Review of the Optibox Raptor FTA Receiver

[el bandido]

The Optibox Raptor is the second linux based receiver that I have looked at this year. Sometimes second is best because this receiver has the features and scanning abilities that I have been wanting for a long time. It really shines and stands out for me. I will discuss and describe what I experience with the Raptor in this thread. Feel free to ask questions or add comments.

Blind Scan:
I have missed the two step blind scan that my first Pansat receivers had because I have always felt that two steps was really needed to blind scan properly. The two step blind scan has returned for me in the Optibox Raptor.
Step one of the blind scan looks for transponders. Step two scans the transponders for channels. This Raptor blind scan technique has proven to be very accurate and fast within reason on the 10-20 ku satellites that I have tried it on so far. The number of transponders, radio, and tv channels that the Raptor has found is impressive to me. C band satellites will be scanned a bit later when I change antenna systems.

LNB Settings:
I asked Pansat for combination lnb settings that could be used for c/ku combination lnbs. These settings were universal 5150/10600 and 5150/10750. The universal settings in the Raptor appear to be user adjustable so I will try these settings when I change to a c/ku antenna system. Other lnb settings such as Unicable are also available in the Raptor.

Tuners:
The Raptor has tuners that can be changed, and it can hold two tuners at one time. My Raptor was shipped with what appears to be 2 satellite tuners and one terrestrial or OTA tv tuner. Only one tuner is installed, so we will go through the steps of changing tuners and running various tuner configurations. (The Raptor can also accept a cable tuner but I do not have cable to test.)

Stored Satellite Information:
I counted 100 slots for satellites. That should be more than enough for North America.

4:2:2 Video:
I scanned the ku channels on 107W to check the 4:2:2 capability. I get a red screen message saying The Video Format Is Not Supported on those channels but the audio works fine. Hopefully we can have 4:2:2 video capability in the future.

Out-Of-Sync Audio/Video Solution:
There is a feature that allows you to correct or allow for out-of-sync audio/video. This feature appears to be adjustable in milliseconds.

Esata Drive Support:
High speed internal and external Esata connections are available. I plan to install an internal Esata drive in the near future and will make comments about the installation.

(More to follow)EB

[el bandido]

I had some problems with the blind scan hanging so I updated the firmware and the problem seemed to go away.
Attached is a picture of a scan of 97W ku on a 1.2m Geosat.
The count is 25 Transponders 291 TV & 145 Radio.
Also, I understand the Raptor is made in Korea.

[rrob311]

Where is a good source for these? How are the multimedia features like the browser and whatnot?

[el bandido]

There is not a source in North America yet that I know of. Hopefully some people are talking, but we will just have to wait and see. Any new receiver needs to be reviewed before it is offered for sale here. A dealer has to invest money to buy a stock of receivers and the dealer may be stuck with that stock if the receivers do not sell.
There is a potentially serious problem with the Raptor for the North American market because it boots in PAL. The video format key does not work in this menu either, so you are stuck with a black screen until you can figure out how to get out of PAL and into NTSC. The manufacturer probably does not know about this(yet), but it should be fixed before somebody starts selling these receivers in North America...Fix the PAL problem and add a North American sat file. Do these two things and I think it would be Prime Time ready for North America.

The Raptor has been here the better part of two days, and I have not had time to look at many of its features yet. I have been on the internet some with this receiver and it seems to work there without any major issues. I need more time to look at the Raptor's internet capabilities, but the Raptor seems to be very similar to the Amiko Alien on multimedia features.

[rrob311]

I had that problem with the S9. Luckily my old 50" DLP shows a picture in PAL mode and so does my handheld. My 37 LCD that I use mostly does not however. Found that out the hard way.

[el bandido]

Another problem is there are about 100 satellites in the Raptor. I need to figure out a way to edit these satellites for North America, but I have yet find a channel editor for the Raptor.

[el bandido]

The Raptor's universal high and low settings are user adjustable, and this allows you to connect two lnbs together with a 22KHz switch and treat them as one satellite.
A favorite trick of mine has been to connect a c and a ku lnb together with a 22KHz switch and treat them as one satellite. This eliminates the need for me to have separate c and ku satellites.

[el bandido]

I purchased a SetEditFDU-HD program that will take care of the satellite editing issues. SetEdit is a good channel editor but it costs money. Anyway, this should be the end of any channel or satellite editing problems with the Raptor.

The only real problem I see now is the PAL boot. They need to give us a file named NA or some other designator that boots in NTSC. When this is done, IMO, the Raptor will be ready to sell in North America.

[el bandido]

I could not resist connecting the Raptor to the 7.5 foot c band dish for a moment and scanning 99W.
The raptor found 60 TV 30 Radio and 23 transponders.
It did not find the elusive Spanish channels on the 1500SR transponder. I may not be on the satellite good enough to get a signal on this transponder, the Raptor may not be able to scan this tp, or the tp may not be transmitting right now. Anyway, I will look harder for this 1500SR tp at a later time. EB

[Species]

Try scanning manually tat TP only and let us know of the results