Coolsat 4000 Plus

[Pete_C]

Overall it's a great receiver (I have one.) But I have just two gripes:

1) You can't flip the channel order direction in the guide menu, meaning that to go from channel 1 to 2 you'll have to hit the down button on the remote. I'm use to the opposite.

2) The time setup doesn't take into account daylight savings.

Other than that, it's a great receiver. Perhaps the next firmware revision will fix these items.

 

[Mr Tony]

Overall it's a great receiver (I have one.) But I have just two gripes:

1) You can't flip the channel order direction in the guide menu, meaning that to go from channel 1 to 2 you'll have to hit the down button on the remote. I'm use to the opposite.

very true...but I prefer 1,2,3,etc

2) The time setup doesn't take into account daylight savings.

Other than that, it's a great receiver. Perhaps the next firmware revision will fix these items.

yep. Noticed that too...hopefully it does fix that issue too

 

[Philter]

Good Choice / Good Dealer

Thanks for that review Iceberg.

I followed your advice and bought the coolsat 4000 pro about three weeks ago. The dish arrived with a huge dent in it. I called up the FTAdirect guys and they immediately sent me out a brand new one including LNB, and mounting hardware. They let me keep the old stuff too! (anyone want to buy a dented 33" dish??

Philter

 

[Mr Tony]

Sorry bout the dent but thats good that they responded in a timely manner

 

[Shawn95GT]

My .02

I've had my CoolSat a couple weeks now and thoguht I'd chime in.

I think this box is an EXECELENT choice for a newcomer to FTA.

Everything just works.

My gripes:
I always forget to hit 'ok' again in the guide and use exit instead. This drops you back whever you were.
GMT Time + offset doesn't work right. This may have been because of the sat that I was pointed to at the time but it was all dorked.
Hard to decide between Silver or black
no on-board AC3 decoder.
No component output (I know - this IS asking a lot at this price point)
16x9 screen format doesn't seem to do anything at all. I'll play with this some more.

I'm very happy with the box and will soon be moving it downstairs into the main entertainment center. I'm curious how the PQ looks on my 50" DLP (it seems to hate SD).

 

[Mr Tony]

I always forget to hit 'ok' again in the guide and use exit instead. This drops you back whever you were.

guilty of that one

GMT Time + offset doesn't work right. This may have been because of the sat that I was pointed to at the time but it was all dorked.

mine works fine....Since I have a LNB dedicated to ExpressVu (for the radio), I leave it on there at night...that keeps the clock right. Only one I seen that issue is IA6

 

[Shawn95GT]

One more gripe... It doesn't indicate when the positioner is still moving or done moving.
I think I read that the newer PanSat does indicate the dish is moving and let you know when it has arrived at it's intended position.

The Coolsat flashes 'Moving positioner' for a couple seconds, goes black... then says no signal until the dish lands in position at which time you get picture. In my bedroom I can look out the window and see the dish moving but if I couldn't see the dish it'd be one of those 'I hope it's moving' issues.

The only reason this is a concern is that for some reason when pointing via DiSEqC 1.2 it's fairly easy to interrupt the dish moving (by chaning channels quickly between sats) and dish sometimes just stops wherever it's at. Switching to a channel on another sat (and leaving it alone) seems to get the dish moving again when this happens.

Shawn

 

[GOsatelliteRob]

Thank you Iceberg

Hello.
Rob here from ftadirect
I want to thank Iceberg and all the other mods for a fantastic job.
I have had nothing but positve comments from all of our customers who have visited Satelliteguys.
Keep up the great work!

For anyone looking to purchase a Coolsat 4000 Pro, call the toll free number on the site (ftadirect) and mention Iceberg sent you, and you will
receive free shipping on a Coolsat 4000 Pro.

Thanks again to everyone at satelliteguys !!!

 

[smata67]

Coolsat Minor Gripes

No input changing from the remote. Still have to use the TV remote to change the line input.

The composite cables that came with the unit are junk. I got substantial better picture when I switched to s-video (viewing on a 60"). BTW, the dollar store and similiar places have s-video cables for $1. Haven't tried them, but beats paying $17 for RS cables.

 

[Mr Tony]

BTW, the dollar store and similiar places have s-video cables for $1. Haven't tried them, but beats paying $17 for RS cables.

The $17 rat shack ones are overpriced. I got a SVideo cable that works just as good as the Rat Shack ones

(think I got it from the unclaimed freight store....I just dont know why people don't claim that stuff )

 

[Mr Tony]

No input changing from the remote. Still have to use the TV remote to change the line input.

I can on my 32"...I just hit channel up and cycles though the inputs

The composite cables that came with the unit are junk. I got substantial better picture when I switched to s-video (viewing on a 60").

S-video will give you a better picture than the a/v cables....I use them and it looks fine

 

[Shawn95GT]

mine works fine....Since I have a LNB dedicated to ExpressVu (for the radio), I leave it on there at night...that keeps the clock right. Only one I seen that issue is IA6

I started parking on Nimiq 1/3 at night and the GMT clock works like a champ.

If I forget and leave it on 'The Tube' (G10R) at night the time goes bezerk. If I then switch to Nimiq 1/3 and power cycle the time is dead on again.

Shawn

 

[whitewolf8214]

Comparing receivers

Iceberg, How Do You Compare The Coolsat 4000 PRO To The Pansat 2700A AND PANSAT 2500A?

 

[Mr Tony]

Iceberg, How Do You Compare The Coolsat 4000 To The Pansat 2700?

I don’t have the 2700 (I have a 1500 which is like the 2500 minus the AC-3 output)

Coolsat advantages
-2 sets of outputs
-digital output (doesn’t do AC-3 though…I guess an update is coming sometime soon that will allow it to do AC-3)
-clean picture

Pansat advantages
-Signal Meter (yes its spazzmatic, but on the Coolsat a 99 or 60 signal says 82)
-AC-3 audio (well, the 2500/2700 does)

I haven’t worked with the 2700, so I can’t really compare apples to apples. The Coolsat will blind scan faster than the Pansat 1500 and allows you to scan more than one satellite….set it for all the satellites you want to scan and go take a break

 

[Mr Tony]

I use both daily

 

[Shawn95GT]

Another issue... 16:9 screen format does absolutely nothing. It still outputs 4:3.

Shawn

 

[PopcornNMore]

This is my biggest gripe about this receiver as well. The message should appear until it reaches it's destination. Overall it is an excellent receiver!

One more gripe... It doesn't indicate when the positioner is still moving or done moving.
I think I read that the newer PanSat does indicate the dish is moving and let you know when it has arrived at it's intended position.

The Coolsat flashes 'Moving positioner' for a couple seconds, goes black... then says no signal until the dish lands in position at which time you get picture. In my bedroom I can look out the window and see the dish moving but if I couldn't see the dish it'd be one of those 'I hope it's moving' issues.

The only reason this is a concern is that for some reason when pointing via DiSEqC 1.2 it's fairly easy to interrupt the dish moving (by chaning channels quickly between sats) and dish sometimes just stops wherever it's at. Switching to a channel on another sat (and leaving it alone) seems to get the dish moving again when this happens.

Shawn

 

[Mr Tony]

My Pansat does the same...it shows "no signal" or "positioner error" and then a black screen

The KUsat doesnt even tell me its moving

 

[Jackfish]

Coolsat 4000 ,Pansat 2700

Hi all newbie here can they pick up Cband Thanks

 

[Mr Tony]

yes it can