LINKBOX 9000i HD Review

Here's an early review of the LinkBox 9000i (Not Local model) after only 1 day of use.I'll update later after I have more time to test it.Some may be considering a purchase before I get around to a more thorough review.

The only previous FTA receiver I had was a GeoSatPro MicroHD.So that is the only receiver I can compare it to.That and just my personal preferences. Dish only covers 78W (True South) to 133W due to actuator failing.

First off: HyperMegaSat shipped incredibly fast as in prior purchases.2 Day shipping to USPS.Overall outside appearance of the receiver is pleasing.Looks good and appears well built.Has internal power supply..so no wall wart.Several buttons on the front of receiver to get you by when you temporarily misplace the remote.Remote works well,feels good in the hand.I find the remote button arrangement to be logical and easy to understand.

Picture quality is outstanding.Even better than the MicroHD...but my MicroHD may have been suffering some picture clarity due to the coax connector going bad.Receiving some channels that have never been received before.For instance, Willow on 121W.Never got a blip on Willow before.Gone Viral channels were never lockable before either,IIRC.There are some transponders that are missing...but most probably due to the dish being off of peak.Dish will have to be properly aligned and rescans done to get a total channel count and make a quantitative comparison.

C Band Sats for USA pre-listed except for: Galaxy 28/89W, Galaxy 25/93W, Anik F2/111W, Anik F3/118W, and Galaxy 18/123W.(Sats of little importance) AMC 7C/137W still listed,but I believe it was relocated a while back?

While viewing a program,Hitting <Enter> brings up the channel list for the Satellite you are on.You can arrow left or right to view channels on OTHER satellites without the dish MOVING until you make a selection.I like that!

TP list goes to the Satellite you are already on.MicroHD tended to take off to the most far-eastern Satellite programmed in or reverted to the All Channels list...which could send it anywhere.Less strain on the actuator is a big plus.

Wireless adapter included in the package gets good signal level.Buffering problems on some IPTV channels but that may be net related.

Now for the bad.Or just not what I'D prefer to see.
As noted by some early reviewers,the blind scan is sloooow.I mean, go make yourself a sandwich and come back slow.Not a deal breaker,but a tad annoying during the initial setup.But once you get set-up,who needs to blind scan often anyway?

Any renamed channel is reset to the original name after a subsequent blind scan.( I believe that is common with other receivers...but I find it a dang nuisance.)

Satellites are listed by name,not the position number.This may be a PLUS for some users.I prefer 97W to Galaxy 19.I plan to manually rename them soon.

No Netflix? If it's there,I have not found it.Youtube works,but many times file formats are incompatible.

IPTV... I only tested it briefly.What I did find were many channels that either would not load or were of the wrong format.Some that did load had buffering problems.Some channels DID play fine.Personally,I am not interested in the IPTV and do not plan to waste my time searching for what plays and what doesn't.So far I have not found a way to add or remove the IPTV channels.Hopefully there is a way to do this?

The signal meter can be a bit slow to register changes while calibrating the dish east or west.I had to slow down and wait a few seconds more than was necessary with the MicroHD at times.Also the meter registers at a higher percentage than the MicroHD...what was 85% before is now 98% with the 9000i.(How much is actual signal Improvement...IDK.)

Finally,what was especially time consuming.While manually clicking east or west to find each satellite during the initial setup: Some transponders absolutely would NOT register on the signal meter.Transponders that would blind scan in with up to 98% SQ were not even a blip while calibrating the dish.One channel I recall in particular was LATV on 3839V 97W.After blind scanning and locking LATV in,I went back to recalibrate the dish a tad better...LATV was STILL not even a blip on the meter there.So...if you think you have clicked too far and not found a Sat yet...be sure to try with different transponders! I never experienced that while using the MicroHD.Still scratching my head.

Conclusion:
I was not looking for IPTV capability and have never considered it desirable so my opinion is obviously slanted.In other words,I would be hard pressed to find much good to say about ANY IPTV.I was looking for a good FTA Satellite Receiver and I believe that I have found one.I may never try recording with the 9000i...I'll leave that aspect to some one else to review.The apparent absence of Netflix might be a concern for some,but I'd prefer you use the Roku and let the FTA receiver cool down.Am I glad I bought the 9000I...darn straight!

As for the MicroHD...I still hope to repair the old box or find another.At this point in time,I have to give the top rating to the 9000i.

I'll try to answer any questions or test features if possible.

I have to close...lightning storm moving in here.

Yeah Fred, I know what you mean.I haven't tried doing it that way before with the MicroHD...it seems a bit complicated.I've been afraid of doing something wrong and getting the dreaded boot-loop.I'd prefer if the receiver just 'handled' that aspect on its own.Maybe not possible,IDK.but I can dream.lol.

IPTV channels can be added by going to Apps> IPTV > Blue Button > Select UserVideo > Green Add Buttion > Type in URL

I'll keep looking for more tidbits.

Lone...I have found that if I hit the ok button while in viewing mode,the info screen that opens up DOES list the Sat position in brackets after the name.So that helps there.
Sat list only has the name... I plan to remedy that today using the name changing option.Bit of a pain going thru all that...but oh well.

I can see where this is one of those design features where some will be pleased and some will be annoyed ... either way it is set up.
Never say never, Lone...this receiver is looking sweet otherwise!
I may be cussing it later if it takes a dump.lol
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* Close Caption works by hitting the red <Timer> button.Didn't see CC mentioned in the instructions *
* Forgot to mention in first post: I did a Network Upgrade Saturday.Process went smoothly. *

EDIT: 27 Sats renamed in 16 minutes.( 97.0-w, for instance) Simple procedure even with arthritic hands.

Ok...this is odd.And I don't want to stray into topics that can't be discussed here...so bear with me.
89 W Galaxy 28 is not preprogrammed in...so I added it manually and added transponders for some feeds there.In particular the CW feed.I go to do a blind scan and it says that Sat is locked.Can't even click on the scan button for it.So I hit google for help...read about a code that unlocks it.I enter the code several times and nothing seems to happen...then I read on and find that you first have to install some hack crap for that code to work.Well screw that,I don't want any illegal garbage on my box! I give up and shut down the receiver due to a storm.

When I start it back up afterwards,I figure what the heck...I'll check it again.And it now lets me scan 89W! Found the CW feed.I have no idea what changed .
I'm now doing a scan on 111W which had to be manually added as well.(No idea if it was locked before) It is scanning in transponders as I type.Ok...it only found the Saskatchewan Mux.The MicroHD occasional found the VSEN transponders...but never any programming.

These channels are ITC.I'm not talking about trying to get scrambled channels.It has my simple mind puzzled.

It appears that the previous mentioned problem was just some kind of glitch.I have since manually added 2 Satellites with no problem.IDK why the scan option was greyed out and unclickable that one time before,but the reboot obviously fixed it..
As for where I read that the Satellite was locked: When on the motor position page,once you click East or West and start 'hitting' the Satellite...It pops up text at the bottom that says Satellite XYX is locked.Locked meaning tuned in. NOT locked as in blocked.It often wrongly ID's the Satellite though,which had me confuzzeled.Might be on 97W and it says 139W is locked,for instance.
So,all is good so far.
89W, 93W, 111W, 118W, and 123W were the only C band Sats not pre-listed that I've found so far...not much there anyway.Still...I didn't want to be locked out of them.You never know what might open up,right?

Got out and peaked my 10 ft'er better today.Covering 55W to 125W...Signal improvement on all Sats.Focal length still needs some experimentation because I 'think' it is too long, but that will have be be a future project.Blind scans on 125W,78W,and 58W found channels I have never gotten before with the 7.5 dish.Most transponders have 98% SQ on the LinkBox 9000i.I don't recall any signals less than 82% except for a couple that were only 70%+.

At that point I gave up on a thorough C1-PLL/CK1S comparison and mounted the CK1S .(Only C band hooked up so far) No noticeable change in SQ on the 3 previously scanned Satellites.I came inside and ran blind scans on some of the remaining Satellites...with the same results.New channels found on most satellites.I have not noticed any previous channels missing so far.Most SQ's @ 98%. 595 channels ITC,but still some duplicates to remove.

I'll need to test some 16 and 32 apsk channels to see how well they lock with the CK1S.Been watching a mux on 97W that previously was hard to lock...been steady for over an hour so far.Any suggestions on what difficult channels to test?

More testing to come,but I'm impressed with the 9000i and the CK1S so far.I'll hook up the KU some time later.Not sure if I want to mess with it before getting a good actuator.

I got bored and hooked the KU side of the CK1S up today using a 22 khz switch.Without doing any fine tuning on the dish,I came inside and blind scanned 97W.Got 181 ITC tv channels.
Blind scan of 103W only yielded 2 radio stations,and nothing scanned in on 125W.A bit odd since I could get good signals on a few transponders while on the "Motor Settings page".I suspect the actuator slop was letting the dish move enough to keep them from locking.Or maybe I wasn't quite on them.

At that point,Mama took charge of the remote and my experimenting came to a screeching halt.lol.Mama is starting to want tv in the bedroom now.I may get "permission" to remount the 7.5 dish on a second pole.

More dish aligning to come...but busy doing yard work for a while.

Slowly adding more KU Sats and already picked up the missing channels on 103w and 125W.Several required individual scans on the "TP List and Search" page.Blind scan or normal scan doesn't get 'em all.
This CK1S is really starting to impress me.

Now back on topic


The LinkBox 9000i is continuing to impress as well in the FTA receiver role.(I have not gone back into IPTV mode since day 1) Nothing really new to post.Picture quality is still sweet.The only real issues are the slooow blind scan and the unreliable signal meter.Maybe something on my end is causing the meter to misread...but the MicroHD had no problem with it.I have found that transponders with no signal on the "Motor Setting" page would often be 98% if I back out of "Motor Setting" and came back in...this without the dish moving.Or transponders with NO signal will blind scan right in.It makes it frustrating to fine tune.

I would recommend buying this receiver! The few quirks I have found so far are pretty insignificant IMHO...unless one plans to feed hunt.The ability to surf thru the channel list on ALL Sats without the dish moving makes it a channel surfers dream.

As usual,YMMV.I'll continue to update as I discover more pros or cons.

I was able to lock in 5 channels on Star One C1 @65W C band this morn.The best the 7.5 dish ever done was 2 or 3 channels that rarely made a pixelatted mess....on a good day.Too bad they're all in Portuguese.
No luck with the other Brazil Sats...but I was bored and wanted a challenge.
t will be a days work removing the fluff.

Tried IPTV briefly again this morning.Watched Twit TV for 15 minutes without buffering problems.So the 9000i does ok on IPTV IF you find a decent stream and have good internet service.Pretty much the same as I have experienced trying to watch IPTV on a computer.
Still way too many IPTV channels that do not work...and have not found a way to remove them yet.It could be right under my nose.The user guide for FTA is well detailed and easy to follow... but IPTV is barely mentioned.
The following are all the instructions included for IPTV.
"3.6 Network TV & Game"
"Games such as Tetris, Othello, and Sudoku can be found in the game menu.You can watch YouTube and free IPTV channels."