Scan speed comparison

[turbosat]

The other thread about the traxis 3500 being fast made me wonder what some of the other models would do on a blind-scan speed contest.
So , to make it as close to similar I scanned AMC3 ku like linuxman did.
Viewsat Ultra (with about 1100channels and who-knows how many radio channels and dead transponders still stored too)
H side 4 1/2min, both H&V together==9min 10 seconds.
This one starts at a scan-step of 5, and that's where I left it since I bought it.
If anyone else wants to throw up some numbers, set your box at a step of 5 or close as you can and scan AMC3 and we'll have some real world info on how the different rec stack up. Then maybe we can create a chart of some kind, to keep somewhere.

 

[linuxman]

Hey Turbosat,

I think you have a great idea, but there are a couple of things to keep in mind.

1. It is not as easy to delete the channels from a particular satellite with the Pansat 3500 as it is with the Traxis, nor is it as easy to delete all the transponders from 1 satellite in the Pansat. It can be done in the Pansat, but only with a direct hookup through Channel Master and a PC. Those limitations might make it more difficult for someone who would like to join the experiment to just jump in and participate. To make it a fair comparison, the satellite to be scanned should start with a clean slate. No channels, and no transponders for the satellite to be scanned resulting in a true blind scan. I haven't really worked with the Coolsat 5000 enough to know how easy it is to delete the channels and TPs on one particular satellite. I'm sure Iceberg would know.

2. A lot depends on the time of day the scan takes place. The more active transponders, the longer the scan takes. So in the evening, or during a breaking news story when there are a lot of feeds, the scan would naturally take longer.

Just my thoughts if we are to have a true comparison.

Fred

 

[linuxman]

I'll start it off with a new fresh scan of AMC3 using the Traxis 3500. I deleted all the channels and TPs I scanned in last night, and the time was 6:15 AM CDT. Did a blind scan for free only channels.

Scanned in 21 TPS and 25 channels in 3 minutes and 45 seconds as timed on my watch.

Something else to keep in mind is that weak TPs cause any receiver to slow a bit trying to figure out what they are dealing with.

Fred

 

[linuxman]

Since I made the statements that I made in the other thread, I felt it only fair that I run the scan on the Pansat. I had to sift through about 600 channels to find the ones for AMC3 which were located in two places since I had deleted and scanned that bird before. (The Pansat puts all new channels at the bottom of the list, so the channels can get separated even on the same satellite by scanning a different satellite and then re-scanning the original later.)

I then had to delete the TPs one by one to clean the satellite off.

Started the scan at 6:44 AM CDT and the Pansat took a whopping 12 minutes and 40 seconds.

The blind scan on the Pansat is a two stage process. It finds the TPs first, then finds the channels so you have to count all that time.

The Pansat found 15 transponders, and 18 channels.

It missed the 4 obvious foreign language channels completely.

I double checked the Traxis for duplicates, and there weren't any.

To be fair in this assessment, AMC3 hooked to the Pansat is hooked to one of my multi-lnb Primestar dishes that could need some adjustment.

But there you have it. Relatively the same time frame and weather conditions.

Fred

 

[linuxman]

I didn't like the results of the Pansat using the multi-lnb setup and the universal lnb, so I switched the Pansat over to the Birdview and moved the dish into it's stored position.

Deleted all the channels and transponders again and did a fresh scan. Time started was 7:54 AM CDT.

This time the Pansat found 19 TPs and the same 25 channels as the Traxis.

It took an even longer time to do it. 14 minutes and 20 seconds.

I didn't think I was being fair with the first Pansat scan. The scan takes longer with the Pansat, but is just as accurate. The other two TPs the Traxis caught may not have been active when I scanned this time. There is an almost two hour time difference.

BTW, there is no substitute for a well made, finely tuned big dish for receiving signal.

Fred

 

[turbosat]

Well thats a good ballpark set of figures then. It prob wouldn't be worth everyone's time to clean out their tps and channels to do this, I thought
just a scan 'as is' might give us a clue to which machines are obviously fast, and which are much slower. I have this old coship 3188 which seems to find everything, scans in steps of 3, but by the time it's done scanning -you will have missed the ballgame you were searching for!