I'm having a crisis... Combo meter

Huevos

Huevos

Satellite Freak
My Satellite Setup
57E to 58W, C-band and Ku, DVB-S2, 4:2:2 and blindscan.
My Location
38.5ºN, 0.5ºW
I'm trying to decide between 2 meters and with the money involved I don't want to make the wrong choice.

The meters are:
  1. Emitor Combolook Color (£900) _http://www.emitor.se/dynamaster/file_archive/080930/f8b699d81c29c0276b7a838f35725918/Leaflet_Combolook_Color_web1.pdf
  2. Satcatcher ST Combo (£850) _http://www.satcatcher.com/digipro_st_combo

I'm mainly working with Satellite but wanted to be able to set up terrestrial stuff occasionally.

I really like the look of the Emitor for the big screen, ease of use and because it has a tuning knob rather than needing to directly enter frequencies via the keypad. I also like that switching polarization and hi/lo band is so easy, again with no need to go into the menu system.

But for digital terrestrial TV the Emitor only has a spectrum analyser and is not capable of demodulating digital signals, showing BER, nor a viewable picture. Is this a big problem? It would be on satellite. The Satcatcher on the other hand has full demodulation of COFDM signals and can display BER and pictures.

Both meters have NIT.

I've already got a Satcatcher Excel TV satellite meter (no NIT) which is a nice meter but the Emitor looks simpler to use without the need to go through lots of menu levels to get to what you want.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.
 
Out of choice, Emitor Combolook NIT.
 
satelliteman said:
Out of choice, Emitor Combolook NIT.
Click to expand...
Do you own that meter? Are you talking the "Color" or the earlier version.
 
No don't own a combo, but have the Micro. Seen a few of the Emitor range, easy to use and plenty of support.
 
satelliteman said:
No don't own a combo, but have the Micro. Seen a few of the Emitor range, easy to use and plenty of support.
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Thanks Satelliteman. The whole of the Emitor satellite range look good and easy to use. What I really would like is a comment from someone who installs digital terrestrial as to whether a spectrum display is enough for basic installs.
 
lol, satelliteman does digital terrestrial installations too :D

In answer to your question, being able to see the decoded MPEG picture for DTT is of no advantage as long as you have all the measurements available- in my opinion.
 
satelliteman said:
lol, satelliteman does digital terrestrial installations too
Click to expand...
What meter do you use for terrestrial?
 
In addition, the Emitor Megalook measures DVB-T but maybe the Satcatcher would suit a smaller budget.

_http://www.emitor.se/dynamaster/file_archive/071023/9a2a3ac702e0e1deb46c5012cc0b0092/Megalook1.pdf
 
The combolook is probably not the best instrument for anyone needing to work on DVB-T, the Satellite side is great, but the Terrestrial side does not provide digital analysis, the Megalook is a more rounded instrument, but much more money.

Haven't used the Satcatcher, but have seen it in operation at a show and it isn't a bad little meter.:)

At the end of the day, if it is your business, buy the absolute best you can afford and then a little more.;)
 
Megalook is well outside my budget. Maybe I should consider separate instruments.
 
I still haven't decided yet. Rolf's post is making me think separate instruments. What about the Digital NIT Color for the satellite side and the Digiair Pro for the terrestrial side? The two come to more or less the same money as the Combolook and the Digiair Pro does digital measurements and looks a good base level meter for terrestrial.
 
Looks a good meter, all the necessary measurements there.
 
satelliteman said:
Looks a good meter, all the necessary measurements there.
Click to expand...

Hi guys, let me try to give you info you need direct from my position. I am the
developer of the satcatcher meters and can explain what it does and why I made it the way I did . First let me clarify the position with the ST Combo meter. We have been in
developement for a long time with this , due to the tech changes which have come along, we descided to think again half way through. It is not on the market in Europe or the
UK yet , but it is finished and in production as we speak. Retail price will be £950 plus VAT , not sure were £850 came from. We offer ---- demodulation of DVB-S and DVB-T pictures
the meter is very fast to use , with a long battery life. Spectrum analizer for both systems.
NIT identification for DVB-S, with support direct from us in the UK . You will not find a true bad word about my products.
We are very popular with our other meters and we are sure with the Combo we will see the same. Our meters are calibrated and we can honestly say the results you get are comparible with meters which cost upto £5000 ! I am completely confident that in a combo product we have the best tool available. It is very light , easy to use, excelent value
with the very best service.
Please be aware that satcatcher products are the only products in the World you can fully edit by hand! they are the only meter with fully working USALS for motor installs, they support full Unicable commands exclusively. The Combo has the bigggest memory of any meter available with a massive 1BG memory, which is holding every transponder in
World , with a monthly update provided by ourselves. Check the specs.
I dont follow the forums as we dont have time very often, but I welcome anyone to call me Directly at satcatcher to clarify anything that may be of concern. Thanks ,
Steve Collier Director Satcatcher Ltd
 
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