Freesat V8 satellite finder Hank's half ass review.

[hank123]

Got this in almost a week ago and had about 45 mins to dick around with it.
It runs about like a v7/v8 box. Has a tv on it so you can watch, you can enter transponders, edit the satellite list ect.
I was hoping it would have DB option so I can try to hit stuff that is outside my foot print.
But a 65 dollar meter is not going to run like a spectrum analyzer.

Few pics. When I get time ill make a video of how it works.

 

[TRG]

Hank, Do you know if the Freesat V8 will measure Carrier to Noise Ratio (C/N)?

 

[hank123]

No it is very basic. No SNR. It is like setting up any TV outside with a STB to tune a dish.

BIG PLUS is that it is very easy to program in transponders. Blind scan works good. Like most other STB.
Will not display any forum of encrypted channels.

It is pretty much and STB with out puts and a battery that you could use on a camping trip.
Not much to test with KA but I could try on a Directv dish. KU should work.

 

[hank123]

Not my dog barking, the neighbors seem to have a hard time controlling animals.

 

[hank123]

Please ask question or if you want video of anything I will try to take it.

Bottom line no meter at 65 dollars can beat this. But it is a shame to call it a meter when it is a V8 compressed with a cheap LED and battery.

 

[FTA4PA]

Thanks for the review, especially the videos - nice to see it in action!

 

[FTA4PA]

Forgot to ask - where did you get yours?

 

[hank123]

Off of Amazon.

 

[FTA4PA]

Off of Amazon.

Thanks!

 

[skysurfer]

Since you say it behaves like a portable STB box out at the dish, there is no crude spectrum-like display, right?

I would make a case a Sathero SH-100HD meter that I recently picked up to evaluate can beat this since it's $50 and it locks the same signals as the Freesat V8 and the SH-100HD offers "Power" readout, a Q readout, and a C/N readout but at the con of requiring a power input such as the coax from your indoor sat receiver or an external 12-18V DC battery supply as the SH-100HD doesn't have an internal battery to self power. The Freesat V8 pros apparently are the LCD screen which gives you a STB like operation, the self-powering ability due to internal battery and getting to watch the video of what you are tuning.

 

[Hockeynut]

Thanks Hank..Will it accept a sat list from the V7?

 

[hank123]

Thanks Hank..Will it accept a sat list from the V7?

Not sure if it will. I think you can get a program to edit the list.

Since you say it behaves like a portable STB box out at the dish, there is no crude spectrum-like display, right?

I would make a case a Sathero SH-100HD meter that I recently picked up to evaluate can beat this since it's $50 and it locks the same signals as the Freesat V8 and the SH-100HD offers "Power" readout, a Q readout, and a C/N readout but at the con of requiring a power input such as the coax from your indoor sat receiver or an external 12-18V DC battery supply as the SH-100HD doesn't have an internal battery to self power. The Freesat V8 pros apparently are the LCD screen which gives you a STB like operation, the self-powering ability due to internal battery and getting to watch the video of what you are tuning.

It does show the quality but as we all know quality will differ from STB to STB.

Does the sathero do DB?

 

[skysurfer]

Does the sathero do DB?

I'm not exactly sure. There is a "Power" figure that's given in dBuV so I"m not sure if that's exactly the DB
you refer to or not. When I use a portable sat meter, I pay more attention to the C/N figure than I do a DB
or quality readout.

I locked a signal to give you the readouts I got if you wanted to try to figure out if "Power" was equivalent to "DB"..
For the signal I locked, Sathero readout Q was 84, C/N was 14.35 and P was 55.3

 

[hank123]

Yes no C/N on the meter that I know of on the meter.

 

[mr3p]

Seems like a modified version of their STB. Can it do USALS or DiSEqC?

 

[jholt5638]

I've been looking for a decent meter and after reading the specs I see that it has Composite/HDMI out. I am also need to replace my STB. So I'm thinking of buying this to do both till I can get a actual STB. This seems like a good compromise at least temporary one. Think it would work for that purpose? The lack of remote isn't a problem for me. And, after getting an STB I'll still have a great meter

 

[hank123]

I've been looking for a decent meter and after reading the specs I see that it has Composite/HDMI out. I am also need to replace my STB. So I'm thinking of buying this to do both till I can get a actual STB. This seems like a good compromise at least temporary one. Think it would work for that purpose? The lack of remote isn't a problem for me. And, after getting an STB I'll still have a great meter

Yes the screen is small.

 

[hank123]

Seems like a modified version of their STB. Can it do USALS or DiSEqC?

I think you can. I dont use it for that, I would look in the manual.

 

[breynold76]

I have had this signal meter for a week and it seems to be just like my freesat v7. Even if there is a signal it will not show a signal until a blind scan is done. Is this normal or am i doing something wrong? It takes a very long time to get a signal. move the dish a little then wait 3 minutes for a blind scan then repeat.

 

[jholt5638]

I've ordered one but after reading the freesat forum apparently the v8 finder has a hardware fault. It's all above my pay grade but, from what I can gather it has a ripple from the power supply/battery that is close to the 22khz so it blocks all DiSEqC commands and only allows the high band on universal LNBs. So for anything more than a fixed dish with a single LNB in North America very limited use. If I am mistaken let me know