Hills DVB-S HSM075 vs DishTV S9020DVD

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mciman

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#87417 28-Jul-2011 14:30

For several months I have had problems with reception using the Hills HSM075 Freeview satellite receiver. In the morning and evening/night it seemed to work perfectly. It was fine in the afternoons (say from noon until 6pm) provided I didn't change TV channels or change from TV to radio. If I did attempt to change channels in the afternoon it would lose it. Signal strength was fine but signal quality dropped to zero. The error message suggest I check the cable to the satellite dish! Turning off and rebooting occasionally fixed the problem but only rarely. It was worst on sunny days. I have read that the signal from the satellite can be swamped by radiation from the sun if it's in the sky in a similar direction to the Optus D1 satellite. I figured that was the problem, and that I'd just have to put up with it and avoid changing channels in the afternoon.

Today I installed a DishTV S9020DVD which is not only a Freeview satellite receiver but also plays DVDs, MP3s and (the feature I wanted) can record programmes onto an external USB drive.

The good news is that I have been able to change channels etc on the DishTV unit this afternoon with no problems despite it being a bright sunny day. The signal strength is 83-85% and quality 70-72%. The cable to the satellite dish is approx 25m and the dish itself is only 60cm diameter.

The bottom line - based on my experience I can't recommend the Hills DVB-S HSM075, but the DishTV S9020DVD is a great improvement. It seems better able to lock on to the signal than the Hills unit despite radiation from the sun.

injuised

256 posts

Ultimate Geek

#499062 28-Jul-2011 18:28

mciman: For several months I have had problems with reception using the Hills HSM075 Freeview satellite receiver. In the morning and evening/night it seemed to work perfectly. It was fine in the afternoons (say from noon until 6pm) provided I didn't change TV channels or change from TV to radio. If I did attempt to change channels in the afternoon it would lose it. Signal strength was fine but signal quality dropped to zero. The error message suggest I check the cable to the satellite dish! Turning off and rebooting occasionally fixed the problem but only rarely. It was worst on sunny days. I have read that the signal from the satellite can be swamped by radiation from the sun if it's in the sky in a similar direction to the Optus D1 satellite. I figured that was the problem, and that I'd just have to put up with it and avoid changing channels in the afternoon.

Today I installed a DishTV S9020DVD which is not only a Freeview satellite receiver but also plays DVDs, MP3s and (the feature I wanted) can record programmes onto an external USB drive.

The good news is that I have been able to change channels etc on the DishTV unit this afternoon with no problems despite it being a bright sunny day. The signal strength is 83-85% and quality 70-72%. The cable to the satellite dish is approx 25m and the dish itself is only 60cm diameter.

The bottom line - based on my experience I can't recommend the Hills DVB-S HSM075, but the DishTV S9020DVD is a great improvement. It seems better able to lock on to the signal than the Hills unit despite radiation from the sun.

Could be you have a failing Dual LNB, the hills are the first to fall over when the LO starts drifting , so come summer time you may loose your signal altogether

But in saying that ive never liked the hills at all

mciman

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#499165 28-Jul-2011 23:07

Thanks for your reply. If the problem reappears I'll know where to look. I'm connected to an old Sky dish (at the flat we work from) which is the same size as the Sky dish we have at home. I have noticed that more recent Sky dish installations in our area (Atawhai, Nelson) have been larger diameter dishes. I gather a larger dish would capture a stronger signal from the satellite/s and maybe more channels (not just those on FreeView)?