Best Satellite Tuner that you have used

STB

Thought this might be a good question to ask and probably the best place to get people experiences given this is the "far away satellite" forum and people are attempting to pull in more than just Astra 2.

As we all know the tuners in satellite boxes can vary considerably with some starting to break up at x percentage signal (say 50% or less) or don't show weak transponders at all whilst another box is showing the channel perfectly. Hardware configuration varies greatly. Pulling in HD broadcasts on the fringe can be difficult.

Whilst I know that bigger dishes and better LNBs can increase performance significantly, the question I am asking is something that individuals within their own setups will have noticed if they use more than one box or have switched to another.

For me, the Hubtech boxes (Clarketech/Technomate/F16) are the most sensitive that I have used and will display stations solidly that other boxes wont.

What is the most sensitive satellite tuner that you have used ?

swoofer

put in spiderbox 9000hd

shinobi

Voted for AZBox.....The only satellite receiver I've used (Apart from skybox). Never materialised to be what was initially promised. But the advent of E2 made it very interesting to tinker about with & a great learning experience.

STB

GBCULLEN wrote: »

put in spiderbox 9000hd

I dont seem to have the option to edit the poll afterwards ?

Sorry I should have put in the Mvision HD300/Spiderbox 9000 (same box) alright.

dxhound2005

I have the AzBox Premium and the F15 and I previously owned Technomates 5200 and 6900. I think the F15 is the most sensitive, I bought it after seeing the dxer types on Satellites.co.uk singing it's praises. Also very important is the Black Ultra LNB generally regarded as being the best for weak signals and fringe reception. And of course dish size is the most important, I have 1.1 m the biggest recommended for a run of the mill motorised set up.

If I was forced to choose it would have to be the AzBox fully loaded as it is with the optional terrestrial tuner and a 1 TB hard drive. It's ability to decode 4:2:2 feeds gives so much more than any other box.

swoofer

a pity but the Mvision HD300 should not be classed as same as spider, this was a little ruse when spiderbox came out first, ie an effort to boost sales. I go back a long way and had nokia 9600 and that was awesome, then a humax 5400, then foxsat, then db500s, then spiderbox900hd,, spider best of all, great pic quality in sd and hd. and as said its all down to set up, dish properly aligned, good lnb, the black ultra, good dish,triax, then good sat cable, all adds up. and then location.

STB

Apparently the F15/F16 come out of the same factory in South Korea. And are the same hardware as the Technomate 6900 Super and Clarketech 5000C+ with slightly cleaner running software interface (and additional spectrum analyser).

I have been reading about the Inverto Black Ultras, especially the claims of an extra 10% in signal readings when measured against run of the mill LNBs. They are on my list! Are they that better than Titaniums ?

I dont know of any other box other than the Azboxes they have the added advantage of being able to read 4:2:2 feeds but are the tuners strong ? There are clones of the premium selling for €120 on certain sites (which might be worth it for the 4:2:2 feature alobe). I can get over the badly written software, but they seem to have been ditched by Opensat in favour of the ME and MIni ME series.

One thing I have noticed is that the Ali chip boxes have considerably weak tuners for anything involving the use of diseqc and their signal thresholds as a result are a massive hurdle. Then again they are cheap and for a different market, mainly the Astras.

The reason I raised this thread is that I came across these issues when setting up a multi lnb setup for the craic. I couldn't get over the differences between boxes when trying to pull in 10e (as distinct from 9e).

The worst performing is the Golden Media Unibox (from the GIM stable in Morocco, OEM for Edision, Amiko and Sab too I gather) which has the worst software and tuner known to man. Another of the ALi boxes geared towards Astra I guess.

STB

GBCULLEN wrote: »

a pity but the Mvision HD300 should not be classed as same as spider, this was a little ruse when spiderbox came out first, ie an effort to boost sales

Same hardware, same box, software can be loaded to each, once you know what you are doing. I remember the Alsat guy wasn't particularly happy when it was discovered.

Good to know that the tuners are solid though.

swoofer

ahh you can load the software but I never heard anyone say it could use the "gift". Yes I remember all the hassle, I think it got lost in translation.