Dusting off my Sonicview 8000hd, firmware, dishes, switches.

[avg1joe]

I haven't done anything with my satellite gear in the last few years. We bought our first house a year ago and now that I am not renting I have more flexibility to put up as many free dishes as I can find. I understand that there are better boxes out there now but I have a sonicview 8000hd sitting in the basement that I can play with for free to see what's up there now. My goal is to gather a few free dishes and have fixed dishes to hit the satellites I want. I've had good luck with dish network super dishes in the past. I suspect I'll have questions about switches eventually since my old setup was a winegard dish with a motor. I don't think the motor still works though.

I'd like to start by asking for advice on the Sonicview 8000hd firmware. I am currently getting the channel error that dish network zapped these boxes with. In the firmware section on this site, what version is the firmware 20080108? Is this 2.07? Does the the over the air antenna work with this firmware? Is there a better file?

I'm not at all interested in hacking but sometimes the pirates continue to update the firmware after the manufacturer is long gone. My understanding is that the Sonicview won't hack without an internet connection dongle. Has anyone tried the newer hackware without the internet dongle to see if it works better than the old firmware. Will that hackware work at all without the dongle or do you just get an error.

 

[Anole]

Why don't you hook up the Visionsat IV200?
It should get you going just fine.
I'm sure we have firmware for it; something like 1.46, if memory serves.
If that is satisfactory, you might then look into a more modern receiver.
See also the Switches Simplified FAQ for hooking up 8 dishes.
?.

 

[mattv]

I 2nd the visionsat comment. They're pretty good boxes.

I have a 90cm dish/motor at my shop and i have the sv8000hd. Depending on which firmware you use, the OTA tuner works better or worse -- i've tried a few versions and without checking can't say which one i'm using currently.

 

[avg1joe]

The visionsat is a nice rig but doesn't do ac3, ota, or hd. I started out some years ago with a traxis and the visionsat was a nice upgrade. The sonicview is a nice upgrade from the visionsat. I know its not real popular on this forum but it is a nice box.

I'll take a look at the switch faq at a later date. Thank you for pointing it out to me.

I'm still interested in hearing people's experiences with different firmware for the sonicview 8000hd.