GEOSATpro HDVR3500 - freezes on boot

[N6BY]

I agree it should not have been released. I disagree its an embarassment to SATGUYS. Its an embarassment to SatAv yes. Satguys as a forum doesn't know when things are released always and we dont have a lot of input on hardware or software choices. IMHO.

Point well taken. I stand corrected.

I just hate to see fellow members go through the frustration with the receiver.

 

[. Raine]

Frustration is a mild word for describing the 3500, Brett. You're being generous there!

Every time something's "fixed" on the 3500, something else gets broken. This issue that Psikic was having I'm pretty sure had to do with the recent 22 Khz "fix", right now there's issues with recording on the receiver again, with this latest firmware, something else that was "fixed".

I really wonder about the inability to downgrade with this last firmware, if that's all of the receiver's upgraded to this firmware, or just a fluke thing with only Psikic's receiver. I was going to check out the latest firmware but I don't think there's a link for it yet still and I'm sure not going to install it onto my receiver directly.

The receiver's not bad, it's all the "fixes" to it that are horrible. Not a great receiver by any means though. Could be decent, if someone capable was fixing it.

 

[dsmith0429]

I'm not having any trouble with switching using DiSEqC 1.1 8X1 switches, and my LNBFs are Universal Ku-band (6 of them), 1 Standard Ku-band and 1 Standard C-band. But I did notice that DiSEqC 2.0 4x1 switches didn't switch properly on my receiver with universal LNBFs. I haven't tried any DiSEqC 1.0 4x1 switches.

IMHO, I think the Internet features need to be removed from the box (Browser, XBMC, Google Maps, YouTube, Weather, etc) or have the option to be disabled, they are practically useless except for IPTV which works great for me. And I love the Media Center, I backup and encode my home videos as .mkv or .mp4 files and play them on the HDVR3500 with no issues.

I use OSMC on a Raspberry Pi, OSMC (Open Source Media Center) is a free and open source media player based on Linux, and is based on the Kodi project. I wonder if XBMC could be replaced on this box with OSMC? Seems to use less resources on my Raspberry Pi than Kodi did. I also toyed around with another open source media player based on Kodi, OpenELEC (short for "Open Embedded Linux Entertainment Center"), which I also liked over Kodi itself.

There's even a WeTek OpenELEC Box with DVB-S2 tuner for under $100.

 

[. Raine]

The 3500 has less resources than the Pi, so OSMC IMO, wouldn't run on it. Or not very well.

You're right about removing all the fluff, doing that made my 3500 run much better. There's also stuff not readily apparent to the user that can be removed to improve perfomance, such as oscam.

 

[Psikic]

Just an update.

Sent back both of my HDVR3500 receivers (the one I bought plus the one that was supposed to replace it). First one sent on May 27 and the second one on June 1. The first one never shows delivered but the second one made it there on June 7. I've sent an email to Eugene on June 9 to inquire about the refund but no response so far. Everyone wish me luck in getting my money back!

 

[N6BY]

I hope they refund your money promptly, Psikic.

Last year I returned my 3500 and, if memory serves me correctly, got the refund check in the mail on the same day I returned it to Titanium!

... I have mixed feelings about pulling the heatsink off my 3500 and reporting here that it wasn't a quad core. It led to some bad feelings and lost friends. If I had kept my mouth shut maybe SatAV would have have been more likely to develop it full throttle and it would be a decent receiver by now? Or, on the other hand, if they sold more and still didn't fix it then more people might have been in a bad situation? Who knows.

 

[fred555]

... I have mixed feelings about pulling the heatsink off my 3500 and reporting here that it wasn't a quad core. It led to some bad feelings and lost friends. If I had kept my mouth shut maybe SatAV would have have been more likely to develop it full throttle and it would be a decent receiver by now?

This forum exits for the exchange of information, you should have no mixed feelings, you did not build the unit, you only reported your findings.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[fred555]

and lost friends.

You can be my friend!

 

[Titanium]

N6BY Didn't hear about any lost friendships over your HDVR3500 teardown and revelation... All I know is that I am thankful that you discovered that the unit was not as it was described and posted your findings! You saved many hobbyist from buying a buggy STB and saved many of us countless hours of troubleshooting and confirmed the performance issues that we were documenting during testing! We had no reason to suspect that the information that we were provided was incorrect. Things weren't adding up based on my limited Linux knowledge, you found the cause and called it out!

When you removed the heat sink and found that the chipset was different than what was represented, you provided a tremendous service to all of us! I totally disagree with the thought that your finding prevented or affected the unit from being developed properly. In reviewing the other thread, it is quite easy to observe the user input and the development progression. The current state of development is what it is... and that is not on you!

 

[KE4EST]

If you lost any friends over telling the truth, they were not your friend to begin with. Just remember that.

 

[N6BY]

The 3500 was a roller coaster of emotions for me. At first I was happy to see a local company bring in a new, state of the art receiver. Before I even turned the unit on the first time, I read the manual cover to cover. It talked about multiple simultaneous recordings and some other very cool features. I don't normally read the manual before trying a new device, but I wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything. Then after trying it for a while, the manual didn't seem to match the receiver.

Fast forward to today. We seem to have lost Amiko and their previously announced plan for a 4K receiver. SatAV still has not released 'Rex' as they described in the long 3500 thread.

It seems like now we are left with nothing much for the N.A. hobbyist. We can roll the dice and buy direct from China. And, to me at least, it seems like the 3500 was the turning point of when things went from good to bad.

It would be great to see a North American company develop a 4K receiver for hobbyists, but I understand the reality that the market is too small.

 

[catamount]

Manhattan is supposed to release a 4K receiver by late summer. We shall see!!

 

[. Raine]

Brett, if you didn't expose the 3500's processor for what it is, it would've come out eventually.

I myself believe it to be better that you exposed it right away and your exposure of it is not what's hurting the 3500's advancement. Most customers forgave SatAv for the single core processor fiasco, myself included.

Just in this thread alone, when Psikic posted the errors showing the SCI coming up and closing, Eugene responded by telling him the box had a hardware error for what is normal behavior because the physical SCI interface isn't present in the box, when the actual blacking out problem is in the firmware. Not a isolated case, this, either. The inept work being done on the box by Eugene {Chinese} and his crappy attitude is what killed the 3500, not you, me, or anyone else.

I still consider you my friend, hope you still consider me as yours! I definitely know what you mean and feel though, when all the nastiness with the 3500 was going on and for a while after, I felt quite a bit alienated from SatGuys and was very unsure of everyone here too, I almost quit coming here. The fault of the 3500's failure isn't ours though, it's Eugene's. Anyone that faults you or anyone else but Eugene for it's failure is dead wrong.

 

[Psikic]

I just have to say I have learned a lot from this experience. From who to deal with, who not to deal with; who is helpful and who is not. I agree, I am very thankful that N6BY found out what he did as well as let everyone know. I just wish I would have read further in the thread before I decided to make the purchase. I read about the first 15 pages or so, and the last 5 or so. I missed the climax which would have changed my mind. I still feel like this box had potential, and my biggest disappointment is the set of missed opportunities all around. There are definitely some things that this box does better than any others, however that is quickly overshadowed by the basic functionalities that are missing which even the $30 receivers all have.

I just noticed that Eugene posted on the other thread that he is out until the 20th. I guess that means at least another week before I'll get my money back from SatelliteAV.

 

[N6BY]

.... Most customers forgave SatAv for the single core processor fiasco, myself included. ...

I forgive SatAV also. I hope they give Psikic the refund he is due.

... I just wish I would have read further in the thread before I decided to make the purchase. I read about the first 15 pages or so, and the last 5 or so. I missed the climax which would have changed my mind. I still feel like this box had potential, and my biggest disappointment is the set of missed opportunities all around. There are definitely some things that this box does better than any others, however that is quickly overshadowed by the basic functionalities that are missing which even the $30 receivers all have....

It really is buried in the middle of the mega-thread.

It definitely seemed to have potential at first, especially with ACM and super fast blind scan.

 

[Lehman bud farm]

I have mixed feelings about pulling the heatsink off my 3500 and reporting here that it wasn't a quad core. It led to some bad feelings and lost friends.

I do not know why you would have mixed feelings.
1) You did what was right and proper and kept many unsuspecting people from purchasing a receiver that did not live up to it's claim. That is what an open forum does, lets others know the good the bad and the indifferent.
2) Any lost "friends" were not real friends so you lost nothing.
3) You did nothing but gained respect from many others for taking a stand for truth and you have my respect also!

If anyone read through the entire long thread on the 3500 receivers it became clear that sat av tried to save face and in doing this he threw under the bus all the ones selling the receiver and dissed others who had bought it and were not happy with it. Not the way to do business IMO.

It also became apparent that the receiver has been taken to it's limits as fixing one item created problems in other areas. I do not think the receiver can do anything more but give you high marks for sticking it out this long.

We seem to have lost Amiko and their previously announced plan for a 4K receiver. SatAV still has not released 'Rex' as they described in the long 3500 thread.

The Amiko apparently was not living up to it's hype as there were many unanswered questions left on the table and from what I was told even the one bringing it over for testing was not pleased with it's performance. I have to say it must have been a difficult decision but glad they did not pull one over on the FTA community.
I have mixed feelings on the Amiko as I do not believe it was truly fully tested either.
You can not test with basically only 1 receiver out there for a complete review!

As for the so called "Rex" receiver, after the 3500 fiasco, who would trust this person again to go out and buy from him at this time? Sadly, I know I could not support him at this time; There are far too many discrepancies in the long 3500 thread that were never answered nor addressed and the higher and mightier then thou type of attitude coming from sat av that left a bitter taste IMO but I still like to think he is basically honorable in honoring his refund commitments. If he did not I doubt he would ever be allowed to post on this forum again.

I believe a decent 4k receiver will be coming out, just not from where it was expected.
The 3500 long thread here and the Amiko thread at another forum should teach anyone bringing out a new receiver a good lesson on what not to do, but it also gave us more insight on what basic requirements are going to be from this point forward on a FTA receiver.

 

[N6BY]

I do not know why you would have mixed feelings.
1) You did what was right and proper and kept many unsuspecting people from purchasing a receiver that did not live up to it's claim. That is what an open forum does, lets others know the good the bad and the indifferent....

I have mixed feelings because I wish I had done it differently, and the response was not what I expected. I remember the mega-thread went nearly silent for a few days.

I think it would have better served the forum and future visitors coming to this site if I had simply done an objective review of the 3500 in a separate thread titled 'HDVR350 Review'. That way, newcomers to the site would have better information for their purchase decision. If I still had a 3500 I would do a review.

 

[Lehman bud farm]

I think it would have better served the forum and future visitors coming to this site if I had simply done an objective review of the 3500 in a separate thread titled 'HDVR350 Review'. That way, newcomers to the site would have better information for their purchase decision.

True it would not appear to be over-run with all the other things that were going on but, if anyone read the first 5 pages or so they did have a good picture of what was going on, and that kept many from falling victim here.

Any newcomer who failed to read the thread first, well that was their fault for not doing their homework and getting informed.

I read the thread!

Anyone should have seen that this was not the way to release a product as it was NOT tested beforehand.
The whole scenario that played out showed that the one who released this receiver did not know or did not care.

You were not responsible for the deficiencies of this receiver. You just reported the truth and sometimes that hurts, but it is not something that you should ever regret.

Maybe before anyone releases the next "New" receiver they will allow some to test it out beforehand so this type of fiasco never occurs again, instead of releasing it onto unsuspecting people.

 

[stargaze]

I just hate to see fellow members go through the frustration with the receiver.

Sad to hear that people are still suffering over the 3500 receiver.
I would have thought that by now people would have seen the truth.

The 3500 receiver may be good for a single satellite reception but it is definitely not a receiver for any FTA BUD hobbyist!

I did not fault Brett for exposing that the receiver was not a quad core receiver as advertised, and while I bought my receiver from Brian who I did not fault for this but it became apparent that Eugene was the one responsible for all that occurred.

Yes he ran over all the dealers by trying to hide his actions on what he told them was in the receiver.

On August 1st Sat AV posted,

“we have not advertised it as any core. We promote features not specs. Now, dealers did promote specs, not manufacturer.”post 215

Then he threw those selling the 3500 under the bus saying that they were responsible for the misquote and they should change the advertising. Post #217

Then Sat AV stated: “We have sold over 4000 receivers. The first batch came with 16Gb and small number with 128Gb drives.” Post #273

That certainly conflicts with the statement of the receiver only being in development stage.

I guess 4000 other users were being silent about their experience with the STB? Funny that no one had heard of the unit before June 2015, but 4000 users have been supposedly putting up with all of these problems?

Yes he attacked me and others who kept tying to get answers and fixes that he could not do properly, and I do not think he ever fixed many of those issues.

His response was he would have a new receiver called “Rex” that would fix those issues.

This type of response was unacceptable in my book and I was like “Wheres The Frog”!

I trust the members of this forum like N6BY & .Raine as they had gone above and beyond in trying to make things a bit better for others.

After the way Eugene treated me I would never purchase anything from him ever again nor would I ever trust anything he ever says. I know I am not the only one who feels this way.

This should not reflect back onto the dealers who were misinformed.

Brian (Titanium) refunded what I paid for my receiver even though I did not ask him to.
Maybe if others took a page out of his book and use it in their dealings then there would not be this type of harshness on those who appear to be only out there to take your money and run.

Like some I did like the fact that the receiver picked up the Music Choice channels on 125W but that is where it ended and it did not justify the price.
Now I can use my Azbox and receive the DMX channels FTA on 105W.

I do not believe the problem with the 3500 receiver showing programs on the wrong frequency was ever fixed like what was going on at 101W with certain channels.
There was a list of other issues that I won’t rehash but hopefully someone else will locate a new receiver that will do more and have much better support than what was given on the 3500.

I do agree, it was a true fiasco and some of the honest dealers took a bath on it as well, as they took care of those who bought from them and did not leave them hanging on their own!

I also agree that one huge mistake with the 3500 was that it was not tested and tried out with several FTA enthusiasts before it's release to the public. Doing so would have caught many problems and caused far less hassles and could have saved Sat AV's reputation which he lost IMO!

Brett, you have helped countless people here by what you did and exposing this receiver as a fraud. Many did not have to go through what we (those who bought the receiver) had to go through.
I don't know if I would have done anything different since it exposed the real truth. That was done within the first 5 pages of that long thread.

Now I hear that by the end of summer Jeff from Manhattan might have a new 4k receiver coming out to market.
I am not all that familiar with this company but maybe this might work out for us a bit better.
The Amiko Quad did not live up to expectations and could not do what was required or once again there were not enough of them out to fully test as the 1 test unit could not see the different satellites required to fully test., The only other unit was foolishly ruined when they magnetized the receiver playing around with it and destroying it completely.

 

[N6BY]

At this point I think the best thing we could do for the forum and prospective purchasers would be a review of the 3500 with its latest firmware. A simple overview of what works, what doesn't and people could decide if it meets their needs.