This is my first FTA reciever, so I have no comparision points but those I have read. I have now been using this reciever for 3 months, and while it works fine I do wish i had spent more and bought a better reciever.
The Satworks 3618 is a settop FTA reciever that I feel is good for use for a single or multiple dish setup that is not going to be changed / moved around a lot. There is no provision to add a motor. This unit also works fine slaved to a BUD setup.
Here are the pluses for this unit:
1) Blind Scan which finds/ scans all transponders found and finds most viewable channels on a given satellite.
2) Easy channel editing. To add a particular channel you do a “manual scan” and then enter in freq. /symbol rate/ and polarity. All channels on the transponder will then be scanned and added.
3) Menues are fairly easy to understand.
4) Svideo Output
5) Stereo AV outputs
6) Loop Out Output
7) Good picture quality with signal quality levels as low as 39%
8) Stores up to 4000 channels
9) Info button on the remote which displays signal quality, channel info, etc. The signal quality meter is very stable, and does not jump around.
10) Easy to see front display which shows channel number, power on and whether or not you have a satellite signal (not signal strength).
11) Can be used to control a polarotor on a BUD via +5/pulse/ ground connections on the rear (a big plus for me). To activate the connections on the rear you have to enter the system setup menu and turn "skew" to "on", default is "off".
12) These units can be found fairly inexpensively, under US $100 if you look.
Here are the neutral points (some might like, some wont)
1) No passwords needed to do anything, nor have I found a way to put a password in.
2) Channels are stored as either audio or video. You select whether you want to view video or hear audio from the "video" or "audio" buttons on the remote control.
3) 1 game (a tetris clone)
Here are the negatives:
1) Blind scan finds all channels during a scan, including scrambled channels, and there is no way to tell it to look for just FTA. Blind scan is slow if the latest software is not installed.
2) When blind scanning a BUD with polarotor controlled by the Satworks 3618, this unit only scans one polarity, even tho told to scan both hor and ver. This results in double channel entries which have to be deleted.
3) Only 1 favorites list for video and 1 list for audio.
4)The remote is small and the buttons are close together, it is easy to push the wrong botton. The remote is designed to slide down behind couches, chair cushions, etc. or otherwise get easily lost. Without the remote you can turn the unit on / off and change channels, but that is it. There is no way to program the unit or switch from audio to video modes without the remote.
5) Channel names are limited to 7 characters.
6) The paper used in the manual would have had a more satisfying and fulfilling life if it had been destined for toilet paper, as the manual is practically useless.
7) There is no way to control a dish mover / motor.
8) No AC3 output.
In conclusion this is not a bad starter reciever for FTA, although with no capability to move a motor, and no AC3 output, the user is limited in what channels can be viewed and will probably want to upgrade soon. On a scale of one to ten I would rate this a 7.
The Satworks 3618 is a settop FTA reciever that I feel is good for use for a single or multiple dish setup that is not going to be changed / moved around a lot. There is no provision to add a motor. This unit also works fine slaved to a BUD setup.
Here are the pluses for this unit:
1) Blind Scan which finds/ scans all transponders found and finds most viewable channels on a given satellite.
2) Easy channel editing. To add a particular channel you do a “manual scan” and then enter in freq. /symbol rate/ and polarity. All channels on the transponder will then be scanned and added.
3) Menues are fairly easy to understand.
4) Svideo Output
5) Stereo AV outputs
6) Loop Out Output
7) Good picture quality with signal quality levels as low as 39%
8) Stores up to 4000 channels
9) Info button on the remote which displays signal quality, channel info, etc. The signal quality meter is very stable, and does not jump around.
10) Easy to see front display which shows channel number, power on and whether or not you have a satellite signal (not signal strength).
11) Can be used to control a polarotor on a BUD via +5/pulse/ ground connections on the rear (a big plus for me). To activate the connections on the rear you have to enter the system setup menu and turn "skew" to "on", default is "off".
12) These units can be found fairly inexpensively, under US $100 if you look.
Here are the neutral points (some might like, some wont)
1) No passwords needed to do anything, nor have I found a way to put a password in.
2) Channels are stored as either audio or video. You select whether you want to view video or hear audio from the "video" or "audio" buttons on the remote control.
3) 1 game (a tetris clone)
Here are the negatives:
1) Blind scan finds all channels during a scan, including scrambled channels, and there is no way to tell it to look for just FTA. Blind scan is slow if the latest software is not installed.
2) When blind scanning a BUD with polarotor controlled by the Satworks 3618, this unit only scans one polarity, even tho told to scan both hor and ver. This results in double channel entries which have to be deleted.
3) Only 1 favorites list for video and 1 list for audio.
4)The remote is small and the buttons are close together, it is easy to push the wrong botton. The remote is designed to slide down behind couches, chair cushions, etc. or otherwise get easily lost. Without the remote you can turn the unit on / off and change channels, but that is it. There is no way to program the unit or switch from audio to video modes without the remote.
5) Channel names are limited to 7 characters.
6) The paper used in the manual would have had a more satisfying and fulfilling life if it had been destined for toilet paper, as the manual is practically useless.
7) There is no way to control a dish mover / motor.
8) No AC3 output.
In conclusion this is not a bad starter reciever for FTA, although with no capability to move a motor, and no AC3 output, the user is limited in what channels can be viewed and will probably want to upgrade soon. On a scale of one to ten I would rate this a 7.
