Sonicview 8000HD/PVR reviews

[arboristman]

CG’s review on the Sonicview HD8000
CG’s review on the Sonicview 8000 HD CG’s review on the Sonicview 8000 HD

Shipping and Packing
Box was well pack and had all the usuals, Null, Remote, Batteries, RCA cables, and Component cables, all items and receiver were well boxed and no chance of any moving parts inside.

Receiver
Has front door for USB and optional card reader, the front has the usual button, channel up and down, volume up and down, Menu, and OK button. The rear comes equipped with RCA, Component, S Video, or HDMI, SPDIF, RS232C, and built in fan for cooling

Set up
I proceeded to connect HDMI, Coaxial, and Power Source and then turned the power on to navigate through the menu screens. Another cool thing with HDMI is you could also hook your RCA Cables to the receiver and connect to a VCR if you need to record something on it if need be. Check the dish setting to see and quickly noticed the quality registers higher than the strength and that the quality also fluctuates between 91% to 100%. I then closed out and was ready to Flash

Programming and Saving
I now decided to save the factory bin and the latest release to my computer and transfer from there to my USB stick to upload to the receiver. 1st step was top load the Factory Rom V 101, took about 1 ½ minutes to load then ask to reboot, now ready to load the latest release, and then once loaded ask to reboot again. I now set all my antenna settings and saved. I then set all my user settings and saved, another cool little feature in there is the front LED brightness can be adjusted. Then I set my time setting. Then I set my local settings and also set all my user options and saved. I was now ready to scan, I decided to do an individual scan to make sure I got an exact count of each Sat channels. Once I did an individual scan of all 4 Sats all was good , so I then decided to go back and try the multiple scan feature which is in the same place but when going to your Sats you hit the Blue button on your remote to save the Sat as your favorite, once I saved all 4 Sats I then press the Yellow button to scan all. Once all was done I then decided to tune to DN channel and waited for it to roll, DN took exactly 2 minutes to roll, then went to Bev Channel, and remember Bev is renumber by 2000 and that took about 4 minutes to roll, then I proceeded and checked to make sure all channels scanned in fine. Now once viewing I adjusted the picture and made sure it was set to 16:9 and turned the display mode to Full screen. Picture quality is pretty impressive. Then proceeded to check my locals, they worked but local number renumbering did not, so I will have to look into that more.

Remote
Remote is pretty slick, not small in size but range is good, and has a TV, VCR, DVD, and STB button. And multiple feature buttons. Menu and exit buttons are in the right place, would prefer the numbers to be on top but this will do. Also has a sleeper time button. Red button alone enables the time feature, Green button brings up the Category menu, Yellow button brings up the AV settings, and the blue button is for USB if connected. Also has a radio and Sat button which does work. Zoom button, and a search button.

My next testing will be the PVR function and I will report that later on as that will take a little more time to test. For now that is it and I must say this is my first SV product and I am pleasantly impressed. I will also post some pictures for you all to see.

OK today decided to play a little with the PVR and use the USB stick to start all was good, so far no issues, I then decided to try to use my WD USB not powered 80 Gig drive and kept saying USB not found, tried formatting and the same message, Will do more testing as the day goes on, and incase I will be asked it is formatted in Fat32


Rating as 10 being the BEST


Ease of setup: ( Very easy) 9.5
Menu/OSD: 9
Scanning: 8.5
Picture Quality: 9
Remote: 9 Would prefer numbers on top
Signal and Quality Meters: A little low 7.5
EPG, slight gaps but update works good 8.5
Overall to date I would rate this receiver an 9

[arboristman]

Features:

* ATSC (VSB) Tuner (Samsung NIM)
* QPSK Tuner (Sharp NIM)
* RS232C, 3 RCA Output for CVBS Video, Audio L/R, 3 RCA Output for Composite
* ( Y,Pb,Pr), S-VHS Output, SPDIF Digital Audio AC3 Bitstream Output, HDTV Output
* Fully Comply with ATSC HDTV (VSB) & DVB-S MPEG 2
* Decodes All ATSC HDTV Standard Video Formats Including 576i / 576p / 720p / 1080i
* Down - convert HDTV to SDTV
* Selectable Output Video Format : 1080i / 720p / 480p / 480i
* 2 Tuners : ATSC Tuner (Sharp,NIM Type) & QPSK (Samsung, NIM Type)
* USB 2.0 PVR Function Supported : 1 Channel Record & Play with an external HDD
* EPG Supported, Channel Naming Supported
* Full Colors & User Friendly GUI for Easy Control
* Highly Speedy Channel Changing Time : Less than 1 Sec.
* 6,000 Channels Memory Capacity for TV & Radio Programs
* 8 Favorite Channel List Group Programmable
* Channel Sorting by FTA, CAS, ********** Alphabetic Order & Network
* Zoom In-Out Function for Watching Screen
* Various Aspect Ratio with4:3, Letter Box, Full Screen & 16:9
* Background Graphic Display for Radio Program Channels
* Parental Lock Function using Master PIN Code
* Automatic NTSC / PAL Detection and Simple Video Converter (NTSC <-> PAL)
* Blue VFD Display : 9 Character 1 Line
* Real Time Clock
* Low Power Consumption Supported : Less Than 5 W in Stand-By Mode
* DiSEqC 1.0, 1.1, 1.2 & USALS / 22KHz Switching Control Supported
* HDTV Output Connector
* S/PDIF for Digital Audio AC-3 Bitstream Output
* S-VHS Output Connector
* Component Output with 3 RCA Jacks : Y, Pb, Pr
* 3 RCA Jacks for CVBS Video & Audio L/R Output
* RS232C 9-PIN Connector : Twisted Cable
* PC to Set S/W Downloading using Window based Specific Program
* Set to Set S/W Downloading (Main Program & Channel List Data File)
* Useful Luminous Universal Remote Control Unit
* 1 Year Manufacture Warranty. Made in KOREA

[arboristman]

SV-HD8000 My First Impressions-Warthog
I received a Sonicview SV8000 HD yesterday. As soon as I got home from work I went up to the roof and moved the 91 dish to the 82 position.
I then opened up the box to take a look. Unit came with a null modem cable and a component cable set. The remote was very similar to the SV4000 unit.
Well I unpacked everything and installed it in place of my SV4000. Not having a HDMI cable I used the component cable that was previously connected to the 4000. After connecting the coax and AC I powered the baby up. I was greeted with a setup screen. I looked through the antenna menu and noticed that it was missing some features. Wow I never did flash the thing. I proceeded to download the latest flash and place it on my USB stick. Plugged the stick into the front of the STB and went to the USB menu. Picked the flash and let it do its thing. After a short time the flash completed and the unit asked if I wanted to re boot. Well it re booted and then back into the antenna settings and configured for 82, 110 and 119. Then proceeded to check all the user setting to make sure it was to my liking. I then scanned the 3 birds. All went well and I did a save. At this point I went to each provider and waited for autoroll. Each provider autorolled within five minutes.

My HD TV is a Vizio 42" LCD and the pictures I was seeing were awesome. Even the non HD channels looked great! I did notice that all Be\/ HD was coming down in 720P format.
Needless to say I was very impressed with the satellite HD pictures being viewed. My wife was not (she also does not like surround sound) but I guess that is a guy thing.

I was not able to view any Charlie HD as there is a special box and adapter required. I do not have that 8psk box and the few that have supplies seem to be getting very greedy. I was told that by using an HDMI cable I would even see a better quality picture. Tonight when I come home from work I intend to pick one up. I did not check how far the EPG goes but did notice that it filled in almost instantly. Last thing I did was hook up my terrestrial antenna and scan for all local channels. The receiver did a fine job of picking up the digital locals. Their signals varied from 720p to 1080i.

Realizing that the first few flashes are still in beta I am looking for great things from this STB. I did forget to mention that the unit is silver and black.
Very nice looking unit. I also understand that you will also be able to use this unit as a PVR using a USB Hard-drive connected to the USB port.
Sonicview you have a very nice product here.

[arboristman]

First impressions of the SV-HD8000 from a first time FTA'er!
Hi All!

The Intro!

After about playing with the unit for about 3-4 hours last night in order to find my way around the unit, I thought I'd post some first impressions of the SV-HD8000. My background is primarily DVB-S cards and DN IRD's from the old 2700's up to the new dual tuner 522/625's. I thought I'd check out how much FTA's have matured. I finally settled on Sonicview after much research and if I had to sum up my experience so far into a single word, it would be:

AWESOME!

The Hookup!

I received the unit via FedEx Ground yesterday along with the Q-Board, Sub-Board and appropriate cables. After installing the devices inside the unit, I powered it up. It's currently hooked up via components and optical SPDIF through a Denon receiver which outputs to an Optoma HD72 (720p DLP) projector which is paired with a 92" DaLite HCCV screen. I will test the HDMI at a later date since I do not have a source switch for multiple HDMI inputs.

Power-On and Firmware Upgrade!

After powering on the unit and installing the two AA batteries into the remote, I was instantly greeted with the EPG info bar on the bottom. I checked which firmware I had loaded and noticed it was 1.08. I grabbed V0125P, put it onto my 2GB Kingston Traveler II+ USB stick and plugged the stick into the USB port underneath the cover on the right. I power cycled the unit, opened up the USB stick and browsed until I found the ROM firmware image. I selected it and a few minutes later... *POOF!* I was now running V0125P. Can't get simpler than that!

Connecting the SV-HD8000 to the Dishes!

I have a spare port on an existing DPP44 which is connected to a SuperDISH 121 and a DISH 500 with an i-bracket which converts it into 20" single LNB. That dish is aimed at 129. The extra two inches on that reflector helps with the low signal quality from that satellite from an 18" DISH 300 reflector. So going from port 1 through 4, I had 119, 110, 129 and 121. I plugged it straight into the SV-HD8000 on the LNB input and made/crimped a short 6" RG-6 Quad "jumper" for the IF Output and Q-Board and "jumpered" them.

Setting up the Satellites Settings! Cross your fingers!

Next up, time to setup the satellites! It couldn't of been easier. Having a little bit of DVB-S background helped a lot. All the menus are similar to what you would find on a DVB-S program such as MyTheatre, ProgDVB, etc. I found the four satellites in the list and started configuring them. Easy enough as the LNB defaults were set to "Standard", I quickly changed them to "OCS-DP" knowing the LNB's I had were bandstacked Dish Pro LNB's. The only one left on "Standard" was the 121 LNB. I thought it would be "OCS-DP" but under all other configurations, I couldn't get a Q reading on any of the TP's. I quickly marked each satellite position with which port they were on. Port 1...2...3...4... It all switched perfectly with the DPP44. I was scared after reading some messages on this forum that people had issues with their DPP44. I found it to work perfectly. After playing a bit more, I'm planning to introduce a 22KHz switch to bring in 82 and 91 from a DISH 500 Quad Dish Pro that I have setup.

Time to SCAN SCAN SCAN!

Scanning the satellites were ridiculously easy and the Q-Board worked perfectly on the Turbo-8PSK transponders. I haven't made any changes to the TP configurations under each default satellite from the BIN, but I'll delve into that at a later time as I know DN is moving some TP's to Turbo-8PSK on some TP's for HD. After scanning the satellites, I had around 850 channels, around 149 channels or "Radio" and about 40+ some odd Non-A/V channels.

SUCCESS!

I started tuning into different channels, on different TP's and different satellites and the channel changes were relatively quick! Most impressive! I tuned into Turbo-8PSK channels both MPEG-2 and MPEG-4... Perfect! Video was spot on and DD audio was just fine! I noticed the EPG was starting to slowly fill up with information by itself. And at that point... which was about 3-4 hours later... I went to bed.

Thank you ALL!

All in all, this receiver is great and I wanted to thank all the members and forums and postings here in helping me decide to get the SV-HD8000. Hopefully I'll be able to help in here once I'm even more familiar with the unit.

Cheers,
Kermee

[arboristman]

the sonicview 8000hd fta receiver is for sure without question THE mpeg4 hd (with add on) capable high definition stb on the market.no other high definition receiver can touch this one currently.not only does it have top of the line support,it also has some of the best features and overall smooth running. with the newer version two model with external fan,it runs very cool.at first look when you take it out of the box,you can see you made a wise choice.very high quality Korean made product,like ALL of the sonicview line unlike some others,so you know when you buy sonicview,your buying top of the line quality.
If your ready for high definition,there is little reason to look any further than the sonicview 8000hd as far i am concerned.once you try one out,you will see for yourself.

lets take a look at some screen shots.

the epg.
this one has a couple days worth of bev epg and also 7 day dn epg.
the color scheme is great.



category search works great.very fast and accurate with selectable results.



you can also search by channel ratings which is a nice feature for those with kids:



she has a nice info bar (this info bar is an advanced dual tabbed info bar,it takes some getting used to if you chose to use the second tab.but once you figure it out,you can really narrow down the searching/channel surfing time.its wonderful.but most will probably just chose to use it as basic.the choice is yours.


the search by title feature.
(there are two actually,with one basic and one advanced.this one here in the epg is the advanced one.the best use of this feature iv found with the captain 7100usb.this sonicview takes it one step further even.not only can you enter the name of the event your looking for and have fast selectable results right in the epg,but you can also search now,or latter in duration.also one more step is it saves your searches!!! just what iv always thought would be a great idea,so if you search for things often,you have a list when you go back in! just press ok and let her search.
you do have to press epg/fav/down/down/to enter this mode,one extra coding to add a shortcut to this advanced search by theme would make it an A+.
she has the best search by title iv seen just short of captains one button shortcut key via remote.but its more advanced and better,and til now,captains 7100usb was my favorite stb for this feature.(there is a shortcut for a more basic search by title keypad tho)
there also is another keypad to search for a channel.(a different but nice feature as well)
(the pic doesn't show everything iv described,sorry,there is allot to it.its very nice and easy to use tho.



the menu system.the sonicview 8000hd has a seamless menu screen,meaning its not a devoted screen.its simply in the background while in full tv mode.very slick and extremely easy to navigate.

[arboristman]

more menu options:
here are a few for the pvr.
not much to say about the pvr on this girl,other than its so easy and smooth to use,your kids can do it! and they probably would if you dared to hand the remote over.playback and event/record timers and more advanced scheduling features throughout.simply a wonderful pvr system.this doesn't show hardly anything either.just some basics:



radio mode.
ok,was surprised and a little disappointed to see sonicview team does not yet have radio information.not sure why not,and couldn't find any info as to a reason either.although,i suppose whats even more strange is that most stbs do not either.its not just sv.
but she has a nice screen saver:



dish settings/installation settings.
ah this is very nice,sv took it one step further here and added another nice feature.a favorites group for your birds! hit the fav button here for just the birds your pointed at.very slick,so you don't even have to use channel master and strip down your sats lists if you don't want.as you can see all your basic easy to use settings are here in a nice display:



nice easy to use channel editing,with all you need to customize.like all stbs should have today.:


rename your favs.she has 8 favorites and all unlimited.very sweet!



nice advanced parental controls:



a nice signal meter.(it could use a beep sound here.or in dish settings to help with dish pointing though.)with nice advanced info: