Opinions on my 3 scrounged FTA receivers

[burningtoys]

After 3 months of watching Kijiji, hitting up yard sales and want ads I have obtained a lot of FTA equipment really really cheaply and some of it for free. As I waited for the weather to get better I spent hours reading over various faqs and forums to make sure I had enough knowledge to hook up my dishes and enjoy some FTA goodness.

Finally the weather is getting warmer and I've been testing my equipment. Everything works and I've been trying out different birds to see what content I enjoy the most so I can make a decision on what birds I want my dishes fixed on.

I just need some input of what receiver I should use. I have the following 3:

Viewsat Ultra VS2000
Captiveworks CW-800s
Sonicview SV-360 Premier (no remote)

I've pretty much ruled out the Viewsat. My problem here is the missing remote for the Sonicview. It's hard to get a feel for it by just using bottoms on the stb. I looked on ebay and you can pick up a universal remote for about $12. Is the Sonicview better than the Captiveworks and should I get the remote? I have a bunch of universal remotes laying around but I'm pretty sure they don't have codes for the Sonicview. I've been using the captiveworks for the majority of my testing.

I'm going to be using it with a 4 fixed Ku dish setup. One 36", one 32" and two StarChoice elliptical dishes.

What do you guys think? I'm open to any thoughts or opinions you guys and gals can provide.

 

[Beano_face]

if you are using 4 fixed KU dishes, you probably dont need to blind scan too much.. not sure if any of those units have blind scan anyways... and none of them do dvb-s2.

in my opinion the viewsat is probably the better of the 3... the menus are easy to use. I think if you put factory fw on it, the VS has a blind scan.

 

[turbosat]

Yep, the Viewsat has blind-scan, and it'll get 90% of the average feeds in DVB-S, of course no HD though. You might find a remote that works that other unit from Sadoun.com ..They used to sell a universal remote that would work many makes of fta receivers.

 

[Conky]

I got the philips universal learning remote at walmart for about $20(recommended here) Put the Viewsat code in and it controlled my Viewsat ultra right out of the box. Unfortunately there are no codes in the list for Sonicview. Walmart has a pretty good return policy. Weren't Viewsat and Sonicview the same company at some point?(ie can a Viewsat remote control a Sonicview receiver?)
Starchoice dish-97w&101w,1 dish for hispasat and 1 dish for 83w would be good

 

[burningtoys]

I'm going to play with the viewsat and the firmware. I had some issues with it but I think it has something to do with the firmware on it. I'm pretty sure it's not factory but we'll see.

I'll also look into remotes for the sonicview but I'm just trying to get this setup up and running as cheaply as possible.

As for birds.. 101w, 83w and 30w are probably going to get 3 of the 4 dishes. 97w does have a lot of channels but I don't think I'd really watch any of them. I'm still up in the air ( no pun intended) about the last dish. Thanks for the ideas.

I'm still open to more opinions so fire away .

 

[Mr Tony]

dang remember when someone had a dish laying around and wondered where to put it the usual answer was 123W (when Equity Broadcasting had their 40 channels there)
Damn those were the days (Equity has been gone 2 years now)

 

[eurosport]

dang remember when someone had a dish laying around and wondered where to put it the usual answer was 123W (when Equity Broadcasting had their 40 channels there)
Damn those were the days (Equity has been gone 2 years now)

I STILL miss RetroJams!

 

[Phottoman]

As for birds.. 101w, 83w and 30w are probably going to get 3 of the 4 dishes. 97w does have a lot of channels but I don't think I'd really watch any of them. I'm still up in the air ( no pun intended) about the last dish. Thanks for the ideas.

I'm still open to more opinions so fire away .

You ~may~ want to rethink this bird, and I don't spell very well after taking a pain pill, but Al Jazeera, RT, Press, CTV News English (from China) are all here, plus Kuwait TV 2 has movies in English with subtitles in Farsi. There can be unexpected joy in some Indian Channels that show movies that may be in English or subtitled in English.

Photto

 

[Mr Tony]

Actually CCTV9 (from China) is on 95W
The others are on 97W (Russia Today, Press TV, Al Jazeera English...not the original Al Jazeera though)

 

[Phottoman]

Oops, sorry, that's probably why I didn't see it on Lyngsat.

Thanks Iceberg for correcting me.

Photto

 

[burningtoys]

You ~may~ want to rethink this bird, and I don't spell very well after taking a pain pill, but Al Jazeera, RT, Press, CTV News English (from China) are all here, plus Kuwait TV 2 has movies in English with subtitles in Farsi. There can be unexpected joy in some Indian Channels that show movies that may be in English or subtitled in English.

Photto

Hmmm.. I should leave a dish on 97w for awhile to look out for those movies or setup one of my star choice dishes for 97w and 101.

That being said, is there a way to setup more than 4 dishes with diseqc switches to one receiver? I currently have two 4x1 switches. Can I use those? I understand a motor would be ideal but I'm looking to see if it's possible with what I currently have.

 

[Conky]

Kuwait2 is also on 30w (assuming you can get it). you can get 97&101(History,Bio) with 1 of the starchoice dishes anyway

I think you can use a sw21 switch in conjunction with 2 diseqc switches, however, iirc the starchoice dish Lnbs have switches built into them

 

[GenBap]

There is a Chinese English News channel on 97W. It is CNC World English and not too bad really. I also really like Ebru and River Broadcasting on 97W.

 

[rv1pop]

See the switches sticky for number of LNBFs you can do. I had 5 dishes on switches before the first big wind blast.....

 

[Anole]

we may have it

... is there a way to setup more than 4 dishes with diseqc switches to one receiver?
I currently have two 4x1 switches.

In our Switches Simplified FAQ, there is a design with two 4x1 diseqc switches and a very special Ecoda 22khz switch, giving you a choice of eight LNBs.

... or setup one of my star choice dishes for 97w and 101.

however, iirc the starchoice dish Lnbs have switches built into them

That would be a problem, as the design above doesn't work with external switches built into LNBs.
I suppose if you had several StarChoice LNBs you could work out a combination with a 4x1 disec to cover eight birds, though.
Do they select between the two with a 22khz tone?

I think you can use a sw21 switch in conjunction with 2 diseqc switches

The SW21 is an old DishNetwork two-input switch, and uses unique commands.
I don't recommend them, because most FTA receivers didn't support those DishNet switches.
So, building yourself into a corner relying on such a non-standard device meant you might not be able to get a new receiver to work on your dish farm.

There is also a newer 8x1 diseqc switch, but those are probably not supported by your older receivers.

Edit! -
Wait a minute. After a re-think, I may have it!
Do StarChoice LNBFs have four outputs and switch internally with 22khz?
(I don't have any, and haven't read about 'em in way too long)
If so, use the design shown above.
Connect two of the outputs of each StarChoice, one to the ABCD and one to the EFGH group.
The rest should be obvious. :up
(does that work for you?)

 

[Mr Tony]

yes the Starchoice (Shaw Direct) quad LNB has a 22k switch built in.

 

[burningtoys]

Thanks for the tips. I'll check that FAQ and play around with my set up and let you guys know how it works out.