That's why I ask you to present a TT card review posted by a reputable source, which usually publishes this kind of reviews for a variety of similar products over long time frame and stays behind its own reputation, like a PC Mag. Its next to impossible to find such review in NA, but German press would definitely pay attention to their own manufacturer's products given huge local popularity of Sat TV. May be you want to present a review of another more popular card? Don't be shy. :up
I am only aware of a handful of FTA rags, but the ones I have come across are largely cheerleaders for the manufacturers. This is hardly surprising or unique to this domain. Without a substantial subscription base to pay for the lights, reviewers are normally beholden to the vendors for at least product to review, and in many cases advertising revenue.
High-end audio in NA quickly comes to mind as an obvious case in point. Performing a quick storefront census, I see in every city and country I travel to a good selection of high-end audio/video saloons, but even in the Far East and Europe, only a smattering of FTA-style retailers. The obvious conclusion is people spend more money on high-end audio/video than FTA. Nevertheless it is next to impossible to find a publication that reads much differently than a comic book. There are obvious biases and unprofessional methodologies. Even the ones that appear to have staff capable of attaching a scope probe wander through curious conniptions to justify in technical terms what the 'golden ears' claim to be hearing. They always seem to find something nice to say about a product and rarely hammer the manufacturer for 'gold-plating' or shoddy construction.
Professional reviews are a pipe dream in most domains and FTA is no exception. When I find one, I normally start by questioning its veracity because that is normally required. Instead I am led towards integrating the experiences of a number of qualified users where one can form useful assessments.
I'm not sure either that people you mentioned as my buddies don't know what they're talking about. Its a well known fact that cheap voltage multipliers used in many consumer sat PC Cards often cause constant headache in sensitive signal reception.
Link please to the well known fact?
I at least put my cards on the table and presented direct measurements that allow anyone to interpret the results for themselves. They can also be readily duplicated by others with access to the proper equipment. On the other hand, the claims I have read on this subject show a lack of understanding of any form of the scientific method, controls or even a methodology that establishes cause and effect. There is often an immense amount of detail on the processes of effecting circuit board modifications with at best a cursory description of the test process. SQ results (why not real CNRs?) are then provided from tests done hours or days apart (enough said on that). No attempt is made to isolate other possible variables.
My switch setup provides power to motors, switches and LNBs from non-receiver sources for reasons that have nothing to do with reception conditions. When I read the reports of this issue for the first time, I was skeptical. But I had a 100' cable lying around, so I pulled it from one of my dishes to my 'lab' and went about directly connecting it to a Prof 7500 and 7301 and then substituting a power inserter with an outboard supply. The spectrum analyzer off a splitter showed the same thing the Prof tuners were reporting on Windows: no difference. While I went on to try some more complex tests with switches, I found it striking that such a simple test seems to be completely lacking in these forums. The phenomenon of people attacking problems with the tools they have, right or wrong, is widespread in the technical world and in this specific case is sometimes referred to as the "solder jerks".
Its obvious, any such tests as the above presented may be subject to some setup variations, changing circumstantial biases, mood, unaware or less qualified user opinion manipulation, and such. Just looked through previous forum posts on this matter, and here we go
:
I publish my results as I find them and try to be honest about how equipment performs, even if it hurts that I may have bought a pig-in-a-poke. I find it interesting you spent three of four quotes of me relating to a single incident testing Prof vs. DVB World tuners when my roof-mounted dishes were being buffeted by winds higher than they had ever previously experienced. I wasn't happy to see that my older DVB World tuners beat the Profs hands down, but I reported it nevertheless. However I did speculate at the time this could be something as simple as an AGC setting in the driver, which appears now to be the case.
What you failed to provide was the balanced perspective, because I have reported both the good and the bad when it comes to the Prof and DVB World tuners. I still use all four of each. It's easy to take a series of quotes out of context and present them in a manner which leads to unintended or incorrect conclusions. You have been guilty of this in the past:
RG59 has electrical ‘voltage drop per foot’ to a direct current 0.06 V.
RG6 has electrical ‘voltage drop per foot’ to a direct current 0.04 V. (see the characteristics of the cables)
Voltage drop depends on resistance of the cable. Encyclopedia of Physics states that resistanceof a long cylinder or wire is given by:
R=?× L/A,
where L is a length; A is a cross section area or diameter; ? – resistivity of the material.( Ohm/meter)
That is determines maximum length of cable between LNB and receiver (power source in that case) 125 feet.
125 feet × 0.04V/foot = 5 volts. (difference between 13V and 18V)
Technically since everything has a tolerance so that LNB seems to switch to the Left hand polarization even with lower voltage."[/I]
Question:
One question seems obvious from the above calculation is that if one's coax cable length exceeds 100 - 125 ft, he would need to use a powered switch to supply stabilized power to the LNBs independently of the receiver. The switch itself would need to be located no further than 100 ft from both the receiver and each LNB.
