Sonicview 8000hd

[wildbill]

I have owned one and love the features the down side is heating. Placed a 5" quiet fan on top and keeps the receiver cool. It is connected to a outside antenna for OTA channels and 6 LNBF's both "C" and "KU" band. We watch a lot of FTA programming on PBS G10r ku and other satellites. It needs to be noted that a lot of services use AC3 audio now and the receiver has that. In the years I have had the receiver have got a lot of value from it. There is a power supply upgrade but have not needed it with the fan on top.

[Guest]

Good to hear, not all receivers last that long. Just curious, what size dishes are you using?

[wildbill]

8' "C" "KU", 36" KU, 30" KU, 20" KU , 18" KU and will be adding a 6' KU dish for testing. I have a mounting ring from a "C" band dish and solid 6' solid prime focus microwave dish assembly will happen as weather permits out side.
My 8' dish drives 3 different receivers. 4DTV , DSR4200 and DBS.


Good to hear, not all receivers last that long. Just curious, what size dishes are you using?

[Guest]

Nice little dish farm, almost sounds identical to mine. How you making out with the sonicview and s2 channels on c band?

[wildbill]

I have not found any that can not watch except digicypher. I purchased receiver used and came with 8K card. PBS KU feeds are a little strange as I have to turn off 8K card to watch a couple of channels ? Tried to rescan and did not change. The interesting point about receiver is can tell on OTA channels who is cheating. Shows the DPI and a lot are running 720 dpi rather then 1080 dpi. Nasa hd is 720 dpi. I do not have room for a computer to receive multiple formats so my 3 receivers will have to work.

[Guest]

That sounds a bit odd for the PBS channels. Is your module 8psk or maybe turbo 8psk which was being used for provider hd channels like dish network and bell.

[wildbill]

It is the 8K turbo board that is a add on to receiver. Not a big deal I just turn it off. Most of the now used 8000 receivers have the 8K board. That is what got Sonicview in trouble and LAN adapter. That may be why they discontinued receiver pressure from Dish net ? the used price stays up about $200 or so

[el bandido]

I really enjoyed the 360 Elite so I can understand why you like Sonicview. The 8000 was made more for receiving Dishnet than it was for receiving fta. This is why some of its features do not work too well on the free channels.
Sonicview was also involved in a lawsuit with Dishnet. I think the 8000 is still used by some to get illegal programming and that is why the price is still high on these receivers. EB

[rrob311]

It was my first receiver and it has a decent blind scan but somewhat of a deaf tuner. I found many a news feed with it when I was first getting started.

[wildbill]

I use it mostly on PBS feeds. Good general purpose receiver.