Frustrated with my Fortec Star Lifetime Ultra

[Robbert]

Hi Everyone,

As a satellite newbie, I got my first FTA setup from Sadoun, and it came with the Fortec Star Lifetime Ultra receiver. In the beginning, everything seemed to work great.. Until I started to do blind scans on a bunch of satellites I could receive. For some reason, suddenly the antenna setup menu settings were completely messed up. I had LNB selections that said "Radio Channels" (????) and satellite positioning / DiSEqC settings that were messed up as well.. #@!$#@%#@$#@!.. I could get the settings back to normal (had to go to each sat and repair the settings), but after every blind scan, about 30-40% of the sats were messed up again.

I called Sadoun, and upgraded the firmware of this receiver with the latest factory firmware. And... Everything was fine again.. For a while.. And now last night, while doing another few blind scans, I look at the transponder lists of a few sats, and see a total mess in there (note that these are NOT the sats I just did the blind scan on). These satellites suddenly list over 100 transponders with wacky SR's.

Now, I'm a software engineer myself, and I have done firmware programming in the past (although I do mostly MFC/Visual C++ right now). But this stinks like a very bad programming job, where a routine (the blind scan routine) uses memory that is already being used for the transponder lists and antenna setup pages, if the data in there becomes too large.

I will take this up with Sadoun and see if they can figure out a way to fix this, but since I have read more reports in this forum about this specific problem (and people saying to delete all transponders, but one, from the sat before doing a blind scan... Now.. Come on.....). So I don't have much faith in this being something that Sadoun can fix.

Question for you guys.. Which FTA receiver out there has a similar feature set as the Fortec, and is STABLE... Should I look at the Pansat 3500? The Coolsat? The receiver should be USALS compatible and be able to do a blind scan. Am I asking for too much???

Thanks!
Robbert

 

[Cascade]

The Coolsat doesn't seem to have this problem at all, Iceberg will be able to tell you if the new Pansat has the problem too.
Both units have USALS and blind scan.

 

[snathanb]

Hi Everyone,

As a satellite newbie, I got my first FTA setup from Sadoun, and it came with the Fortec Star Lifetime Ultra receiver. In the beginning, everything seemed to work great.. Until I started to do blind scans on a bunch of satellites I could receive. For some reason, suddenly the antenna setup menu settings were completely messed up. I had LNB selections that said "Radio Channels" (????) and satellite positioning / DiSEqC settings that were messed up as well.. #@!$#@%#@$#@!.. I could get the settings back to normal (had to go to each sat and repair the settings), but after every blind scan, about 30-40% of the sats were messed up again.

I called Sadoun, and upgraded the firmware of this receiver with the latest factory firmware. And... Everything was fine again.. For a while.. And now last night, while doing another few blind scans, I look at the transponder lists of a few sats, and see a total mess in there (note that these are NOT the sats I just did the blind scan on). These satellites suddenly list over 100 transponders with wacky SR's.

Now, I'm a software engineer myself, and I have done firmware programming in the past (although I do mostly MFC/Visual C++ right now). But this stinks like a very bad programming job, where a routine (the blind scan routine) uses memory that is already being used for the transponder lists and antenna setup pages, if the data in there becomes too large.

I will take this up with Sadoun and see if they can figure out a way to fix this, but since I have read more reports in this forum about this specific problem (and people saying to delete all transponders, but one, from the sat before doing a blind scan... Now.. Come on.....). So I don't have much faith in this being something that Sadoun can fix.

Question for you guys.. Which FTA receiver out there has a similar feature set as the Fortec, and is STABLE... Should I look at the Pansat 3500? The Coolsat? The receiver should be USALS compatible and be able to do a blind scan. Am I asking for too much???

Thanks!
Robbert

Robbert,

Just as an alternate perspective, I have the same receiver, that I bought back in February of this year, it has never exhibited any of the above symptoms. I actively power scan nearly every FTA satellite in the Clarke Belt on a daily basis. Maybe you got a bum unit?

Anyway, there seems to be lots of good units out there, check the review forum.

 

[Robbert]

snathanb,

I hear you.. It may be a bad unit, I have considered that too. Unfortunately I'm so hooked on FTA right now that I would hate to have to send the unit back for repair and wait a few weeks until I get it back. And since I was thinking of getting a second receiver at some point, I figured I would get one before sending the Fortec back... But I wouldn't get another Fortec since I'm just not sure about the quality of the unit and the software...

By the way, I presume that you don't delete all but one of the transponders before you do the scan? This is something I have read a couple of times in this forum and the sadoun forum that is supposed to alleviate this issue.

Thanks,
Robbert

 

[W_Tracy_Parnell]

Speaking as another newbie, I would look at the Coolsat or the Pansat 3500s if you need AC3. I have the Coolsat and it performs flawlessly-no issues at all and easy to use. They are getting cheaper too.

 

[Mr Tony]

The Pansat is a nice unit...check the reviews area for a few reviews

 

[spindoctor]

these receivers are garbage

i have experienced many problems including what you describe above

i stopped using it

oh and the remote control

dont these people test these things...... before they put it in the market


out of 5 receivers i have this BY FAR IS THE WORSE

 

[PSB]

I have had my Fortec Lifetime Ultra for around a year and I LOVE it, the only issue is it does seem to have problems when there are too many TP. stored. This is very easily overcome by deleting all but one TP. on a satellite just before you do a new blind scan. Other than that its perfect, the signal quality meter is rather erratic like most new receivers (I use a Satwork for that) . But I will not be upgrading in the near future, all I would gain would be a slightly faster scan........ I can wait : )

 

[Robbert]

Spindoctor,

Which one out the the 5 you have do you consider the best?


Iceberg,

From what I'm hearing, the Pansat 3500 is the way to go.. Although, looking at the screenshots in the review section, the menus and screens look an awful lot like the ones on the Fortec (content-wise)... Do these two come from the same factory? Do they use the same or similar sw??

Thanks,
Robbert

 

[Mr Tony]

I think they might be close to the same for software, but the Pansat doesn’t have that issue with the transponder list. I’ve had 80 TP’s in the system and she holds up. I do sometimes go through and delete some.

 

[spindoctor]

Robbert

go for the PANSAT 3500

 

[Mr Tony]

Pansat 3500 is one of the better ones Ive used (only used it for a week now...)

 

[W_Tracy_Parnell]

Robbert

go for the PANSAT 3500

Spindoc,

How long have you had the 3500? Any issues at all to report with that unit?

Thanks

 

[rkrenicki]

You could always try loading the Pansat 2500A software on there, however the remote will no longer work then, you will need a Pansat remote, or a Pantec remote that can switch back and forth..

 

[drhydro]

i have a pansat 2700 and LOVE it. i do wish i would have held out for another month or two to get the 3500, as some minor issues with the 2700 are fixed on the 3500, ie: multiple "dummy" transponders when scannning a dbs sat. That being said, the 2700 has proven to be very stable and easy to use unit.

 

[snathanb]

snathanb,



By the way, I presume that you don't delete all but one of the transponders before you do the scan? This is something I have read a couple of times in this forum and the sadoun forum that is supposed to alleviate this issue.

Thanks,
Robbert

I haven't had to do that on my unit. Maybe I've been lucky?

 

[Robbert]

ultatryon, wouldn't putting the Pansat 2500 sw on my Fortec (I assume that's what you meant) void my warranty? I'm surprised that would work! I guess if thats the case, the Fortec is pretty much the same unit as the Pansat, hardware-wise... Wonder how close the 3500 is to the Fortec...

 

[Mr Tony]

ultatryon, wouldn't putting the Pansat 2500 sw on my Fortec (I assume that's what you meant) void my warranty? I'm surprised that would work! I guess if thats the case, the Fortec is pretty much the same unit as the Pansat, hardware-wise... Wonder how close the 3500 is to the Fortec...

yes you would void the warranty and it may not work

 

[rkrenicki]

Thats right, I forgot it was a brandy new unit.

My Fortec Lifetime (non-ultra) has the Pansat 2300A software on it, because it is much more reliable (in my opinion) than the Fortec software..

The hardware between them is identical...

As of right now, I do not believe there is a Fortec version of the 3500 yet.

 

[sbacchus]

maybe there was a bad batch of the lifetime ultras or something, because i've had many problems with the blind scan too.