Need an extra receiver or...?

Captain Jack

Captain Jack

Retired human
My Satellite Setup
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My Location
North Somerset
Hi,

I am looking to get another toy. Was looking at sat meters such as FS1 or ST3 but they are quite expensive for my needs. Then I thought of TBS 6925 card but that's also expensive and I don't really have a Windows PC any more - only Hackintosh (Mac OS X on a "normal" PC). Yeah, I could dual boot or perhaps even VMWare Fusion but... too much hassle.

So now I am thinking of getting a cheap but decent receiver. A D15 springs to mind - I already have a F15 at my parents for use with my Fibo, so it seems like a good choice. But what about the likes of Skybox F3s? They seem to be highly regarded, especially for the price... Or an F5? Vantage?

One thing I want a receiver to show me is a signal quality/SNR level BEFORE a lock is obtained. The F15 and its variants (TM5402, Blade 7000) can do it but my Uno can't, which makes it difficult to search for weak signals.

Any other options?

CJ
 
Pity you don't run Windows. A Skystar 2 Xpress HD PCIe card might have filled the bill CJ. Has the same tuner/demod as the TBS6925, therefore you can use the famed Crazyscan facility as with the 6925 (constellation monitoring etc).

Blind search is nifty too - a tad faster than my 6925. I have one hooked up in my shack. Considerably cheaper than the 6925 (around fifty quid with some suppliers).
 
I have two F3s and find them really excellent (especially for the price).

I understand the sleeker looking F5 has "issues" but don't know the details.

We have a growing Skybox Sub-Forum with Reviews and much other info.



Edit: Sorry, CJ, just re-read your wish list and the F3 won't fulfil your metering requirement.
 
Llew said:
Pity you don't run Windows. A Skystar 2 Xpress HD PCIe card might have filled the bill CJ. Has the same tuner/demod as the TBS6925, therefore you can use the famed Crazyscan facility as with the 6925 (constellation monitoring etc).

Blind search is nifty too - a tad faster than my 6925. I have one hooked up in my shack. Considerably cheaper than the 6925 (around fifty quid with some suppliers).
Click to expand...
O rly? What are the differences between the two? Can it do VCM/ACM/multi-stream like TBS-6925 can?

Tivù said:
I have two F3s and find them really excellent (especially for the price).

Edit: Sorry, CJ, just re-read your wish list and the F3 won't fulfil your metering requirement.
Click to expand...
Balls... Any other "cheap" but decent receivers which will give me an SNR reading before a lock? I only ever had Enigma1/2 based receivers in the past and I can't remember if my ancient Nokia 9600/DVB2000 showed any signal levels (in hex!) before a lock...
 
You could try a mid range budget meter - either connected inline, or better still on the loop out of the receiver (with its own power supply) to use as a level finder.

A quick scan of ebay brings up this one

171019222089

A review

http://www.tele-satellite.com/11/09/eng/8dtek.pdf
 
Captain Jack said:
O rly? What are the differences between the two? Can it do VCM/ACM/multi-stream like TBS-6925 can?
Click to expand...
Other than price, the usual baggage that you get with a pci card. Recording functions, viewers that can use BDA/WDM drivers etc.

No problem with ACM/VCM -

5W 12648V_1.webp

5W 12648V_2.webp
 
I bought a TM-5402 HD M2 a few weeks ago to replace my faulty BM7000S. The interface and menus don't look quite as modern on the Technomate, but the features and functions are better and it's far more of an enthusiast and better receiver IMO, the Blade is just boring. The D15 on the other hand, looks more of a stripped-down F15. I haven't tried either of them, but I would recommend the TM-5402 as it's an excellent box.

I'm toying with the idea of getting another receiver myself to have a play about with, even though I don't need it. The SKYBOX F3 seems like a nice box for £50 - £60. I could probably use it for the FTA UK channels at 28E by plugging it into the minidish and keeping the TM-5402 strictly for receiving foreign stuff with my motorised dish. That way I wouldn't need to move the dish back to 28E every time I wanted to watch BBC or ITV for example!
 
A few of us use the skybox f3 on here, great box at a great price. The ability for it to lock on channels with low snr's is better than any receiver i've had so far (4)
 
Yes, but the F3 doesn't fulfil his requirement to indicate SNR/Quality prior to Lock ..................

So the fast Blind Scan and (as you mentioned) the capability to lock very low SR are not sufficient, sadly.
 
My reply was really for Sat Mark-as i knew about the issue about non locking as an option- i should have quoted Sat Mark. My mistake. :-idiot
 
Ah, I see!

In that case, I unreservedly second the motion :-clap
 
Now if i could locate the phase lock loop circuitry in the skybox we could be onto something ......
 
Llew said:
Pity you don't run Windows. A Skystar 2 Xpress HD PCIe card might have filled the bill CJ. Has the same tuner/demod as the TBS6925, therefore you can use the famed Crazyscan facility as with the 6925 (constellation monitoring etc).

Blind search is nifty too - a tad faster than my 6925. I have one hooked up in my shack. Considerably cheaper than the 6925 (around fifty quid with some suppliers).
Click to expand...
hi Llew, just looking at the pc needs for the skystar 2 xpress hd pcie card and it says you need a 3d graphic card is this essential please, I am not one for watching much tv but I do like to hunt feeds etc,

thanks for any information on this.
 
martin-f said:
martin-f, on 06 Jun 2013 - 6:28 PM, said:
hi Llew, just looking at the pc needs for the skystar 2 xpress hd pcie card and it says you need a 3d graphic card is this essential please, I am not one for watching much tv but I do like to hunt feeds etc,

thanks for any information on this.
Click to expand...
As a so-called 'budget' card, it does need a graphics card with hardware acceleration to view HD channels without any annoying artefacts.

In the PC I have it in outside, which has an Intel Core 2 4400 CPU and an Nvidea G-Force 8500GT, HD is a little 'blocky' at times using DVBViewer (or VLC invoked from Crazyscan).

However, as I only use the card for Crazyscan spectrum analysis and blindscanning, this isn't an issue for me, as long as I can view the scanned results in my chosen viewer.
 
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