FTA Reviews My review on Viewsat 9000 HD FTA Receiver

[renegade9999]

The Viewsat 9000 HD FTA Receiver
Similar in size to other Viewsat units such as the Ultra and Extreme the 9000 HD is a somewhat larger unit with stunning good looks.
Noted for its ease of operation I was anxious to see how this unit performed. In a nutshell I found that the 9000 HD is super simple to operate. The biggest thing I noticed was the striking similarity in all operating functions allowing users to upgrade from older units to this one seamlessly and without major headaches.

Some of the more prominent features on the 9000 HD are 2 USB ports on the front and back of the unit. One port is allocated for upgrade purposes and the other for hard drive features. With a much larger case and a lighting fast CPU i was extremely impressed with its all around performance. Another notable feature on the 9000HD is the ability to run dual tuners. With this unit you can run one tuner for satellite signals and the second one for off air ATSC signals. This feature is a big plus for those living north of the border and wish to gain access to Canadian HD signals.

While impressed by the overall picture quality I was disappointed in the units inability to tell me what our resolution or input type was. Standard SD quality is average and I hope viewsat addresses this issue in the next version of this receiver.

Viewsat 9000 HD Features and Highlights at a Glance:

* Enable to decode QPSK satellite and ATSC terrestrial transmissions.
* Mpeg2 and Mpeg4 support.
* HDTV, SDTV display support.
* Teletext close caption.
* Video : HDMI, S-Video, Ypbpr, Composite
* Audio : AC3, SPDIF (Optical) (Includes Bypass).
* Aspect ratio adjustment 4:3 (16/9 crop), 4:3 (16/9 letterbox), 16:9 (4/3 pillar box).
* Output format 1080i, 720P, 576P and 576i. (Europe@50hz)
* Simple Onscreen Display OSD and operation.
* Favorite channel selections.
* S/W upgrade through RS-232 and USB 2.0 ports.
* Parental Guide and rating control.
* Picture in Picture support.(Aux input/optional)
* Electronic Program Guide EPG. DiSEqC 1.0 & or DiSEqC 1.2
* 2 USB 2.0 ports.

Audio quality is average for the basic user but I found that AC3 signals were sub par and no tweaking could be made on the signal. For most users this will be ok but audiophiles will definitely be disappointed by this big oversight on the manufacturers part.

For the most part I was pretty happy with the overall performance and features of this unit. Big improvements such as simply picture upconverting, AC3 audio passing (although I had trouble), improved C-Band channel listings, improved 480i standard picture quality and simple remote were huge factors that I liked.

Entering the market at roughly $500.00 CDN the Viewsat 9000 HD should be considered by existing Viewsat owners and even those just entering the HD FTA arena. With other similar units in the same price range many of the features and options are near identical in this price range. Definately a unit to check out.