Question for Tom and Mike

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Scott Greczkowski

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This question is for Tom and Mike. (I know Mike is going away for a few days so it may take him awhile to answer)

What do you guys feel is the best FTA receiver you sell today for the lowest cost?

Is there any FTA receiver you think our members should stay far away from?

Thanks guys!
 
I'm traveling on some family business, but here are a few thoughts:

The best consumer receiver that I have used, in terms of sensitivity on weaker signals would have to be the Pansat 330A.

The best overall receiver in my opinion is the new Pansat 2500A.
Its menu system is considerably easier to use than the 330A, and while some have noticed a slight drop in sensitivity on weaker signals, the features on the 2500 overwhelm that minor flaw. As Pete has said, a Blind Search feature is a necessity on newer receivers. Compared to other Blind Search units, nothing comes close to the Pansat 2500 in the ability to pull unknown signals with low symbol rates (under 3.0 MB). Talk to users of the close cousin with the Fortec label, and you may hear complaints about its performance on low symbol rates. Pansat simply did their homework and took the time to get the software for this feature working as it should.

New users may not be as hands-on as many us old-timers, and the Pansat 2500 is a good fit for them. The blind scan circuit makes it much easier to look for new signals. Even on simple systems with a fixed dish on one satellite (like T5), which are always changing their service lineup, it takes the press of one button to get the searching function going, and it automatically adds new channels to the channel list. Very little thinking involved, and a very good development for the technically challenged.

What to stay away from. I could list names...but won't. If you are researching other receivers, see if the manufacturer has a U.S. based location that offers both in-and out-of-warranty service on their receivers. Pansat has been a leader in this concept, and many of the (mostly mainland China made) other receivers at best are supported by the exchange of another receiver or refurbished unit during the warranty period. Once the warranty is up, or that model is no longer being produced, the supplier often has no way to fix problems...because they are not set up to do repairs. Many boat anchors have started their life in a similar process. Let's face it...MPEG-2 receivers are computers, and computers do fail. When it comes time to buy a receiver, it is a great peace of mind to know that it can be easily repaired at minimal expense. You can buy a bargain basement receiver of questionable repute for around a hundred dollars, and take your chances...or spend twice that to get the best. That is not a high premium for quality, features, and warranty coverage.

Mike

www.global-cm.net
 
Best receiver, it depends

This is not an easy question to answer. I sell a lot of Coship receivers to TV stations, Broadcast networks, and even some of the little dish uplink centers. For commercial work Coship is the winner. You would be amazed to know who makes those $3000 receivers that the broadcast industry uses.

I sell mainly Coship, Satwork, and BEC receivers all made in Taiwan or Mainland China. It is said that you can make good receivers, and cheap receivers, but, it is hard to make a cheap receiver good and a good receiver cheap. Our three manufacturers do just that, good and cheap!! All of our receivers have USA service facilities, guarantees are 1 to 3 years and English is their FIRST and only language. There is a lot of junk made all over the orient, we dont sell it.

Most important is the front end,, the tuner Without a real sensitive tuner you will have problems finding some of the weaker signals. I know, I have chased signals from the Atlantic birds for years. This is a very important for blind search receivers, some transmissions are low power for a reason. Both our Satwork and Coship Blind search receivers have excellent tuners. Right now NO on can beat the Chinese tuner. Unfortunately the Satwork 3688 is out of production waiting more tuners. There are blind search tuners available, but, Satwork will not use them. The Coship 3188c is an excellent receiver and is available.

Software, it must be easy to use yet do the job. After struggling with poor software a few years ago Coship and BEC came out with some easy to use software, it looked similar, it was, it was written in India. In the last few months BEC has come up with some of their own software, easy to use, written by BEC and coupled with the new ST (Thompson) processors are lightning fast. It looks almost like widows, perhaps no coincidence since BEC is part of Chaintech, a company that makes better computer mother boards and componants! I could go on and on

Now the best receivers! Drum roll!
Best receiver that I sell the Coship CDVB 5100 CI! or Coship CDVB 5110 G. These are expensive rack mount commercial receivers, aci, ballanced audio, and the big boys like them

OK for our kind of people!
Blind Search, sensitive tuners are important, the Coship 3188C is an excellent choice, it is a great choice to slave to a 4DTV. The Satwork 3688 is the best full featured Blind Search receiver.

Most Bang for the Buck, The Traxis DBS-2500, a great new receiver, no blind search but it does scan from a list of known channels and new channels can be added quickly. It moves the dish, it is just a full feature receiver. For $159 for this receiver INCLUDING ku dish and lnbf, it can not be beat. This special can't last.

For those with a bit too many hormones we offer the Coship with an Irdeto cam built in, and the Coship 5300 and BEC 6600+ that can take cams. A cam is a device that allows the user to slip in a smart card and watch programming. Not DirecTV, they won't allow it but some international programming and now a big seller inXXXworld. Pop in a smart card and get 2 years of programming. 3 Channels $199. Programmer is a major European programmer. I have not seen that triX channel, but the cards are selling well. Check my website for details.

Receivers in your computer. We sell the Twinhan Video Plus 1020a cards. Put one in your computer, install the software and your computer becomes a satellite receiver.

Urgent. Most good receivers are in short supply. Tons of stuff is being shipped to the Middle East. Freight rates are going up faster then the price of gas, and it is at least 30 days before you can find a ship to load a container on. Componants are in short supply and the price of steel is going up fast. Good receivers are in short supply.


Check our web site for details!!!! http://www.mpeg2fta.com
 
Excellent write ups gentlemen! Thank you!

SatelliteGuys Members any questions on the above recomendations?
 
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