Just Sharing This A new meter and plans for next year...

[Ghostleader]

They adapter plugs are great thats the same ones you get supplied with a sat receiver as they tend to come with a hard wired plug with a bloody EU mains plug (How dare they!! lol). Their solid once screwed shut, after my Vu+ Solo was over a year old I just cut off the euro plug and fitted a colour scheme appropriate black plug but kept the adaptor in the "you never know when you'll need it" box.

 

[jeallen01]

@Ghostleader
You may not like the EU adapters supplied with Continental 2-pin plugs, but that's what the UK regs actually mandate be supplied in such cases!

 

[Ghostleader]

@Ghostleader
You may not like the EU adapters supplied with Continental 2-pin plugs, but that's what the UK regs actually mandate be supplied in such cases!

No mate you misunderstood I do like them, a simple design with the added security of the centre screw shutting, only cut the euro plug off my Solo after it was 18 months old and thus well out of the 12 months warranty.

 

[RustySpoons]

Ordered one of these Freesat V8 Finders, wasn't sure whether to get this or the Satlink one, but these have HDMI out and do DVB-S2 which the Satlink WS-6906 doesn't from what I can see.

It will be here tomorrow

 

[RustySpoons]

Well its arrived, I can confirm if you order it from Amazon it comes with a UK Mains power supply, though I never trust the supplied SMPS with anything from the far east and will use something of a better quality.

Box was sealed and device looks new, the security sticker on the side looks like its been broken at some point though, so might have to have a word with the seller.

Device boots quickly and is easy to use, very quick to get a lock and pretty nippy tuning.

The beeper is useless and annoying, it sounds like something off "XBMC/KODI" lol

They need to work on their firmware, it only displays Signal Strength and Quality, no BER Or SNR meters and they need to have a screen where all levels are easier to see, at the moment it just looks like a generic satellite receiver, this could be easily sorted in Firmware.
Satlink have BER etc on all their models.

Talking of Firmware I grabbed the latest version from the Freesat website, but can't see any differences with this firmware compared to what it shipped with.

USALS/Disecq stuff is simple to use and easily accessible.

 

[TJExcalibur]

Ordered one of these Freesat V8 Finders, wasn't sure whether to get this or the Satlink one, but these have HDMI out and do DVB-S2 which the Satlink WS-6906 doesn't from what I can see.

It will be here tomorrow

I had one as a pressie but it packed up and as I was waiting to use it I was really teed off and it went back to Amazon. Then I was looking at the Dr HD 1000s and came across them on Fleaby. The Overseer said buy it if you want it, not at £215 I thought. Going back to the listing later I noticed PayPal were giving a discount of 20% that day. Very good and it makes tuning the box to perfection a treat.

 

[RustySpoons]

I had one as a pressie but it packed up and as I was waiting to use it I was really teed off and it went back to Amazon. Then I was looking at the Dr Hd 1000S and came across them on Fleaby. The Overseer said buy it if you want it, not at £215 I thought. Going back to the listing lated I noticed PayPal were giving a discount of 20% that day. Very good and it makes tuning the box to perfection a treat.

Nice deal you had there, I've found a version of the Dr HD for £175.20, looks identical but is badged HD-Line hd-7090s instead.
What did you not like about the Freesat V8 Finder?

 

[TJExcalibur]

Nice deal you had there, I've found a version of the Dr HD for £175.20, looks identical but is badged HD-Line hd-7090s instead.
What did you not like about the Freesat V8 Finder?

It was OK but it packed up after a while. Pity it never had a spectrum analyser as that is a great help in fine tuning etc.

 

[RustySpoons]

It was OK but it packed up after a while. Pity it never had a spectrum analyser as that is a great help in fine tuning etc.

Well this is an annoyance, you cannot mute the internal speaker if you use the HDMI output on it! I wanted to use this for camping as well, also it seems to constantly show the battery gauge on the screen as well.

 

[TJExcalibur]

Well this is an annoyance, you cannot mute the internal speaker if you use the HDMI output on it! I wanted to use this for camping as well, also it seems to constantly show the battery gauge on the screen as well.

It is difficult to know what to buy with so much choice, although choice is a good thing. I check out as many reviews as I can from several sources and of course its the budget. I would have kept the Freesat V8 if it hadn't packed up as i did not want to spend more money, but glad I did. The only confusion I had with the Dr HD 1000s is it has to be switched on to charge it, then whilst it is charging it appears to go into standby or off.

 

[RustySpoons]

It is difficult to know what to buy with so much choice, although choice is a good thing. I check out as many reviews as I can from several sources and of course its the budget. I would have kept the Freesat V8 if it hadn't packed up as i did not want to spend more money, but glad I did. The only confusion I had with the Dr HD 1000s is it has to be switched on to charge it, then whilst it is charging it appears to go into standby or off.

I'm going to try something else, this seems a bit of a toy.

 

[Channel Hopper]

Well this is an annoyance, you cannot mute the internal speaker if you use the HDMI output on it! I wanted to use this for camping as well, also it seems to constantly show the battery gauge on the screen as well.

What does the mute button do then ?

Next you'll be claiming it doesn't do USALS.......

 

[RustySpoons]

What does the mute button do then ?

Next you'll be claiming it doesn't do USALS.......

Mutes the Internal speaker and anything else plugged in to it LOL

 

[Channel Hopper]

Is there a section in the HDMI set up to remove the audio path ?

 

[RustySpoons]

No only an option to select what format it outputs.
I'll see what other quirks this thing has lol.

 

[Channel Hopper]

There was firmware upgrades last year to cure an audio issue, which version have you got/downloaded ?

 

[RustySpoons]

There was firmware upgrades last year to cure an audio issue, which version have you got/downloaded ?

The firmware is a week or so old.

 

[sonnetpete]

I must admit that if I were using the Freesat V8 for setting up a larger dish for weak feeds, I'd probably find it less than useful. Really you need something with a spectrum. However, for simple motorised or multi sat set ups I think it's more than adequate.

 

[RustySpoons]

I must admit that if I were using the Freesat V8 for setting up a larger dish for weak feeds, I'd probably find it less than useful. Really you need something with a spectrum. However, for simple motorised or multi sat set ups I think it's more than adequate.

The thing is though, the Satlink WS-6906 and WS-6933 you can get cheaper than the Freesat V8 and seem more capable for its intended use.
The WS-6906/WS-6933 don't have HDMI out, but the Freesat V8 implantation doesn't work properly as you can't mute the internal speaker or remove the battery gauge off the screen.

The WS-6906 doesn't have DVB-S2, but does that really matter, the WS-6933 does but again don't see the point as it has no video out.
Both of the Satlink devices have far more comprehensive signal meters and more applicable for the intended use.

So anyone considering the extra features the Freesat V8 Finder has over others, those extra features are pointless.

 

[sonnetpete]

I went for the Freesat V8 because it was reasonably priced and DVB S2. As you've mentioned, the Satlink meters either only cover DVB S or S2 in the case of the 6933 but that has no LCD screen to display your received channels. I've never found the need to use a video out facility. I find the Freesat easy to use, though perhaps 'quirky'...horses for courses I guess..