Got the Openbox S9 on Monday....putting up for sale today.

[SATisfied]

I was not impressed with this stb....I hated that the sats arent' numbered, but use the sat name instead....hated how it lagged in the setup menus....it's super slow blind scan, which misses channels that the Coolsat would find. I was hoping it would find some HD channels, but it doesn't. Even though it has pvr functions, I'd never use it. It's going back on ebay real soon.

 

[tanka]

my friend I have one to for one ments and I dont like butt for the price .Only the price are good the rest very poor receiver my opinion.Butt looking at pansat 9200hd and openbox s9 I even like the openbox more so on my nex instalation my pansat did go to a new customer

 

[carlospr43]

I was not impressed with this stb....I hated that the sats arent' numbered, but use the sat name instead....hated how it lagged in the setup menus....it's super slow blind scan, which misses channels that the Coolsat would find. I was hoping it would find some HD channels, but it doesn't. Even though it has pvr functions, I'd never use it. It's going back on ebay real soon.

send me a PM and let me know how much are you wiiling to get for
Thanks

 

[Jim S.]

I was not impressed with this stb....I hated that the sats arent' numbered, but use the sat name instead....

Yeah the default sat list is fugly, but you can edit them. I just junked the whole thing and built my own.

hated how it lagged in the setup menus....

Mine doesn't do that.

it's super slow blind scan, which misses channels that the Coolsat would find.

If you have a slow blind scan, you must have a recent firmware version that SHOULD be finding skinny transponders that the previous versions, which were lightning-fast in blind scanning, would miss. (But it would only miss REALLY skinny transponders. It certainly wouldn't miss HD!)

All in all, I don't know what's going on with your box (other than the satellite names), but I almost wonder if it's broken or a clone.

 

[SATisfied]

Yeah the default sat list is fugly, but you can edit them. I just junked the whole thing and built my own.



Mine doesn't do that.



If you have a slow blind scan, you must have a recent firmware version that SHOULD be finding skinny transponders that the previous versions, which were lightning-fast in blind scanning, would miss. (But it would only miss REALLY skinny transponders. It certainly wouldn't miss HD!)

All in all, I don't know what's going on with your box (other than the satellite names), but I almost wonder if it's broken or a clone.

How can you tell if it's a clone?

 

[Jim S.]

What firmware version do you have? Some of the newer ones have a magic key sequence you can press in the information screen that gives you a chip ID number which you can compare against a list of approved parts. (On the other hand, the newer firmware will supposedly kill clones after 10 boots...)

There's also supposedly a difference in the color of the circuit board that holds the card reader between the real version and the clones, but I just saw someone on another board say that he's skeptical that that's definitive because he's opened a lot of Openboxes and all of them have subtle differences yet all of them work.

We need an American-designed and -supported FTA box, and we need it now!

 

[Anole]

We need an American-designed and -supported FTA box, and we need it now!

Yea, no kidding.
Tell that to Brian of SatelliteAV. - :up

I was first impressed with the Visionsat IV-200 under his direction.
He listens and gets things done.

 

[gmd63]

Wow, I love mine. It replaced my Pansat 9200HD (which went to a second set hook-up). Mine is far easier and faster.

 

[SATisfied]

What firmware version do you have?

This is the info I found listed:

MAC: 00-18-BD-5A-ED-4F
Machine: 06-07-01-01-00-00-00-00
NC: a8-fb-74-ca-4f-7c-05-3f
Version: HDS2-11-03-21:01A2M

Looks like it may be hackerware...not sure.

 

[Jim S.]

That's the March 21st version of the firmware. I think that's the first or second one that had the slower blind scan. I don't think it had the hidden key sequence to give you the chip ID to check against the clone list though. Try pressing 777777 on the remote while you're on the info screen and seeing if it does anything.

Hackerware? Probably emulation-capable (does it have ethernet configuration options, and a row of "lights" on the channel info bar for encryption types?), but not necessarily illegal, and probably even factory-authorized. I'm not sure if cloning your own card is explicitly illegal outside of America yet, even if sharing it with somebody else is. But it's not going to get Dish Network or Bell ExpressVu even if you connected it to a key server (which it's NOT configured with, as shipped) because it doesn't do TurboPSK modulation.

Bottom line? Try installing a firmware version from before March of this year (99.9% of the fixes in each version are encryption-related anyway, so as long as it's newer than March of LAST year it'll be fine for FTA) and seeing if that fixes the blind-scan speed. I think there might still be some firmware versions posted or linked somewhere here in the forum, I'm not sure.

I don't know why it's not finding any HD channels. If it's not finding DVB-S2 channels, it may just be that your alignment isn't as precise as you think (believe me, it makes a difference on some of them -- and if you're looking for the NBC channels on 103w, you know about the skew problem, right?) I think the PBS channels on 125w are still DVB-S, and that bird is a powerhouse.

 

[FaT Air]

That's the "Green Fix" firmware. Yeah, slower blind scan. Same as I'm running. Think you can find earlier firmware here Downloads - SatelliteGuys.US in particular FTA Firmware - Downloads - SatelliteGuys.US -- Think I'll add this here: How to use the Editor with the SSO's http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/238731-how-use-editor-openbox-s9-hd.html