Dr. Sat discussion forum
Television sources => Free to Air (FTA) Satelilte Television => FTA Receiver Support => Topic started by: Bungo Pony on December 25, 2015, 11:31 am
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Just got an AZBOX Minime from Dr Sat. Is there any way to eliminate the awful transparency on the OSD? It makes everything extremely difficult to read. I couldn't find any menu item for it, and the instructions leave much to be desired
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This thing keeps locking up on me with a flickering volume display :(
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It seems to work better after scanning Galaxy 19 and seemed to unlock all the advanced settings I couldn't find before. The EPG guide annoyingly interferes with changing channel (and does absolutely nothing) but I cant find a way to shut it off.
I wish my Pansat 3500 wasn't so outdated
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So here's how this is turning out... I scanned about half the sky and figured I'd done enough for the time being and decided to enjoy what I'd scanned. The box started randomly rebooting, getting more frequent, and eventually locked up all together. I successfully restarted in safe mode and tried to restart the box again normally to no avail. I downloaded the latest firmware upgrade and installed it successfully. The machine rebooted AGAIN into safe mode.
This is not acceptable for a $200+ piece of equipment. I'm absolutely frustrated beyond belief at this. It worked nicely for a couple of hours, but I've spent more time configuring this unit than enjoying it, and now I'm spending more time troubleshooting it. This is the FIRST DAY of usage.
Can I send this thing back? Possibly for something from a different brand?
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Just got an AZBOX Minime from Dr Sat. Is there any way to eliminate the awful transparency on the OSD? It makes everything extremely difficult to read. I couldn't find any menu item for it, and the instructions leave much to be desired
You may eliminate OSD transparency as follows:
1. Go to the Colors menu by going to Main Menu, System settings, User interface then Colors.
2. Select the Background item in the "Content" category
3. Select the Alpha slider by pressing the down arrow 3 times then press the left arrow until the alpha setting slider is all the way to the left.
4. Press OK to save.
5. Repeat steps 2 to 4 for the "Content selected" category.
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It seems to work better after scanning Galaxy 19 and seemed to unlock all the advanced settings I couldn't find before. The EPG guide annoyingly interferes with changing channel (and does absolutely nothing) but I cant find a way to shut it off.
Try changing time synchronization from DVB to NTP in the Network menu. This will make channel changing a bit more responsive.
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I did that. Channel switching goes glitchy after a bit of usage and the sound disappears. This thing still reboots at random.
I put the box in shutdown mode instead of sleep mode. The thing ended up rebooting while it was shutting down, and then froze on the boot screen. I'm repeatedly finding myself holding down the button on the front of the unit because of it locking up on me from reboots.
I do a lot of feed hunting, and having this unit randomly rebooting and locking up upon the reboot is preventing me from using it for what I need it for. I'm extremely disappointed and frustrated with this unit and would like to send it back before I end up throwing it against the wall. I've wasted two days with it, changing settings with the hope of it being more functional. Instead, I keep finding more things wrong with it. This is by far the worst and most expensive receiver I've ever used.
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So here's how this is turning out... I scanned about half the sky and figured I'd done enough for the time being and decided to enjoy what I'd scanned. The box started randomly rebooting, getting more frequent, and eventually locked up all together. I successfully restarted in safe mode and tried to restart the box again normally to no avail. I downloaded the latest firmware upgrade and installed it successfully. The machine rebooted AGAIN into safe mode.
This is not acceptable for a $200+ piece of equipment. I'm absolutely frustrated beyond belief at this. It worked nicely for a couple of hours, but I've spent more time configuring this unit than enjoying it, and now I'm spending more time troubleshooting it. This is the FIRST DAY of usage.
Changing the time update mode from DVB to NTP should stop it from rebooting randomly. Also if your satellite dish coax is not grounded, you will need to do so by adding a ground block connected to a common grounding point as AzBox receivers have issues when used on ungrounded systems.
Once done in safe mode, you need to hold down on the 0 key while the unit is booting in order to switch back to regular mode as per the instructions.
Before reinstalling the firmware via safe mode in the future, you should first try to unplug the AC power cord for at least 1 minute after doing a proper shutdown or holding down the power button for 5+ seconds. Doing a cold boot like this often resolves the issues you have described.
As with any other FTA receiver, you should always save a settings backup on your USB drive right after you finish configuring it in order to avoid having to redo everything from scratch if a factory reset is required.
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Changing the time update mode from DVB to NTP should stop it from rebooting randomly.
It reduces it, but it does not stop it.
Also if your satellite dish coax is not grounded, you will need to do so by adding a ground block connected to a common grounding point as AzBox receivers have issues when used on ungrounded systems.
My coax is grounded
Before reinstalling the firmware via safe mode in the future, you should first try to unplug the AC power cord for at least 1 minute after doing a proper shutdown or holding down the power button for 5+ seconds. Doing a cold boot like this often resolves the issues you have described.
I've been doing this often, but within half an hour it goes flaky again. This type of behaviour is unacceptable for any type of high quality FTA satellite receiver. I've had three other receivers on my setup in the past: a Sonicview SV-1000, a Pansat 2500A, and a Pansat 3500. I paid less than $10 each for them used. All these receivers were stable, reliable, and I left them on for days at a time without ever having to reboot or unplug them. I can understand the occasional quirk or bug with a receiver, but I expect it to be fairly reliable and functional. The AZbox is neither, regardless of all the potential this receiver had to be an excellent investment.
I bought the receiver as a Christmas gift to myself, as I wanted to upgrade from my old Pansat. The AZbox has given me nothing but trouble and headaches, and I paid just over $250 in total for it. It was not worth the money and I do not want to deal with it any longer. The more I use it, the more things I find wrong with it. External drive mount/unmount and formatting does not work at all. It stops displaying channels if I leave it browsing the channel list for too long. I'm done with having it drive me crazy.
I'm going to box it back up in it's original packaging with a copy of my receipt and mail it back. I expect to get a full refund. Thank you for the customer support, but I'm just not happy with this receiver.
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I sent it back today. It should be arriving at the end of next week.
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I sent it back today. It should be arriving at the end of next week.
Not sure if you ever purchased items online in the past but you can't simply just ship back items that you don't like and expect to receive a full refund, especially with the fact that:
- It clearly states on your purchase invoice that "All items must come back in the same condition when purchased with all contents including packaging within 10 days." but you purchased this item well over 30 days ago.
- Your purchase invoice also indicates "No returns on any ATSC or FTA satellite receivers."
- You did not get an RMA number from us which is required for any returns or warranty repairs.
I'm sorry but I would strongly suggest contacting your shipping company to try and get your parcel back and avoid any further expenses as this shipment will be returned back to sender.
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Not sure if you ever purchased items online in the past but you can't simply just ship back items that you don't like and expect to receive a full refund
It's not that I didn't like the unit, it's that it's UNUSABLE. This receiver has the quality of a prototype, NOT the quality of a "high end" receiver as you've advertised. If this device was actually able to change channels reliably, I would have kept it. The fact that it's not able to change channels consistently without needing to be rebooted after 15 minutes of useage was the nail in the coffin for me. This is NOT what I expected to see from a "high end" receiver.
I cannot use this receiver because it's defective. And you're telling me that I'm forced to eat my $250 because it's supposed to be defective?
Before I sent this unit back, I took some video of how badly it functions. I have a high traffic blog and two youtube channels where I write about some of the feeds I find. I'm going to be writing a review of this terrible product along with my inability to return it. Nobody else deserves to be screwed over by this piece of junk.
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What you are describing is NOT typical behaviour for this unit so either something with your system is conflicting with the receiver or there might be a hardware issue with the unit itself.
We would certainly not sell any product which has to be restarted every 15 minutes and have not experienced the issues you have described when using this receiver on properly installed systems for several of our customer's including the one in our retail store which is on almost all the time. As previously noted, we do know that with all AzBox receivers, it is very important that your coax is grounded as these receivers tend to operate erratically when used on an ungrounded system. Also we have noticed that these receivers are also more sensitive than others to cabling issues so things such as bad connectors, damaged coax or cable runs above 100 ft can cause some of the issues you have experienced.
Up until your last post, it initially seemed that you did not like the unit and tried to force us in accepting a return by posting every issue that you could find or things you did not like about it. However based on your last post, you do like the product but need to have the technical issues that you are experiencing with it resolved which is perfectly understandable.
Unfortunately in this industry, no retailer including us is able to accept returns on any FTA satellite receiver even if a request is made within the return period as it would cause too many issues. This does not mean that your unit can't be serviced under warranty so if you are certain that there are no issues with your system including cabling and that it is properly grounded, you have the option of having your receiver serviced under the 2 year warranty that it comes with. As long as the issues you have described can be replicated when the receiver is tested over here, the unit will be repaired or replaced at no cost to you.
If you would like to proceed with the above option, please let us know immediately in order to request an RMA number. Normally we require that an RMA number be obtained before shipping the unit to be serviced as it needs to be written on the package but as long as you contact us before your package arrives, we will make an exception and allow the RMA number to be used on it.
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I have never needed to return a product I bought online, mainly because I've never purchased something that worked this poorly.
I also don't care what market anybody is in, nobody should sell a lousy product for a high price and be able to get away with it.
What you are describing is NOT typical behaviour for this unit so either something with your system is conflicting with the receiver or there might be a hardware issue with the unit itself.
I've never had any problems with my setup. Every receiver I've had has worked reliably.
Also we have noticed that these receivers are also more sensitive than others to cabling issues so things such as bad connectors, damaged coax or cable runs above 100 ft can cause some of the issues you have experienced.
I go over my system once per year to check everything over and re-align my dish. I can't understand why sound would drop at the same time as the channel info display going extremely glitchy from connection problems.
Up until your last post, it initially seemed that you did not like the unit and tried to force us in accepting a return by posting every issue that you could find or things you did not like about it.
What I don't like is not being unusable for a lengthy period of time. Again, I do a lot of channel surfing, satellite changing and feed hunting. I NEED something that can reliably perform these functions. This unit was NOT able to do it.
If you need to hear something I liked about the unit, the record feature was nice (once I figured out how to get the drive to mount - rebooting with the drive plugged in). I also DO want to connect it to my network which I didn't get a chance to try. Those were two major selling points for this unit. I do a lot of recording and having a receiver that's able to do it is a major plus for me.
As long as the issues you have described can be replicated when the receiver is tested over here, the unit will be repaired or replaced at no cost to you.
I'd rather it be replaced by something from a different brand since I'm pretty sure some of the issues this thing has come new and out of the box. I can't see drive mounting and formatting problems being caused by grounding and coax cable issues.
If you would like to proceed with the above option, please let us know immediately in order to request an RMA number. Normally we require that an RMA number be obtained before shipping the unit to be serviced as it needs to be written on the package but as long as you contact us before your package arrives, we will make an exception and allow the RMA number to be used on it.
There is no place on your website to request an RMA number, so I just filled out the "contact us" form.
You'll know which unit it is. I printed out one of my posts from this thread and enclosed it.
I shall hold off on my review. If the receiver still behaves the same way when it comes back, my review will be going up. It's currently in rough draft form and I haven't finished editing the video yet. If this thing still behaves poorly once it's returned, I will be putting up both my review and my video.
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Normally we require that an RMA number be obtained before shipping the unit to be serviced as it needs to be written on the package but as long as you contact us before your package arrives, we will make an exception and allow the RMA number to be used on it.
Despite making a request for an RMA number, I never received a response.
You guys have had the AZbox for a few days now. I would like a response.
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Despite making a request for an RMA number, I never received a response.
You guys have had the AZbox for a few days now. I would like a response.
As you shipped your AZbox by Canada Post regular mail, we only received it late last week. Normally we issue RMA numbers before the unit is shipped back but because you jumped the gun on this and shipped without first asking for an RMA number or even providing us with a tracking number, we had to wait until the unit arrived before manually issuing an RMA number to it.
Your unit is currently being serviced as we speak and we will let you know as soon as we are done.
Your patience is greatly appreciated.
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Quick update, heard back from the engineer testing your receiver and was told that the power supply that came with your unit has some occasional power fluctuations which is what was causing the occasional reboot and freezing issues you were experiencing. Additional testing is now being done using a brand new power supply provided under the unit's 2 year warranty to ensure that these issues are now fully resolved.
You will be receiving an email once testing has been completed along with the tracking number of your receiver being shipped back to you.
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Quick update, heard back from the engineer testing your receiver and was told that the power supply that came with your unit has some occasional power fluctuations which is what was causing the occasional reboot and freezing issues you were experiencing. Additional testing is now being done using a brand new power supply provided under the unit's 2 year warranty to ensure that these issues are now fully resolved.
Wow, really?
Thank you for the update. I'm hoping that I'll finally get to enjoy the unit when it arrives.
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So you guys have had it for a while. When can I expect it to be returned?
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The additional testing has now been completed so we will be getting the unit back and shipping it to you later on this week.
You will receive an email with the tracking number once this happens.
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According to the tracking number, my receiver has been sitting in your shop with a sticker on the box for the past 2 weeks. Why?
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Strange, your receiver was definitively shipped out a while back! I will check with the post office to see what's going on and send you an update via PM.
EDIT: As per the tracking number that was sent to you via PM, your receiver's return shipment is now showing as having been delivered to your address.
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The original topic of this thread was how to eliminate transparency which was answered promptly on the 4th post of this thread. Since then, the thread has evolved into off-topic territory and communication on the unit's RMA status which has little value to other members. As it has now run its course, this thread is now closed.