Coolsat 6100 private reviews

[grasshopper]

Again another Coolsat enters the market and leaves us with another stellar report. The Coolsat 6100 Digital Satellite Free To Air Receiver delivers unparalleled quality in a great free to air unit with the best support. The Coolsat Company now offer a full 5 years for all Coolsat products that including parts and labor. This is one more reason why Coolsat is number one.

One thing that I like about this receiver is AUTO SETUP, after you flashed your receiver with the latest bin. Do Factory reset, select your local time and hit AUTO DETECT button. it automatically detects how many sats you have and then sets it up for you. After it’s done with dish setting, it will automatically scan all the sats that you have. Remember, you don’t have to be a Pro to use this unit, it’ll save you a lot of headaches by not having to go through the Dish Settings like other receivers. Autoroll for DN & BEV within seconds.

Choosing a great receiver for home satellite TV viewing couldn't be easier with great products like the Coolsat 6100 Private. The 6100 Private model looks outstanding and is well worth checking out if you are upgrading from an older Coolsat model. The Coolsat 6100 is definitely one of the better quality machines around and is well worth the money. There are others in the price range that are good, but the Coolsat really shines.

Once again, a great all around basic free to air system for those who want to avoid shelling big dollars for newer fancier units. An outstanding performance and reliability history is definately one of the Coolsat 6000's strong points. We've always liked Coolsat products and it's nice to see the popularity of some of the older FTA units returning to the forefront based on past reliability and price. Definately a choice to be considered when looking for a great free to air system bargain.

Coolsat 6100 Private Specs Here
Coolsat 6100 Setup Guide Here

GH

[Satbum]

I would like to thank the Coolsat manufactures for making another well working receiver for our testing hobby.

This receiver was received in the regular packaging and included the User’s Manual, Remote Control, 2 each AAA size batteries, and a RCA Cable and 1 each DiSEqC 4-way Switch.

The receiver is Silver with a black face plate and about the same size as my CS5000. I don’t have anything newer than the CS5000 for a reference. The front has a cover that hides the USB port and the location where a Smart Card can be added in the future if needed. The remote is larger and heavier than the CS5000. I understand that is comparative if not the same as the Coolsat 7100.

The first thing to do when setting up the receiver is to put in the language and current time setting that you want to use. Then you load the factory V1.05 file which supposedly includes latest the up-to-date satellite information. Next you load the latest fix into your receiver. It is recommended that you re-set your receiver every time that you load a new file into your receiver. I do this before and after a new bin install.
This clears out any old residue of older files that may remain in the memory. It is like formatting and giving your receiver a fresh start.

There is a built-in auto set-up of for the switch set-up and frequencies of the transponders and LNB. I thought that was a really great feature for the new person trying to set-up the receiver or the person that can’t seem to remember their particular setup. I however could not use this feature but instead opted to do the manual setup, because I use the motor and that requires different settings that the receiver can’t possibly detect.

Make sure to correctly setup your new receiver and ensure all the proper frequencies to get your best scan or channel download possible.

In the beginning of setting up the motor I had a lot of trouble with the setup working or controlling the motor functions the way other receivers operate. I won’t go into all the trial and error of my experience in resolving the issues, but instead I will let you know what I discovered.

You use the DiSEqC setting to originally move or fine tune the motor location. Then, I found that you should leave it on the USALS setting after you fine tune your location. Next go do the channel or sat scan and save the results. That was the ticket that worked for me. Afterwards the motor worked as it should.

The interface was fairly user friendly to use. I found that there are 2 locations to do the sat / channel scan. If the wrong was used as in the Dish Settings and you are using the motor setup, then the scan won’t get saved. You use this for the stationary setup (I guess).

If you did the scan while in the Positioner Setting when you are using the motor setup, then your scan would get saved as well as that sat location.

One more note about the sat scans. They seem to take longer to complete than the previous Coolsat receivers that I have owned. This loner delay also includes the Auto Roll function.


In my opinion the video picture is pretty decent, but I’m easy to please as long as the picture looks clear and sharp.


I did notice a little audio sync problem and a few pixilation accruing. I can only hope that this will get fixed in future S/W additions.

I haven’t been able to get a full EPG and I have also noticed that the installed S/W does not seem to be as stable as the Coolsat’s previous bin files or other different files for various other receivers. I won’t mention names of other receivers because this is the review for the CS 6100 Private.

I found the front USB connection to work flawless for several key changes. Then all of a sudden the new keys were not changing in the receiver. I was waiting and waiting but to no avail. The receiver gave me all of the indications as if it was taking the softcam file and updating the keys, but I found out differently by hitting the 8282 and comparing the keys in the receiver with the new ones that I was trying to put into it.

I decided to use the CS 6100’s Format USB tool when discovering this new problem. You can find that in Utilities Section of your Menu. After reformatting the USB memory stick, reloading the keys into the receiver and waiting for duration of time, life was good again. All the channels were up and ready for viewing again.

If you need to update this receiver, there are some Data Transfer features that can save you a lot of time, work and frustration. I have not used it yet but by the looks of it you can transfer all of your current settings and channel listings into the USB storage for future usage.

I understand that this unit’s S/W is already setup to allow 5.1 Dolby Surround sound. I do not see that in the Manual, but I plan on playing around a little more to see if it is.

I also see that it has a MP3 Player, Image Viewer, Calendar, Calculator and a Game called “Cakepia” built into it as well. Most of these are nice features that I will be sure to use in the future.

My Opinion and Recommendation:
1- I find the Coolsat 6100 Private to be able to setup easily.
2- The EPG should be a little smaller to allow more to look at in the
OSD.
3- The OSD (on-screen display) and Menu are pretty good except
as already noted.
4- The picture quality set to default does not meet my preference,
but that is easily enough adjusted.
5- The picture quality is good for me, but most of that depends on
one’s satellite signal and the quality of the TV that they are using.

There is the S/W issue that needs addressing because of pixilation
that occurs.
6- The scanning needs to get better and quicker.
I rate this receiver an 8 with a scale of 1 through 10 and having 10 as the best overall possible score.

I need to do more testing with this receiver and hopefully will discover more positive than negative results. I would also recommend the purchasing of this receiver as is. I know that it can only get better with the more inevitable future improvements.

I do like the overall unit and expect that the Coolsat Family will provide more dependable software and features for us all to incorporate into this nice little unit.

[grasshopper]

Thanks Satbum for the review. It's a good STB receiver and also come with full 5 years warranty, no any other Brands offer you that kind of the warranty. Here is my review for the same model: http://www.abadss.com/forum/582-rece...at-6100-a.html

#1 choice for your next receiver.

GH