Satellite Meter Recommendations for Installer

[contemptx]

Hi,
I was hoping someone could help me

I have installed many dishes for friends & family, but now its starting to get to the stage where I could do with some professional kit and look at turning this to a fulltime thing.

so im looking to purchase a satellite meter which would be used as an every day tool for an installer.

The main purpose we will be using it to install motorised dishes.
Im looking for something that is easy to use, but has the advanced functions.

I dont really have a budget but would like to stay within £800, but i can stretch to abit more.

Also what would be your opnion on the following options:

Built-in SAT / TV Tuner Display? - needed or just piece of mind?
Combination Meter - Satellite + Terrestrial? - or seperate meters? (although I dont see me doing many terrestrial as I have only done satellites.)


I have been researching and most reviews seem to point to the Satlook models.

Satlook Colour HD
Satlook Ice
Satlook MicroHD
Combolook Colour HD (expensive!)

Anyone have any first hand experience on these?
Or if you could recommend another im all ears ;)


Thanks for your time.

 

[localchap]

Hi,i'm in the same boat, heard a lot of negative feedback about satlook micro+, dead batteries, not reliable, but theres no reviews of satlook micro hd, would be interested in it as well.

 

[vma]

Satlook ICE and COLOR HD are great devices for quickly aligning dishes.
They feature the fastest real-time spectrum and with the constellation diagram, BER and MER, you will be able to fine tune the dish in no time. The ICE allows MPEG2 picture viewing, while the COLOR even allows MPEG4 picture.
Overall these are very good devices.
The good points: very reasonable price, very fast devices, easy to use.
The bad points are: rather big and heavy, not as accurate as Rover Instruments.

Forget about the Micro-Series from Emitor: these are slow, plagued with problems. I don't like them at all!

Combolook is expensive and only worth it, if you need to install CATV, as well.

You might want to look at the Rover Instruments range. While a bit more expensive than the ICE/COLOR HD, they are truly professional meters with high accuracy and featuring much more functions, allowing measurement of all possible parameters.

Cheers,
vma

 

[Huevos]

the COLOR even allows MPEG4 picture.

No it doesn't.

 

[satelliteman]

Forget about the Micro-Series from Emitor: these are slow, plagued with problems. I don't like them at all!

My Micro has never given me any problems ;)

 

[vma]

No it doesn't.

I was of course referring to the Color HD. The Color is the predecessor of the ICE and is not HD capable.

Thanks for pointing it out.

Cheers,
vma

 

[Huevos]

I was of course referring to the Color HD. The Color is the predecessor of the ICE and is not HD capable.

Thanks for pointing it out.

Cheers,
vma

So was I. The color HD does not have mpeg4 display. The HD in the name just means it will demodulate S2 transponders.

 

[vma]

OMG! You are correct!

I only read the specifications and I believe they are misleading!

Reading the leaflet, I have to confirm that only analog SAT and FTA DVB-S picture is displayed!

Please accept my apologies for my wrong statement!

Cheers,
vma

 

[Huevos]

I have to confirm that only analog SAT and FTA DVB-S picture is displayed!

That's not quite correct. Many/most channels on DVB-S2 are MPEG2. It will display those channels, just not MPEG4, although it will play the audio. And, just as MPEG2 is found on DVB-S2 transponders, MPEG4 is possible on DVB-S transponders, although again it will not display these.

If you look on the video below, at minute 4:00, it shows BBC HD in a blueish colour (means meter can't display it), rather than green (MPEG2 FTA), red (conditional access) or yellow (radio channels).

[tube]rKLDiGF4fSo[/tube]

 

[vma]

My quote was from the Satlook Color HD leaflet (Copy & Paste).

I have to disagree with you: while DVB-S can feature MPEG4, it is most common to use MPEG4 with DVB-S2: "Other features include enhanced modulation schemes up to 32APSK, additional code rates, and the introduction of a generic transport mechanism for IP packet data including MPEG-4 audio–video streams, while supporting backward compatibility with existing MPEG-2 TS based transmission."
(DVB-S2 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). If you look at Lyngsat, you will notice that practically all DVB-S2 transponders feature MPEG4 video.

MPEG4 can be found on DVB-S transponders, but this is far less common. The Quali-TV QS-1080 IR was such a receiver: sold as an HD receiver, it only had a DVB-S tuner. It was sold mainly to receive Luxe-TV, if I am not mistaken.

I could not find any DVB-S2 transponder featuring MPEG2 video, however that is possible, according to the DVB-S2 standard, for backward compatibility.

By no means do I want to start a discussion and it was me who placed the wrong statement in first place. I just wanted to point out that it is common to think of DVB-S = MPEG2 and DVB-S2 = MPEG4, though this is not always the case.

Cheers,
vma

 

[Huevos]

The main purpose we will be using it to install motorised dishes.
Im looking for something that is easy to use, but has the advanced functions.

Satlook Color HD is really good for DiSEqC motors and DiSEqC switching, and the spectrum is fast, even compared to some much more expensive meters.

Built-in SAT / TV Tuner Display? - needed or just piece of mind?

It's just a party trick really, great for impressing clients but not much practical use. NIT and spectrum prove what satellite you are on without any need to display the channels to confirm this. And the digital info is much more useful for getting a dish set up than channel display ever could be. Also don't be put off by the MPEG4 comments from earlier. The majority of MPEG 4 stuff is encrypted so you couldn't view it anyway even if the meter was capable.

Combination Meter - Satellite + Terrestrial? - or seperate meters? (although I dont see me doing many terrestrial as I have only done satellites.)

I don't do much terrestrial stuff either. I got the DigiAir Pro for terrestrial. When I bought it and the Satlook Color HD the Combolook HD wasn't yet available. For terrestrial you don't gain much from the Combolook over the DigiAir Pro. Both have spectrum and neither have channel display (Combolook has channel display in satellite mode only).