What to do...what to do.... I need so advice....

[jibaro29]

Hi guys,

Long story short.. I had a Fortec Star Classic NA and it died. I loved that receiver. Got a new Mercury ll 3 years ago and it has gone loco on me. Doesn't blind scan anymore, manual pids only works if you hold your breath just right and overall performance is gone down the drain. About six month ago I bought a Pansat 250SM to replace the Mercury. As you well know this receiver has issues with the audio. I did the upgrade and it works as long as you do not change channels other wise you have to reset the audio again. It won't save audio settings. I'm guessing that I have a lemon for a receiver. I wounder if I could reach the Atlantic Ocean from here....

I would like to get another receiver like the Classic or Mercury ll because I do like a lot of the features. Last I heard both both receivers have been retired. I do not want to pay a lot of money so , what is good and reasonable?

Thanks,

 

[phlatwound]

I'm not sure how they compare feature-for-feature to the Fortecs, but if you don't need/want HD, PVR, DVB-S2, 4:2:2 I don't think you can beat the Coolsat 5000/6000's at $30-$50 delivered (used).

I also like the Visionsat IV-200, and if I was looking for a new SD receiver I'd be looking at SatAv's Geosat series.

 

[hwm]

Surge protection can prevent sudden death of electronics.

When you get that new receiver, make sure it's protected from surges in the line voltage and ground the coax shield to earth.

We used to have electronic devices fail for no apparent reason way too often until I installed a whole house surge protector at the electric service entrance five years ago. I also installed three 8 foot copper plated ground rods at that time.

When you install any surge proyector, the house electric system must be well grounded to earth, or the surge will not have anywhere to go when trapped and diverted to ground by the protector.

I have a Coolsat 6000 and like it very much. Fast blind scan, and relatively sensible onscreen menu layout. Good sensitivity and picture quality. No USB is the only complaint for me.

 

[brentb636]

On the Merc II, you might try "factory defaults" and start over. It may be suffering from too many tp's and channels defined. Have to keep that baby pared down to work right.

 

[turbosat]

On the Merc II, you might try "factory defaults" and start over. It may be suffering from too many tp's and channels defined. Have to keep that baby pared down to work right.

I'll second that! Software is flaky in the Merc2's latest firmware, there is no reliable/easy way to delete old transponders it stores (other than maybe a computer channel editing program). I've done it a few times with the remote and it almost always goofs up the channel list in the receiver, deletes transponders from the wrong satellite, etc.
You can always hit the factory default and clean it out. Mine's always worked well again after that, until I fill it up again lol. Blind-scanning a lot will fill up a receiver quickly.