Satbum.
05-30-2008, 02:49 PM
SV Max2000 Review
May I start by saying thanks to Skyview and others that have given me the opportunity to test this new receiver.
The receiver was received in good condition and was properly packaged to protect the parts inside the box. The first thing I noticed was that this receiver was larger and heavier than the previous SV-P1000. All the standard accessories were included i.e. manual, remote control (RCU) with batteries, A/V cable (RCA to RCA), null modem serial cable and Skyview 4X1 DiSEqC switch. I noticed that the RCU was fairly small and compact. I personally prefer one a little larger with bigger buttons for my fat fingers.
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee144/Satbum/Skyview%20Max2000%20PVR/SkyviewMax2000PVR009.jpg
Note about RCU: My battery died on me within 2 ½ weeks. I do not know if this is from the receiver system draining the power because all of my motor function controls or the batteries were weak to start with. I am mentioning this to save you the frustration of trying to figure out that problem. I suggest at the first sign of remote issues to check your batteries.
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee144/Satbum/Skyview%20Max2000%20PVR/SkyviewMax2000PVR003.jpg
One thing I noticed was a place for a Smart Card and found out that it is already installed and working. That can be handy for those that want to subscribe for any particular service later down the road or have other similar future needs.
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee144/Satbum/Skyview%20Max2000%20PVR/SkyviewMax2000PVR001-1.jpg
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee144/Satbum/Skyview%20Max2000%20PVR/SkyviewMax2000PVR002.jpg
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee144/Satbum/Skyview%20Max2000%20PVR/SkyviewMax2000PVR012.jpg
Before I get into my results, I just want to mention that my main testing interests of the different FTA receivers are geared towards the motorized dish setup. I have several motor and dish combos up and around my home, so this review unlike most will be about the results of that kind of setup.
The first thing to do was to setup the receiver. I set the Language to English and the receiver automatically goes through the time settings next.
The next requirement was to setup the receiver to be able to receive channels from various satellites. Since I was going to be using a motor setup, I decided on setting it up for 110W first. That made sense, since I knew that it was already set to that bird from my other receiver that I had been using at the time. This procedure is not as easy as with other receivers. You need to Activate or De-activate a particular satellite in order to set it up. That is different from most other receivers and is unique with the Skyview receivers. If I remember correctly, I recall the SV1000P was similar in design when setting it up.
When I was setting up 110W, I noticed that the signal did not indicate which satellite signal was being received. That is another issue that I had with this receiver especially since I am a motor user. I fortunately knew the where the dish was positioned from before. I ensured that the appropriate frequencies for the LNB & TP's were present. I also set the required switch settings before doing a sat scan.
I did the sat scan and it took about 2 1/2 minutes for that bird. That was an acceptable time and the result was 323 channels, which also is quite good. I did notice after I accepted the scan that my time which was set prior to the scan changed.
I suggest that you do the opposite when you set up your receivers. Do your sat scans first and then set your time for your area.
Note: I forgot to get a picture of the results for this 110W sat scan.
I was anxious to see the results with the motor control so I set up to go to 97W next.
I was a little unsure as to the proper motor settings of some features. When in question read the book, so I did. Guess what, there was no explanation to explain what I needed, so I guessed at it. I was able to work my way through the different features but found that the setting up for the sat scans and different motor functions were tedious with too many settings to follow through to accomplish the task at hand easily. The motor move function does not let you know if you are heading towards the East or the West, so you do not know what signal you are receiving when you do see an indication of a signal.
The DiSEqC 1.2 motor function would not move the motor, so I put it in USALS. That moved the motor but not accurately.I went outside, back in many different times to figure out the dish location.
I used the manual move while in the USALS move feature in order to move the motor and dish assy. Every time I did get what seemed like a signal it just disappeared.
I tried to lock-in the position for 97W but gave up after too many tries. That sat has a linear signal and can be tough to catch so under these circumstances, I decided to try for 119W next.
I set the proper sat settings for it first. Catching this bird also took quite a lot of trial and error to locate the signal with the motor control, but I did eventually did locate it. I did the sat scan and noticed that this one had longer scan duration. It took over 10 minutes with a total of 303 channels and 133 radio stations, which is a little shy of what I am used to. Again, I will consider these results are from the faulty motor control. I saved the new data and went straight to the guide to see what I actually downloaded. At this point, everything is scrambled of-course so I moved on to the next procedure.
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee144/Satbum/Skyview%20Max2000%20PVR/SkyviewMax2000PVR005.jpg
May I start by saying thanks to Skyview and others that have given me the opportunity to test this new receiver.
The receiver was received in good condition and was properly packaged to protect the parts inside the box. The first thing I noticed was that this receiver was larger and heavier than the previous SV-P1000. All the standard accessories were included i.e. manual, remote control (RCU) with batteries, A/V cable (RCA to RCA), null modem serial cable and Skyview 4X1 DiSEqC switch. I noticed that the RCU was fairly small and compact. I personally prefer one a little larger with bigger buttons for my fat fingers.
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee144/Satbum/Skyview%20Max2000%20PVR/SkyviewMax2000PVR009.jpg
Note about RCU: My battery died on me within 2 ½ weeks. I do not know if this is from the receiver system draining the power because all of my motor function controls or the batteries were weak to start with. I am mentioning this to save you the frustration of trying to figure out that problem. I suggest at the first sign of remote issues to check your batteries.
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee144/Satbum/Skyview%20Max2000%20PVR/SkyviewMax2000PVR003.jpg
One thing I noticed was a place for a Smart Card and found out that it is already installed and working. That can be handy for those that want to subscribe for any particular service later down the road or have other similar future needs.
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee144/Satbum/Skyview%20Max2000%20PVR/SkyviewMax2000PVR001-1.jpg
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee144/Satbum/Skyview%20Max2000%20PVR/SkyviewMax2000PVR002.jpg
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee144/Satbum/Skyview%20Max2000%20PVR/SkyviewMax2000PVR012.jpg
Before I get into my results, I just want to mention that my main testing interests of the different FTA receivers are geared towards the motorized dish setup. I have several motor and dish combos up and around my home, so this review unlike most will be about the results of that kind of setup.
The first thing to do was to setup the receiver. I set the Language to English and the receiver automatically goes through the time settings next.
The next requirement was to setup the receiver to be able to receive channels from various satellites. Since I was going to be using a motor setup, I decided on setting it up for 110W first. That made sense, since I knew that it was already set to that bird from my other receiver that I had been using at the time. This procedure is not as easy as with other receivers. You need to Activate or De-activate a particular satellite in order to set it up. That is different from most other receivers and is unique with the Skyview receivers. If I remember correctly, I recall the SV1000P was similar in design when setting it up.
When I was setting up 110W, I noticed that the signal did not indicate which satellite signal was being received. That is another issue that I had with this receiver especially since I am a motor user. I fortunately knew the where the dish was positioned from before. I ensured that the appropriate frequencies for the LNB & TP's were present. I also set the required switch settings before doing a sat scan.
I did the sat scan and it took about 2 1/2 minutes for that bird. That was an acceptable time and the result was 323 channels, which also is quite good. I did notice after I accepted the scan that my time which was set prior to the scan changed.
I suggest that you do the opposite when you set up your receivers. Do your sat scans first and then set your time for your area.
Note: I forgot to get a picture of the results for this 110W sat scan.
I was anxious to see the results with the motor control so I set up to go to 97W next.
I was a little unsure as to the proper motor settings of some features. When in question read the book, so I did. Guess what, there was no explanation to explain what I needed, so I guessed at it. I was able to work my way through the different features but found that the setting up for the sat scans and different motor functions were tedious with too many settings to follow through to accomplish the task at hand easily. The motor move function does not let you know if you are heading towards the East or the West, so you do not know what signal you are receiving when you do see an indication of a signal.
The DiSEqC 1.2 motor function would not move the motor, so I put it in USALS. That moved the motor but not accurately.I went outside, back in many different times to figure out the dish location.
I used the manual move while in the USALS move feature in order to move the motor and dish assy. Every time I did get what seemed like a signal it just disappeared.
I tried to lock-in the position for 97W but gave up after too many tries. That sat has a linear signal and can be tough to catch so under these circumstances, I decided to try for 119W next.
I set the proper sat settings for it first. Catching this bird also took quite a lot of trial and error to locate the signal with the motor control, but I did eventually did locate it. I did the sat scan and noticed that this one had longer scan duration. It took over 10 minutes with a total of 303 channels and 133 radio stations, which is a little shy of what I am used to. Again, I will consider these results are from the faulty motor control. I saved the new data and went straight to the guide to see what I actually downloaded. At this point, everything is scrambled of-course so I moved on to the next procedure.
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee144/Satbum/Skyview%20Max2000%20PVR/SkyviewMax2000PVR005.jpg