3 Attachment(s)
No Name China Box 2015 Version
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New NOVATEK chipset HD DVB-S2 FTA satellite receiver compatible DVB-S MPEG-4 BISS
Here is my review on the new 2015 No Name Box from China I bought off of Ebay for about $35 or so.
I wasn't able to include all of the screen pics I wanted, but I did include the main important ones that I hope you can see; I will try to post a pic of the remote a little later.
I was rather impressed overall with this little receiver, for starters, it booted straight up to HDMI! No having to hook it up to an old TV to make changes. The remote is small, but the buttons are responsive although a bit stiff from the factory with that nice chemical smell.
The menu screens and sub-menu screens are all there, very similar to my Manhattan 1997 receiver; the problem is that you do have to self navigate yourself around to get to the setting or sub-menu you are looking for. I am used to exploring deep into menu's and settings, so it was no big deal for me. It will take patience and time to learn where all the settings are and how to get to some of them, the screen will show you which colored button will do what.
The satellite list is primarily for Europe and the Atlantic Coast, the highest satellite listing is 60W, before going into East.
**There is NO Preloaded TP'S! You must blind scan in everything from scratch, or manually enter in the TP with the TP Editor to get a signal.
The USALS and Diseqc does work for the US......kind of. It's my major complaint against this unit. I was able to blind scan in 58W and 57W with USALS, which brought in a BUNCH of channels that I could not receive before on my other receiver; which makes me believe it has a very sensitive tuner. For whatever reason, the receiver can remember ALL of the settings and changes you have entered into the receiver, but it can NOT remember the USALS settings you just entered for a satellite listing; except for 58W and 55W. It can remember the USALS setting for those two, but none of the others. As soon as you put in USALS for a satellite, it goes back to the default setting of NONE in the menu. You can change the existing satellite listings to the ones you want for the US, and even add new ones, but the receiver will NOT remember your USALS settings for those listings; the same applies to Diseqc. I have tried everything I can think of like rebooting the receiver, but it will not remember the USALS settings for a satellite listing, it WILL remember your coordinates that you entered into USALS menu however. Go figure! I don't know. The only way to fix this problem is with a FW update, and I do not know where to get one of those, the seller says he will email one to me, but who knows??
**There is NO Dish Moving Message! When you change satellites with USALS, you typically do not see any message or warning the dish is moving, you just have to trust that it is; at least for the two satellites it would move it to.
**You CAN backup the receivers data onto a USB Flashdrive, so you can post that data or whatever here on the forum if you wish. Maybe a computer guy can dig into the data and fix the receivers USALS/Disecq issue.
Since the USALS/Disecq motor settings don't work very well, the receiver is probably best only for a non-motorized dish, once you know the TP info, just add or change a satellite listing to the one that you want, enter the valid TP into the receiver and do a blind scan; which it does very well actually not too long at all.
The Radio part does work, but since I was only able to blind scan in two satellites successfully, I was not able to check out the Dolby or the other audio codec's some of you have asked about. But I was able to hear all of the TV channels on two satellites I could bring in, although the volume keeps defaulting back to 5 or 6 each time you change channels.
**You are NOT able to directly change satellites from the remote, you have to go to the top of the channel list with the Blue Button to change satellites, but since it keeps defaulting all of your satellites back to NONE for USALS, your dish will not go anwhere, except back to 58W.
I am using a Stab 120 motor with a GeoSatPro 1.2M Dish, which the receiver can move just fine.
I will keep this little receiver since I can't send it back to China very well, I have ordered a Skybox F5S with a Sharp Tuner for my C-Band Dish in the meantime.
I did not try to record with this receiver from the USB Port, after I saw that it wasn't going to move my dish with the exception of two satellites stored in memory, I didn't want to go much further with trying to use it.
You do have to enter the date and time manually, there is no internet port to keep the time and date accurate.
If the seller can come through with emailing me a FW update that will fix the USALS motor problems, I will probably keep using the receiver, as I do like how well it brings in the hard to get channels.
For those of you that do not use a dish motor, you should like this receiver as it does put out a beautiful HD picture, you just have to manually jump through some extra hoops with adding or changing an existing European satellite listing for a US one, manually entering in a known good TP, and do a blind scan. This would probably work well with 99W C-Band. I did not try Ku Band on this receiver, it's kind of pointless with a non-functional motor control, and both of my dishes are motorized. I would guess this receiver would bring in Ku Band channels really well, just has to be a non-motorized until the FW gets fixed.
I hope this helps. :-)