Sonicview SV-360 Elite Dual Tuner PVR Review w/ Picture Tour

[neon12]

The Sonicview Team has once again graced the FTA market with a new and exciting STB, the Sonicview 360 Elite Front Pic Back Pic. What makes this one different you might ask, well that would have to be the fact that it is a Dual Tuner PVR for under $200. The SV-360 Elite is one of Sonicviews new line of models consisting of the Premier (Single Tuner PVR) Elite (Dual Tuner PVR) and the soon to be released SV-360 HD.

The SV-360 Elite comes packaged with basic AV Cables, Serial Cable, Diseqc, Instruction Manual, and the same great Remote used on all their models. As you can see from the pic above the SV-360 Elite is probably the slickest looking STB around with its hidden USB port and blue back light Sonicview Emblem, easily blends in with todays high end consumer electronics.

Unlike some of the other STB's I've reviewed the SV-360 Elite does not have the setup procedure menu which guides you through everything you need to set but that's not really a big deal since its easy enough browse through the setup menu's and do everything yourself. The first thing you need to do is load the newest bin available Here on the forums onto your FAT32 formatted Thumb drive. Going into the Main Menu -> PVR -> USB Drives and select the bin you want to Load by pressing the OK button on the remote then S/W Update. Once the receiver is done loading it will reboot and you will be ready to start inputting your desired settings.

The Main Menu consists of 4 sections which branch off into sub sections:

Installation:

• Dish Settings This is where you input your Dish settings and scan for channels on both tuners.
• Channel Edit You can delete channels from here.
• Channel Copy
• Factory Reset
• Version Information

System Settings:

• User Settings
• A/V Settings Set the SV-360 Elite to 4:3 or 16:9 depending on your TV.
• Color Settings
• Time Settings
• Parental Control
• User Options

PVR:

• USB Drive Here is where you can access whats on your USB Drive/HDD, format in FTA32/EXT2, and load a new bin.
• PVR Settings Set the Timeshifting Option to Auto or Manual.
• MP3
• JPEG
• Play List This List shows what you have recorded and gives you the option to delete and modify recordings.

Advanced Settings:

• Event Timers Allows you to set record timers for programs based on channel, start time, end time and once, daily, weekly schedules.
• Remind Timers

The main feature and selling point of this STB would have to be the Dual Tuner's. For those you who don't know the difference between Single Tuner PVR's and Dual Tuner PVR's, Single Tuner PVR's can only Record 1 program at a time and doing so will restrict you to viewing other channels on the same TP while recording. Here is a Pic of the SV-360 Elite running with a single tuner and recording, as you can see the EPG has restricted me to viewing channels on the same TP. With a Dual Tuner PVR you are able to:

• Watch two separate channels at once using the PIP Function Pic 1 Pic 2.
• Watch one program and record another Pic (As you can see Tuner 1 is recording while I use Tuner 2 to watch another channel).
• Record two programs at the same time Pic.

To take advantage of both tuners you will need to run 2 single lines from your switch or lnb into the SV-360 Elite, one into "IF A" and "IF B" ports on the back of the box. While this is not necessary, running only 1 line you will effectively give you a Single Tuner PVR and you could have just gone with the SV-360 Premium Model. Not only do you need to run 2 lines but you are also required to run a channel scan on both tuners Tuner 1 and Tuner 2 even if they are both connected to lnbs pointed at the same satellite's. Along with the ability to watch/record programs there is also the Time Shift mode which allows you to pause, rewind and fast forward live programs. There are two modes to the Time Shifting feature, Automatic which starts buffering the program you are watching as soon as you tune to the program or Manual Mode which requires you to press the blue key on the remote to start buffering. The Timeshift and Recording features require your HDD to be formatted in the EXT2 Linux format. There are a couple ways to record something, you can goto the channel and press the record button on the remote, bring up the EPG and press the record button while selecting what you want to record or set up a Timer in the Event Timer menu. Once you have recorded something you can bring up the List of recorded programs via the Main Menu -> USB Drive -> Play List.

The Good:

• Slick Modern Design
• 3 USB Ports
• Very reasonable price of $199
• Team Sonicview has some of the best support in the FTA business.

The Bad:

• As you may have noticed form the pics 16:9 TV's are cut off a bit on the bottom.
• Sat Scan times are a bit slow for being such a new STB.

Anyone apart of the FTA hobby knows just how good Sonicview's support has been over the years. While other groups support may be fast one week and slow the next Team Sonicview has been rock solid over the years being the first to overcome some of the toughest ECM's dished out. I for one have been a long time Sonicview fan since they released their first box the SV-1000 and was waiting for a PVR model from them. The SV-360 Elite was released about 2 months ago and has recently left the beta stage. So far it has been steady as can be with no lockups or micro freezing, running extremely well. With 3 usb ports one hidden in the front and two in the back, Dual Tuners and a price of just $199 PVR junkies really cant find a better STB for their money. At $199 and no other dual tuner boxes being manufactured this box is in its own class completely apart from any other model.


Couple Extra Pics of SV-360 Elite:

The Hidden Key Menu (Press 7890 in the Main Menu)
Expanded Program Info
Theme Menu quickly find Movies, Sports etc.

[haitiankid4lyf]

hello i am very new to fta. i also have a sonicview reciever. it is a sonicview 360 premier and is connected to the first output labeled 1 on my dish pro 1000.2 dish. I receive about 75% signal and 99-100% quality on 110' and 119' i loaded the the latest file for it called SV360Premier V0144P Beverly AR update Fixed 080708.rom and the scanned for channels but every channel i go to says scrambled or no signal. also, in the channel list there is a dollar sign $ near each channel. if any body can help please post or email me at haitiankid4lyf@yahoo.com thank you.