The PanSat 3500S is a versatile satellite receiver with many features, including an embedded Conax system, component video outputs, and servo motor control. It can store up to 5000 channels and has a built-in SD memory card slot for playing MP3 files or updating software. A full channel scan takes a few minutes, occasionally getting stuck on transponders for several minutes. The receiver requires passwords for some menu functions, which unfortunately cannot be turned off.

1. TEST REPORT Satellite Receiver
Pansat 3500S
Conax Embedded Plus
SD Memory Card Slot
Panarex Electronics has been in existence since 1983. They offer a complete line of sat- a optical digital audio output, an S-VHS
ellite equipment including digital MPEG-2 DVB receivers, antennas, LNB’s and LNBF’s, feed- output and even a main power switch. But
horns, positioners, DiSEqC motors and switches. One of their newest receiver models, the there is also a set of quick-clamp connectors
3500S, found its way into our test labs. At first glance it looks no different than many other that can be used to connect this receiver
receivers available on the market today. But once we took a closer look at it, we discovered to a servomotor on your LNB. Even more
that there’s more to it than meets the eye. interesting are the component Y, Pb and
Pr outputs! Last but not least is the UHF
jack that can be used with an optional UHF
remote control.
The box has a rather simple-looking silver- a second, smaller slot just underneath the The standard silver-colored remote con-
colored front panel with a small square- Conax slot. This slot can accommodate an trol is long and narrow thus making is easy
shaped display located in the center. This SD memory card – a feature you won’t find to grip. It comes with all the functions you’d
display shows either one of the 5000 possible on every receiver. expect plus a number of extras including
channels or the current time. The receiver four colored function buttons. It is a uni-
has a built-in real time clock – a very unique The rear panel comes with all of the typi- versal remote control allowing it to be used
feature for a satellite receiver. Eight control cal connectors you’d expect to find in a North with other major brands of electronic equip-
buttons are on the right side allowing you American box plus there are a number of ment such as TV’s, VCR’s, DVD players, etc.
to completely control this receiver from the extras that are very interesting. For start- Even though it is narrow, most of the but-
front panel even if you should have a prob- ers, there’s the IF input with corresponding tons are spaced far enough apart for your
lem with the remote control. looped-through output, a terrestrial antenna thumb.
input with modulator output, a switch to
It’s only when the flap on the left side is
opened that we discover the first surprise.
select the modulator output between VHF
Channel 3 or 4, an RS-232 interface for new Everyday Use
In addition to a SmartCard slot for the software uploads, a set of three RCA jacks When you turn on the 3500S for the first
embedded Conax encryption system, there’s that provide video and stereo audio outputs, time, you naturally want to choose a proper
TELE-satellite International — www.TELE-satellite.com

2. Satellite Receiver TEST REPORT
language so that you can “talk” with this Is the transponder list for a particular satel- The time to switch between channels is
box. By pressing the “Menu” button on the lite obsolete? No problem. Where before a good one second. Thus, channel surfing
remote, the “Main Menu” page appears on you had to enter transponder data manu- is not all that much fun. A push of the Info
the screen from which you can select from ally (and this was only data that you knew button displays PID data for the current
a number of Sub Menus. Simply go to the about!), now just let Smart Search do the channel. The Electronic Program Guide can
“User Setup” menu where you have your work for you. It will identify any DVB signals be called up by pushing the “Guide” button.
choice of English, German, French, Portu- that are on a satellite, tell you the trans- It displays detailed programming informa-
guese, Spanish, Turkish and Arabic. Here ponder frequency, symbolrate and auto- tion on the current channel.
you can also select the desired Aspect ratio matically scan all the transponders that it
(4:3 or 16:9), TV Type (NTSC, PAL or AUTO), found. It’s an incredible time saver! The manufacturer specifies a symbolrate
set the current time, set the transparency of range of 1-45 Ms/sec. Once all the channels
the OSD and initiate a software transfer. Unfortunately, other than selecting an have been stored, the “Channel Edit” menu
FTA or ALL scan or selecting between all can be used to organize everything that was
The next logical step would be setting polarities or just one, no other parameters found. Accessing this menu also requires a
up the satellites you want to receive. This could be adjusted. You could not select a password.
is taken care of in the “Installation” menu. low or high symbolrate limitation nor could
Accessing the “Installation” menu requires you scan a specific frequency range. Also, So, what’s this extra slot on the front
you to enter a four-digit password. While when the box was looking for channels on panel all about? It’s designed to accept an
having this feature is not a bad idea, there is the transponders that it found, it would SD memory card and gives this receiver a
unfortunately no obvious way to turn it off. occasionally get stuck on some transpond- number of extra capabilities. For example,
A password must be entered every time you ers for quite some time requiring in some MP3 files stored on the memory card can be
access the “Installation” menu. cases minutes for the channels to be identi- played back through the receiver. Even new
fied. receiver software can be uploaded into the
The list consists of over 80 Ku-band and receiver via the SD memory card. The SD
C-band satellites from the western hemi- But let’s get back to the standard channel card slot can be accessed directly through
sphere. Keep in mind that combined C/Ku- scan. The time to complete a full scan of the Main Menu. The data on the SD card
band satellites such as Intelsat Americas 5 Intelsat Americas 5 was about two minutes is then shown on the screen in a format
or AMC 4 are listed as two separate satel- and thirty seconds during which a total of that closely resembles the old MS DOS file
lites, one C-band and one Ku-band. The cur- 182 TV channels and 98 radio channels were system.
rent settings for a highlighted satellite are found. Simply press the OK button to display
shown on the right side of the screen. From a complete list of the channels stored in the The optional UHF remote control system
here a DiSEqC switch can be set up, receiver. Press the OK button a second time consists of the remote control and a UHF
to switch to the selected channel. Oddly interface box that plugs into the back of the
A number of preset local oscillator fre- enough, the channel list does not disappear 3500S. This lets you control the receiver
quency (LOF) settings are available but if the until the OK button is pressed again. from almost any room in the house.
LOF you need is not preset, you can easily
enter any LOF value that you need manu-
ally. The receiver supports both the DiSEqC Expert conclusion
1.0 and 1.2 protocols as well as the USALS
protocol. This allows you to use the 3500S +
in almost any configuration. Signal strength The Pansat 3500S is a very versatile satellite receiver. It comes with a
wide variety of features including Smart Search, component video out-
and quality bar graphs are also displayed
puts, servo motor control and an embedded Conax system. As many
during installation to help optimize antenna
as 5000 TV and radio channels can be stored. The SD memory card
alignment.
slot lets you play back MP3 files or upload new receiver software. Ron Roessel
TELE-satellite
By far the most popular type of chan-
-
Test Center
nel scan is the Blind Scan. More and more North America
manufacturers are including this feature in During a channel scan, the receiver occasionally got hung up for several minutes
their receivers. Called “Smart Search” by on some transponders adding to the total scan time. Passwords are needed to get
Pansat, this feature lets you scan an entire into some of the menu functions. While this is good, for those users that don’t have to
satellite for digital signals without knowing worry about unwanted access, this feature unfortunately cannot be turned off.
ahead of time any of the signal parameters.
www.TELE-satellite.com — TELE-satellite International

3. TEST REPORT Satellite Receiver Info-Box
Channel List
Pansat 3500S
Digital Satellite Receiver with Main Menu
Embedded Conax
TECHNICAL
DATA
Manufacturer Panarex Electronics, Sun Valley,
California, USA
Fax +1-818-768-5191
E-mail pansatusa@cs.com
Model 3500S Antenna Setup Menu
Function Digital Satellite Receiver with
Embedded Conax
Channel Memory 5000
Satellites 80+
Symbolrate 1-45 Ms/sec.
SCPC Compatible yes
SD memory Card Slot yes
USALS yes
Info Bar
DiSEqC 1.0 and 1.2
A/V Outputs yes, 3 x RCA
S-VHS Output yes
Digital Audio Output yes, optical
Power Supply 90-250 VAC, 50/60 Hz
Features
TEST
RESULT
SD Memory Card Menu
Channel Memory
Channel
Scan Speed
Channel
INTERNATIONAL
Switching Speed
SATELLITE
Video Quality
Audio Quality
TELE
Tuner Sensitivity
TELE-satellite International — www.TELE-satellite.com