3500S cold boot needed; AC3 decoding?

[animalhead.com]

First time poster: I've recently set up a Pansat 3500S in my system which also includes a GI/Motorola 922 4DTV receiver. It works OK but there are 2 residual problems:

1. About half the days when you turn the 3500s on, it won't respond to the remote. Turning the unit off and on with the switch in the back fixes this, but loses the time. The unit is still within the seller's exchange period and I have an RMA number so I could just send it in for exchange. We live in the mountains where the power is off and on in winter, we have a whole-house generator and the 3500S is plugged into a UPS, but the UPS doesn't like running off the generator and keeps switching between using the generator power and its batteries. This may be showing the 3500S some nasties on the power.

Q1: Does the 3500S have a reputation for needing such "cold booting"?

2. No sound on AC3 stations. My preamp (Proceed PAV) has no AC3 input or decoder. I might could buy a sidecar for it on eBay but don't much want to, it would be several years old, would be expensive, and might well have some else's problems. Also I would like the sound output on the RF output because that's how we watch things on our other TVs.

I was reading one of this site's gurus's (Mr. Iceberg's) review of the Coolsat 5000 and he said that it could decode AC3 "out of the box". This phrase might mean that there are ways to make other receivers decode AC3 (and hopefully output it on the RF modulated output).

Q2: Is there a way to get a 3500S to output sound from AC3 stations on its stereo outputs and RF output? If so, how?

Thanks in advance to anyone who answers!

 

[Shawn95GT]

The previous Coolsat you had to force the PIDs to get AC3 audio.

No matter what, you still need a AC3 decoder for AC3 Audio with the current crop of FTA receivers .

Shawn

 

[Mr Tony]

1. make sure the batteries are fresh. I had the same issue and new batteries fixed that

I havent had to cold boot it. The only times I did were when I removed cables, switches, etc

The 5000 will do AC-3 out of the box, just as the 3500 does. You will need a receiver to decode it (as Shawn noted). I have a real cheap-o receiver setup from Wal-Mart that works good

 

[animalhead.com]

Batteries?

Which batteries? In the remote? In the UPS? Or are there batteries in the 3500S itself?

Thanks to both of you for answering.

 

[Mr Tony]

batteries in the remote

 

[bigOleB]

Fluorescent lights can give remotes a hard time with all the EMI they give off due to ballasts.

If I use a 7W fluorescent in the table lamp beside the couch, my remote will do all kinds of crazy things. Turn the unit off and on over and over. When I put an incadescent light in the lamp, no problems.

Don't ask how long it took to figure that out.

 

[animalhead.com]

Redundant remotes

Remote batteries not a high suspect, 'cause I have both an IR and UHF remote, and the unit ignores both when it gets into this state. When I cold boot, it then answers both just fine.

No fluorescents in the room, but thanks for answering.

Q3: given the info in this thread, would you return the unit for exchange?

Q4: why doesn't ANY MPEG receiver decode AC3? Maybe there's a legal issue, or the licenses cost too much?

 

[Mr Tony]

q3-sounds like a bad unit...I would exchange it since you're within the warranty

q4-honestly I don't know

 

[123tim]

You will need a receiver to decode it (as Shawn noted). I have a real cheap-o receiver setup from Wal-Mart that works good

Iceberg,
Do you know what the model of your "cheap-o" receiver is? I've been looking online and haven't found much in the cheap range. Can't do Wal-Mart.
Thanks.

 

[Tron]

Most DVD players will not fully decode AC-3 onboard either. Its mainly because most people have a Dolby Digital audio receiver as the "heart" of their entertainment center and everything else connects to it. Thus it saves money and is easier to centralize DD/AC3 decoding in the audio amp/receiver.

As far as why they don't decode it down to two channels for analog output monitoring like DVD players do, I don't know. Maybe its because most FTA out there is PCM and not AC3, whereas most DVDs have AC3/DTS soundtracks.

 

[gizzer777]

Just a suggestion

Most DVD players will not fully decode AC-3 onboard either. Its mainly because most people have a Dolby Digital audio receiver as the "heart" of their entertainment center and everything else connects to it. Thus it saves money and is easier to centralize DD/AC3 decoding in the audio amp/receiver.
As far as why they don't decode it down to two channels for analog output monitoring like DVD players do, I don't know. Maybe its because most FTA out there is PCM and not AC3, whereas most DVDs have AC3/DTS soundtracks.

Just a suggestion:

What ever you buy, MAKE SURE the AC3 setup has the ability to accept your output type, Toslink or Coax! Most of the FTA I have seen so far seems to be Toslink....Alot of my other components have Toslink, but "like the Coax better!"...strange, although the new type of Toslink connectors that swivel mostly eliminate the old Toslink jitter problem!

jeff

 

[Tron]

I've heard that you can actually run the coax farther than you can Toslink. I suppose that's because they use low quality optical fiber for most Toslink cables.

The Pansat 2700 (and I believe 2500) only have coax. The 3500 and the 6000 seem to have Toslink optical outs. Radio Shack used to sell an adaptor that would go from optical to coax and back, but its been discontinued...

 

[voomvoom]

Radio Shack used to sell an adaptor that would go from optical to coax and back, but its been discontinued...

You can find an adapter at:
http://www.cablestogo.com/rapidrun/HowItWorks.asp?#top
but, beware, they only go one direction, so get the right one, either coax to toslink or toslink to coax....

Al