GeosatPro Micro HD

[brentb636]

I currently have an AzBox and am someone who understands some but not all of the technical details that were posted in the " What can and cant the upcoming GeoSatPro Micro HD do" thread, I am wanting to know a couple of things.1) what signals can this get that the AzBox can not get? Or listen to properly such as the funky audio on the NBC feeds on W5?2) what signals can the AzBox get that I cant get on this? I know one of the advantages of the AzBox was the 422 signals. I do not see this listed in the specs here but I do not see a listing saying it only gets 420 signals.

This is theory, but I believe it to be true. The AZbox does 4:2:2, that's it's major claim to fame. It also has a web browser, utube browser, etc which in my opinion are almost worthless in an stb. The AZbox has a large learning cycle, and both of my AZboxes, were a little sluggish and glitchy at times. However, the Azbox does more than any other receiver, at least on paper.

The microHD however, concentrates on being a good receiver for North America. It does NOT decode 4:2:2 video, but performs it's other tasks , including PVR very well. It has a more sensitive tuner than the Azbox, so marginal signals will locks successfully. It is not sluggish, and it's menu system is easy to figure out. It was developed an supported by one of our gold sponsors with our input AND it's ONLY $125.00 . My feeling is that there is no feature of the microHD that is not going to work.

 

[Pixl]

Seems to me that some of the existing receivers had an option to save or overwrite channel names during blind scan. Anyone have this in their receiver?

 

[SatelliteAV]

load firmware without having to back up the channel list working in the release version

Will be addressed in a future firmware version. The decision not to release the feature with original factory firmware is based on the fact that many critical STB functions rely on the data contained in the User Data File. We required the ability to address any bug in the firmware during early release then add this feature when we are comfortable with perfomance. In the "Software Update via Satellite Automatic" mode a glimpse of the future is available by selecting the download file type. One will notice two options: Firmware and Channels. Btw... Saving and Loading a Default Data File (.ddf) or a User Data File (.udf) via USB takes less than 30 seconds and several button presses. Not a complicated and long process.

 

[SatelliteAV]

Seems to me that some of the existing receivers had an option to save or overwrite channel names during blind scan. Anyone have this in their receiver?

GEOSATpro DSR100, DSR200, DVR1100 receivers allow the user modified names not to be overwritten by the service name.

 

[Ramy]

Hey Ice, what dish do you use?

 

[Joe DC]

Ice, how would you rate the speed of the blind scan in comparison to your other receivers. My Openbox will typically do a normal blind scan in about 8 minutes per band. Thanks

 

[Rey]

excellent review ice! :up

 

[Mr Tony]

It's rather disappointing to hear that they didn't get the non-overwriting of user-edited channel names and the ability to load firmware without having to back up the channel list working in the release version. Are they still planned for the future?

yes they are working on it. As noted in the review about the overwrite

SatelliteAV said this is on the list to be fixed so that it doesn’t overwrite the changed channel name

They are aware of it even before I noticed it...

 

[Mr Tony]

Btw... Saving and Loading a Default Data File (.ddf) or a User Data File (.udf) via USB takes less than 30 seconds and several button presses. Not a complicated and long process.

exactly. Took me about 2 minutes because after I reloaded my user database I kept trying to go set the satellites back up. All I needed t do was power off then back on and there was my satellite list/channels/motor settings all correct

 

[Mr Tony]

Thanks for the in-depth review, Iceberg! Sounds (and looks) like a real winner. I love the numerous options, including the ability to dump the DVR buffer as a file!

I like that too. If you turn on the timeshift and the dump to file it works the same as a Dish/Directv DVR in the sense you watch 10 minutes of a show and want to record the rest if you press record it dumps that into the file and continues to record

You can turn off the "dump to DVR" option and still keep the timeshift. But when you hit record it starts at the point you hit record

 

[Mr Tony]

Hey Ice, what dish do you use?

I've got an old Winegard 76cm dish but if you are starting out I recommend a 90cm dish

 

[Mr Tony]

Ice, how would you rate the speed of the blind scan in comparison to your other receivers.

my Coolsat 5000 is faster by 30 seconds or so but the Micro has to find DVB-S2 and the Coolsat has missed stuff (as noted in review)
Micro beats the Manhattan because the Manhattan scans up to 12900 Mhz (and cant change it) while the MicroHD stops at 12200

I'll do some speed tests today between a few receivers I have around

 

[stargaze]

it was mentioned:
>>Upon powering it up you have to set up what satellites you want programmed in. <<

Does the sat list include satellites separated by polarity also ?

I had created a sat list for the az box with satellites separated by polarity and it works like a dream for those who use their FTA receivers as a slave receiver.

 

[Mr Tony]

no but you can add satellites pretty easily with the editor then load it back into the receiver. Here is what the sat list looks like
http://www.satelliteguys.us/attachment.php?attachmentid=78161&d=1340323366

 

[Mr Tony]

OMG! I just stumbled upon something else it can do

Now I know you can record two programs on the same transponder but I just tested and found out you can set two timers the same way....EVEN IF THE SAME TIME
I know the Manhattan wont let you set 2 overlapping timers even if same transponder. The MicroHD can.

I just recorded the two feed channels on 91W (yeah I know sexy) but now I'm gonna try Russia Today and Al Jazeera English...gonna try something else
stay tuned

edit: just tried to set 3 overlapping timers....gives an "error. please change" message

So right now I have 3 timers set
PBJ from 12:00-12:05
Tuff from 12:03-12:08
RTV from 12:05-12:10

want to see how much of each timer it records (if its the full 5 minutes or a smidge less).

 

[Mr Tony]

OK....found out some things when trying timers

-you can do 2 timers that overlap as long as on same TP
-if you try to do 2 overlapping timers on different TP's when you enter the 2nd timer it errors out and wont let it continue

The weird one is when you have 3 timers like I posted above
The 1st timer (PBJ) recorded the 5 minutes
Tuff only recorded 2 minutes
RTV recorded fine until I stopped it.

So it will record 2 timers that overlap but it looks like the 3rd makes the 2nd one shut off too.....hmmmm

pics
1st one shows the two timers set to overlap
2nd pic shows PBJ recording the whole 5 minutes
3rd pic is TUff only going 2 minutes
4th is RTV working til I shut it off

 

[Pismire]

On the subject of timers. Can a timer be set to record the same time, same channel, every week?

 

[Mr Tony]

yes
I'll post pics of the timer options in a bit

 

[Mr Tony]

OK figured this out with the 3 timer thing. As long as the timers are not back to back it records fine

Set up for LPB to record 12:30 for 5 minutes
LPB2 from 12:33 for 7 minutes
LPB3 at 12:37 for 5 minutes (so a 2 minute gap after the 1st one ended)

All recorded properly

 

[Mr Tony]

oh and on the timer settings...for AM or PM its 1 (AM) or 2 (PM)