Dr Dish reviews the new vantage HD 8000 S

Why in heaven's name would you expect 4:2:2 capability in a consumer STB ?
It won't happen, except by a fortunate accident (as happened with the old QualiTV boxes).

Chris Muriel, working in Shanghai this week (normally Manchester)
 
No actually it is something they are looking at apparently and of course you want 4.2.2 in a comsumer STB as you call it !! It could happen time will tell
 
any idea when this is available in the U.K. and at what cost, have done a search but can't find anyone selling it just the 7100
 
I read that it costs about €350 and the Vantage software is bug ridden and lacks even some of the most basic features. Seems like one to avoid, although the front does look pretty with the alpha-numeric display and blue or red LEDs behind it. Pity.
 
AFAIK 4:2:2 is used for professional feeds alhough I have read that 5 regular broadcasters in the world use it for DTH
Whilst 4:2:2 may be required by DXers and those tracking feeds, as far as the mass-market consumer is concerned it's certainly not essential (and most will not be aware of it).

With reference to the review of the Vantage receiver by Dr.Dish and the comments made by Paddy C....
I used to read TeleSatellite magazine regularly years ago and then, as it seems now, almost all receivers tested had glowing reviews
 
I read that it costs about €350 and the Vantage software is bug ridden and lacks even some of the most basic features. Seems like one to avoid, although the front does look pretty with the alpha-numeric display and blue or red LEDs behind it. Pity.

No no this is the Vantage 7100S and it's more like nearer £400. The 8000 will have a rrp of 550 euro or £437 as I stated on the you tube video link if you go directly to the youtube page

I think people need to give Vantage a chance, it was the same with Manhatten receivers everyone said they were rubbish to be begin with but now they are highly respected, many new receivers have bugs they are not perfect like people, they'll get there

There is a now a new magazione from Dr Dish apparently

It's not the case Dr Dish always give glowing reviews at all IMO, if there is something wrong with the receiver ie like the long awaited Lyngbox they'll say so

4.2.2 is a sort after feature amoung satellite enthusiasts, more boradcasters use 4.2.2 than you might think
 
There is a now a new magazione from Dr Dish apparently

It's not the case Dr Dish always give glowing reviews at all IMO, if there is something wrong with the receiver ie like the long awaited Lyngbox they'll say so

4.2.2 is a sort after feature amoung satellite enthusiasts, more boradcasters use 4.2.2 than you might think

AFAIK the magazine is an online not a printed edition
http://www.drdish-tv.com/cont_magazine.html

4:2:2 may well be a sought after feature amongst enthusiasts but my point was that a large number (majority?) of the satellite viewing audience have never heard of and have no need of the feature.
Probably the reason why 4:2:2 isn't used for DTH is the high bandwidth cost
http://broadcastengineering.com/news/satellite-broadcast-technology/
 
Just buy any Dreambox and watch 4:2:2 via your PC using VLC.
 
4:2:2 is seldom if ever used for broadcast direct to homes - as it uses more bandwith than 4:2:0 which is the standard usually used (and also used by DVD, Bluray, HD-DVD, OTA Digital TV etc.) 4:2:0 has equal vertical and horizontal chroma resolution (ignoring some interlace issues), both are half that of the luminance resolution - whereas 4:2:2 has reduced horizontal chroma resolution, but vertical chroma resolution the same as the luma signal.

4:2:2 is used by broadcasters at higher datarates to backhaul live events from remote sites back to their broadcast centres, and also within studio and post-production environments, as it preserves a higher quality signal, which is important to ensure a high quality signal reaches us after a final 4:2:0 encode. Multiple 4:2:2 encode/decodes are friendlier to a video signal than concatenated 4:2:0 encode/decodes.

Broadcasters DO use 4:2:0 for some backhaul applications - such as news - where quality is less of an issue, and lower bandwith (i.e. lower cost) circuits are required.

Consumer STBs using consumer STB chipsets seldom include 4:2:2 capabilities as it is not a requirement in the consumer environment (as there is no consumer delivery system that uses it). It is useful for the enthusiast - and I suspect some low-end broadcasters would appreciate a cheap 4:2:2 receiver as well - but whilst most chipsets continue to be 4:2:0 in hardware this is a limitation that can't be easily worked around in a conventional receiver.

PCs and software based receivers that implement video decoding in software are able to decode 4:2:2 if they have the right codec support - which is why many enthusiasts also use a PC.
 
I'm looking for a HD PVR to record the Olympics overnight.
I have some questions on the Vantage series 8000 which I am considering for this.

1. Would you consider the software stable enough to do timed recordings from BBC HD? I've read about lots of bugs

2. I read somewhere there is a limitation on the kind of hard drive that you attach. Something to do with Fat32 format. Can someone explain this?

This is the drive I'm thinking of using
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Seagate-Fre...5?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1214150509&sr=1-5

3. Is the unit esata compatible? If not, is usb fast enough to record HD?


4. Once its recorded tv to an external hard drive, does the Vantage index and let you play back the recordings on the external drive?

Thanks in advance
 
Last edited:
— As an Amazon Associate, AVForums earns from qualifying purchases —
Mate pleae post this in my yahoo group I gave a link to

http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/vantagedigital/

19 members now...

I don't actually own a vantage yet but on the verge of buying the 8000 any time soon

The current 7100 firmware is apparently stable. Hopefully the 8000 will be an improvement with it's internal hdd option which has to be better than flacky USB connected drives
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom