Satzen z500

[Auric]

Does anyone know if this is good for FTA or is it just a hack box?

Description says it blind scans & upverts SD to HD

Thanks

 

[Lak7]

It does not look to be "DVB-S2"

 

[Mikey11]

i have tried the satzen 300 before....it blind scans okay but it really is a hack box....freezes up once in awhile and i needed to reboot from the back....in my opinion they are very poor quality receivers they are just produced for hacking....youi would be better off spending a bit more on a TRUE HD receiver....

 

[geekt]

Does anyone know if this is good for FTA or is it just a hack box?

Description says it blind scans & upverts SD to HD

Thanks

MANY devices "up-convert". That means nothing. It WOULD mean something if there were a rating system created to somehow gauge the conversion accuracy.

 

[Mikey11]

MANY devices "up-convert". That means nothing. It WOULD mean something if there were a rating system created to somehow gauge the conversion accuracy.

actually the Satzen 500 converts SD to 1080i HD display....

it even has an HDMI output....

 

[geekt]

Not saying it doesn't. Just saying that advertising on various video devices about up-converting doesn't tell you how good the quality of up-conversion is.
The difference can easily be seen on any computer. Just scale a picture to a larger size with quality software like Photoshop, then do the same size conversion with a crummy piece of software like Paint. BOTH do the conversion, but that doesn't mean one isn't better.

 

[Mikey11]

Not saying it doesn't. Just saying that advertising on various video devices about up-converting doesn't tell you how good the quality of up-conversion is.
The difference can easily be seen on any computer. Just scale a picture to a larger size with quality software like Photoshop, then do the same size conversion with a crummy piece of software like Paint. BOTH do the conversion, but that doesn't mean one isn't better.

i dont really think that is a good or fair comparison....that is like comparing 480i to 1080i....1080i IS 1080i any way you slice it....there are not any good or bad 1080i displays....1080i is a good quality picture....

 

[geekt]

There are huge differences between the quality of up-conversion depending on the device. That's what I was talking about.

 

[Mikey11]

There are huge differences between the quality of up-conversion depending on the device. That's what I was talking about.

i agree with you there if a resolution is not specified....but when it IS specified like in this case you know exactly what quality of picture to expect....1080i

 

[Auric]

Thanks guy's.
I am looking for a better picture then my old Coolsat 5000 can produce, but don't really want to sacrifice blind scan features. It does a terrific job, but the picture quality is a little drab & I have to change over my surround receiver for AC3.

I was looking at AZBox, but I hear that the blind scan was hideously slow & misses many.

I saw this Satzen & it looked very intriguing because of the upversion to 1080...I honestly new nothing about this box & was wondering if anyone tried it. I guess let's face it Coolsat use to be a hack box, but today it's one of the best FTA boxes around. I didn't want to fault Satzen right off the bat if they are good, but reading a few posts, it sounds like my money might be better spent elsewhere. And I guess, like it or not I am right back to square one.

I'm happy to come to a place & get some honest opinions from the sat community