X2-FTA DVB-S Mini Digital Satellite Receiver (FREE TO AIR Only)

I had played with FTA satellite receivers for years, for receiving KU band FTA channels (foreign channels). Each receiver died after a few years, it just seem like no one makes quality receivers at this price range. This unit's durability remains to be seen, but here's my take on this unit:Pros:1) Gives you all the basic/must-have features of a KU satellite receiver for FTA channels - that is really all you need.2) Useful LED display on front. My other more expensive Fortec has useless display on the front, never figure out what they are.3) Small, easy hookup, and easy and intuitive menu/programming. If you have set up satellite receiver before, you do not need manual, it is really easy.4) Signal strength/quality is much better than what I had wiht my Fortec receiver, but I did buy new universal LNB from this company to go with this unit. I used to get 40s in signal quality, now I get 70s. I think their LNB is much better than Fortec as well, not to mention less expensive as well.5) I used to have issue where some channels are much louder than others. Now with this unit they are all about the same.6) Remote control is good, more responsive than my Fortec unit.7) Good valueCons:1) Power cable is too short.For those interested in receiving FTA Chinese language programs:(As of Jan 2013)Galaxy 3C - CCTV4, MACTVSatmax6 - DA-AI2, MACTV

When I ordered this item and tried to set it up according to the instructions that came with it, I found it did not work. I emailed the company who replied to say this item is geared for the American market and not Europe (France in my case) without a complicated process of changing the TV system. Had this information been in the advert I would not have chosen this model but a more relevant piece of equipment and saved time and the inconvenience of having to return this item as unsuitable for my needsX2-fta Dvb-s Mini Digital Satellite Receiver (New Version).

I sale that to the customer and I told that customer I order it from Amazon customer didn’t care as long as they get FTA channelsIt last two year but remote control wasn’t very good and customer had problems!! With the remote too

I've had one of these for over a month and no freezes or overheating, yet..Be for-warned here tho,.. I found out after the fact that this receiver does NOT decode some audio, lyngsat channels that show 'red' in the audio catagory will not work. You get picture but no sound, so I will have to get a receiver that decodes AC3 audio to hear those channels. (I would not have bought it if I knew that). K/U didn't seem to offer much I liked from my north-american birds, so I then spent twenty-bucks on a C-Band lnb (make sure x2 is in 5150 mode for that),. and I found several more things in the clear up there worth watching. Either way, you still need a HD box to see more stuff, so that is my next purchase and I'll end up just giving this one away. OH - Another glitch was that my Vizio TV remote interacts with it somehow, and at one point actually reset the X2 to 'factory', and I lost all the stuff that took me a day to program. No big deal, just part of the hobby learning experience. Other annoyances exist like, I have to turn it 'off' for it to default to the last channel watched. Other than all the poo-poo, it is really a good box so far for $28 bucks.

This receiver is a little more difficult to set up than some others but it does work. I connected it to my dish that was already aligned, and all i had to do was set the DISH SETTING to ADD SATELLITE and i set it for my LNB type which was UNIVERSAL, frequencies 09750 & 10600. Then I got a signal strength of 80 but the quality meter was reading ZERO. That was fixed easily by just scanning for channels. It found 240 FTA channels on our galaxy 19 satellite here in the USA, and the quality went up to normal readings. If it's your first time doing this, keep in mind the ON-SCREEN signal meter will read ZERO even if you are peaked on the satellite IF YOU DONT HAVE your proper LNB setting set for the type of LNB you have on your dish. This unit functions OK and I am happy with it considering the low price it costs. This unit has about 25 pre-programmed satellites for the ATLANTIC satellite arc which is the birds from ZERO degrees to about 90 degrees on the arc. You can edit any of those to whatever satellite where YOU live or you can add a new one and name it anything you want to. This box is preset from the factory for PAL televisions... so if you live in the USA, you will need to reset that to "NTSC" by going to MENU, SYSTEM, then AV-settings. Click OK and arrow left&right to set to NTSC, and your picture will improve greatly! The manual that comes with the unit is so tiny and not very usefull. But it isn't too difficult to figure out if you goof around with it and are familiar with other FTA receivers. To receive FTA channels you will need a 36 to 39 inch dish and a UNIVERSAL LNB, not a CIRCULAR LNB. The Galaxy 19 satellite has about 40 channels that are in ENGLISH, such as religious channels, a couple news channels, and al-jazeera(in english). The other 200 channels are other languages, but very interesting to flip through also. This box works and i am happy with it, and it gets the job done.UPDATE:I have used this unit for a couple weeks now and am still happy with it however need to note 2 problems with it. FIRST: all channels are set to LEFT audio. Easily fixed by clicking the audio button on remote and setting each channel to STEREO one at a time. SECOND... the other remote controls i have (an LG TV and Magnavox DVD) both interfere with this unit. If pressing a button on my other remote, it sometimes changes the channel on this satellite box! This is very bothersome and could be remedied by placing this sat box away from the other units. It is still a good unit for the price.