Review: Sonicview SV-HD8000

[zamar23]

That pic you posted looks like a compelling evidence to me. Did they know what's inside the file, if it doesn't show up on the screen? May be they just payed for branding of a known package, and the firmware developer cut costs by simply commenting out the bad stuff? As to iHub current functionality, you pointed at, was it brought here by Sonicview STB Importer or a 3-d party company?

How do you explain the alleged company conduct? Not even check their own "factory" firmware for piracy code? Why would they leave it there? Why they didn't add useful functionality to iHub so far, if not for customers, but for their own good? Are they that stupid? How then they sold so many STBs for just 2 years as per TELE-Satellite?

Overall, you sound more reasonable now. Just don't mix those people, who purchased an SV receiver with a large FTA dish or a motor to join FTA fans club following a loud ad campaign, with a few folks who might benefited a lot from this enterprise. Now, when these STBs price is dropping, it makes clear FTA and OTA HD channels accessible to the less fortunate ones, otherwise deprived of HDTV technology advances. So, there is a positive side to this cleanup. The piracy enterprise should be stopped for sure.

P.S. It looks like this legal stuff is Off topic in this thread, devoted to the STB features and components. These posts might need to be separated to FTA Shack. What do you think?

 

[pwrsurge]

That pic you posted looks like a compelling evidence to me. Did they know what's inside the file, if it doesn't show up on the screen? May be they just payed for branding of a known package, and the firmware developer cut costs by simply commenting out the bad stuff? As to iHub current functionality, you pointed at, was it brought here by Sonicview STB Importer or a 3-d party company?

It is well known that in order to avoid clones, FTA receiver manufacturers are very selective to who has access to the firmware's source code. Only certain staff working for the company have access to the source so SonicView KNOWS what's in their code!

Factory firmware is only compiled from time to time as most users will be using the latest pirate firmware instead so they don't bother making frequent releases. This is why that for so many of these receivers, some bugs or functionality issues present in the factory firmware are resolved in pirate firmware.

How do you explain the alleged company conduct? Not even check their own "factory" firmware for piracy code? Why would they leave it there? Why they didn't add useful functionality to iHub so far, if not for customers, but for their own good?

As it would take too much time and effort for them to have a separate firmware source code file with no piracy code whatsoever for every receiver, they use the same source code for both but with a "switch" in the code that enables or disables the piracy options when the firmware is compiled. However, in this case, the coder forgot to turn off the switch so the piracy features were enabled by mistake.

What really ticks me off for the SV8000 though is that since they took down version 4.43 of the factory firmware which was accidentally compiled with pirate features, they NEVER bothered to release a version without the features enabled! Instead, they reverted to version 2.50 which is 15 months OLDER than 4.43 and has lots of bugs and functionality issues! As you can see, they don't pay much attention to factory firmware since the bulk of their users are not using them. They just have them on their site for legal reasons.

Are they that stupid?

Yes they are.

How then they sold so many STBs for just 2 years as per TELE-Satellite?

It's easy when 90%+ of your customers use your product for satellite piracy.

Overall, you sound more reasonable now. Just don't mix those people, who purchased an SV receiver with a large FTA dish or a motor to join FTA fans club following a loud ad campaign, with a few folks who might benefited a lot from this enterprise. Now, when these STBs price is dropping, it makes clear FTA and OTA HD channels accessible to the less fortunate ones, otherwise deprived of HDTV technology advances. So, there is a positive side to this cleanup. The piracy enterprise should be stopped for sure.

I'm not trying to mix these people as I work for a company installing motorized C and KU band dishes so I try to promote legitimate FTA as much as possible. I agree with you that one good thing about this is that used receiver prices will be dropping now that satellite piracy is coming to an end and HD receivers are starting to become more affordable for lower income people.

 

[zamar23]

Thanks for in-depth explanation, its really useful for most to better understand how this piracy stuff works. Most people think, if you load a factory firmware, you have a clean install. The reality appears to be, same piracy stuff might be hidden in such "factory" firmware, and must also be supported by some hardware components of the receiver.

As to piracy coming to an end, is it a realistic look, given reports on some sites that certain companies are catching up with piracy stuff? Not only STB importers like Sonicview USA, but receiver manufacturers - large corporations with massive R&D budget like AMT - provide tech solution and infrastructure to support new forms of piracy. Look, what Google search for a piracy fight status gives: "AMT (CoolSky Co., SK) is the manufacturer of the “guts” for the Nfusion, Neosat and other boxes used throughout the world. AMT partnered directly with 3rd party coders and others to setup the server node system used by many cardshare systems in N. America, Europe, middle east & Asia. AMT was raided by authorities and the cardsharing network was shut down." Hope, its true, except for interesting import statistics: 6 tons of Nfusion STBs in each shipment.

 

[pwrsurge]

UPDATE: Looks like SonicView is actually reading this thread. Shortly after I posted the hexedit screen capture of the SV360 premier factory firmware, it was updated to a new one and just today, the factory firmware for the SV8000 and SV360 Elite was updated as well! Now if they could just start fixing the outstanding bugs on the SV8000 and add support for DVB-S2 & 4.2.2, I would be REALLY happy!

 

[pwrsurge]

SV8000 bug list

Since one of the moderators in Sonicview's "support" forum deleted my bug post thread after being there for several months for no apparent reason, I am posting it in this forum instead where the moderators believe in the freedom of speech! Feel free to PM me if you want to add any items to this list or you find out that some of these bugs got fixed.


BUGS:

BUG001: Custom event name in manual event timer is ignored, file is still
saved using program name from EPG

BUG002: Scheduled recordings do not fire when in USB file listing screen
or when playing back recordings.

BUG003: File dates are not displayed in USB file listing screen. Also, files are not being timestamped when created on external storage.

BUG004: When deleting a file on USB drive, free space info is not
recalculated until user exits and re-enters USB Storage screen.

BUG005: Unable to move file to parent directory in USB Storage screen. Only
child directories are listed as options.

BUG006: EPG does not update if time mode set to manual even if time is
correct. Some DTV stations do not have correct time so Manual option
is more appropriate in this situation.

BUG007: Scan DTV EPG function does not work very well. Only manually tuning
to each DTV channel one by one seems to populate the EPG.

BUG008: Signal strength threshold is too high when receiving DTV channels.
Under 50% strength, signal drops to 0%

BUG009: After a scheduled recording on satellite is completed while the
receiver is off and the user turns on the receiver again, the
satellite selection gets reset to "All satellites". The previously
selected satellite should still be selected in this case.

BUG010: When doing a blind scan, the progress bar sometimes covers the
complete width of the screen so the progress is not seen.

BUG011: Unable to change step size in DTV scan.

BUG012: Channels are sometimes missed when doing a blindscan, even on
"Detail" mode. However, these work properly if the TP is added
manually and scanned.

BUG013: When adding a new sat in dish settings (i.e. USER SAT), it is not
possible to specify the satellite's orbital location (degrees and E or W)

BUG014: Unable to delete satellites from listing in dish settings.

BUG015: Channel list corruption occurring when over 2000 channels are scanned.

BUG016: In HD OSD mode, some UI elements are not aligned properly. ***FIXED***

BUG017: Channel change mode setting in User Settings not implemented. All 3
options seem to behave as "Black out"

BUG018: Dolby Digital 5.1 does not work over HDMI *** FIXED ON v4.43 FIRMWARE ***

BUG019: Occasional audio glitches when using optical output.

BUG020: Closed Captioning does not work over HDMI or Component.

BUG021: No support for DiSEqC 1.1 even though is it supposed to be supported
according to user documentation.

BUG022: When manually adding a channel using the add PID function, the 4th
digit is not displayed on screen right away when typed in VPID, APID
or PCR PID fields. Scrolling up or down makes the 4th digit display
in the field.

BUG023: Summer Time option in Time Setting needs to be updated to reflect
the recent changes in Daylight Savings Time.

BUG024: Information timeout in User Settings should also apply to the timeline UI
when playing back recordings.

BUG025: Selected Tuner selection in External Module settings always reverts to "External Module" when the unit is rebooted. Selected option should always be remembered, even when unit is rebooted.

BUG026: Validation routine required for PVR to ensure the file name used when saving recordings does not contain any illegal characters or have any surrounding spaces as these can cause issues reading these files on a PC.

BUG027: When selecting a secondary audio channel on a multi-language channel, the video and audio hangs and sometimes even freezes.

BUG028: Time offset on DTV channels is off by 1 hour. ***FIXED***

BUG029: Continuous audio micro-freezing for radio stations with missing PCR value from stream. As an example, excellent Test 243 (Country Music) channel on IA5 @ 97.0W G19 drops continuously for 1 sec regardless of AUDIO OUT Port and output signal format used

BUG030: Selected item in event schedule menu when pressing yellow button in EPG does not wrap around correctly when going up.

BUG031: Names of user added satellites don't appear in the satellite list when pressing the SAT key. Only a blank entry appears.


ENHANCEMENT REQUESTS:

ER001: Add support for tuning DVB-S2 channels.

ER002: Add support for tuning 4:2:2 channels

ER003: Add feature to resume replay of saved recordings if playback is stopped
(i.e. bookmarks)

ER004: Add start and stop offset minutes in PVR settings as EPG is sometimes off
by a few minutes and the first or last few minutes of the program are not recorded.

ER005: It would be nice if a frequency range and step size could be
specified when doing a blind scan similar to DTV scan.

ER006: Orbital location should be displayed next to satellites when pressing Sat key.
Also, it would be nice to have satellites sorted by orbital location similar to satellite listing in Dish settings.

ER007: Add support to playback more file formats such as Divx with MP3 audio.

ER008: Add 0 or Off option to Front LED brightness option in User Settings to totally turn off front LED display.

ER009: Improve performance when browsing through the EPG under HD OSD mode.

ER010: Add discrete IR codes for power on and power off.

 

[zamar23]

I can add a few more to your Bug List above (incomplete as they always are), which I found posted on the web:

- STB at times freezes and needs rebooting when adding or saving a channel PIDs manually;
- when setting a motor position, yellow Exit Button doesn't work;
- Red, Green, Yellow and Blue Buttons on the Remote don't work (some or all)) on some setup, PG, signal level control and other screens despite offered on screen;
- half of clear Audio ONLY channels on any sat. are played back with continuous sound micro-dropouts regardless of Audio OUT port used;
- open Channel Info Popup Window in Audio Program Guide can't close or be scrolled down, when filled with info, and gets broken when switching channels;
- words in PG Info Window get broken in peaces and shown on adjacent text lines, when text is auto formatted to fit the window width;
- wrong pic scale in Preview Window of Program Guide, when switching to a wide screen format show;
- much lower max audio signal level on S/PDIF port compare to average for STBs, i.e. to Sonicview SD models;
- OK Remote Button doesn't work on several screens as expected, requiring to use Exit button instead.

Mods requested:

- add 2nd USB port on the Back Panel;
- add efficient case ventilation with a 12V 60mm quiet thermistor controlled fan;
- add ATSC Out port on the Back Panel;
- add a Remote Shortcut to switch btw last open Favorite and Channel Panels in Channel Setup instead of scrolling through all Fav folders;
- publish Remote Control complete shortcuts list;
- add manual entry of a Sat orbital position, when adding the sat manually;
- faster channel switching on screen and in PG in SD and HD modes after dialing the channel number or pressing Next & Previous Buttons.

 

[avg1joe]

Anyone tried the new firmware? How does it compare to the other versions? I notice its a .rom file rather than a .bin file. Do you use it exactly the same way?

 

[chapelrun]

I downloaded but have not loaded

I looked at the new firmware but did not load it.

I just put on v443 about a week ago and my box is working very well - - - I don't want to go backwards because the v250 that was on the site just before this one had issues. I also notice the new firmware does not have a version number - - - I opened it with a hex editor to try to see the version but could not find it.

Sorry - my SV-HD8000 has become my primary box and don't want to mess it up.

 

[wildcatae]

UPDATE: Looks like SonicView is actually reading this thread. Shortly after I posted the hexedit screen capture of the SV360 premier factory firmware, it was updated to a new one and just today, the factory firmware for the SV8000 and SV360 Elite was updated as well! Now if they could just start fixing the outstanding bugs on the SV8000 and add support for DVB-S2 & 4.2.2, I would be REALLY happy!

LOL. I see you are on a real trip here pwrsurge-where you belong. I'm headed to hunting camp now and do not have time to completely read this tread and respond accurately. When I return next week, I will.
The truth will be told and done without bashing or flaming you. ( Which will be a challenge but I know I can do it)

Wildcatae

 

[jwwbrennan]

Anyone tried the new firmware? How does it compare to the other versions? I notice its a .rom file rather than a .bin file. Do you use it exactly the same way?

I installed it. It reported version 2.57. Al Jareera had sound, PBS HD did not. I like sound so I switched back.

It is a great product. I wish they would run with that and pay someone to design some fully functional software and quit dealing with the neighborhood hacker. The bugs don't bother me but the limitations do.

 

[zamar23]

If the firmware bugs listed above don't bother you, why did you switch back to its previous version?

 

[pwrsurge]

LOL. I see you are on a real trip here pwrsurge-where you belong. I'm headed to hunting camp now and do not have time to completely read this tread and respond accurately. When I return next week, I will.
The truth will be told and done without bashing or flaming you. ( Which will be a challenge but I know I can do it)

Wildcatae

Looks like the dark side has finally decided to join us... Thank you for confirming my theory though! Good luck hunting and hope you get your prey.

 

[jwwbrennan]

If the firmware bugs listed above don't bother you, why did you switch back to its previous version?

The bugs in the software I am not running don't bother me.

 

[pwrsurge]

I installed it. It reported version 2.57. Al Jareera had sound, PBS HD did not. I like sound so I switched back.

It is a great product. I wish they would run with that and pay someone to design some fully functional software and quit dealing with the neighborhood hacker. The bugs don't bother me but the limitations do.

Did you make sure that Dolby Digital is selected in HDMI Audio inside the A/V settings menu? Most PBS channels have AC3 audio so you might need to connect either an optical or HDMI cable to an AV receiver for sound to work as very few TV's can decode Dolby AC3 audio.

 

[jwwbrennan]

I have been enjoying AC3 through a separate AV receiver for some time and tested it after the 'upgrade'. It worked well with the older firmware as it does again. Frankly, once I noticed the version was in the 2.5 series the testing was brief. I assumed it was just a chopped version of the inadequate and irritating 2.5 release.

 

[chapelrun]

I think you are right about that

I have tried the 2.50 version which until a few weeks ago was on the SonicView webpage and frankly it is not very good.

The version 2.50 has many limitations including the fact that if you hook up an antenna for OTA it will not scan in any channels.

I'm currently using v443 and while this one is MUCH better it also is not perfect but worlds better than 2.50.

I had used the v402 for a short time and it was also much better than the 2.50 version.

I have not tried the new one they just posted - - - so I cannot speak to that version.

Here is version 443 if anyone needs it.

 

[pwrsurge]

I have tried the 2.50 version which until a few weeks ago was on the SonicView webpage and frankly it is not very good.

The version 2.50 has many limitations including the fact that if you hook up an antenna for OTA it will not scan in any channels.

I'm currently using v443 and while this one is MUCH better it also is not perfect but worlds better than 2.50.

I had used the v402 for a short time and it was also much better than the 2.50 version.

I have not tried the new one they just posted - - - so I cannot speak to that version.

Here is version 443 if anyone needs it.

I agree that version 4.43 of the firmware you posted is the best one available so far for legal use of your SonicView 8000HD receiver, especially for OTA as it parses and displays the virtual channel numbers correctly (with the "Channel Number by SID" option enabled in user options). Even though v4.43 was the firmware with pirate features enabled posted by mistake on the sonicviewusa.com website, it's OK to use now as the pirate code won't work anymore. Just make sure that the "Auto Roll" feature is turned off in User options in order to disable the pirate code from executing inside the receiver.

 

[zamar23]

I agree that version 4.43 of the firmware you posted is the best one available so far for legal use of your SonicView 8000HD receiver.

Could you elaborate a bit on this notion. Its usually expected that subsequent firmware releases should incorporate more bug fixes, add more features and have existing features improved. It always depends on the end user, what feature set they're going to use. From that prospective, installing the latest firmware release or the first one is equally legal, if the STB owner doesn't use features and/or devices (if any available), allowing to decrypt encrypted channels without a subscription. Besides, most consumers wouldn't know the difference btw releases, as firmware developers don't seems to bother with posting regular Change Logs. In short, wouldn't it be more reasonable to educate consumers to avoid acting illegally rather than worn against using newer firmware releases, thus freezing their dissatisfaction with old bugs that never go away? Even firearms are sold to general public legally, having reasonable expectation they will be used only for self defense.

 

[jwwbrennan]

I agree zamar23. The reason I don't steal is because I am not a thief. It is not because I don't have the technology. I designed software and ran computer systems in the publishing environment at one time and always noticed how programmers would copy from books while people in publishing ran extra copies of software all the time complaining about copyright theft. It would take a fairly potent application of ignorance to steal satellite signals innocently.

 

[wildcatae]

Looks like the dark side has finally decided to join us... Thank you for confirming my theory though! Good luck hunting and hope you get your prey.

What makes you think I'm from the dark side? You have nearly 300 post in the forum that allows the discussion of third-party software and 28 here. Several of those post were helping people that most likely where using third-party software. A majority of your post were hijacks attempting to convert the poster to true FTA. You were banned for that repeated hijacking.

I help people there to. I have never posted any third-party software I do not use third-party software to view television and have no need to.

I guess I can call the pot black.

This post confirms absolutely nothing that you have posted because most of it are Lies.

You brought it to our attention that a file containing third-party software had been posted at the sonic view factory site. The factory site was contacted by e-mail immediately and they checked into the files posted. Someone had hacked into the site and posted files without their knowledge. They immediately removed the files and replace them the proper versions. I agree this is very embarrassing for sonic view. They weren't watching their own shop.

They are legitimate importer of FTA equipment and want nothing to do with what you are accusing them of.

I asked you not to release that information when I PM"ed you because it is embarrassing to them. you asked for a gift in your PM to me. I thought that was appropriate, because the information was important. I sent you the elite out of my own pocket it is not from sonic view. It was sent as a gift, not as a payoff. But you have blabbed the fact that it was posted there anyway ,so I have learned what you really are.

I have absolutely no respect for people like you. You have a right to your views and values as I do, but when you inflict them on other people and stand on your table preaching your values to other people, that is what causes wars. Some people have chosen a different path than you. They have their reasons for doing that, and that is not wrong in their viewpoint.

For those of you that desire improvements in the software of sonic view products, e-mail the factory site. A third-party site has nothing to do with the sonic view factory site. If they can accommodate your request, fine, if they can't, find and buy receiver that can.

Pwrsurge, I can respect the primary rule of this site, but obviously you cannot return that respect you visit other forums that discuss third-party software, and you are active in several. I will warn the administrators of those sites and any others you may join as to your true intentions. That is the least I can do now.

Hope you have a great day.

Wildcatae