PANSAT 3500S - anyone got a chance to play with one?

[Shawn95GT]

I was flipping though the cheap recievers on ebay and ran into this one - it looks nice!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=32848&item=5780046043&rd=1

Of course I can't find any REAL info on this reciver outside of ebay so I figured I'd ask here.

Some of the key features:

CONAX CA-7 EMBEDDED (No idea what this is - Cardslot?)
SD MEMORY CARD INTERFACE Fluff for a FTA reciever, but OK
MP3 PLAY No doubt this is why the SD slot
COMPONENT VIDEO OUT SWEET!
SPDIF(OPTICAL) AC-3 OUT Gotta love that
UNIVERSAL REMOTE
UHF READY
SMART SEARCH
2 MB FLASH
16 MB SDRAM MEMORY
REAL TIME CLOCK
100 SATELLITES
5000 CHANNELS PROGRAMMABLE

Looks like it will control a polarotor as well. Now all we need in an HD version .

 

[Mr Tony]

http://www.global-cm.net/PansatCompare.html

Pansat has introduced still another new receiver, the model 3500-S, which is a step up from the very-new model 2700-A, with some added features. One of these features is a memory card interface that supports the functions of flash upgrade, back up, and an MP3 audio player. Purchase an optional memory card and you can use the universal remove control to play MP3 audio stored on that card, or view and listen to satellite television and radio. Increased memory on the 3500-S has enabled the use of memory cards to allow one to program information with a personal computer instead of manipulating a remote control, and very quickly upgrade it to memory. The 3500-S also has a REAL clock, not depending upon satellite signals to set the time. This should have the accuracy that we have come to expect from conventional VCRs. Now seeing large scale use in Europe is another feature with embedded Conax CAX-7 conditional access. A few U.S. programmers are looking at this system, and once some are on board, you can use the 3500-S for subscription purposes instead of the often-inferior receivers provided by programming suppliers. It will take some cooperation from the programming community, but the concept seems to be working in other parts of the world.

 

[Shawn95GT]

Thanks!

I might just have to pick one of these up... Especially since the CoolSat let me down with it's lack of AC3 audio pass-through.

Shawn

 

[Mr Tony]

nah...I'll hold off for now

 

[drhydro]

that does seem like a nice receiver, but im not sure being able to play MP3 with an optional card is worth it. And your right shawn, those are the outputs to control a polarotor.

Now the one i looked at and almost bought was the pansat 5000 with an 80 gig hd, but it doesnt control a polarotor (which is a must for me) so.....

 

[Mr Tony]

I do like the real time clock THAT KEEPS TIME

 

[drhydro]

hmmmm i notice that clock is not dependant on a sat signal to keep real time. What sat should i park on to keep real time on my 2700a?

 

[Mr Tony]

heh...I've tried them all and the closest is Nimiq1 (ExpressVu)

 

[tdti1]

I would wait a while before buying a new DVB, the new pci cards are coming out with blind scan and a new box is being worked on that will put the Pansat and Coolsat to shame.

 

[CharredPC]

I would wait a while before buying a new DVB, the new pci cards are coming out with blind scan and a new box is being worked on that will put the Pansat and Coolsat to shame.

eh, what?
Where??

 

[Shawn95GT]

Throw in HD / AC3 decode 'on board' and maybe a DVI/HDMI output and I'm sold.

while we're dreaming.... USB2.0 or Firewire support for an external drive for a roll-your-own DVR.

 

[CharredPC]

If we're dreaming, why not add analog reception? And OTA VHF/UHF tuning? Have an all-in-one TV box instead of an assortment?

 

[rkrenicki]

So.. this does not do HD, even tho it has the componant outputs?

I think my next purchase will be a USB reciever, so I can use my laptop for dish alignments, or my desktop to listen to music

 

[Shawn95GT]

So.. this does not do HD, even tho it has the componant outputs?

So does my DVD player . If it had DVI / HDMI and didn't do HD I'd be scratching my head.

I think my next purchase will be a USB reciever, so I can use my laptop for dish alignments, or my desktop to listen to music

I'm liking this idea too. If I could connect component video right from the USB box to my TV I'd be sold. I like the ability to fire up the USB box connected to my LT out at the dish though!

Shawn

 

[rkrenicki]

Well, the DVD standard isnt HD.. its ED (720x480p)...

There are HD Upconvert DVD players, but I think they look pretty bad, IMHO, as its just 480p to 1080i or 720p upconvert..

I cant really see a purpose in putting Componant jacks on a FTA receiver, unless it was to decode HD streams.

 

[Shawn95GT]

Well, the DVD standard isnt HD.. its ED (720x480p)...

There are HD Upconvert DVD players, but I think they look pretty bad, IMHO, as its just 480p to 1080i or 720p upconvert..

I cant really see a purpose in putting Componant jacks on a FTA receiver, unless it was to decode HD streams.

Component just plain looks better on both of my TVs (27" tube and 50" DLP), even at 480i. Maybe my DVD player just has a sucky s-video / comosite output .

Shawn

 

[lilyarbie]

I like the component jacks........

The purpose of component isn't about getting an HD signal through them (720P or 1080i signal), it is also about getting pure 480 interlaced/progressive signal. With the S-video connection that most FTA receivers feature, you're still missing some resolution. S-video isn't downgraded by the television as bad as composite, but the color part of the signal still has to be separated. With composite, you've got Y/C separation and then you've got C separation into the three components that are then converted to RGB. Component eliminates the color separation step and allows the television to convert the Y-PB-PR signal into RGB. Not very hard or degrading to the resolution since you've already got two colors separated out (PB-PR are Red and Blue color difference). Subtracted white light from the formula of Blue and Red color gives you that other color (Green). On my HD OTA Voom receiver that is hooked to my 35" analog via component video cables, I can tell a big difference. I flip back and forth between the S-video and component and can see a higher grade of difference between light and dark on the shading. You get a higher scale of contrasts and brightness differences in the picture. Not only that, but also you get more color detail in the picture. Colors are more richer and have a higher saturation than with S-video. Separating out the colors in S-video results in colors that seem to be not as rich and more stale in comparison to component.

 

[rkrenicki]

Well, I understand the technical details of Composite/Baseband, Y-C/Svideo, and YPbPr/Componant, and their advantages, but I think the improvement is marginal at best for 480i output..

The color seperation of Svideo is purely to Luminance (basically, a black-and-white picture), and Chrominance (all of the color data combined), where Componant is YPbPr, or Luminance (all of the green data, since the video sync is on green), the Blue Chrominance data (Pb), and the Red Chrominance data (Pr)... essentially RGB video, with sync on green.

Its not a problem of resolution, but definition.. each method is less lossy than the prior.

I guess my real point is that if you are going to put the effort to put the port on there, you could put the effort into either programming the cpu to do, or upgrading the cpu to handle HD data.