Just Sharing This Gtmedia or free sat v7 hd satellite tv receiver

[scopus]

Was not Icecrypt not a "version" of some other brand of sat Rx?

Yes, Amiko brand is more or less the same. Icecrypt had there own software writers though.

 

[jeallen01]

So, could Icecrypt owners flash their receivers with Amiko f/w and "get on with it"?

 

[scopus]

So, could Icecrypt owners flash their receivers with Amiko f/w and "get on with it"?

No, afraid not, unless the patched s/w still supported for the Icecrypt models.

 

[Channel Hopper]

The client that bought one of these has been in contact again, his signals have disappeared and the Freesat V7 rattles when shaken apparently.

So, before I go round again and waste my time trying to fix it, what is the latest firmware update and do these things come apart with screws, or are they glued together ?

Thanks in advance

 

[scopus]

The client that bought one of these has been in contact again, his signals have disappeared and the Freesat V7 rattles when shaken apparently.

So, before I go round again and waste my time trying to fix it, what is the latest firmware update and do these things come apart with screws, or are they glued together ?

Thanks in advance

Never had a problem with these boxes. Never taken one apart, and the latest firmware is on www.freesat.cn

 

[jeallen01]

The Freesat V7 HD that I have has screws under the rubber feet and comes apart quite easily - the F-connector socket is poorly attached to the PCB (I think mine nearly broke away) but can be resoldered and "beefed up" to stop it happening again (as mine nearly did).

OTOH, that's the receiver that kept screwing up the DiSEqC motors down the garden so that they wouldn't scan more than half the arc, resulting in my having to do "at the motor" resets, and so I stopped using it - thus don't know what the f/w is or if it could be updated (been about 3 yrs since I bought it and 6 months since I used it).

 

[Channel Hopper]

Thanks. I've just been advised by the client this one has no rubber feet.

Last firmware for this on the site was August 2019 so it looks like the manufacturer has discontinued the product line, they've also renamed as GT media.

Will pull off site and take some pictures of the calamity tomorrow, I wish I had another Openbox V9 here to replace it with, just to save the headache and return journey.

 

[jeallen01]

Maybe the feet just fell off, or else they've changed the case design since I bought mine?

If it's not just a disconnected F-socket then it'd probably just be cheaper/quicker to buy "something else" (mind you, the V7HD, or whatever it's called now, was, the last time I looked, more like 40-50 quid than the 15 quid I paid for mine!)

 

[moonbase]

Maybe the feet just fell off, or else they've changed the case design since I bought mine?

If it's not just a disconnected F-socket then it'd probably just be cheaper/quicker to buy "something else" (mind you, the V7HD, or whatever it's called now, was, the last time I looked, more like 40-50 quid than the 15 quid I paid for mine!)

£20 or just over on eBay with free shipping to the UK.

Pardon our interruption...

 

[Channel Hopper]

Maybe the feet just fell off, or else they've changed the case design since I bought mine?

If it's not just a disconnected F-socket then it'd probably just be cheaper/quicker to buy "something else" (mind you, the V7HD, or whatever it's called now, was, the last time I looked, more like 40-50 quid than the 15 quid I paid for mine!)

Is the V7 actually worth it for the content it can/might receive ?

I recall the menus being a complete sod, and educating the person that bought it was at least twice the sod quotient.

 

[jeallen01]

Is the V7 actually worth it for the content it can/might receive ?

I recall the menus being a complete sod, and educating the person that bought it was at least twice the sod quotient.

W.r.t. the "worth it" bit, I suppose it depends on what you want to use it for - IMHO, the major advantages it had when I bought mine was that it had a decent tuner (proven) and was a cheap "experiment", but the latter can't be said today when you can buy something like an Octagon SX88+ (there are clones under other brand names!) for around the same price as a V7, and that has good and regular backup/updating from Octagon.
BTW: the only thing I don't like about the SX88+ is the difficulty of stopping a recording without actually turning OFF the 12V power to it, and the menus are sometimes also quite "complicated".

OTOH, if one wants to explore the "dark side" of s/w cams and "gift cards", then that might be another matter - about which I know very little (and we certainly cannot discuss those things here, as we are often thus reminded )

On the latter point, I agree with you - it is not as user friendly as the Openbox V9S which I bought for the same reason as the Free Sat, although I found the tuner to be slightly less sensitive. That said, I don't use the Openbox very much either, but would be far happier to use that than the Free Sat.

 

[moonbase]

Is the V7 actually worth it for the content it can/might receive ?

I recall the menus being a complete sod, and educating the person that bought it was at least twice the sod quotient.

For £20 or just a little more it is worth it to those who wish to avail themselves of some of it's more interesting features, especially if they do not need to use the menus a lot.

 

[Channel Hopper]

On the latter point, I agree with you - it is not as user friendly as the Openbox V9S which I bought for the same reason as the Free Sat, although I found the tuner to be slightly less sensitive. That said, I don't use the Openbox very much either, but would be far happier to use that than the Free Sat.

I must admit I don't know exactly what is on the roof of their property, but it cannot be much beyond an 80cm dish.
Motor is similarly a question mark.

The V9 is positively a walk in the park compared to the Freesat, I have a brace of octogenarians happily reliving their youth overseas, where they had trouble with a somewhat overpriced Humax HDCI2000 with bugger all support once sold at some %%%%, courtesy of HiSat ( via Nobb on the AV forum)

The Official Humax HDCI2000 Thread

Here it is, as we are getting so many of these. I am going to get the mods to merge all the Humax threads, or make all the posts in this thread so we don't get hundreds of these threads, especially with the lead up of the World Cup.

www.avforums.com

 

[jeallen01]

For £20 or just a little more it is worth it to those who wish to avail themselves of some of it's more interesting features, especially if they do not need to use the menus a lot.

If they are available at that price with "some sort" of warranttee, then that's probably the best way forward - at least he won't have to be taught how to use it (again!)
OTOH, he could have had my old one for the same price (inc P&P) - but absolutely NO warrantee

 

[Channel Hopper]

If that is a challenge then I will fix it, then bill you for the price of a V9 swopout

 

[jeallen01]

If that is a challenge then I will fix it, then bill you for the price of a V9 swopout

What, ME - a "challenge" to you ???

You really have to be "joking" - I wouldn't stand a chance (and I wouldn't "pay up" anyway)

AND I have enough "challenges" with other things ATM (as you well know)

 

[Channel Hopper]

Well, the rattle turned out to be a screw that had come adrift inside the box, one of two that retains the PCB to the base and has approximately two turns of thread.

The second issue is , as reported above, a loose F connector on the tuner, which was soldered back into place using a tourniquet.

Pictures of the work.

 

[Channel Hopper]

And some closeups of the internals and tuner specification, incase anyone needs the chipset data.

 

[Channel Hopper]

As mentioned the latest software is August, I'll carry out some checks to see if this is an improvement, it can't be worse than what was installed.

 

[jeallen01]

As mentioned the latest software is August, I'll carry out some checks to see if this is an improvement, it can't be worse than what was installed.

Ref the loose F-connector - the "giveaway" that that's a problem is that it wobbles when you try to push up/down with your finger

Let us know how well you think the latest s/w works, and what the version is - and any further thoughts on the DiSEqc motor control issues as I might just update the s/w on mine when I have time in a couple of weeks or so.

BTW: the issue I had with mine didn't show up immediately, but, ISTR, when it had been in use for a few days and I had been swapping it with the TM to compare how "well" both worked - so it might have been the Dark Motors that were getting "confused" because the two receiver DiSEqC control signals sequences are "slightly different" (IIRC, the Free Sat can repeat those signals whereas the TM can't)?