OTHER Good reciever less than $100?

Jrklingerman

New Member
Original poster
Dec 1, 2016
2
0
Pennsylvania, USA
Hey all,

I'm new to FTA, I don't have any equipment at the moment besides a Dish 500 dish (I plan on getting a bigger dish). But I was looking into receivers, and I'm wondering if there's any decent receivers out there under $100 that supports blind scanning? I live in North America and I'm planning on pointing my dish at all the satellites I can that have unencrypted FTA channels.

By the way, what would be a decent sized dish?

Thanks so much
 
Welcome to SatelliteGuys Jrklingerman!!

To get started off I would locate at least a 90cm dish. You can buy the geosatpro off ebay with LNBF for $115, this includes shipping.
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?icep_id=114&ipn=icep&toolid=20004&campid=5337980106&mpre=http://www.ebay.com/itm/GEOSATpro-36-90cm-FTA-Satellite-Dish-5dB-NR-SL1-PLL-Single-Standard-LNBF-/322163399890?hash=item4b026f5cd2:g:1kIAAOSwRgJXiYt0
Also you can look for 3-4' (.9-1.2M) dishes on abandoned gas stations, etc.
As far as a decent receiver around $100 I would head over to hypermegasat.com and look at their Manhattan model.

This will get you started into Ku. C-Band is the larger 8-12' dishes that you can look into finding later on.
 
Well thank you, I'll definitely be getting a dish that size then.

I like that Manhattan DJ-1997 model but I heard that it has some blind scan issues. It doesn't look cheap or anything bad but I don't wanna miss out on channels due to blind scan issues
 
OK, I am not interested stealing programming any way, the question is does it going to work well like regular FTA receiver ?
Does the hardware is capable of performing the job or is dog slow? Is there other things missing other than Dolby ac3 audio?

$20 is a prety good price for a try out FTA receiver!

Features:

  • Hard Specification:CPU: Montage.
  • Memory: 512m
  • Flash: 4M
  • USB 2.0: Embedded One Host.
  • Software Features:
  • Fully comply with DVB-S/S2, MPEG-2/4 H.264 Standard.
  • Supports single / multiple or blind search satellite search.
 
IMHO, I would not purchase a STB without AC3/Dolby audio decoding. You would not have any audio on channels which exclusively use Dolby AC3 for the audio (example PBS distribution on 125w). It is a common chipset found on several STBs, but it is a wild guess how well the firmware has been developed.
 
If the channel is transmitted only with Dolby (AC3) audio, the receiver must have a decoder or an output (optical or coaxial) to pass the signal to an external decoder in order to have any audio. This STB has neither, so you would near nothing on Dolby (AC3) only channels.
 
How about this $30 iSmart F1 HD DVB-2 & FREE IPTV - Hybrid FULL HD Satellite Receiver - US seller

They dont mention anithing about Dolby (AC3) ?

Technical Features
    • Dual Core CPU
    • 2 GB Memory with super fast Blind Scan
    • WiFi By USB Included , USB 2.0 Port , RS-232 Port
    • Full HD up to 1080P, MPEG4 "HD Satellite Receiver"
    • PVR Recording (Fast Forward/Rewind/Slow Motion)
    • Stylish Metal design, New High Quality Receiver
    • Multiple Output Video Components
    • User Friendly On-Screen-Display Menu with Full Function
    • Supports DiSEqC 1.0 and 1.2, USALS
    • IPTV , Youtube , Weather
    • CVBS video and audio via RCA
    • Time Shift Functions (Watch one & Record the Second)
    • Electronic Program Guide for On-Screen Channel Information
    • Dolby Audio
    • Free To Air & NOT Support illegal service
    • Designed in USA
    • MADE IN China
Technical Summary for iSmart F1 HD

    • MPEG-2 & MPEG-4 AVC (H.264)
    • DVB-S, DVB-S2 compliant.
    • Multi-LNB controlled by DisEqC control version 1.2 and USALS.
    • USB 2.0 Port (Media Play with Full Extension of Media (Video , Audio , photo & PVR).
    • Brilliant 65,535 colors full-resolution on screen display.
    • Multi-Language supported ( OSD & MENU ).
    • Software upgrade via Online & RS-232 Serial Port & USB & Official Website
    • True to life HD (High Definition : HDMI )
    • Channel sorting
    • Unlimited Channels Programmable.
    • Favorite channel groups.
    • Support extended EPG for FTA Satellites.
    • Powerful channel control by favorites, lock, skip, move and delete.
    • Full Licenses Receiver (Dolby,FCC, Underwriters Laboratories,CE)
    • Power 90-240 V , 50/60 Hz , Max 25W
    • Manufacturer Year: 2016
s-l1600.jpg
 
Haven't heard of the receiver before, so unable to comment on the function. No specs on the eBay listing or website. I would check with the seller and make sure that it supports 16APSK modulation. If you are planning to motorize or have multiple LNBs, what is the max LNB current rating? Should be rated 450mA minimum.

It does list Dolby, licensing and compliance. :)
 
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Reactions: Dish Sub 2015
16APSK is a signal type that is being used more and more frequently by uplinkers for distribution and backhauls. Example: 44 very popular 24/7 channels on 97w C-band can only be received with a STB capable of 16APSK. 16APSK requires a better signal from the satellite in order to provide reliable reception, but it is very efficient and allows the uplinker to either uplink more channels or better quality using the same bandwidth as lower modulations such as 8PSK or QPSK.
 
According to the Ismart F1 user manual... the only DiSEqC listed is 1.2.

I checked the Ismart website.They offer 12 different receivers. I don't believe any model mentions 16APSK (or 32). Doesn't necessarily mean they don't though. :coco

They seem a bit short on details. Too many unanswered questions for me.

Who wants to take a hit for the team? lol
 
Can I ask one question, but please let me preface this by saying I am NOT trying to receive anything illegally. Lately I've mostly been using TBS tuner cards to receive satellite signals and I find that about the only time I ever hook up my receiver anymore is to check signal strengths. But the one thing my old receiver will not do is blind scan DVB-S2 signals. I have thought a few times about maybe getting one of the really cheap receivers for just the once in a blue moon that I want to blind scan a satellite and check signal strength/quality, and was hoping to find information on how well they work for this purpose. I frankly don't care if the receiver is pretty much a piece of crap for actual viewing, as long as it's CHEAP, has halfway decent blindscan capability (especially on DVB-S2), and can display signal strength and quality on some kind of relative scale.

But the impression I get is that discussion of some of these boxes is now forbidden because they can potentially be used for piracy. I understand that, but I was under the impression that these really only worked as piracy boxes in other countries that used certain types of keys that we don't use here. Our DBS systems are so different from the rest of the world's, and even 20 years ago I remember hearing that it was a fool's game to try to pirate signals here because they change the encryption so often that you'd pay more trying to pirate signals than by just subscribing. So I'm wondering, even if some of these boxes do support piracy in Europe or Asia or Australia or someplace else in the world, you can't use them for that here, right? I basically just want to know whether if I were to go ahead and buy one at some point whether I could be accused of having a pirate box if I only ever used it in the USA.

Again, I'm not trying to buy a pirate box, my goal is simply to spend as little as possible on a device I can take with me out to a dish while trying to tune it in and where I won't feel too bad if it fails in a couple years or accidentally gets broken. I don't care if it gets AC3 audio, I don't care if the color sucks, and I definitely don't care if it can get encrypted signals, I just want CHEAP and preferably legal in the USA, if not in all parts of the world. As an aside, it kind of strikes me odd that inline satellite meters haven't fallen in price - if you can get a cheapo receiver for around $20-$50 then why does anything other than a very basic, non-smart satellite meter cost so much more?

EDIT: That iSmart receiver may be a solution, if anyone gets one I'd be interested to know how well it blind scans.