Does the viewsat 9000 do DVB-S2?

[Comptech]

I can pick one up for under a hundred bucks and can not get a defininate answer if it will do S2 stuff. Before Smitty jumps in I did search and got confliting info. Satinfo did a review and said at first it did but then recanted and said no. The post has not been updated since April this year.So does anybody now if it will do it out of the box?

 

[Mr Tony]

I dont think it does. Last I checked it was just HD that the box got extra
no 4:2:2
no DVB-S2

 

[Comptech]

Just a bump here for some more advise. Mine is a version 2 and it has a second tuner in it along with the terrestial tuner. Bothe of the sat tuners look alike but according to viewsat the 9000 is a single tuner model. I looked at eba*s hack boards and it does not resemble them at all..Also under the main tuner loop out it says DVB-S2.Maybe I should hook a jumper up from the second tuner and see if it works foe S-2.What do you guys think?

 

[Lak7]

Yes, I believe to use an "Add On" Board, you connect from the Main IF / Loop Out to the Add On Board.

 

[gillham]

Google seems to think the V2 does DVB-S2 and I see some addin board photos with a short patch. Probably the wrong kind of boards, but I think the cabling is probably the same. Post a detailed photo of the back if you can.

You could try it, the loop out is designed to handle LNB power from a slave receiver and the 2nd tuner port shouldn't be pumping out abnormal voltage. I can't think of a reason it would get hosed as long as you are connecting to the loop OUT port, not input to input.

 

[Lak7]

Google for instructions, you may have to load Alt Firmware for some options.

 

[Comptech]

I will try to get some pics on saturday it is hooked up in the entertainment center right now and a little bit of a pain to get out.The second tuner board does have two F connectors on it not one like the hack boards.http://wwx.viewsatusa.com/product_viewsat900HD.html This is a picture from viewsats site that is the same as the back of mine. Replace the x with a w as I am not sure that it is OK to post links here.

 

[Lak7]

Did you find where to turn "On" the External Power?

 

[1captain]

bought 1 last year around this time, an it did not do S-2, also it had very poor tunner in it, so it found another home, other than mine. that was a very happy day for me.

 

[Comptech]

Did you find where to turn "On" the External Power?

I see the option for the ext tuner but it is greyed out.

 

[SatinKzo]

I had a VS9000 with add-on board for a while. Got it for a deal like you did.

It didn't work well when I could find some S2 feeds and the 9000 in general has issues with anything with SR over 22000 (Funny how that works). Really sucked for the HD sports feeds that I couldn't get.

If you can get a deal on it and it works, get it, sell it on ebay, turna profit, buy a pansat 9200 or for S2 a coolsat 8000. That's what I did!

 

[gillham]

I will try to get some pics on saturday it is hooked up in the entertainment center right now and a little bit of a pain to get out.The second tuner board does have two F connectors on it not one like the hack boards.

The real board probably still supports a slave unit so has both connectors.

Unfortunately the picture is too small to read any of the text below the ports. Hopefully before Saturday someone with the same unit will be able to tell you.

 

[Comptech]

Looking from behind with a flashlight I can see one port says dish in I can not see the other port lable. The loop out of the main tuner does say DVB-S2.

 

[Comptech]

I had a VS9000 with add-on board for a while. Got it for a deal like you did.

It didn't work well when I could find some S2 feeds and the 9000 in general has issues with anything with SR over 22000 (Funny how that works). Really sucked for the HD sports feeds that I couldn't get.

If you can get a deal on it and it works, get it, sell it on ebay, turna profit, buy a pansat 9200 or for S2 a coolsat 8000. That's what I did!

I watched nascar and football feeds last weekend with it and found the picture sharper than the Diamond 9000. No DVB-S2 but the sr's were 29270 and 30000 and there was no stuttering. I did have to use the remote and manually enter the info though.

 

[SatinKzo]

what firmware are you on? Have they updated recently cause it was some time ago when i trying to watch some versus hockey last year and it stuttered every 3-4 seconds. If they fixed that issue then the box was ok. Did they fix the odd blindscan (ie does the blind scan function as it should?)

 

[Comptech]

what firmware are you on? Have they updated recently cause it was some time ago when i trying to watch some versus hockey last year and it stuttered every 3-4 seconds. If they fixed that issue then the box was ok. Did they fix the odd blindscan (ie does the blind scan function as it should?)

Right now it has the alt firmware that was on it when I got it.I am going to go back to the latest factory firmware and see how it acts. Right now I am working two jobs and haven't had much time to experiment. Did you actually recieve DVB-S2 signals with yours? If so how did you configure your cableing. Dish into second tuner loop out to main tuner?

Blind scan is still a joke. I have two coolsat 5000's one hooked to c-band and one hooked to Ku to get my scaninfo.

 

[SatinKzo]

I wish I could remember how I had it hooked up but it was a while ago. As for actually getting S2 Picture, no, but I was able to lock some data signals.

IIRC on the cabling, I went from If-out to the input on the S2 board. But there was some funky option in the menus to get it working. It actually worked with factory firmware too, so that was a plus, but who knows now. After a while I wasn't sure on the S2 working correctly and I actually sold the board seperate from the receiver. I think alot had to do with the tuners viewsat used and the incomplete handling of High SR for me (which again sounds like they fixed)

 

[Comptech]

Looks like I need to do some expermenting this weekend. I just wish I knew weather I should go dish to second tuner, out to main tuner loop through or out to main dish in. I did not get a manual with this and the viewsat site manual shows ruber plugs were my second tuner is.

 

[Comptech]

I wish I could remember how I had it hooked up but it was a while ago. As for actually getting S2 Picture, no, but I was able to lock some data signals.

IIRC on the cabling, I went from If-out to the input on the S2 board. But there was some funky option in the menus to get it working. It actually worked with factory firmware too, so that was a plus, but who knows now. After a while I wasn't sure on the S2 working correctly and I actually sold the board seperate from the receiver. I think alot had to do with the tuners viewsat used and the incomplete handling of High SR for me (which again sounds like they fixed)

So you do think the second tuner was capable of tuning DVB-S2? Now that there are some signals on Ku I can try this out with my 1.2 meter Ku dish. I knew I would have troubles on my six foot C-Band but with Ku I should get a solid signal to work with.I will try your suggestions and see what happens. thanks for the help.

 

[cracklincrotch]

My understanding of it is the second tuner does nothing until a firmware update comes out to make use of it with the PVR properly. That way you can record one channel, and watch another on another sat.

The two tuners are both supposed to be DVB-S2.

Edit:

Did some further research by popping open my VS9000, V2.

The first, built-on tuner is a Conexant CX24118A DVB-S2 tuner paired with a Conexant CX24116 DVB-S2 demodulator (http://www.conexant.com/servlets/DownloadServlet/PBR-200920-002.pdf?docid=921&revid=2).

The second tuner can be removed pretty easily, being an add-on board. The Demodulator is an Intel WJCE6313 DVB-S tuner along with a ZarLink ZL10037 Tuner. The ZL10037 datasheet (http://www.datasheetarchive.com/pdf-datasheets/Datasheets-41/DSA-802459.pdf) has it's applications as DVB-S Free-to-Air Satellite receiver systems as well as 8PSK systems.

That should put this to rest. It DOES do DVB-S2, at least on the primary tuner.

Edit, again: The factory software has no settings for S2, but a somewhat recent alt-ware file does allow you to set a particular transponder to S2. However, after trying a couple of S2 transponders on AMC3 that are listed on Lyngsat and another I know of on another sat, I get nothing.

So, hardware is capable, software is a big ???.