just now upgraded?

 

[Xizer]

H.264's successor, HEVC, doesn't even have a final draft until next year.

It will take years for encoders to be developed and rolled out. DVB-S3 is still just being proposed and is in the very early stages.

Neither one of these will be ready for anyone to use until at least 2013 and I think it will be years before DVB-S2/H.264 broadcasters switch to them.

 

[Johnson114]

If you are interested in the Satlink meters and wish to be future proof for several years, consider the MPEG2/4 version, WS-6822.

WS- 6822 is kinda expensive. It cost around $325 on ebay. The cheapest is around $279 also on ebay

 

[Xizer]

The SatHero SH-200 is my preferred meter.

It supports all the various modes, DVB-S, DVB-S2, etc.