Special: SatHawk PVR800 WorldDVB DVB-S2 HD FTA Receiver

[zamar23]

I agree that this discussion is a good and unusually early stimulus for the manufacturer to further the box features. Especially keeping in mind that some similar boxes currently sold went unnoticed at all. Actually, its an exceptional collective free ad campaign.

 

[melgarga]

Campaign might not be the proper term, unless someone who is conspiricy theory oriented alledges that the mfgr intentionally offered a low promotional cost to generate this much traffic on the subject. Being a devout Conspiricy Theorist, that is even a stretch for my interpretation of the events.
Nonetheless, you can bet that the AZ developers and any other competitors in the same market have taken notice. That can only serve to ultimately motivate vendors to offer a better product at a lower cost across the market.

Not a bad outcome for a few pages of speculative post on a yet unseen product.

 

[zamar23]

AZBox won't drop the price unless cheaper priced another box with similar features comes along worldwide. As to development, they're doing a good job with enriching AZ features. Of course its also a new company's fast grows factor, and desire to get rich fast, and lack of experience that shows in AZ FW quality and some of their ads, but overall the new AZ is doing very good feature wise.

To be honest, I don't see the price for this STB being exceptionally low, given the low development costs in CN and production price at about $40-50. Just keep in mind, talking about HD STBs sold locally, they were designed and most made in SK, and incurred extra FW development and other costs in the US, mainly "support" related. Their initial price also reflected so called "savings", their buyers envisioned years ahead. And that's why it's dropped so dramatically once "support" vanished.

That said, this STB sounds like a good addition to DVB-S2 HD STB products offered locally (not really a Multimedia Receiver as labeled IMHO), and that's basically all to be said about it for now, at least by me, unless more info start getting in.

 

[ikki]

I am still looking for what I call the "Do every thing receiver", 4.2.0, 4.2.2, ATSC, Blind Scan, MPEG 2 and 4, along with a PVR. Now if its running linux that just a plus, I could put a DNS server on it.

 

[melgarga]

I agree with your assessment of the AZ development team. It seems that they have made great efforts to respond to customer feedback to further enhance the function and stability of their product. I am hopeful the development team for this box will be equally diligent.

Again price vs value is subjective and relative. At mfgrs suggested list, it is 33% less than the "basic" AZ S2 box. Sure there are some fundamental differences warranting a bit higher price but it's hard to argue with a $100+ discount in this economy.

So if production cost per unit of this STB is in line with what you say, whatever the HW differences between it and the AZ, or any of the other SK units cant be a lot in terms of cost per unit. Considering your estimate, and tacking on a few bucks more per unit for say a SATA I/F and wireless port, how again do we justify the $300 to $400+ pricetag on these other S2 capable STBs? The box with the $200 pricetag still weighs in as a better value, relatively speaking.

It is indeed all goverened by "whatever the market will bear" just like almost everything else in our capitalist driven global economy.

"Support" for the popular SK boxes has not ended, and because of that they are still as pricey as they ever were. Until they are no longer used and useful for their "intended market", and the "savings" is no longer realized by that sector, they will continue to be in that high end price range unless another product comes along and takes them down a notch or two. AZ has pioneered that quest. Perhaps this STB will land another meaningful blow.

I would hope to see some LAN/wireless accessable MM features implemented on this one as long as it does not impact the price. I realize it is just semantics but the ability to playback media files and a full blown network node are two different things. I did not perceive the specs to say Multimedia Center, only that it could playback MM files of unspecified formats.
Considering that it also states that the function of the ethernet port is for FW upgrade, that essentially precludes any true MM functionality at this time.

If we held their feet to the fire about the 7 day EPG, they would be at the bottom of a very long list.......lol

 

[melgarga]

I am still looking for what I call the "Do every thing receiver", 4.2.0, 4.2.2, ATSC, Blind Scan, MPEG 2 and 4, along with a PVR. Now if its running linux that just a plus, I could put a DNS server on it.

I am still unclear on the story on 4:2:2. I've read it's a function of the CODEC (SW) and other things say it must be supported in the hardware. "No out of box 4:2:2" seems to indicate it can be addressed via software (firmware), but is that because the HW does exist and is not currently utilized?
I dunno.........!sadroll

ATSC is window dressing AFAIC. Handy but not worth extra expense or compromising the main function of the box. Plenty of ATSC receivers about. Besides, one might want to run both at the same time to two different TVs. Dual tuner doesnt always mean dual output.

A really neat feature would be to use it as a multisource media capture device, be it S-video, composite/component or even non DVB sourced data streams. Of course this box lacks the add'l hw for such inputs, but the features would be nice for the proverbial all in one "wish box".......lol

 

[Sadoun]

Sadoun should remove the "No hardware Blind Search." part. You might sell more.

The manufacturer already demonstrated through pictures on this or the other thread that this receiver has/does Blind Search. Since we are only talking a few days to ship, I am going to keep "No hardware Blind Search" disclaimer until I am satisfied this feature is working flawlessly. This will be done, when I get my hands on the 1st shipment.

 

[Sadoun]

Here is DVBDWorld's test:

"We spend one hour to aimed at the NSS 11 satellite now,maybe the signal not good for me. but don`t affect me to test . ok,now let us to experiment the blind scan the sat tp.

Now i add NSS 11 to my STB:

then choose the sat:

now go to Antenna Setup , u can see no tp in the STB:

if i choose Preset Scan ,the STB cann`t scan any program:

now let me choos Auto Scan, now i get some TP and 12593H28818 S2 singal and programs:

now the STB blind scan finish the sat, i get 15 tp, 150 TV programs and 49 Radio programs:

now i play the first program:

now i want to play S2 program, but it is NDS CA encrypt program:

NOW the Blindscan test finish!!

 

[starman345]

I like those menus

 

[melgarga]

I took it that the question was HARDWARE based blindscan vs blindscan routine that run in FW only.

I had already read the thread where that demonstration was posted. It does appear the unit is capable of detecting and scanning in S2 signals.

Are you saying that if you confirm the functions presented in the pics that will also confirm the existence of hardware based blindscan?

 

[Blindowl1234]

All this speculation and suspense is killing me lol. ...I can't wait until Sadoun gets the first box is his hands and tries it....and then the first batch goes out. Then all the questions will be answered...or we'll have more questions. Always something exciting in the FTA hobby...certainly not a boring hobby. Blind

 

[melgarga]

All this speculation and suspense is killing me lol. ...I can't wait until Sadoun gets the first box is his hands and tries it....and then the first batch goes out. Then all the questions will be answered...or we'll have more questions. Always something exciting in the FTA hobby...certainly not a boring hobby. Blind

It is supposed to......it's all part of the conspiracy......

 

[Lak7]

Then all the questions will be answered...or we'll have more questions.

I'm guessing there will be more Q's LOL

 

[Sadoun]

I'm guessing there will be more Q's LOL

And more threads

 

[dvbworld]

upgrade the SW for PVR800:

Sudoun`s customers if got PVR800, u can download the upgrade file to update ur STB.

1. unzip the file( HDS2_flag_0124MC.zi ) to U disk or HDD USD Disk root list.
2. then plug the U disk to STB.
3. press " MENU"--Tool--Upgrade By USB.
4.then OK.

thanks!!

 

[Mr Tony]

upgrade the SW for PVR800:

can you elaborate on that?

 

[phpinfo]

What does "No 4:2:2 out of the box" mean? Is there a firmware update you can do yourself for 4:2:2?

 

[Mr Tony]

I think they mean it wont do 4:2:2

 

[DJ Rob]

Or hardware blind scan? I would love to know how long "blind scanning" a satellite takes.

 

[Mr Tony]

blind scan was confirmed....there was some confusion on that