AZBox Vs CW-400HD, Help me flip the Coin.

[upnatm]

A few buck$ coming my way in the near future, and I can't decide between the two,
although, I'm kinda leaning towards the CW-4000HD, I think.

I thought I scored a decent STB with the K-Box K2HD, but was left with ZERO factory
firmware support. And Mister, this box needs support!

First off, my other stuff is a freebie, but excellent condition 10' Perfect-Ten dish with a
brand-new DMX741 C/Ku LNB at the focal point. I'm using a G-Box V-3000 to operate
the Von-Weiss actuator.
I've scanned in about 35 birds between 50*W. and 139*W., while sitting near 48*N, 84.5*W.
I also have a PanSat 2700A (5yrs), and a CoolSat 7000 PVR (3yrs), 90cm. dish, with an
Invacom QPH-031 on a STAB-HH90 (2yrs).

I don't see a product review here for the CaptiveWorks CW-400HD, but at other sites, people
are liking this box a whole lot.

Has anyone here had the opportunity to compare the AZBox to the CW-4000HD?

Is there any real benefit to the AZBox over the CW4000, aside from the ability to process
4:2:2 signals?

Have all the bugs been ironed out of the AZ yet?, power supply reliability, recording?

How do their blind-scans compare?

Which brand hard-drive and/or flash-drive works best?

Is the AZBox as good a "web-crawler" as the CW-4000?

Are there any other comparable brands that I should consider?

I've skimmed through the AZBox forum, and I know many answers are in there, but I'm hoping
for someone's first-hand experience with these two products.

Thanks much, for helping to "flip the coin"!

 

[Bill_KY]

I don't have either one, but not having 4:2:2 would mean missing out on some channels you might want to watch.

 

[gardo403]

I' ve had them both (cw 3000) and AZBOX. The difference ibetwwen 3000 & 4000 is smaller case and cpu

A pc with a pci sat card card. thats all that the cw hd is...
the thing will not do S2 or 422 , WITCH THE AZBOX CAN DO ALL DAY!

However my big problem was the motor control on the az box. It would send out a code to the gbox / vbox positioner to set the limits. so basically the dish will not move untill you go to the gbox and disable the limits.

I also had the gbox go all the way east a coulpe of times for no good reason, something the az box with its command just doesn't get along...

The box does do some neat stuff thats for sure. If they would fix the motor issue I would have hung on to it...

As for the cw The motor ok. No blind scan either! gotta have that.


I gotta ask what does the Kbox k2 not do or needs work on?
I was looking into one of these myself....

that and the pansat tc1000 with the s2 board

 

[upnatm]

Hi again,

Thanks for the responses, and sorry for taking so long to return.

Bill_KY, yes, the 4:2:2 would be nice, can anyone describe what kind of
programming is available?
"The List" shows 6 channels on 99*w, Galaxy-16, but no links to any
web sites at Lyngsat.

Thanks gardo403, for the warning about the positioner problems and
the lack of blind scan on the CW.
My opinion of the K2HD is not great, KBox support disappeared 3 days before
I bought the K2HD (stupid ME!), so we've been left with only 2 factory files to
work with, and the latest (March 31/10) will forget some TP info, and mysteriously
scramble others. It will also "hang" for a bit when changing channels between
sats and going back and forth between C and Ku band.
However, the machine does perform quite well in doing SD, HD, AC3 audio and such,
but I've not had any luck with the 8PSK add-on module. One big annoyance, is
the "Antenna Moving" banner appearing when doing a scan. It seems to
delay the scan if the motor control is not turned off.


Now, back to topic,
I'm curious about the AZBox's web surfing abilities. Somehow, I was led to
believe that it's browsing was limited to YouTube, is this true?
How good is it's blind-scan working nowadays?

Once again, thanks for the input!

 

[pback]

CW 3000/4000HD is a wonderful multi-media box, with XBMC plugin just recently added makes it even better. As an FTA box, it has poor motor control and lack blindscanning capability if you are into hunting for feeds. Hopefully it gets better as their support is top notch.

Azbox on the other hand has better motor control and h/w blindscan depending on the model(s) you buy. As an FTA box, it is a better performer than the CW. Support is only adequate imo, and is slow to respond to our needs. High bitrate recording for example still don't work for me and forget about IPTV, too many bugs.

For multi-media use, the CW has the definite edge.

Hope this helps and GL!

 

[Mikey11]

the CW is just like your KBox....they were both made for one reason....HACKING satellite signals....neither are very good quality....you would be MUCH better off with the AZBox....

 

[pback]

I have to disagree, Mikey11.......the CW is much, much more than the KBox. You are not using it to it's full potential if just FTA, hack or non-hack. It can still function like a normal desktop computer, it will never be obsolete.

 

[B.J.]

I don't know much about the CW receivers, but I have an Azbox, and for me the 4.2.2 and DVB-S2 capability is very important. However, there is one advertised capability of the CW 3000/4000 that is very attractive, and that is that it is compatable with the Genpix Skywalker receivers. If you add a Skywalker to the CW, you'd get DCII, DSS, and Turbo QPSK/8PSK capability. So it's a question of what your interests are, and whether you're duplicating capabilities, etc. I chose to get an Azbox for the 4.2.2/DVB-S2 and a separate Genpix that I run on my computer.

 

[SeldomIn]

I don't know much about the CW receivers, but I have an Azbox, and for me the 4.2.2 and DVB-S2 capability is very important. However, there is one advertised capability of the CW 3000/4000 that is very attractive, and that is that it is compatable with the Genpix Skywalker receivers. If you add a Skywalker to the CW, you'd get DCII, DSS, and Turbo QPSK/8PSK capability. So it's a question of what your interests are, and whether you're duplicating capabilities, etc. I chose to get an Azbox for the 4.2.2/DVB-S2 and a separate Genpix that I run on my computer.

CaptiveWorks 4000 HD is manufactured with built-in 8PSK Genpix Skywalker-CW3K Module Adapter.

I can't find any 8psk boards for the AzBox but I'm following this thread with interest as I'm also contemplating a purchase of one or the other.

 

[Mikhel]

CaptiveWorks 4000 HD is manufactured with built-in 8PSK Genpix Skywalker-CW3K Module Adapter.

I can't find any 8psk boards for the AzBox but I'm following this thread with interest as I'm also contemplating a purchase of one or the other.

There were a couple of models of CW, one with the Genpix, one without the Genpix.

Altough i see no real use on having the capability of 8psk besides stealing Dish (at least not for the price a Genpix goes).

As for the Azbox, it will do DVB-S2, which is the way a lot of sports feeds are nowadays, as for 4:2:2 it's also used in some sports feeds.

the 4:2:2 would be nice, can anyone describe what kind of
programming is available?

Usually sports feeds, if you have access to the protected section in this forum you'll see what kind of feeds are in 4:2:2, if not, there are a few open forums with tons and tons of information regarding feeds where you can make up your mind and decide whether the Azbox fits your needs or not, if you're not an avid sports fan, then maybe you'd be happy with a plain DVB-S2 receiver like the Solomend/Satwhawk/Opensat or whatever name that clone is gonna be sold.

I'd say... go for the AzBox, my second option would be a DVB-S2 card for the PC either PCI or USB, a Vantage, and finally a Sathawk/Solomend/Opensat, the CW it's good because it is a media center, a computer, but for that kind of money you could build yourself a media center PC with newer components.

There are talks about the CW's being able to use any DVB-S2 PCI card to get DVB-S2 and not only the turbofec flavor, but somebody who has done it, maybe can tell you how to do it, which brands can be used and more regarding that subject.

Cheers

Mike

 

[nicholas1]

I have a Captive Works 4000HD and yes it does not pickup the DVB-S2 but, it can. Captive works already has two DVB-S2 tuners that will work in their unit. They are: Technotrend S2-1600 and Geniatech Digistar-2HD, they can be installed and the software is already in the unit. What is nice about the CW 4000HD is, it can be upgraded in the future. So far I have not had any motor problems, but I have heard that some of the units had a weak power supply that burns out. It might have a hiccup every now and then, but it does still have support and it does a lot of different things besides satellite. It is built to be multi media unit and it is good at being just that. So yes, the CW4000HD can pickup DVB-S2 "IF" one of the above cards are installed.

 

[B.J.]

I have a Captive Works 4000HD and yes it does not pickup the DVB-S2 but, it can. Captive works already has two DVB-S2 tuners that will work in their unit. They are: Technotrend S2-1600 and Geniatech Digistar-2HD, they can be installed and the software is already in the unit. What is nice about the CW 4000HD is, it can be upgraded in the future. So far I have not had any motor problems, but I have heard that some of the units had a weak power supply that burns out. It might have a hiccup every now and then, but it does still have support and it does a lot of different things besides satellite. It is built to be multi media unit and it is good at being just that. So yes, the CW4000HD can pickup DVB-S2 "IF" one of the above cards are installed.

That's neat. I didn't realize that the CW receiver had PCI ports, I thought it only used USB devices.

Looking at the specs for that TT1600 though, it looks like it has the 30000 SR limitation, and it also seems to be missing the 9/10 FEC, both of which are significant limitations. I wonder if it would work with a TT3200, which doesn't have those limitations.

 

[pback]

Not yet, the CW 4000HD will only work with the 2 PCI cards mentioned for now. I've requested support to include DVB World's 2104D so that we have blindscan, we will see soon enough.

 

[Tron]

Would be nice if the AZBox would support PCI slots. Sounds like the CW4000HD is actually a dedicated micro PC.