Satellite receiver suggestions

Forums › Freeview (DVB-T/DVB-S) › Satellite receiver suggestions

Dkeeper

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#299453 9-Sep-2022 11:19

Times are a changing and no doubt set top boxes are too. Any current suggestions for a satellite receiver that has -

1.) Fast scans for finding wild feeds on Ku Band (that is if there are many these days, not sure which satellite)
2.) Has a better picture quality than say the Dish TV SNT7070HbbTV
3.) Nice user interface that makes it enjoyable to use

I realize that most people likely use the internet, however thought it might be fun to use a good satellite receiver as well.
It seems the choices of receivers is limited these days and maybe Australia, UK or Aliexpress might be an alternative to a NZ supplied one. Though a local New Zealand supplied receiver would be just fine too.

Thank you in advance for any suggestions.

fe31nz

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#2965240 9-Sep-2022 23:49

With digital TV broadcasts, the picture quality is determined by the broadcaster, not the receiver. Unless you do something very silly like using an analogue RCA output if the box has one. On the digital outputs (HDMI normally), you get the picture exactly as the broadcaster sent it, bit for bit.

The problem with quality on satellite receivers in NZ comes from the fact that Freeview on satellite is broadcast using DVB-S rather than DVB-S2 and so does not have enough bandwidth for HD broadcasts. So you get fairly crappy SD broadcasts. It is much better to receive the DVB-T HD versions using a UHF antenna, if you can. Otherwise, to get almost HD versions of the Freeview channels, you have to pay Sky to get their encrypted DVB-S2 broadcasts of the Freeview channels.

All the STB type devices I have met are limited in some way or another that I find annoying. The biggest problem is that any that are Freeview certified are certified not to be able to skip the ads easily when playing back recordings, and I find that unbearable. So for the best interface for usability (and consequent user happiness), you should build a PC and use some the the excellent freeware or pay software out there that does most things well. I use MythTV on a Linux box, but quite a few kiwis use the kiwi written NextPVR on Windows. Both are freeware, and can be used on an existing PC if you want to do that. You need to add DVB-T2 and/or DVB-S2 tuners, a remote control (usually infrared), and you will probably want to add another hard drive for storing recordings. You may need to get a better video card if it just has a motherboard builtin GPU, although recent motherboard GPUs should work well.

Note that you can not now easily buy DVB-T or DVB-S tuners - the ones that are available do the newer DVB-T2 and DVB-S2 standards and also support the older DVB-T or DVB-S standards. You can now get tuners that support DVB-T2 and DVB-S2 in the same tuner.

To receive any other satellite channels than Freeview or Sky in NZ, you need a much bigger dish and frequently specialised "professional" DVB-S2 tuners that can handle the broadcast standards used. And even then there are only a few that can be received and they are not of any interest to most NZers. Consequently nobody bothers with this any more. See Lyngsat for the satellites and channels:

https://www.lyngsat.com

https://www.lyngsat.com/Optus-D1.html

Dkeeper

132 posts

Master Geek
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#2965332 10-Sep-2022 10:31

Thank you for the informative post. It helps..

Still thinking of or looking for a satellite set top box, so hoping to find a model or two that are indeed favorites to users. Might get lucky with a few model suggestions.

Appreciate the feedback!

rscole86

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#2965389 10-Sep-2022 11:53

I'm happy with my vu+ zero, custom images let you decide on the interface/skins you like most.

Dkeeper

132 posts

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#2966065 12-Sep-2022 11:51

Thanks for the info on the vu+ zero unit. I saw the 4k version of this on ebay and they wanted close to $300 for freight alone. Does anyone in NZ/Aust sell these?

Seems to be a low response to this topic, which makes me think the subject of Satellite Receivers, Fast Scans and Wild Feeds has maybe lost interest, maybe due to general streaming on the net. Though the application is slightly different. Used to be fun watching the wild feeds and having a fast scan receiver when there were many receivers to choose from.

Mavarick

213 posts

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#2970900 21-Sep-2022 11:14

I have an older Vu Solo2 works well, no dealers in NZ anymore

but Vu have alot to offer ex UK or EU, single push of certain buttons, gives you FF/RR of std 15 sec. 1 min, 5 mins, all changeable, has series record. 1 week epg plus other stuff i don't know to work, can also use valid sky card on same box