Viewsat VS2000 ????

[kc8gpd]

I have a Viewsat VS-200 i found at a thrift store for $8.00.

I can't find any ID on it. it is black and says VS-2000.

no Ultra, Lite, Platinum or anything, just straight VS2000.

what firmware do i use for this to update and where can it be found?

 

[GreatFTA]

Do a Google on Viewsat VS 2000 and click on the "images" part of the page. You will have a page that will show images of the Viewsat receivers. I have a Viewsat Extreme receiver. On the right side of the front will have the Extreme name.
Wow, $8.00...
You lucky rascal!

 

[turbosat]

viewsatusa.com is the manu site. That sounds like the very first version of the model. I think Iceberg or somebody has a review of it in the Reviews section, from a couple of years or more back. Click Support on the Viewsat site and you can prob find the firmware.

 

[freezy]

make certain you put only the fACTORY file in it. all the others are useless.

You need at least a 30" dish and a linear lnb to pick up fta sats

 

[GreatFTA]

It appears to be a Ultra. All the Viewsat receivers will have "Xtreme", "Ultra" and etc. Look at the photo I found that has no writing on it as far as its type receiver. The description about it state it is a Ultra. Possibly a older model of the Ultra series. Hook the receiver to the tv, turn it on, go to menu and search on it for receiver's info. Should be a menu that tell the firmware, model #, etc.
Hope this help!

 

[Pismire]

make certain you put only the fACTORY file in it. all the others are useless.

I disagree here. In the case of the vs2000 I have actually found the hackware version of the firmware better. At least it shows the percentage of the quality and many other improvements. I am not afraid to say I have hackware on my bedroom box with FTA intent. Besides who cares amymore since Dish went to nagra3. It's a shame that these manufactures stopped with the "real" improvemnts of these boxes and there is so many improvements that could have been done in the factory firmware. Now if I could figure out how to get rid of the Dish Package and Bev Package I would be happy.

 

[quasimodem]

some one correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the vs2000 the ultra model?

 

[Pismire]

No the Ultra has usb "support"

 

[RtpiFan]

Just VS 2000 is an extreme model most likely.
Does it look like pricture i have attached.

 

[kc8gpd]

It appears to be a Ultra. All the Viewsat receivers will have "Xtreme", "Ultra" and etc. Look at the photo I found that has no writing on it as far as its type receiver. The description about it state it is a Ultra. Possibly a older model of the Ultra series. Hook the receiver to the tv, turn it on, go to menu and search on it for receiver's info. Should be a menu that tell the firmware, model #, etc.
Hope this help!

looks exactly like the bottom one. black says viewsat then on right hand bottom VS2000. no red lettering stating what model vs2000 it is.

when i flip the little door on the right there is also nothing underneath the door and it has a serial port instead of usb.

 

[kc8gpd]

also is it possible to use a cal amp direct tv dish and feedhorn for FTA reception or do i need a standard LNB? is it possible to reuse the calamp dish with a standard feedhorn / lnb.

i'm looking to get by cheaply and reuse what i have at my disposal rather then spend more then a few bucks in a screwed up economy.

 

[melgarga]

With 8 bucks for your primary investment, I'd say you are well on your way to having the cheapest setup I know of....lol....good score!
I *think* the 1st gen VS 2000s were black. My Platinum (2nd gen) is silver and says VS2000 Platinum on the front. My Extreme is black, says only VS2000 on the front and also on the back apron area where the FCC logo is too. No mention of Extreme anywhere on the exterior.
If I had a guess, I'd say it was an Extreme. If it is the two do not share FW flashes. The Extreme has HW blindscan capabilities, the regular 2000 does not.
I agree that the aftermarket FW has support for features that was not considered in the factory FW releases. It is no longer capable of illegally decrypting pay tv channels so using it should be no problem. As I posted in another thread, the aftermarket FW has an add'l area used to store the proprietary digital decryption keys in memory for decoding pay tv. Regardless of the current state, I still believe it to be prudent to change any key info in memory to all zeros.
Yes, I even cut the heads off of dead snakes too.

 

[Mr Tony]

if it looks like this (sorry for blurry pic) it's the "original" VS2000

no extra name on it

 

[melgarga]

if it looks like this (sorry for blurry pic) it's the "original" VS2000

no extra name on it

That looks EXACTLY like my Extreme, but I'm not surprized. I remember when the Extreme was released reading that VS had packaged it in original 2000 cases. When they dropped production of the original 2K in favor of the Platinum, apparently there were plenty of cases left over they needed to use. I dont know if that ever changed later in production, mine is one of the first Extremes marketed.
In any event, the only sure fire way to tell is to check the system settings in the menu. It should give the model no, and FW revision info. For an Extreme OEM FW is V0279, and aftermarket FW will end in X.
Plug 'er up and let's check it out!

 

[kc8gpd]

well i turned it on and all i get is no video with 4 green lines across the LED channel display.

 

[kc8gpd]

i did not get a remote with it. can i use a universal remote? i have a logitech harmony universal remote.

 

[melgarga]

HMMM.........sounds like maybe the result of a failed flash upgrade, or bad FW written to it. Do you have the remote, or can toggle the on/off on the front panel and see any differences?
I've read about some recovery FW that may fix it, if that is the problem. I cant say if it is true or not. I've never had any such problems.

 

[melgarga]

I guess I was composing when you made the no remote post. I dont know what you would have to do to make the Harmony control it, but surely there is some way, considering the pricetag on the Harmony.

 

[satrec1]

just plug in your harmony remote to your computer and run the software and choose the option to add a new device, you'll see Viewsat in there as an option and it will download the codes into your remote.

 

[kc8gpd]

just plug in your harmony remote to your computer and run the software and choose the option to add a new device, you'll see Viewsat in there as an option and it will download the codes into your remote.

doing it right now