setup issues

[19psi]

First post here but I've been lurking for a few weeks.
Just got into the FTA hobby a few months ago and I'm wondering what I may be missing out on with my current equipment.

I picked up a used Sonicview 360 Elite and then I bought a new 39" offset dish, universal LNB and SG2100 from an ebay seller in Canada for $130 shipped. Planted a pole in my backyard and I had everything running smoothly in about 2 hours. My total investment was about $200. Heck, I have more than that invested in my OTA.
I seem to get every satellite that should be available to me. Quality is excellent on most TPs and even really weak TPs with as low as 5 quality come in without freezing.

My only complaint is no AC3 audio unless using the optical output.
So far I couldn't be happier but I seem to read so many complaints about the "hacker" boxes, I can't help but wonder if I'm missing out on a lot of stuff.

Will I get more channels with a Coolsat? Does it have more features or better PVR functions such as a timed commercial skip? Are the blind scans faster? My blind scans average 5 minutes +/- 30 seconds.

There's also been a lot of badmouthing on the SG2100 but no one ever mentions why they're so bad. Will it puke out on me a year from now?

I see the Coolsat 6000 only runs about $50 bucks on ebay, what advantages will I see over my SV360 Elite?

 

[guapoharry]

Don't think you will see any advantages.

 

[Tron]

A couple of thoughts...

- Most, if not all, SD receivers will not decode AC-3 themselves. They only pass the encoded AC-3 on the digital optical or coaxial ports. On the other hand, most of the HD receivers will decode AC-3 and output L+R over the analog audio outputs.

- The SG-2100 is not a bad motor, however, I wouldn't try a dish any larger than the one you have on it. Is it a one button or two button model? The older 1 button models are usually better.

 

[crackt]

i had a 1m channelmaster mounted on an sg2100 for awhile. i think they are a rock solid hh motor for the price.

crackt out,.

 

[turbosat]

You might want to look around for a coolsat 5000 , if you can find one, they are highly thought of by many members here, great all around SD receiver. For the "why", the biggest plus to those is, there is a private programmer somewhere who has access to the secrets of the firmware for it and has written some newer firmware, fixed some bugs, etc. The Coolsat co is kaput now, so there won't be any new 'factory firmware' made for it, even though it still has a great reputation for blindscanning and motor control.

 

[Lak7]

There's also been a lot of badmouthing on the SG2100 but no one ever mentions why they're so bad.

I have a Motek SG2100 that's over 4 years old, works fine.
But the newer models suck. Bad Backlash, after 2 returns at my cost, I threw it in the garbage.
Got a referb DG380 from Sadoun, works great

 

[guapoharry]

SV360 Elite

2 Tuner PVR box
1 usb in front and two in back
Picture in Picture
8 event timer
Can record from both tuners at the same time.

Coolsat 5000/6000 (for the most part - the same thing)

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If those things are important, you probably won't be happy with a Coolsat.