Thanks. Interesting.No, I'm actually using version 12001F ( a now out-dated hacker file) which is the first firmware that gets rid of the 31 sat limit. Now , all the sats in the box are configurable. ( Unfortunately, I know of at least 2 bird they don't have in the box, but that can be overcome ).
What I've done is configure my CS8000 with it's typical 20 -odd birds, transfer the channelist and software to my pc, Clear out the CS8000 with the Clear_HD bin file, and then reload my custom channellist/software combo. Everything is restored. There seem to be no gotcha's , although, perhaps saved points in Diseqc 1.2 mode might have to be resaved, but all the many menu buttons to set up each bird is out of the way.
I've also asked for a Factory file in this new format, with the addition of the two missing ku birds.
With my first Coolsat (8100) I was trying different firmware, trying to find one with which the PVR worked. Must have tried about 4 different factory and 2 or 3 different hacker versions, but nothing worked. Then my 8100 was hit by lightning. Got a brand new one, and it was freezing/rebooting right out of the box. Sent it back no difference. I tried several different factory and a couple hacker versions, but nothing worked, until, similar to your experience, a week or two ago I tried a version, slightly older than the one you tried, and suddenly the darn thing stopped rebooting AND the PVR "WAS" working ("was" because yesterday I had a power outage/surge while using the PVR, and it seemed to fry something... I'm hoping just the external hard disk got corrupted). I was hoping that there was a factory firmware version that worked, that I could put in, but I'm afraid that if I switch, it will start rebooting again, and I won't be able to use the receiver at all. But if they have fixed that restoration of channels/31 sat limit thing, perhaps I'll give it a try, but I'm not sure which factory version to try. I think the last one I tried was 1441A. Then a 1444A came out, but it was a corrupted file, and Coolsat took it off their web page. But they recently put it back. Then I noticed that there is a 1447A floating around. I may wait to see if it shows up on the Coolsat web page and try that.
I can't remember exactly what used to happen when I'd try to restore channel data, but it got so messed up with channels that weren't associated with satellites, etc, that I had to clear the memory to recover.
The problem seemed to be partly that the BIG list of many sats, from which the 31 were selected, didn't seem to be part of the channel data file saved, so that if I defined any new satellites, of gave sats on the BIG list new LO or diseqC parameters, etc, that info would be lost. It will be nice if they have fixed that, but it seems like they'd have to change the structure of the channel data file.
Does your 8000 handle channels with multiple audio channels properly? Like yesterday, I scanned in one of those high speed network feeds which have 2 or 3 different audio channels, one of which can't be played via consumer boxes, and it came up with "no audio". So I tried to scan in via specifying the proper MPEG or AC3 audio PID, and it scanned in, but when it played, it came up with no video??? Then I went to delete the previously saved channel that wouldn't play audio, and this time it was actually playing???? So sometimes it seems to pick the right audio channel, other times it doesn't, and it doesn't (unless I couldn't find it) allow you to select an audio channel.