Mercury Dynamic or Traxis 3500?

[mjs812]

I'm trying to decide between these two receivers. I've read a bit about both of them, but I'm looking for a comparison between the two. Blind scan being the most important along with picture quaility. Anyone use these two receivres, all opinions welcome, thanks.

 

[brentb636]

You'll be happy with either, I suspect, and you can add the Coolsat 5000 . Any of the three works well, they all have different high points and low points. I prefer the Merc II to the Coolsat 5000, but that's just because of the way I typically use the box.

 

[turbosat]

Go for the Merc, I have both and even though the Traxis is faster, the time wasted rebooting the box takes all the joy out of fast-scanning for me. Mine will lock up on HD signals, sometimes on 4.2.2 feeds and won't display some high-bitrate feeds it scans in sometimes. The Merc will keep right on going, has a very configurable blind-scan, doesn't hang up when blind-scanning, and has great picture quality for an SD receiver.

 

[Gary Z]

turbosat,

Do you have the latest update for the Traxis 3500?

Release 2007.10.08

DMS International Software

I had the lock up problem before I installed the latest update.

Go for the Merc, I have both and even though the Traxis is faster, the time wasted rebooting the box takes all the joy out of fast-scanning for me. Mine will lock up on HD signals, sometimes on 4.2.2 feeds and won't display some high-bitrate feeds it scans in sometimes. The Merc will keep right on going, has a very configurable blind-scan, doesn't hang up when blind-scanning, and has great picture quality for an SD receiver.

 

[turbosat]

Yes Gary, the very latest on their website, but I think it varies, depending on some letter in your serial number. Didn't make a whit of difference to mine. I have one of the older ones that still had the RF output connector on it, don't know if that made any differences to the innards of it or not. Threatened to buy another one, a newer one without that rf=out just to try but I think I've spent enough on SD boxes. I know I'm not the only person who has complained of that problem though. Back when they came out, and there wasn't 50% of the wildfeeds in HD, it wouldn't have mattered. It's still a good overall receiver though.

 

[Gary Z]

I know the newer Traxis 3500 fixes the stutter problem with ABC News Now.
I was sort of hoping Traxis would come out with an HD PVR box.

I have 2 Traxis 3500's a Visionsat IV 200 PVR and a Geosatpro DVR-1100c

The Visonsat is my favorte

 

[Anole]

both are good

If those two receivers are your only two choices, I'd have to go with the Fortec due to concern over support on the Traxis.
Much is already discussed above.
The rest is public knowledge if you read the forums closely, and for many years.
I won't go into it, here.

Of course, if there were a $100 price differential, or someone gave you either for free, that'd be the final answer! -

 

[Cadsulfide]

The only downside of the Merc is the SPDIF optical out does not seem to work. Otherwise I really like it.

 

[turbosat]

No problem with the optical out on my Merc, with latest firmware.

 

[Cadsulfide]

No problem with the optical out on my Merc, with latest firmware.

Thanks for the info!:up

 

[mjs812]

Thanks for the replies. I plan on using this mainly for feed hunting and these two seem to get mentioned a lot, thats why I was choosing between them. I think I'll go with the merc.

 

[brentb636]

You won't be sorry. The Merc's only problem on blindscanning feeds, is that it reports the SR about 0.1% high. An SR of 30000 is reported as 30031. An SR of 6111 is reported as 6117 , etc. It's an irritating small thing, but it is consistant, and you can take it into account.

 

[gabshere]

well i don't have the merc II but i do have a Traxis & coolsat 5000
and the Traxis is probably faster scanner but (and it could be me cause i learned with the coolsat) to me the coolsat is easier to use , setup and play with

both have basic editors supplied by the makers/ marketers

 

[WSInternational]

Everything above is true and correct.

Here is some basic comparrisons between the two:

Dynamic / Mercury II
1. Has CH3/4 RF modulator
2. Has component video output
3. Has a feature that lets you backup your channel list, then recall them even after updating firmware.
4. Has 7 buttons on the front panel, so in case you loose your remote, you can still use the receiver (Ch+/Ch-/V+/V-/Menu/OK/Cancel/Power)
5. Has signal lock tone to help you align the dish if you use the receiver
6. Has a universal remote
7. Made in Korea (good quality)
8. Multiple timers
9. Full size

DBS3500
1. Has fast speed blind search
2. Does not have CH3/4 RF modulator
3. Does not have component video output
4. Has only 3 buttons (Ch+/Ch-/Power)
5. Does not use universal remote
6. Made in Taiwan
7. Compact size

You can see some screen shots of the Dynamic Here: Fortec Dynamic

 

[Sadoun]

In addition to the advantages mentioned above, I would recommend the Dynamic. You can adjust the BLIND SEARCH speed in the Dynamic as you wish. There are 15 speed settings for the search.

Step Time Spent on each step
4MHz Fast (0.5 sec), Normal (1sec), Details (2 sec)
6 =
8 =
10 =
12 =

 

[TimLones111]

As A Newbie, I recommend the Dynamic, though I've never seen any other receivers..Easy to use for the beginner, and a very good picture besides..

 

[WSInternational]

An excellent picture.... That's for sure. Specially if you are using a plasma or LCD HDTV. The component video output comes in handy!!! :up