Creative Genius Reviews the nFusion - ABA DSS

**creativegenius** · January 26th, 2008

Greetings All:

So, yesteday night I went over to my buddies place to set up his new (i.e., fresh out of the box) nFusion STB.

He has a standard 20" HD B3V dish with 2 LNB's and SW-21 switches, as he's feeding two TV's ... I won't get into all that, this report is just to tell you/give you some idea of my impressions with respect to the nFusion, i.e., the things I liked, vs. those that I felt might benefit from some added tweaking moving forward.

My initial first impression, was 'man the box is small!' It is much smaller than a Viewsat Ultra, and smaller still than that a SV4000. So if you are looking for a compact/discrete STB that doesn't really stand-out to much, this unit may be just what you are looking for.

I'll also say that we didn't have to use an external router, or use any of the NetGear XE 102's (Power Line Carrier Adapters) as my buddy has a DSL modem (Seimans Speedstream) that offered the benefit of an internal router.

In place of the "wireless" option (Netgear XE102's), we used a piece of standard 'straight through' LAN cable to connect the nFusion to his Modem.

Set up wise, it was fairly straight forward ... my first negative impression was that the nFusion doesn't offer a USB port to facilitate the uploading of the Version 1.42 file (OS/GUI). I felt this was a drag, given that I believe ALL stb's should now offer USB port(s).

So we fired up my buddies laptop, and interfaced ourselves to the unit using the 'loader' ... personally I hate loaders (antiquated technology) but I won't get into all that

- after loading the new OS/GUI into the unit and rebooting etc ... all was fine.

One of the first things I did was go into the Internet tab to ensure we had an I.P address and a net mask etc ... and the unit indicated all was well, so that was a relief

The unit also offers the ability to update your software so we did that and downloaded an 800K file to the box ... we actually did this twice, and I thought that perhaps if the unit was able to perform a quick check to see if you needed to do this, that would be a nice feature (to save wasting time).

The interface (menu driven GUI) is quite well laid out and easy to follow although in one or two spots I think it could offer a bit more intuitiveness. I wasn't fond of the SAT setup section, I feel that could have been handled a bit differently from a user perspective ... especially when it came to adding a second bird.

The set-up of the EPG thing lacked Canadian Prov. and Cities with was a drag for any Canadians who might purchase this unit, although this is easily fixed via some additional work on the GUI/OS.

All-in-all not a bad unit, and the uptime via IKS works well. The delay between channel changes and getting a picture (approx 2 seconds) might be
a place that can be worked on ... although this may be a product of the signal conditioning functions provided by this unit.

On a scale of 1 -10 the nFusion is a very solid 7.5

Creative Genius

**bigbird69** · January 26th, 2008

Very nice staright forward and objective review. Thank you for an unbiased opinion.

bigbird

**sayyad** · January 26th, 2008

thats cool !! i m gonna think to buy this receiver !!

eurorocco · January 26th, 2008

I wonder if you can eventually try the PVR, IPPVR, recording. Is it working? Can you record to a hard disk folder in a computer on the network? Can you play the recordings using Media Player? Thanks for the review that you posted today! ER

**creativegenius** · January 26th, 2008

I didn't try the PVR capability, as my goal was to just get the box up, I understand that you do just what you had suggested ... record to the PC's HDD.

Playback may require the conversion of the recorded format to another format (although don't quote me) but this may be the case ... when I go back over to his place I'll deal with some of the more advanced features (over beers) and report back.

Creative Genius

Quote:

Originally Posted by eurorocco

I wonder if you can eventually try the PVR, IPPVR, recording. Is it working? Can you record to a hard disk folder in a computer on the network? Can you play the recordings using Media Player? Thanks for the review that you posted today! ER

**Biged** · January 26th, 2008

Thanks Creative Genius for the info going to order one in a few days to play with might have to ask a question or two.Got to do it with out the wife noing says three fta's and a card is enough.

**creativegenius** · January 26th, 2008

No problem ... ask away.

One piece of advice, download the version 1.42 file (OS) and the loader ahead of time and copy these to a USB stick so you'll have them right away when you need them.

Creative Genius

Quote:

Originally Posted by Biged

Thanks Creative Genius for the info going to order one in a few days to play with might have to ask a question or two.Got to do it with out the wife noing says three fta's and a card is enough.

**Beefeater1** · January 26th, 2008

Great review bud. I am also testing this unit and really like it but missing many channels on 119.

I have a dish 500 using legacy twin lnb`s and one standard dish for 91.

I get all the channels on 91 but missing many international and local channels on 119.

I have tried everything i can think of and scan after scan it will not get those missing ones. Same set up on my VS has always worked perfect.

Love this unit but you know how it is, when you know you should be getting more channels you want them, spoiled now i guess.

**RagingBull** · January 26th, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beefeater1

Great review bud. I am also testing this unit and really like it but missing many channels on 119.

I have a dish 500 using legacy twin lnb`s and one standard dish for 91.

I get all the channels on 91 but missing many international and local channels on 119.

I have tried everything i can think of and scan after scan it will not get those missing ones. Same set up on my VS has always worked perfect.

Love this unit but you know how it is, when you know you should be getting more channels you want them, spoiled now i guess.

Legacy does not usually have a problem but the Nfusion has quite a low gain front end meaning it will not be able to scan some of the satellites if all of your connections, cable and switches are not of the best quality. Are you seeing any breaking up of the video on any of the channels you are receiving? If so check the quality meter readings on these channels. If they are in the 50s or 60s then you are not supplying the Receiver with enough signal. you can try retuning dish, better cable, switches, redo connections etc.
Another thing you might try is loading the 1.40 bin. I did read a post from 1 guy who claimed quite an increase in quality level by doing this. Note that I have not tried this myself and have not yet read the release notes on the 1.40 to see what you may be losing with this bin.
I would agree with what Creative says about this receiver except to say I have tried the PVR and was unable to get it to work for more than a few minutes even on a wired connection. There is a post on another forum on what you may have to do to get it to work but it is an extensive list for the knowledgeable person only. If you plan to go wireless forget it. I don't know of anyone that has the PVR working wireless. Basically I think if PVR is important to you then this is probably not the box for you. You would be better off with the Neosat ipro2000. Although the IKS does not work on every channel like it does on this box the PVR does work and the setup is easier as well as having USB. Most of the channels that are not working on IKS with the Neosat are doubles anyway.

chuchu99 · January 27th, 2008

Excellent and unbiased review....
Have used the unit for the last 2 months and was lucky that it had no down time.Tried the PVR through wireless and had nothing but problems. Went hardwired and managed at least twice to be able record 2 hours continuously on the hard drive. But again, was not successful in the last couple of times.The format of the recording on the hard drive could not be burnt directly to a DVD. Had to use a conversion program called Convert X to format that could be burnt to the DVD. Had a slight issue with heating of the unit, but solved it by elevating the unit using couple of boards under the feet of the unit so that the belly of unit has air movement also. Dont forget to remove the thin plastic wrapping all around the unit----helps to reduce the heating. BTW, in setting up the PVR on the hard drive I had some issues in setting up the Ip address and after getting some help from some helpful people was able to set it up. In case, any one needs that information, please ask for it---no need to reinvent the wheel.....
have my unit connected to a pioneer DVD/HDD recorder and works well so far....
Sometimes there are issues with updating the guide, but found a way to solve it also and now it works well.....have about 44-48 hours of guide....
btw, am using a Dlink router wbr 1310
am also using a CW 600s Premium and upon comparing the number channels on sat 119 between the 2 stbs, i see no difference. So dont think that I am losing any channels. One poster had stated that he did not get all the channels on the sat 119. Perhaps he can advise what channels he is missing.
Overall, am quite impressed with unit.......
happy to answer any questions on the usage, but no means am I an expert on this unit....just learning new things all the time..

**dal bilkoski** · February 15th, 2008

thank you cg good inf thaqnks once more

**storman666** · February 16th, 2008

Thank you for the review CG.

**creativegenius** · February 16th, 2008

No problem ... information is what makes this system run

Creative Genius

Quote:

Originally Posted by storman666

Thank you for the review CG.

richgoat · February 17th, 2009

CG or anyone.

Newbie here and have been doing a good amount of reading! Keep up the great work!

Quick question, every site I read that sells the Nfusion HD box seems to say it has 2 USB ports which can handle an external HD. Based on this post, it seems to me the PVR function relies on recording to a networked PC, is this the case? Does it or does it not have USB ports and if so, can they be used to attach an external hard drive?

**creativegenius** · February 17th, 2009

The nFusion Nova and Solaris need to utilize the PC's HDD, whereas the Phoenix and the HD unit can use USB connected drives. But each require you to have the IPPVR client installed on the host PC, but storage can take place on the USB connected drive.

Creative Genius

**coorslightly** · February 18th, 2009

the pvr is very easy on the nova. you slap in the CD software on the cd drive on your computer. set up is easy. use your remote click Menu, go to Internet, then to Network Information. your Ip addy , gateway & pvr server ip addy should all be the same for your unit. input that information in. Subnet Mask is 255..255.255.000. and your ready to rock and roll.
reboot your box. then click on Record on your remote and you should be taping whatever channel your on . you will see this on your computer .
then when you want to watch it. click your computer screen and presto your watching what you recorded from your tv.

**RagingBull** · February 18th, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by creativegenius

The nFusion Nova and Solaris need to utilize the PC's HDD, whereas the Phoenix and the HD unit can use USB connected drives. But each require you to have the IPPVR client installed on the host PC, but storage can take place on the USB connected drive.

Creative Genius

Are you sure about this Creative? Although I do not own the Phoenix it was my understanding that it does not have a USB port. I do not see one in the specs.

I could never understand why they did not add one to the Phoenix and is a big downfall of this receiver in my opinion. If they have added one that is very good news for prospective buyers since the IPVR has never worked very well for most people.

To my knowledge the Nfusion HD is the only Nfusion box with USB updating and USB PVR. It works quite well whereas the IPVR function has never worked well for most.

**RagingBull** · February 18th, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by richgoat

CG or anyone.

Newbie here and have been doing a good amount of reading! Keep up the great work!

Quick question, every site I read that sells the Nfusion HD box seems to say it has 2 USB ports which can handle an external HD. Based on this post, it seems to me the PVR function relies on recording to a networked PC, is this the case? Does it or does it not have USB ports and if so, can they be used to attach an external hard drive?

Nfusion HD can record to either USB hard drive or to an networked PC. It is your choice via a menu option. USB is a much better choice since most people have no problems using this method. IPVR has been experiencing problems for most that try it and as far as I know can only be played back at your PC. To view it on a TV you would have to burn a show to DVD.

Although the Nfusion has 2 USB ports, 1 front and 1 back only one of these can be used at a time and this is set via a menu item.

mpr1755 · February 18th, 2009

i have to agree there CG i find this to be a pretty good unit lol the only fallback i noticed is when the phonelines are down so is your dsl and you have to hope they get it back up and running ; just got mine back on after a week. lol just make sure you get a real reliable internet provider

**Landscapeman** · February 18th, 2009

Thanks CG .