Viewsat 9000 hd and maxhd

[dennis12]

Does anyone know anything about these receivers. I assume you can add on pvr to both of these and they both do dvb-s2. When you try to add the dvb-s2 manually, does it work like the pansat9200, in that you can add it in with the remote. Dennis

 

[brentb636]

I don't think anyone on the forum owns a MaxHD , yet, so first hand experience is going to be nil for awhile. One of our guys did order one the other day, so we can expect an evaluation , in time.

 

[WEC4104]

From the reading I have done on these models, it sounds like Viewsat has introduced the MaxHD as the more price competitive little brother to the 9000HD. They both have the same processor speed and quantity of on-board memory, and the 9000HD's user interface looks like it has been cloned for the MaxHD. However, the MaxHD lacks the terrestrial tuner that the 9000HD has, so you can't hook up a regular antenna and tune in the over-the-air broadcasts.

I believe I saw something that the MaxHD will support PVR capability, but the software side of that is not fully developed yet. Today, the 9000HD supports PVR use, but they are still working on adding features to it's capabilities.

Recent posts from others are stating that the long term goal is to have the MaxHD be the affordable single tuner HD unit, while they expand the 9000HD to support dual satellite tuners.

 

[tdti1]

I read that the MaxHD needs a add on board for dvb-S2, so far the best dvb HD recivers have been the Pansat 9000, Digiwave 9000 and Coolsat 8100.

 

[dennis12]

So the viewsat9000 already is both pvr and dvb-s2 ready. Dennis

 

[WEC4104]

The PVR capabilities do exist today. You have to purchase an external hard drive and connect it to either the front or back USB port. Some of the PVR features are still a bit limiting. You can record whatever you are watching by simply hitting the record button on your remote. Or, you can set it to record a future show IF the show appears in your electronic program guide. To the best of my knowledge, you cannot set it to record a show that is not listed in the guide. So even if you know happen to know that Hawaii 5-0 is going to be on tomorrow night on RTN channel XXXX, you cannot simply tell it the channel and time and have it record, if it doesn't appear on an EPG.

The 9000HD does record in HD, and the picture is great.

You cannot record one show while watching another.

Rumor has it that Viewsat will be releasing software that improves the PVR feature set later this year.

The Viewsat 9000HD specs say that it is "DVB-S2 Compliant". However, right out of the box, it does not handle DVB-S2 Turbo 8PSK signals.

 

[dennis12]

Thank you for the information. Dennis

 

[vfrjim]

The MaxHD does not do DVB-S2 out of the box, it requires an addon module to do it

 

[Ahnos]

OTA

I am a newbie trying to figure out which receiver to buy. I would like to revive this thread now that it has been a few months since the new MaxHD has been out and maybe people have some more experience with it.

Don't you think it is useful to be able to use the DVR function on OTA as well? I began my search for a receiver that also has ATSC tuning along with DVR because right now I am tired of not being able record programs I watch.

I was really getting in to the MaxHD until I learned it did not have the OTA tuner. It seems that the vs 9000HD has been discontinued for the time being because it was buggy.

MaxHD - great receiver with decent GUI, but no ATSC tuner

9000HD - great receiver with nice GUI and ATSC tuner, but full of bugs.

Are there any good alternatives? Maybe the Diamond 9000HD. What do those of you do who have MaxHD to record the OTA channels. VCR?

 

[cracklincrotch]

As an owner of a Viewsat 9000 V2 I can tell you the following from experience:

1. The primary tuner hardware in a V2 VS9000 supports DVB-S2. The current firmware does not. Viewsat does not respond to my e-mails asking when it will. I e-mail weekly.
2. The optical audio output cuts out constantly. Changing the channel will fix this. This does not affect PVR functions - audio will be fine when playing back the recording. The box decodes AC3 audio and will pass it to the analog L/R outputs and are unaffected by this problem.
3. The second tuner in a V2 VS9000 is DVB-S only, not DVB-S2, and does nothing with currently available firmware.
4. A couple of updates ago, turning the receiver off doesn't turn the internal fan off, or put a monitor into sleep mode.
5. Broken software blindscan. You'll need a good blindscanning box (IE: Coolsat 5000.)
6. With a turbo 8PSK card add-in card you can tune legal unencrypted channels. They're out there. You need to find them yourself. Like any other FTA channel, watch it while it lasts because it might be gone tomorrow. With the 8psk card the primary tuner is only used to send diseqc commands. The 8psk becomes the primary tuner. The 8psk card will not lock all transponders and will need to be turned off to receive certain ones. KUIL on AMC4 is an example I know of. This is a pain.
7. PVR functions well enough to record and playback. But the live TV stuff is still somewhat buggy (IE: pausing stops the video, but does not pause audio.) With the second tuner non-functional at this time, you must watch what you're recording. (Remember VCRs?) No commercial skip. No pausing while recording in DVR mode. You cannot currently record one show and watch another due to the non-functional second tuner. Also, if you have no guide information, you can't schedule a recording at all. So if you want to record Dragnet, you're going to sit there like you did with your VCR to press record, and stop when it's done. And no smart comments like "My VCR would work on a schedule...." I'm talking OLD ones.

Save yourself the above royal pains in the back side. God only knows when Viewsat will fix that stuff, if ever. In the meantime you'll be wondering why you paid money for something that doesn't work right out of the box. Then you'll try to sell it and people will be asking "hi, do you mind if i ask, why you are selling this fine receiver? is it in top working order? thks"

Picture's good though. Works for what I can do with it. Should have bought a CS8100 or Pansat9200, spending what I did.

 

[Corrado]

Should have bought a CS8100 or Pansat9200, spending what I did.

I regret buying the Pansat 9200. At the time of purchase the PVR was still a future feature and mine needs the board modification. Which came about later. The second strike against it is, it needs the S2 addon card.

I wish I bought the CS8100. It would have done what I wanted out of the box.

 

[tdti1]

Up till this day the only HD receivers that are still in production that are worth it to get is the Digiwave 9000, the Coolsat 8100, well I think they are in production.

If you want you can wait a bit as Fortec is suppose to be coming out with a new receiver.

 

[jdbob]

I've had a MaxHD since late October and once they came out with a firmware upgrade for it am fairly satisified with it. There's an even newer upgrade on their website than the one I have, but haven't gotten around to installing it, maybe they've made the PVR function usable by now, I don't know.

I bought it to get PBS-HD and for that it does a good job.

 

[cracklincrotch]

I regret buying the Pansat 9200. At the time of purchase the PVR was still a future feature and mine needs the board modification. Which came about later. The second strike against it is, it needs the S2 addon card.

I wish I bought the CS8100. It would have done what I wanted out of the box.

That's definitely a plus of the Coolsat 8000/8100: built-in DVB-S2, with the 8100 having the PVR capability.

 

[Mr Tony]

I regret buying the Pansat 9200. At the time of purchase the PVR was still a future feature and mine needs the board modification. Which came about later. The second strike against it is, it needs the S2 addon card.

agreed. The blind scan was nice but no PVR originally and you needed a separate S2 board to make it work sucked