Reviews: SatHawk PVR800 WorldDVB DVB-S2 HD FTA Receiver

[greg harris]

I'm having issues setting up this new firmware...

So each satellite requires its own setup now? Like USALS, but I need to setup USALS for each on the list?

I actually can't get it to save my USALS info, it resets to 0 0 every time - maybe I just need to play with it more, but this new antenna setup menu is annoying and frustrating

There are some bugs.
Try entering your USALS info and then immediately exit out to the main menu. This works for me as I had the same problem you have described.
USALS does not need to be entered for each satellite, but you will need to set each satellite individually for the motor. They did this so we could use fixed dishes with the motor. If you are changing form the motorized dish to a fixed dish, you don't want the motorized dish to move to the fixed dish location.

 

[Jim S.]

I actually can't get it to save my USALS info, it resets to 0 0 every time - maybe I just need to play with it more,

It wouldn't save my coordinates at first either. Playing with it was exactly what I did, and eventually it just stuck. I honestly can't tell you what I did to make it work!

 

[boom]

I did what Greg suggested, enter the info and exit quickly, that seemed to save it, scanning now! thanks

oh but you can't exit from the menu if your "cursor" is on the long/lat bar, you need to run down to limit setup and click exit. Worked for me anyway, thanks guys...

 

[warnerwlf98]

This new firmware really sounds good. Did they happen to fix the clock so that the box remembers the time after you shut it off? Thanks.

 

[jibaro29]

Can someone please bottomed line this receiver for me? Is it worth my time and money to get one of these receivers or should I wait awhile longer?

 

[brentb636]

Unless you have another 4:2:2 solution, you'll be better served by an Azbox. The Sathawk is very inexpensive, and now appears to be a decent solution for an all-around blindscan HD receiver . You can wait as long as you want, of course, but I've been waiting for the AC3 issue and motor/switch issue to be fixed before buying. What are your choices ? And how long do you want to wait ?

 

[warnerwlf98]

Two issues:

1. I have this receiver as a slave to a C-Band analog receiver. How do I get it to Auto Scan Vertical transponders? It will only scan everything as Horizontal. They seem to have omitted that setting in the Antenna Setup menu. It would be nice if they could put it back--but in the Single Satellite Search menu, instead.

2. Using composite output, the picture is tinted towards the GREEN side on NTSC output. PAL output is normal.

Yep . . these are the 2 issues I have with it too. That green tint is really annoying.

I can live with the inability to select autoscanning of horizontal and vertical separately. I'm going to downgrade when I get the time.

 

[Jim S.]

Did they happen to fix the clock so that the box remembers the time after you shut it off?

Nope. I wonder if the box even has a realtime clock chip in it?!

Worse, I can't remember if it did this before or not, but with the new software, it SHUTS OFF after a recording. Meaning, you can't schedule more than one recording!

 

[Mr Tony]

Worse, I can't remember if it did this before or not, but with the new software, it SHUTS OFF after a recording. Meaning, you can't schedule more than one recording!

uh oh...sounds like 1 step forward 2 steps back

 

[jibaro29]

Unless you have another 4:2:2 solution, you'll be better served by an Azbox. The Sathawk is very inexpensive, and now appears to be a decent solution for an all-around blindscan HD receiver . You can wait as long as you want, of course, but I've been waiting for the AC3 issue and motor/switch issue to be fixed before buying. What are your choices ? And how long do you want to wait ?

I think I'm ready to make a purchase one. I am more nervous about being disappointed. You see I have a 4 footer and I can tell you that I am happy about the signal I get on Cband and Ku. I just do not know how is going to work with HD channels. My Geosat800 receiver picks up a lot of the HD channels on 91W, 99W and 125W Ku. I get around 60Q or higher on most channels. I'm just wondering is that good enough to get decent HD reception?

 

[Jim S.]

Are you talking about C or Ku? HD on Ku works fine for me on a 36" dish, 99% of the time. Once in a while there will be an S2 feed that I won't get, but there are other S2 feeds that work fine, and most HD feeds aren't S2 anyway.

 

[jibaro29]

Are you talking about C or Ku? HD on Ku works fine for me on a 36" dish, 99% of the time. Once in a while there will be an S2 feed that I won't get, but there are other S2 feeds that work fine, and most HD feeds aren't S2 anyway.

Both Jim, C/Ku.

 

[brentb636]

I think I'm ready to make a purchase one. I am more nervous about being disappointed. You see I have a 4 footer and I can tell you that I am happy about the signal I get on Cband and Ku. I just do not know how is going to work with HD channels. My Geosat800 receiver picks up a lot of the HD channels on 91W, 99W and 125W Ku. I get around 60Q or higher on most channels. I'm just wondering is that good enough to get decent HD reception?

I'm pretty sure the Sathawk will handle about anything you can tune with your 4 foot dish ( except 4:2:2 feeds , of course ) . The questionable feeds are the high bit rate C-band DVB-S2 ones, which neither your or I can tune with a little 4 foot mini-BUD . They require at least an 8 foot dish. That's my expectation anyway. Sadoun starts shipping on Wednesday, and I'm ready for it.

 

[Blindowl1234]

Loaded the new firmware in mine thursday or friday....Seems to work ok. No issues with the motor switch issue so far. Definite improvement. In the future manual PID entry would also be a welcome addition. Now all I have to do is get the new style remote. Blind

 

[jibaro29]

Loaded the new firmware in mine thursday or friday....Seems to work ok. No issues with the motor switch issue so far. Definite improvement. In the future manual PID entry would also be a welcome addition. Now all I have to do is get the new style remote. Blind

Are saying that this receiver will not blind scan the CW Nets on 91W? That sucks.

 

[stanleyjohn]

Loaded new firmware last weekend but havent used motor funtion yet.Using V box alone to control dish and store sats until i finish scanning the arc to what i can get!then i plan to start using the motor function with the receiver.I kinda wish they didnt put that delete all sats on the top of the ant setup menu!just yesterday i wasnt paying attention and came close to saying bye bye to my list.

 

[Lak7]

Are saying that this receiver will not blind scan the CW Nets on 91W? That sucks.

No receiver can Blind Scan those channels.

 

[jibaro29]

No receiver can Blind Scan those channels.

Thanks for the info Lak7.

 

[N5XZS]

Since I am Hard of Hearing, why SatHawk's software don't support Closed Captioning?

I use HDMI and set at 1080i video 60Hz scan rate. It's does have Subtitling but's only works in Europe.

So please update the software patch.::

Thanks!!

 

[byron]

Since I am Hard of Hearing, why SatHawk's software don't support Closed Captioning?

Probably because most countries do not have CC functionality on their minds. Other than the US, many countries only use the subtitles function (also known by some as teletext) to display text on the screen -- whether for the hearing impaired or for offering up other information for a viewer to see. Closed captioning in general is mostly an American thing, as the combined powers of the National Bureau of Standards, the National Captioning Institute, and the FCC are responsible for us having the feature so widely available to us as we have come to know it today. (Though there is some similar closed captioning provided in Australia according to a wiki article I read.)

It would be nice if CC was added, but this box's country of origin is likely a reason it is not there for you already.