Hesitations on Openbox S9 receiver on some S2 Transponders

[linuxman]

I hesitate to open another question on the Openbox S9 receiver since there have been so many written already, and I have read through most of them, but still have not found a definitive answer.

On some S2 transponders, Montana PBS on the Ku side, and even occasionally on the RTV S2 transponders on 87W C-Band, the picture and audio will display just fine for several seconds, maybe 15 - 20, then for no reason, hesitate, then resume playing for another interval.

I have even had Montana PBS drop clear out, and need to change the channel and come back to get it to start up again.

I don't think it is a problem with signal quality. On 125W, I have a dedicated Primestar 84e pointed there while it waits to be sold with an OEM LNBF on it. I had the same issues using the SL2 on my 6' Prodelin dish. I have 55-65 SQ most of the time, and LPBHD plays fine with never a problem. I have tried deleting the channels and transponders and letting it blind scan them all in new, but that didn't seem to help the situation.

This problem only occurs occasionally on 87W C-Band, but the same is true there. I have plenty of SQ, and should not be seeing any problems. That dish is a 10' perforated Unimesh dish with an orthomode feed on it.

I am using the FW that came with it, and have not upgraded to the latest because I have not seen enough significant improvement over the old FW along with slower blind scanning.

Have any of you tried the latest FW?

Have you noticed any significant improvement in any area?

Have any of you noticed a similar problem using the Openbox S9?

Let me know your thoughts.

 

[brentb636]

I'm not seeing this problem on Montana PBS . Using a 1M dish , I may have a stronger signal than you. Using the info screen on my Solomend 800, I see SNR in the 58-68% range. I wonder if there is a variance between my Openbox S9 and the Solomend 800. I'll check on this, just put them all on a 4x8 switch.

 

[linuxman]

I'm not seeing this problem on Montana PBS . Using a 1M dish , I may have a stronger signal than you. Using the info screen on my Solomend 800, I see SNR in the 58-68% range. I wonder if there is a variance between my Openbox S9 and the Solomend 800. I'll check on this, just put them all on a 4x8 switch.

Is that using the latest firmware?

I don't see an info screen with an SNR figure. I only see Signal and Quality.

 

[linuxman]

BTW, I thought I would add the version number.

HDS2-10-7-11-11:072AM

I found the SNR Brent. It is on the first info screen. Mine is about the same range as yours 58 - 65%.

But the hesitation comes when everything just drops off to nothing.

 

[brentb636]

I just looked at my Openbox s9 which is my Cband receiver ( as opposed to the Solomend which drives my Ku dish). The Openbox s9 ( via the 4x8 multiswitch) has an SNR in the same range, and seems to be behaving well on Montana PBS, at the moment. I'm using the 9/27/2010 software in both boxes. I've been watching it for about 10 minutes without any signal dropout. I'll try to remember to check in the morning for awhile and see if I see any similar symptoms.

 

[linuxman]

I just looked at my Openbox s9 which is my Cband receiver ( as opposed to the Solomend which drives my Ku dish). The Openbox s9 ( via the 4x8 multiswitch) has an SNR in the same range, and seems to be behaving well on Montana PBS, at the moment. I'm using the 9/27/2010 software in both boxes. I've been watching it for about 10 minutes without any signal dropout. I'll try to remember to check in the morning for awhile and see if I see any similar symptoms.

That would be great.

If I am reading the version number correctly on mine, the day would be 7/11/2010. Then, it might be in my best interest to find a newer version and give it a whirl.

But then, I'd have to re-read the how-to since it's been a while since I even messed with the channel list.

 

[brentb636]

You can save the channel list to a USB stick. Then load the new firmware, and reload the channel list. It actually works just fine. I keep the same channel list in both my boxes, so that either receiver can handle both the Ku and Cband dishes. I do a lot of channel updating using that scheme. I can recommend the 9/27/2010 firmware. I haven't seen anything useful in any of the subsequent releases ( other than the Mar 2011 green tinge fix, but that doesn't affect me, and the blindscan was affected ) .

 

[linuxman]

I have downloaded the firmware dated 9/27/2010 that you uploaded to the firmware section.

I'll give it a try tomorrow and see if there is improvement.

Thanks for uploading it.

 

[Mr Tony]

I wonder if the March 2011 one (that also fixes the green tint issue) would work better?

OpenBox S9 -Greenfix-Mar212011 - Downloads - SatelliteGuys.US

 

[brentb636]

I've been watching Montana PBS for several hours this morning, with no trace of problems. Of course, that's not conclusive, since the problem could be intermittent and I need a bigger sampling. It would be a GOOD think for Linuxman to evaluate several versions of the firmware, and draw his own conclusions. The practice and familiarity with saving channels, and loading new firmware will be helpful in the long run. Anyone who doesn't do much loading and dumping feels understandably nervous when they tread that unfamiliar ground, in times of FTA crisis.

 

[warnerwlf98]

I've seen the RTV stuttering problems on C band with my Solomend receiver, but I thought it was just a SNR issue. I also see breaking up on the NBC channels at 105W, but a simple rescan of the transponder seems to fix that. Maybe that would work for the RTV networks at 87W too.

 

[linuxman]

Well, that seems to have cured it.

Dumped my channel list, and then decided to go ahead and give the latest a whirl, so I have the March 2011 firmware loaded.

Reloaded my channel list, and all is well.

Montana PBS is now rock solid.

I made the decision to use the newer firmware, because I had read somewhere that it allowed the lower symbol rates to be scanned in a little better. I do realize that the scanning will be somewhat slower. For me, accuracy is more important than speed. I have owned some painfully slow blind scanners, so I can't imagine this being any slower.

I'll find out whether it is better or not over the course of the next day or two.

Thanks for everyone's help and advice.

 

[Auric]

I'll have to give the new firmware a try.
I got the RTV channels on 4080 H 29125 once all day & then they went black My Q droped to 10% at the highest, & has never come back.

3800 H 29125 has never come in the highest Q I have ever gotten was 10%.

As far as I know that's the only two I have trouble with...Naturally since I like RTV...LOL