Selectv - which decoder?

[deang001]

Hello to all.

This is my first post on the forum after stumbling across it while looking for information regarding selectv stb choices. I like the idea of select as you use your own equipment and its $35 per month for most of the channels we could want.

I would like some peoples opinions on which decoder they think I should get. My aim is to get the highest grade PQ as I can from Selectv.

Our current set up is a 50" Fuji with a LG 5402p attached to it for FTA which I'm really happy with.

This is where I get a little confused as to what to do next. I have seen this bundle available which seems like great value for $149:

http://www.kristalelectronics.com/product_info.php?cPath=39&products_id=129

I understand I can get component video to output from the box but from what I have read some are better than others and some are powered etc. Could someone point me in the right direction as to the best adapter/cable I need to get from scart to component to the plasma? I already have very good component cables and want to get the best PQ I can.

Being a straight sat receiver it wont do FTA channels so I would have to switch to the LG for this. My other choice for ease of use is a combination box that does both terrestrial and sat.

The Mediastar seems to be a popular choice and I have checked out this one

http://www.madelectronics.com.au/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=7&products_id=46

They do PVR's as well but I'm not sure I actually need a recording function. This model also has no straight component output so I will still need an adapter.

I have also seen this bundle which seems like great value but cant find many users thoughts on it: has no digital audio but that is ok.

http://www.phoenixtelevision.com.au/specials.php?product_id=262

I am swaying towards just getting the normal new Select badged Aurion box and letting the LG handle FTA but not sure if the PQ is good or not and have to work out which adapter I need to output component. Then there is also the "ease of use" issue of having all the channels on one box but no HD.

I also would like to be able to play Select in our bedroom when we are not using it in the lounge - is this a possibility?

Any help for a sat newbee to further my research and options would be very much appreciated.

Thank you,

Dean

[mobsta]

If you want to put the select in your bedroom than make sure you get a decoder box with a modulator built in. This way you can set the output channel to whatever you need. Being in adelaide you probably will have alot of spare UHF channels to tune it in on as your main chs are VHF. Make sure you are always at least 2 channels apart from any other UHF frequency. This will stop co-channel interference. So you take the coax from the 21-69 UHF output of the decoder box and run it either directly to the telly in the bedroom or to ya splitter whereva that is. put your lead in cable from the antenna and the cable from the settop box into a diplexer then go from the out on the diplexer back into the in of the splitter.(alternatively if you cant get a diplexer you could use a 2 way splitter and turn the outs to ins and the in to an out) A simple set up just using UHF analogue pal frequency. Its effective and it works but as i say its only an analogue picture not a high quality one. But you probably dont need that if its just for the bedroom. Also with the dilemma of the Select box you can get many scart connections. Scart(which is RGB) - Scart, Scart - Rca(composite), Scart to component(your red green blue) etc. Scart is pretty good. as is component.The best is HDMI. You could also use Svideo as well if the decoder box has a svid output. But best available would be component or RGB not many boxes would have HDMI. Remember these are only for picture. You will need either a Digital optical or digital coax for best audio output so look for that on the box also and your TV. other wise just use analogue stereo which is RED WHITE. everything works with that. Hope that helps Dean. UHF Channels in adelaide are 28 (SBS analogue) 31 (CTV analogue) and 33 (SBS digital) the rest are VHF. You may have to play with the channels to get it correctas there are a few translators around in the foothills that transmit all UHF frequency.Once you have set the output channel in the menu of the box you buy go tune in one your tv in the bedroom as you would with any other analogue FTA channel. Trial and error mate.

[deang001]

Thanks for the reply.

The method you have suggested for getting Select into the bedroom seems fine. Does this mean I would be able to watch two different channels at once in the lounge and bedroom simultaneously?

I will try and stick to component for the connection into the Fujitsu as it would be the most cost effective.

The STRONG SRT 4658X has component out and is very well priced at around $120 which is what I'm kind of leaning towards.

Second choice would be the Phoenix 3600C Selectv Combo Receiver bundle at $250 that includes a FTA tuner as well.

Do these seem like good choices? Its hard to find much feedback on them.

I also have to bear in mind which ones would be the easiest to set up. I suppose the Select branded Aurion would be the easiest.

Cheers,

Dean

[big mick000]

4658x is recommended.by me anyway. with the method described above to run into the bedroom, means they can both only watch whatever channel the box is on.

[deang001]

I'm leaning towards the Strong BigMick. Did you find it easy to set up and the PQ ok?

Is any one here using the Phoenix 3600C with selectv?

[big mick000]

pq is brilliant here, setup is easy as. irdeto 2 works well too, but select cards may work different to aurora cards. tuner/signal is good too.

[deang001]

I have consulted the missus and she really wants to go the Phoenix 3600c way for the ease of use. I will probably order one of these as I cant really find any bad things about them and they seem reasonably priced.

[Colin 2905]

Our current set up is a 50" Fuji

On a 50" screen, some (perhaps most) of the channels aren't going to look all that good, unless you sit far enough back from the screen (a variation on, "keep drinking until she looks pretty"). Also, the only channels that are widescreen are Movie One / Two, Movie Extra, Nat Geo, Ovation (sit waaaay back) and Sky Racing.

It doesn't matter how good a satellite STB and component cables you have, nothing can compensate for lack of bit rate. The larger the screen and/or the closer you sit to it, the more this will become apparent.

That said, the movie channels when viewed on a 42" Panasonic plasma at ~ 3m generally look OK.

[deang001]

Thanks for that Colin. Would it be the same PQ as fox? I have seen fox on my friends 50" pana and while not great it looked ok.

For $1 a day it cant be all that bad. lol

[hohum]

Select ok for the first month then one gets the shits with repeats after repeats.
There are some very dated shows, eg 5th Gear from 2003 to 2005, in fact the car shows are pathetically old.

[Colin 2905]

Would it be the same PQ as fox? I have seen fox on my friends 50" pana and while not great it looked ok.



I've never had Fuchstel, and at their current prices, I'm never likely to either (and I'm entitled to a discount). I've seen it at other people's places, but only on small-ish screens.

For $1 a day it cant be all that bad.

With no contracts, at least you can always cancel at any time.

[deang001]

I have read a fair few of the threads now and there is so much to digest. Just started out trying to find a box for Select but the whole sat caper has got me a bit intrigued. Seems like a great hobby and quite addictive. I used to be into all things A/V and computers in a big way but have sort of slowed down in the last year or two. This might rekindle the spark.

With regards to Select, the only channel that really interests me is Bloomberg. CNN & BBC would be great as well. I have been trying to trade FX, gold and oil at night over the last year so Bloomberg would be a big bonus for me. At the moment I spend $30 a month on an internet subscription for my trading that the Bloomberg channel would give me anyway and more. We would also enjoy watching the Nat Geo, Discovery science etc.

From what I have gathered Selectv transmit with even lower bit rate than Fox?? Nothing will really give me the PQ I'm looking for I think, especially since I have gone to so much trouble in the past calibrating my Fuji and Panna and all their associated components. I think I should see Selectv for what it is, and that is a low cost bonus that will give me some great news channels and not expect too much in the way of PQ.

On that assumption it would seem keeping the terrestrial and sat boxes separate might be the way to go but I know this would bug my girlfriend as she is a major channel flicker and seems to watch 4 shows at the same time. Not sure how she will cope with 30. :confused:

I keep seeing excellent references to the Strong boxes but not too many concerning the Phoenix 3600c. I have learned a lot from this forum over the last couple of days and I think it would be worth reading a bit more before jumping in and maybe getting the wrong box & setup. My head says Strong but I'm still swaying to the Phoenix.

I'm hoping someone could comment on my next crazy thought and whether it is feasible or not. Because we do either watch TV in the lounge or the bedroom for long periods of time (br setup is overboard - plasma, surround & sub, Dennon 2805, Oppo DVD etc) is it possible to have two boxes wired properly coming off the sat and simply transfer the card from box to box when we watch it in either room? Is it easy as this or does it have to rescan each time?

Thanks to all for your time.

Cheers,

Dean

[aaptaapt]

ARION AF-3330 is a good decoder



http://www.simtech.net.au/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=33&osCsid=r4v8okqdd7j9m4b2lajn48hgl5

[big mick000]

Bloomberg is available off AsiaSat3s as a free service, but will require a c-band dish, lnb and setup. with the c-band, you will also be able to view BBC world off intelsat 8 c-band.

[deang001]

How big are the c-band dishes big mick?

Can I use the same dish for select and another FTA service?

here's where the addiction starts. LOL

[Colin 2905]

is it possible to have two boxes wired properly coming off the sat and simply transfer the card from box to box when we watch it in either room?

Yes. Because the transponders in question are all of the same polarity (horizontal in this case), you could get away with a single output LNBF and a splitter, or a loop-through from the first box (although that may present other issues, depending on the boxes). But I'd still go with a twin output LNBF.

Is it easy as this or does it have to rescan each time?

Unless you have a provider box where "standby" really means 99.99% on, you'll have to wait a few moments each time you turn the box on anyway, so there's no real difference.

[deang001]

Cheers for that Colin, gives yet another option.

I have rang the guys who supply the Phoenix box and they say its a brand new shipment just in. The box now outputs component which is a bonus. No digital audio though. From the little user info I have managed to gather regarding the box people seem to be fine with it which the channel changes being quick and the build quality being adequate.

I will probably order it soon and test it out just with the digital tuner at first until I get my sat & select sorted out and post some initial thoughts on it.

[deang001]

I ended up going for the Mediastar DW-8022 HDMI PVR plus the sat, card, coax etc from Mediastar.Should get the box by Friday and have Select up and running by end of next week.

Will run it into my plasma via HDMI and have a play with the resolutions and PQ settings. It will be interesting seeing what difference the upscaling makes compared to one that doesn't. Not expecting too much but there must be some improvement. Will also be interesting putting it up against my friends Fox IQ box over component into a similar monitor as mine. Not sure what I will get for the bedroom but it wont be anything as fancy.

The guy I spoke to said you have to be careful which box you get and that it should be irdeto certified which the 8022 is (for updating over the air??? not exactly sure on what he was saying here). The other box he suggested for Selectv was a custom Dipizia box they do.

Cant wait to get it and try it out. :D

Cheers,

Dean

[sid nottonly]

Hello to all.

This is my first post on the forum after stumbling across it while looking for information regarding selectv stb choices. I like the idea of select as you use your own equipment and its $35 per month for most of the channels we could want.

I would like some peoples opinions on which decoder they think I should get. My aim is to get the highest grade PQ as I can from Selectv.

Our current set up is a 50" Fuji with a LG 5402p attached to it for FTA which I'm really happy with.

This is where I get a little confused as to what to do next. I have seen this bundle available which seems like great value for $149:

http://www.kristalelectronics.com/product_info.php?cPath=39&products_id=129

I understand I can get component video to output from the box but from what I have read some are better than others and some are powered etc. Could someone point me in the right direction as to the best adapter/cable I need to get from scart to component to the plasma? I already have very good component cables and want to get the best PQ I can.

Being a straight sat receiver it wont do FTA channels so I would have to switch to the LG for this. My other choice for ease of use is a combination box that does both terrestrial and sat.

The Mediastar seems to be a popular choice and I have checked out this one

http://www.madelectronics.com.au/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=7&products_id=46

They do PVR's as well but I'm not sure I actually need a recording function. This model also has no straight component output so I will still need an adapter.

I have also seen this bundle which seems like great value but cant find many users thoughts on it: has no digital audio but that is ok.

http://www.phoenixtelevision.com.au/specials.php?product_id=262

I am swaying towards just getting the normal new Select badged Aurion box and letting the LG handle FTA but not sure if the PQ is good or not and have to work out which adapter I need to output component. Then there is also the "ease of use" issue of having all the channels on one box but no HD.

I also would like to be able to play Select in our bedroom when we are not using it in the lounge - is this a possibility?

Any help for a sat newbee to further my research and options would be very much appreciated.

Thank you,

Dean

How come they have'nt been busted for not free to air Parky?

[deang001]

What do you mean?

[Keepleft]

The mediastar PVR's are fine, remember though those that also do terrestrial reception, do not tune-in the dedicated terrestrial HD services.

They will load, but going to the HD channel shows the message 'Not Supported'. Eg is TENS HD.

Outside that, they are good boxes those Mediastars.

Time will see HD versions of both bands in PVR.

[deang001]

Well, I have the box now and have set it up only with terrestrial as my sat for Selectv hasn't been set up yet. I have posted some initual thoughts below. i'm no reviewer so just take it for what it is, just some impressions.

Set it up over HDMI into a Fujitsu 50As. I have set the HDMI in the 8022 to upscale 1080i - haven't tried 720p yet. All outputs work simultaneously as well.

Got to say I'm very impressed so far. Since this does not have HD tuners I have compared the PQ with the SD tuners on my other STB, which is a HD LG. There is little or no difference at all between the two boxes with both giving excellent PQ. There really is not that much difference between SD and HD most of the time anyway with very little in the way of quality HD programing.

Something the 8022 has in it favour is that you can adjust the colour settings when in HDMI by pressing the "OK" button, bringing up the channels and the pressing the "Blue" button (HDMI colour adjust). Your options here are Brightness, Contrast, saturation, Hue and Sharpness - pretty cool. Have toned down a couple of the settings but haven't gone to far with it yet. Will try and set this up later with some happy medium but its never perfect due to the variability of programs and broadcasting. Live stuff like the morning show etc looked great and no real difference to its corresponding HD option.

At this point you can also press the "Yellow" button (Mosaic) and have up to 16 channels on the screen at once. They are all static images of the channels except for the one that is highlighted that is live with sound. There is about a two second delay when toggling between the images (channels). Very nice touch when you want to preview whats on all the channels.

Channel changing seems very quick, just as quick as my LG, Teac & Thomson boxes.

The menu system is a delight to use. Very straight forward, logical with nice icons. No need to go any where near the manual as its very intuitive. 6 parts to the menu system all with sub menus 1.Search Channels, 2.Add/edid, 3.User Prefs, 4.Extras, 5.Conditional Access, 6.HDD.

Recording is very straight forward by just pressing record and stop etc. I haven't tried to timer record yet. Very simple to get to your recorded programs - just press PVR button and choose what you want to watch. You can record straight from the epg as well for programs in the future. The program when recorded is named from the epg as well. With my LG and MCE setup I never record in HD anyway so the lack of HD in this respect is no problem. Has an instant replay function and the skip interval can be adjusted (10sec, 20sec, 30sec, & then in min intervals.) x1,x2,X4,X8 for rewind speed and x2,x4,x8,x16 for fast forward.

The editing out of commercials is extremely easy with the push of a couple of buttons. This is the most straight forward and easy I have seen it, especially compared to my LG. It is super fast as well. Awesome function.

The remote control seems fine and well laid out. The important buttons that are used all the time ar right near your thumb at the centre of the remote. The PVR functions are at the bottom of the remote. It doesn't seem to be back lit or glow. It is a universal remote but I haven't checked this function out yet. Not sure if it does macros or not.

I will post more thoughts on it as I go on if anyone is interested. I must say it has exceeded my expectations so far in terms of ease of use, PQ and features. I'm pretty sure this is a relatively new model but it doesn't seem to have any issues that I'm aware of so far - just works straight out of the box. So far with just terrestrial I am very pleased. will be interested to see what the selectv channels look like upscaled compared to the DXT-600 I have also ordered. The service from MediaStar seems great as well - guy who delivered it is always there to help and the box has a help number on it that goes to Sydney which I used when setting it up - got through straight away and he was extremely helpful and chatty - huge plus.

Cheers,

Dean

[deang001]

Been fiddling with the colours and came up with some pretty good settings in the end. The unit seemed to crush whites a lot but have compensated with the colour adjustments on my TV and on the 8022. Settled on brightness +6, Contrast -7, Saturation -5, Hue 0 and sharpness +2 for the 8022. Pretty happy with the PQ but it is not as good as my LG. The 8022 still has deinterlacing issues compared to the LG but overall I am happy with the unit - especially its functionality and would recommend it highly.

[tabcom]

If you have 2 receivers as you are suggesting and both are definately capable of accepting and updating the card there should be no problem with swapping them between boxes other than the physical wear on the connectors. C band dishes in general start at about 1.5 ~ 1.8 Metres for the solid variety and 2.3 metres for the mesh type. Of course you can get bigger in either type. Mesh dishes tend to be lighter and are able to be motorised with reasonably priced actuators. The bigger and heavier the dish, the bigger and stronger the extra hardware needs to be to accommodate it. The Arion system mentioned above is a SelecTV preferred STB but the software installed does limit its ability to be used as a good all rounder in the FTA stakes. Some functions are limited or disabled in line with the licencing agreements between manufacturer and service provider. I have tried unsucessfully to get the Arion to accept hidden pids for example even though the menu system allows for creation of user channels with Pid input. It saves all the info but still doesn't allow reception of the channel.

[deang001]

Hey Tabcom. Thinking about putting up a C band dish but going to keep researching for a while before I do anything. I think I would probably opt for the solid variety dish as it smaller. I think the swapping between boxes should work ok for what we need it for. I have just received the the mediastar DXT-600 and will set it up soon. I don't think it has any colour adjustment so hopefully it will be fine out of the box. The 8022 has been fine so far with the exception of slight deinterlacing issues. The recording and playback features are great. As good as the 8022 is with SD it still is a fair bit behind the LG doing SD - but the LG can't do sat as well :D

[big mick000]

in my opinion, a mesh would be a better choice for c-band, as it is lighter, has less wind resistance and as a result of this it is easier to set up and use. on c-band, solid is only slightly more efficient than mesh, but if you are using a c-band and ku-band lnb on the big dish, then a solid would offer much better ku-band quality. just my two cents worth, but its up to you.

[bassett]

in my opinion, a mesh would be a better choice for c-band, as it is lighter, has less wind resistance and as a result of this it is easier to set up and use. on c-band, solid is only slightly more efficient than mesh, but if you are using a c-band and ku-band lnb on the big dish, then a solid would offer much better ku-band quality. just my two cents worth, but its up to you.


Total rubbish,, Where do you get these hair brained ideas from, Nothing beats a solid dish, NOTHING.

Most of the mesh dishes I have seen, or had the misfortune to set-up, are cheap, poor designed excuses for a dish. Unless your going into a Bobbin system [look that up in your little book Mick, then you might be half-way into understanding dish technology] of construction, with a couple of hundred nuts and bolts, and a couple of thousand pop-rivets.

And after all the mesh panels are glued on, then cover strips are pip-riveted over the top, the things are still unstable and flex all over the place.

Now look at the mount, the things are no better then "dog" food tins, Cheap pressed metal efforts. A probably constructed mount, will NOT move regardless of wind. just ask Jim in Taiwan, about cheap designed dishes and mounts. during the cyclone season, he spends more time replacing his oppositions, cheap excuses for dishes with the correct gear. And his solid stuff doesn't move, shift, or blow-away , That's why he was voted installer of the year [the cheques in the mail]

The problem is people buy this cheap shit, thinking how wonderful it is, because people like you, tell them it's better, and only a tenth or the price of a proper constructed dish. Then when it blows away, or destroys itself, they blame the poor bloody installer, for selling them rubbish

As for performance, a 2.4 solid is the equivalent of a 3 meter mesh. ask yourself why that is.

[big mick000]

you're still just as polite and sensible as ever, bassett.

read it fleabag.

"in my opinion".

i also stated that a solid is more efficient than mesh.

i was also stating that they are easier to set up as "they are lighter and have less wind resistance and as a result are easier to set up".

i was trying to make it easier for our friend here, to get his c-band system going.

why don't you go back to school, learn to comprehend what you are reading, get a life, and stop trying to be better than everyone else.

by the way, he's not in a typhoon/cyclone area is he? adelaide is far from being a tropical typhoon area.

[deang001]

Thanks for the advice. My parents have the bigger mesh variety and they have had no problems yet after a few years. They have recently had a problem with the motor seizing up however. It might have something to do with the fact that the sat never gets moved from RAI. :) It was only until I went over there and tried to watch Bloomberg that we noticed there was a problem. I am going to contact Rod from Mediastar to go and have a look at it for them after he sets up my Selectv next Tuesday. We are going to do a quick job just mounting the sat and then just feeding the coax through the window. I will get it done properly through the ceiling when my friend returns from interstate as we will run some more cat5 cables and speaker wire at the same time. I am going to run extra coax as well just in case.

So far things have gone well with my goal of getting the best PQ I can from Sat. Once the Select is on line I will be able to tell the difference as my mate has the Arion box and we are going to do some comparisons with the 8022 upscalling over HDMI.

I had another idea for the bedroom setup instead of swapping the card from box to box is using component video baluns with cat5 between them with the 8022. Im pretty sure this would work as the 8022 outputs all work at the same time. Just got to work out the remote side of it but I think it can be done through coax - I'm not really convinced with IR yet as we just have some many other devices in the house. Speaking of remotes I was unable to get my logitech remote to work with the 8022 but its always the same - few emails back and forth and they will get it working.

Does anyone have any links they could point me too in relation to learning more about the possibilities I have with the FTA sat? Have the weekend to do some research. Have googled a bit of info already but I'm sure there are some hidden gems around. Once again thank you for your kind time as its all a one way street at the moment but hopefully in time I can help others.

[bassett]

you're still just as polite and sensible as ever, bassett.

read it fleabag.

"in my opinion".

i also stated that a solid is more efficient than mesh.

i was also stating that they are easier to set up as "they are lighter and have less wind resistance and as a result are easier to set up".

i was trying to make it easier for our friend here, to get his c-band system going.

why don't you go back to school, learn to comprehend what you are reading, get a life, and stop trying to be better than everyone else.

by the way, he's not in a typhoon/cyclone area is he? adelaide is far from being a tropical typhoon area.

More idiot comments from the boy wonder..

And for the record you better tells Jim, He's moved to Adalaide, He still thinks he's living with his family in Taiwan.

O' it justs gets better and better

[big mick000]

at least i'm trying to help another member, rather than trying to get the better of somebody who is just trying to learn. now, go take your chill pills, calm down, and return with a friendlier attitude. nobody likes a grumpy little tryhard. for an extra bit of mental improvement i suggest you take a little holiday to the nice hotel with padded walls.