Which receivers are mostly working right?

[turbosat]

Want to buy another fta rec but I have read and read stories, the ones that receive video ok seem to have bugs with moving a dish, or the reverse is true. Or they won't pass ac-3 audio. Is anyone happy with ONE receiver, that does all 3 things generally well? What brand is it?
Couple of months ago I bought a viewsat ultra, I know its still very new and has gone thru 3-4 software upgrades already, but the AC-3 sound passthru doesnt work, and I understand others are having problems with the motor control on it too. Right now I dont use mine for moving dishes but in the future I may want it to. Hopefully the tech support will fix these problems in the future.
Or should I just wait for this new Pansat HD that is supposed to be coming? Saw something on that on the web, a true=HD capable mpeg receiver (500bucks)
charles

 

[dougruss]

Been happy with my Fortec Star " Mercury II " . No problems at all ! :up

 

[voomvoom]

I'll put in a Good Word for the Pansat 3500 and the Coolsat 5000. Both are excellent receivers. Good Luck on your choice!

Al

 

[1inabillion]

CoolSat5K works great for me.

 

[drhydro]

Pansat 2700a and my mercury II both work fine

 

[Inno]

Although I haven't used it a whole lot, the Pansat 3500SD I have seems to be trouble/glitch free.

 

[turbosat]

Thanks for the info everybody! If NASA hadn't switched to digital I might not have gotten a receiver even now, but I'm glad I did, it was the 2nd best thing I ever bought.
Surely the equipment will only get better as the hobby grows.
charles

 

[SatinKzo]

I had no issues with my Fortec Merc II, didn't use my CS5k much to have a real opinion. I really like my Pansat 3500SD after I got all the lingering hackware off it. It works just as well as my merc II did with good motor control and it plays MP3's!

 

[turbosat]

Satinkzo, I have looked at the 3500, but Im not going to try one off ebay , as I dont have all the skills I would need to 'clean up' bad firmware. I'd just like to have one for the AC-3 PBS channels, that works out of the box so I don't have to mess with trying to program 'upgrades' into for awhile. With this Ultra, even I can do that. Put the prog file frm viewsat on a usb-flashdrive and plug it into the receiver, hehe.
They just havent put out a new prog file yet to fix what don't work on mine.
charles

 

[Mr Tony]

Coolsat 5000 works fine here

 

[SatinKzo]

Satinkzo, I have looked at the 3500, but Im not going to try one off ebay , as I dont have all the skills I would need to 'clean up' bad firmware. I'd just like to have one for the AC-3 PBS channels, that works out of the box so I don't have to mess with trying to program 'upgrades' into for awhile. With this Ultra, even I can do that. Put the prog file frm viewsat on a usb-flashdrive and plug it into the receiver, hehe.
They just havent put out a new prog file yet to fix what don't work on mine.
charles

Well, I'm sure if you buy a 3500 from a dealer it'll be just fine out of the box. Honestly, if the 3500 had a 40 pin port on the board, it's as easy as loading the a normal software update. The ones without the port require a little soldering, but nothing that is intimidating unless you have not done it before.

But for the price of a new box from a dealer, I would recommend a merc II.

 

[turbosat]

Thanks Satinkzo. And Iceberg-coolsat 5k seems to be one of the most popular on this and sev other forums I've read. Sounds like a tossup between it and the pansat brands.
charles

 

[Mr Tony]

turbo
I've used a fair amount of recievers in my time. Check the reviews section

 

[vfrjim]

Coolsat 5000 here, no problem.

 

[kstuart]

So far, absolutely no problems with my Fortec Mercury II, although I don't use a motor.
It locks onto channels/signals more quickly than what I see described in most of the older threads - perhaps that is a characteristic of all the newer receivers.

 

[mastermesh]

I'll give the 3500 another vote!

 

[neil_kc1]

I also vote for the Pansas 3500 sd. The only problem I have run into is a problem switching between ac-3 audio and mpeg audio. When the channels are side by side on the same satellite it sometime locks up. I have to power down the receiver and back on to clear it up. As far as upgrading the software it is a cinch. I just downloaded updated software for my first time and had absolutely no problems. I have used a fortec and a satwork before but the pansat is by far my favorite

 

[Dave C]

Love my Coolsat 5000. Works flawless here

 

[brentb636]

Buzz Plus is a dynamo of an FTA box, but it has one serious flaw ( covered in Ice's review ). It still blindscans a huge freq range ( 11700-13200+) , so a user has to manually stop it at 12200 and restart on the other polarity. It's my favorite and most dependable box so far.
BUZZ Plus
Merc II
ExtremeView Magnum

 

[turbosat]

Thanks I appreciate all the replies. Pansat seems to be the most popular then followed by coolsat. This ULtra is nice, few minor things besides the AC3 not working, maybe they will fix that soon. I was told today that software fixes come from Korea for this Viewsat.
charles