DrHD F15 or Technomate 5402HD

digi247

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Hello to F15 Owners,

I have a question regarding the above if any F15 owner has owned or still owns or even pitted them between each other the F15 and TM's 5402, From what i can see these 2 as well a the blade 7000 are all made in the same factory but my question is related more towards Tuner sensitivity.

After again trying a 5402 the other week before i passed it to its new owner i had the chance to try it on 7° west and it pulled in and locked channels that my Ultimo could not, Is the F15 Tuner as good or better than the 5402 anyone know.

And finally how is the support for the F15 as i see the last firmware update for it came in January this year would this likely be a problem or is the F15 working AOK with the latest firmware, Reason i ask is that Phantom still unofficially supports the 5402 with a patch that came out only a couple of weeks ago.

I really do want the F15 as i think the menu structure and Gui looks a lot better than the TM5402, I only need it for the odd fringe reception and searching out new channels so would this be good enough as it is or would i be wiser sticking with the TM.

Thanks For any Input

Regards
 

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Funnily enough I'd also like to know too as I want to go the other way, having used TM boxes for years I'd prefer to try a 5402 if it turns out to be as sensitive as the F15 (which I'm very impressed by). The F15 easily outperforms my old original TM6900 but I think things have improved since then.
 

sonnetpete

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Well I've never owned a TM box, so really haven't a comparison. All I know is the F15 will (using the 1.2M) lock and hold all channels from 7°W (except for Nilesat 201), day or night, even with a little light rain. On 26°E I can lock some TP's from Badr6 (I'm getting Oman HD right now, mid afternoon with some hazy cloud). I don't think my VU+ Solo could either lock all 7°W during the day or any from Badr6 day or night. It's very close in sensitivity to the DrHD but not quite as good.

I updated the firmware on the DrHD last year and won't be changing it anytime soon. It's very stable and I see no need to change to one that might not be as good. If it ain't broke......
 

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I updated the firmware on the DrHD last year and won't be changing it anytime soon. It's very stable and I see no need to change to one that might not be as good. If it ain't broke......

Does anyone know if there is a new version of the firmware somewhere in the wild? Still using 1.22 HD here (not that there is any significant problem with it).
 

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I am unsure which tuners are in each receiver, I saw some pics on one of the other threads with the F15 opened up with a clear shot of the tuner which was a samsung. I can only speculate on the 5402 but have heard they use a Sharp branded tuner.

Whats holding me back on the F15 is it appears support seems to have stalled a little where as the 5402 is still well supported, I just hate the look of the 5402 it just looks dated to me where as the F15 is a lot more classier.

At the end of the day i just want something to be able to get those few weak TP's that my Duo cannot lock.

Decisions,Decisions
 

sonnetpete

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I guess it depends on how far from locking the weak TP's are on the Duo. The Dr.HD is more sensitive but no miracle worker. If I were you I'd go for the Dr.HD....
 

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digi247 said:
I am unsure which tuners are in each receiver, I saw some pics on one of the other threads with the F15 opened up with a clear shot of the tuner which was a samsung. I can only speculate on the 5402 but have heard they use a Sharp branded tuner.

Whats holding me back on the F15 is it appears support seems to have stalled a little where as the 5402 is still well supported, I just hate the look of the 5402 it just looks dated to me where as the F15 is a lot more classier.

At the end of the day i just want something to be able to get those few weak TP's that my Duo cannot lock.

Decisions,Decisions


I posted some pictures of the tuner of F15 several days ago, but it is not a Samsung (unless it is rebranded)

http://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/...al/197911-dr-hd-f16-vu-uno-4.html#post1033011

Yes, it is true. Support of F15 is rather dissapointing from the beginning of 2012. As I wrote it in another thread, the company seems to pay more attention in exhibitions and fairs, than end users...
 

digi247

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Thanks for the advice pete, I was swaying towards the F15 over the 5402 i just think it may squeeze that extra 1 or 2 db out of a signal.

I recently tried the 5402 and pitted it against my Ultimo where as the ultimo dropped signal on 7° west the 5402 locked and gave a pretty good signal in some rain the other week. It was from that test that i decided to get shut of the ultimo after seeing a £150 box show up a £500 one.

Going to get one ordered and have a play with it first before i get either a Channel master 1.2 up or a Gibertini 1.2 to run alongside the 1m, and pair the F15 with either of the 1.2's
 

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strs65 said:
I posted some pictures of the tuner of F15 several days ago, but it is not a Samsung (unless it is rebranded)

http://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/...al/197911-dr-hd-f16-vu-uno-4.html#post1033011

Yes, it is true. Support of F15 is rather dissapointing from the beginning of 2012. As I wrote it in another thread, the company seems to pay more attention in exhibitions and fairs, than end users...

Yes saw your post thanks for the pics i think it was the post above that mentioned the Samsung tuner in the F15 information was sourced from the russian forum
 

digi247

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Well i finally managed to blag a 5402 off my mate for testing purposes a while he loans my gigablue, First off i took the lid off to have a peek at the tuner and to my suprise it appears to be the exact same one that strs65 posted pics of marked "SP710Vb" i could just make out the blue print down one side.

So it appears that more than likely the F15,5402 & Blade 7000 all share the same make of tuner due to the fact of being manufactured in the same factory.
 

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You also have Blade BM7000S which seems to be better built with powerplug at the back, the F15 went the cheap nasty route with a attached power cable.

I always look at boxes i buy if they are cheaply built or not, first i look at if the powercable is attached to the box directly, next thing i look at is the manufacturer of the capacitors, i read on the Russian forum that many had blown up PSUs where the capacitors are not the best quality to speak of.
 

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lanab said:
I always look at boxes i buy if they are cheaply built or not, first i look at if the powercable is attached to the box directly, next thing i look at is the manufacturer of the capacitors, i read on the Russian forum that many had blown up PSUs where the capacitors are not the best quality to speak of.

This can't be the case for all the boxes, if it does happen its not a hard fix with a soldering iron.

My vantage receiver has a attached power cable and is well built.
 

sonnetpete

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lanab said:
...i read on the Russian forum that many had blown up PSUs where the capacitors are not the best quality to speak of.

Well luckily, you have the advantage of being able to read Russian and find this info. It's a shame that there aren't more DrHD users posting on this forum. I have to say, I've not had any problem with my DrHD, though as it's not my main receiver it doesn't get a lot of use. I don't think whether power leads are attached or have a figure 8 plug reflects on the build quality of the box.
 

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sonnetpete said:
Well luckily, you have the advantage of being able to read Russian and find this info. It's a shame that there aren't more DrHD users posting on this forum. I have to say, I've not had any problem with my DrHD, though as it's not my main receiver it doesn't get a lot of use. I don't think whether power leads are attached or have a figure 8 plug reflects on the build quality of the box.

Well it's cheaper for the manufacturer to have the cable directly connected to the PSU, it will add costs to have a plug at the back and also add time in production.

The build quality is not the best as i said if you read the Russian forum, they use cheap capacitors on the PSU, it will happen to you eventually as well.

Reading Russian isn't a problem, you never used Google translate?

Also Dr.HD is out of money, the reason there hasn't been any updates for a long time, i am not going to buy this box anyway, too much risk.
 

sonnetpete

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lanab said:
Reading Russian isn't a problem, you never used Google translate?

Yes I have, but having seen how it can mangle and mistranslate E.G. French to English and vice versa I don't trust it completely for technical matters.


Have you got a source you can quote for DrHD's liquidity problems?
 

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This reminds me of the apocryphal anecdote about translating classics from English (English) to Russian and back again:


The Spirit Is Willing But The Flesh Is Weak

bounces back as

The Vodka Is Good But The Meat Is Off
 

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sonnetpete said:
Yes I have, but having seen how it can mangle and mistranslate E.G. French to English and vice versa I don't trust it completely for technical matters.


Have you got a source you can quote for DrHD's liquidity problems?

I will find source on Russian forum, takes time to go thru all cryptos.

Anyway found a quote on a German site from the moderator that says this:

"Insiders suspect that Dr.HD has hardly any money available ........ So we wait and hope for more signs of life ;-( "

_http://www.dream-of-pirates.to/wbb3/index.php?page=Thread&threadID=79708&pageNo=2
 

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To translate a whole web page, in IE8 I just right click on the site and use 'Translate with Live Search'. It can throw up some comical conversions, but on the whole, it's far better than Google.
 

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Llew said:
To translate a whole web page, in IE8 I just right click on the site and use 'Translate with Live Search'. It can throw up some comical conversions, but on the whole, it's far better than Google.

I still prefer to put a fish in my ear ..
Aww c'mon ...its only a little fish...
:)
 
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