I'm curious about the blind scan accuracy of the MicroHD
The microHD Blind Scan is extremely accurate. Remember that I am a hobbyist first, developer 2nd. Performance and integrity of any GEOSATpro product is very important to me! I will not sell or promote any product that I would not personally want in my own home or hobby shack.
A developer can adjust the process time on many steps. (example: analyzing a table for Service Names or in the case of the 1500 audio services on one MUX, the time spent on logging available services before process time out occurs). Unfortunately, Ali Chipsets do not allow modification of frequency step parameters, but they do have a great flexibility on prescan signal analysis.
Tuner selection plays a big part in the accuracy and speed of scans with ALI chipsets. We tested several tuners before selecting the AV2011. The combination of the M3501 and the AV2011 can result in a great performance in the hands of the right developer! Extracting meaningful data out of unnecessary noise crippled many STB samples that we received.
Your observation of a failure of an ALI based chipset to log signals in a dense signal environment is based on the manufacturers tuner selection and the developers ability to set correct parameters. It certainly is not indicative of ALI chipset limitations.
On a related subject.... Most S9 / S10 manufacturers are not developing their own firmware and often use "B" grade components or part substitutions to save money. If a firmware file works with their hardware build, they will sell it. Why are some members reporting power supply failures while others are not? Hint: different factories or OEM specifications. Members comparing S9 and S10 performance is a crap shoot at best since most manufactures do not even use that same component builds. A different FTA site has a thread stating how the build is so much better on the new batch of S10 receivers that they just received..... LOL!!!! The unit came from a different manufacturer and hopefully the new unit was bench marked before it is resold. Performance will change when component builds are modified.
Buying a S9, S10, S12..... is buying a name badge that absolutely will not indicate what components or performance exist under the hood.......