There are many different questions put out here so to try answering them is not going to be easy as there is not enough info on some of what is being said.
first: for MarkVA:
Have you checked your satellite settings? It is possible they changed when you put in the firmware.
Also check to see how much flash memory is available in the receiver.
You check that by using Maz take a look to see the % of the flash. The higher the number the better you are.
When you open Maz and connect to the receiver you will see 5 bars near the top center of your Maz screen.
EMU; FLASH: HD: USB1: USB2 :
Doing a "Format application area" before installing and after the installation helps you with obtaining more flash memory.
Remember:
Whenever you format the Application area you will wipe out all your ip settings and satellite settings so everything must be redone. A PITA at times but worth the effort to keep the receiver running smoother in the long run.
As for which firmware is better: Just because there is a newer number does not make it better. When they came out some were trying to fix the you-tube which no longer works again anyway due to the way you-tube has made changes to accessing their network. Others were trying to correct the satellites with no transponders in them. All of them have to much un-necessary transponders listed that the receiver can not pick up which bogs the blind scan feature down making it take longer to scan new transponders.
If you have North Americanized your sat/channel list then the newer way the satellites are listed in the receiver become a "Non-Issue", as you have already taken care of that problem.
Firmware 0.9.5020 was and still is one of the better firmware's out there. The ones after it had minor changes in the way channels were deleted so if you were in the advanced scan area and deleted a channel or transponder it does not always delete the info from your viewing list but creates either a blank spot or the names were still left in there and you have to also delete it there as well.
This was not the case in firmware 0.9.5020.
Also with some of the later firmware's it did not list the actual firmware number under the system info so later on you have no clue as to what firmware is really in the receiver.
I believe anything after 0.9.5311 has that problem.
The channel deleting problem is on 0.9.5309 and later firmware's.
I have not seen anything in improving picture quality with or with the way the receiver handles it's operation from the 0.9.5020 firmware.
This has also been verified by many others out there. However, you must remember that if you are using firmware 0.9.5020 that you need to North Americanize the satellite list due to one of the satellites not having any transponders in it. This is why I mentioned earlier about if you have north Americanized your sat/channel list there is no need to upgrade from that firmware.
Remember that if you are wanting to rid yourself of the Eastern satellites for good, you
should use the ACC program to send the North Americanized sat/channel list to your receiver. This places the file in the main working directory and the back up directory as well at the same time.
Then once you do this use the receiver to make the changes to the Antenna settings for all your satellites the way you want them or the way you use them. DiSEqC switch settings, LNB Freq., Positioner setup ect... Then download the file after you make the changes and resend that file back to the Azbox once more using the ACC program.
Now you have saved your backup directory to be exactly the same as the main working directory with all your satellite settings.
This helps in case you ever run into a problem later on if the receiver ever defaults to the back up directory since the sat settings will still be the same for you in either case now.
All the firmware's out there have way too much junk put in them for their transponder listings . This includes many transponders that the receiver will never pick up such as digicipher 2 transponders. This only slows down the receiver when you want to do a blind-scan. So making your transponder list "lean" and "clean" by only putting in one or two transponders in your listing then using the blind scan feature (if the receiver has it) makes it run faster and your not putting in unwanted junk into the receiver. Another reason to clean out the transponder list is some signals have changed and the receiver will not pick them up due to having the incorrect ones listed in them from the firmware.
IMO, it is a good idea to put in a dummy TP like 3600 for c-band and 11000 for ku on each satellite so it will operate properly. Just do not do as one did and put in a dummy transponder that is out of the range which caused them more problems until they figured it out and changed it.
If you have never done it before (North Americanizing your sat list), it does take a couple of hours to do it properly from scratch, but that is the best way of doing it to ensure you have a listing the way you want them. Also with some newer sats launched recently like Sat Mex 8, Anik G1 and Mex Sat 3, it would be a good time to redo the list now and check out Lyngsat for future launches that may be coming in the next year or two and add those as well while your at it. This will keep you up to date for a few years and only redoing your list one time.
If your unsure how to do it you may want to read a post I made on it back in 2010 here:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads...ight=North+Americanizing+you+sat+channel+list