TELE Satellite 0511 Eng
TELE Satellite 0511 Eng
SATELLITE
EC
D-R
TELE
OM
Powerhouse
Worldwide
Satellite Data
with
Unlimited
Updates*
* 2 Month License
BOTECH: Easy to Use Plus Two CI Slots MAX-COMMUNICATION: LNBs VANTAGE: Multiple Antenna Switching ENG
PLUS: DIGITALRISE: More Fun With a PC STAB: Motorized Antenna for Poets FORTECSTAR: New Receiver Intro CD
CONTENT
TEST REPORTS
OPENTEL ODC7200CPVR
Twin Tuner FTA+
Conax Digital Cable PVR ............ 36
SATELLITE TECHNOLOGY
ADVERTISERS
ARION ................................................... 9 KATHREIN .............................................71
Golden Interstar BOTECH .................................................55 MATEL ...................................................39
DVB-T/S 8300 CI Premium BROADBAND RUSSIA ............................84 MAX COMMUNICATION .........................53
Digital FTA + CI satellite and CABSAT .................................................46 MIDEXPO ..............................................61
terrestrial receiver ..................... 62 DOEBIS 1 ..............................................10 MOTECK ................................................57
DOEBIS 2 .............................................. 11 NETA .....................................................31
DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT ....................64 NEOTION ............................................. 100
DIGITAL RISE .......................................65 OPENTECH............................................. 7
DIGITAL TELEMEDIA .............................25 PANSAT 1 .............................................24
DVB SHOP .............................................27 PANSAT 2 ..............................................67
EDON ....................................................15 PROMAX ................................................85
Max Communica-
EEBC .....................................................88 SADOUN ................................................35
tion LNBF models
EMP .......................................................47 SAT CONTROL........................................91
801, 802, 804
EURASIA ...............................................87 SATFORCE .............................................37
and 804-s
FORTECSTAR ......................................... 5 SHENZHEN SUCCESS .............................77
Universal LNBF’s for
Offset Dishes ..... 68 GENERAL SATELLITE ............................. 19 SMARTWI ..............................................94
GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES .......................21 STAB ITALY ...........................................99
GOLDEN INTERSTAR .............................43 STARSAT ............................................... 41
VANTAGE DIGITAL HOBBY&ELEKTRONIK............................79 TAITRONICS .........................................70
VT-DS 2/1 PL HORIZON ..............................................59 TECHNOMATE ........................................13
VT-DS 4/1 PL ITB ........................................................18 TELE-Satellite CITY .......................... 82,83
VT-DS 8/1 JAEGER/WEISS .....................................49 TOPFIELD .............................................. 2
A Switch for Any JONSA ...................................................29 VANTAGE ............................................... 4
Application .......... 74
12 TELE-satellite International — www.TELE-satellite.com WLAN DIY mini dish in company of professional dishes
BEGINNER SECTION Motorized Systems
Multi-Satellite Reception
with a Moveable
Satellite Antenna
Heinz Koppitz
The most popular method to receive more than one satellite is to install your dish on a An antenna mounted on this kind of motor
motor. But there are several different types of motorized systems that we would like to dis- can literally be moved from one horizon to
cuss in more detail here. the other. These motors are usually avail-
able for dishes up to 120cm in diameter. Not
An azimuth type of installation is typically The positioner can be a stand-alone box on only do these mounts follow the Clarke Belt
necessary for extremely large antennas. The top of the receiver or it can be built into a as mentioned earlier, but the position of the
dish is mounted to a vertical mast and is receiver. Unfortunately, very few receivers LNB is also adjusted automatically as the dish
moved horizontally. Due to different azimuth on the market today come with the proper moves across the sky. Actually, it is the entire
and elevation values for each and every sat- built-in positioner to control these types of dish assembly together with the LNB that is
ellite, the antenna must also be moved verti- motors. Also, with this type of mount, it adjusted but the end result is the same: the
cally. Furthermore, the position of the LNB would still be necessary to adjust the posi- LNB is already in its proper position when the
has to be adjusted if the azimuth difference tion of the LNB so that it is correctly aligned antenna arrives at the desired satellite. No
between two satellites is too great. This with the satellite’s polarization plane. A skew skew adjustment is necessary. Horizon-to-
must be done in order to properly align the motor mounted on the LNB assembly adjusts horizon systems are also available for large
LNB with the satellite’s polarization plane. the polarization of the LNB and is usually C-band antennas but these mounts are some-
Otherwise horizontal and vertical transpond- controlled by the same positioner that drives what more complicated in design and conse-
ers cannot not be separated correctly. Keep the actuator motor. In addition to the coax quently much more expensive.
in mind, this must also be done if a fixed cable from the LNB to the receiver, this setup
antenna is manually moved from one satel- also requires cables for the actuator motor Flaws in
lite to another. as well as for the skew motor on the LNB.
DiSEqC 1.2
The DiSEqC 1.2 protocol uses control
DiSEqC 1.2
Because a typical C-band antenna is lighter
in weight, they don’t need to be installed ver- commands to store and allocate satel-
tically. Instead they can easily be installed in lite positions directly in the motor drive
Nearly all of today’s digital satellite receiv-
such a way that the axis of rotation is aligned ers come with the DiSEqC 1.2 protocol. To
with the North Star (“Polarmount”). The put it simply, this is an antenna motor control
advantage of this type of installation is that protocol that allows you to control an antenna
while the antenna is moving around this axis, motor from the receiver through the same
the azimuth and elevation are automatically coax cable that delivers the satellite signal to
adjusted at the same time since the antenna your set-top-box. It eliminates the need for
now precisely follows the satellite arc (also all those extra cables used in actuator motor
known as the Clarke Belt). Once the first sat- type applications since the control signals are
ellite has been found, you get the other ones routed through the coax cable to the motor.
by simply moving the dish east or west of The motor itself is connected inline with the
the first one. Even though this method works coax cable with the cable from the receiver
quite well manually, it’s much more comfort- going to the motor input and another cable
able to a use a motor (“Motor Drive”) to move going from the motor output to the LNB.
positioner that tells the dish where to move. motor is the H-H motor (horizon-to-horizon). Dish alignement for Astra 28,2 in Vienna
Cable vs.
Satellite Digital TV
Peter Miller
TELE-satellite International traditionally deals with satellite TV equipment. This is quite and cable transmission channels along with
natural since satellite broadcasts always required additional equipment to be installed in the approximate number of good quality TV
your house: a satellite dish with an LNB mounted on a roof or on a balcony and of course a channels that can be broadcast within that
satellite receiver, often referred to as a set-top-box. That’s the way it was for analog satel- bit rate.
lite transmissions. Plenty of receiver models, LNB’s, dishes and accessories available on
the market made it really difficult for a non-specialist to wisely choose what to buy. New Table 1.
technology offered exciting possibilities that did not exist with analog terrestrial TV like The type of modulation used in cable TV
out-of-footprint reception or simply watching channels originally meant for the viewers in is called Quadrature Amplitude Modula-
other countries. Digital TV increased the attractiveness and complexity of satellite recep- tion although, in fact, it is a combination
tion even more. of amplitude and phase modulation. That’s
why it is more effective compared to the
simple phase modulation (QPSK) used in
During the “pre-digital era”, cable TV was generally transmitted in the C-band (3,700 satellite TV. Figures 2 and 3 show the differ-
not that exciting. It required no additional – 4,200 MHz) or Ku-band (10,700 – 12,750 ence between QPSK and QAM.
equipment in your house. All you needed MHz).
was a piece of coaxial antenna cable with Cable TV uses a frequency band from 47 Figure 2. QPSK Modulation.
plugs at both ends. Of course, the operator to 862 MHz. In some countries the lower
had to provide the proper cabling terminated limit maybe somewhat different. Figure 3. QAM Modulation.
with a wall jack in your house. The situation
changed when digital TV appeared on cable Figure 1. Frequency bands of
networks. Now, a dedicated set-top-box is cable and satellite TV.
required between the wall jack and your TV-
set. A digital TV cable receiver looks and Fortunately for cable TV, one transmission
works very much like a satellite receiver. channel requires only 8 MHz. A VHF channel
However there are differences between the may occupy even less frequency spectrum:
two that we will discuss in more detail here. 7 MHz. The USA, with its NTSC system, has
even narrower channels: only 6 MHz. As you
and Modulation
nels occupy 27 or even 33 MHz. One trans-
mission channel allows us to send either one
One of the most obvious differences traditional analog TV channel or an MCPC Figure 2.
between satellite TV and cable TV is the package of digital TV channels. Table 1 com-
frequency band they use. Satellite TV is pares the usable bit rates for typical satellite
Figure 1.
Figure 3.
The norm permits usage of 5 modes of is not that small (at least several hundred, particular QAM mode or check for all modes
QAM modulation from 16-QAM to 256-QAM. maybe even 1000), in practice, there are (AUTO). If a receiver is designed for a par-
The higher the index of QAM mode, the more factors limiting it. Some factors are techni- ticular operator it may contain a predefined
amplitude levels and phase angles that are cal in nature (it is hard to occupy every pos- set of tuning parameters. In such a case,
used. The most effective is 256-QAM (com- sible transmission channel without causing the channel search is practically immediate.
pare the table) but due to small differences interference), while others are of copyright A network search can be activated in some
in the amplitude and phase of neighbor- or legal origin. The cable operator, in most cable receivers and if the transmitted dig-
ing states, it is also the most sensitive to cases, converts a signal received from a sat- ital data is accurate, this kind of scan can
interference and noise. It requires a cable ellite to a form suitable for his cable net- be very effective and fast. The user enters
infrastructure that is capable of maintaining work. The operator must have an agreement only the first set of tuning parameters (fre-
a high signal-to-noise ratio. Because of this, with the content provider to redistribute his quency, symbol rate and QAM mode) and all
the most popular QAM modes are 64-QAM broadcast. So, when we compare a number of the other carrier’s parameters (equiva-
and 128-QAM. The upper limit of symbol of channels available from satellites to those lent of transponders in TV-sat) are derived
rate that we can use is 6960 kS/s. If the SR from cable, the winner is obvious: TV-Sat. from the received digital information. The
were higher, the transmission channel would It may be worth mentioning that due to the initial set of tuning parameters is sometimes
occupy more than 8 MHz and would cause digital form of information, the conversion called “home carrier” or “home channel”.
interference with neighboring channels. from satellite signal to cable signal does not Alternatively, you can manually enter all
Cable receivers often also have a lower limit reduce its quality. Similar transmodulation carriers. If there aren’t too many of them
of 4000 kS/s. That’s because lower symbol of analog signals would always worsen its (for example 10) it is not that tiring. How-
rates increase the locking time of the tuner. signal-to-noise ratio and introduce extra ever, if your cable operator adds a new car-
In practice, cable operators do not use low distortion. rier, you will have to add its parameters
symbol rates. Unlike satellite TV, where one On the other hand, for the persons who manually again. Things are much simpler in
transponder can be “split” into a few SCPC value simplicity and comfort, there are the USA where they use only 2 values for
low symbol rate channels, a transmission advantages in cable TV. You do not need to symbol rates and QAM modes. The scanning
channel in cable TV practically always occu- care about: can be much faster and, what’s even more
pies the whole 6, 7 or 8 MHz bandwidth (per- - dish mounting problems important, absolutely complete. Cable net-
haps with a little margin for interference - weather conditions works usually provide a mixture of analog
rejection). If a cable operator does not have - complicated antenna systems (multi- and digital channels. Your set-top-box will
enough TV channels to “fill up” 6960 kS/s, feed, motorized, DiSEqC, USALS, Program- simply ignore the analog channels and loop
he configures his head end to add stuffing mable 0/12V Output) them through to its output. It is quite the
bytes to the transmitted data stream. Prac- Moreover, it is easy to replicate a wall same as in satellite TV.
tically, in cable networks, we always deal jack in every room and ensure independent Conditional access systems can be embed-
with MCPC signals. channel watching everywhere without both- ded or provided by CAM’s inserted in a CI
While in Europe and many other parts of ering with multi LNB’s, multiswitches, etc. slot. This is nothing new. It is even a bit sim-
the world, all 5 modes of QAM are allowed Anyone who is familiar with a satellite set- pler for the provider to control CA related
and the symbol rate can be chosen at will, issues because the receiver can have a built-
top-box will have no difficulty in handling
the United States has adopted a slightly in cable modem. This modem can be used
a cable receiver. All phases of installation
different approach. They use only 2 kinds to exchange CA related information with the
- language selection, channel search, chan-
of cable signal: 64-QAM SR=5.057 Ms/sec head end. Such communication is called:
nel organization – are very similar to those
(26.94Mbit/sec) or 256-QAM SR=5.361 Ms/ “the return channel” and may also be used
of a satellite box. Afterwards - channel zap-
sec (38.8Mbit/sec). Channel spacing is 6 to provide Internet access or interactive
ping, displaying the information box, EPG,
MHz. There are also other subtle differences TV. In satellite receivers, similar functions
setting reminders – everything works in the
in this „US” modulation. Because of that a would require a built-in classical modem and
same manner. We can use cable PVR’s in the
receiver designed for the European cable a connection to a telephone line – resulting
same way we use satellite ones. Actually it
networks is not compatible with the Ameri- in additional cabling in your house.
is even simpler. With a twin tuner cable PVR,
can signal and vice versa.
Conclusion
we have total freedom in selecting a chan-
nel to watch and a channel to record. Just to
User’s remind you, to achieve this in satellite TV, Cable digital TV offers the same high qual-
perspective
you would have to use a twin LNB and run ity audio and video as satellite TV. Satellite
two cables from it to the receiver. and cable set-top-boxes are similar to each
From the viewer’s point of view, the An automatic channel search in a cable other, the differences being limited mainly
important difference between the two kinds receiver may look similar to the satellite to their tuners. A user who is familiar with
of TV is what he or she can find there to automatic search but, in fact, it resembles satellite equipment will have no problem in
watch or listen to. Cable TV is typically a blind scan more than anything else. The operating the box. However, he may have a
more local – less international. So, here you receiver starts scanning the entire band- problem with the installation of the receiver,
would expect to see more national channels width looking for digital signals. Usually, it especially if he does not know the exact
with perhaps a limited number of the most can only check the predefined symbol rates. parameters of the carriers in his cable net-
popular foreign channels. You are not likely The symbol rates may be either hard coded work. An automatic channel scan may bring
to discover an exotic TV channel or feed in the receiver’s software (if the box is dedi- no results if one does not enter the correct
transmission. Of course, you also cannot cated for a particular cable operator) or set symbol rate.
experiment with things like out-of-footprint by the user in the installation menu. Some- If you live in a place where setting up a
reception here. Sorry, no DX-ing. times, you can define two or more symbol satellite antenna presents a problem, cable
Although, theoretically, the number of TV rates for a single scan. You are also asked digital TV may be a simple alternative to
channels that can be transmitted via cable to decide whether to limit the search for a getting a high quality signal.
Branislav Pekic in the platform, according to French financial daily charge from its November 1 launch date until the
“Les Echos”. TPS is currently valued at between end of the year. Films will air without ad breaks
€1.3-1.7 billion, which would put M6's stake at since it will be supported by subscription fees and
EGYPT €450-600 million. TPS has been suffering from the ad revenue.
SUNNI AUTHORITY PLANS new DTT platform, with subscriptions growth down
ISLAMIC TV CHANNEL 20-30% than the previous year. SOUTH AFRICA
The most authoritative Sunni Muslim academic SABC TO GET TWO NEW TV CHANNELS
body, the al-Azhar University, is planning to launch IRELAND The Independent Communications Authority of
a satellite TV channel with the aim of counter- CHANNEL 6 TO LAUNCH BY 2006 South Africa (Icasa) has granted licences for two
ing "anti-Islam onslaughts" and fighting "radical A new TV channel has been awarded a 10-year TV regional channels - SABC4 and SABC5 - to the
Islamic thoughts" broadcast on other Arabic satel- licence by the Broadcasting Commission of Ire- South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC).
lite channels. The project was recently approved by land (BCI), and should be on air within six months. The channels are likely to be operational in 2007.
the Islamic Research Academy (IRA), the highest According to the BCI, Channel 6, operated by Mug- The new entities will form part of the public broad-
authority at the al-Azhar University. The channel lins Broadcasting, will provide "music, drama and casting services division, an arm that currently
was first proposed a year ago, but lack of funding comedy" and will also include local programming. It comprises SABC1 and SABC2 TV stations and 15
proved a problem. will be aimed primarily at the 15-35 age group and radio stations. SABC5 will broadcast in Afrikaans,
isiZulu, isiXhosa including two
GERMANY Nguni marginalised languages
PREMIERE HD TO Europe isiNdebele and SiSwati.
LAUNCH IN NOVEMBER MOBITV TEAMS UP WITH SES FOR GLOBAL EXPANSION
Premiere will be first to launch MobiTV will use SES's satellite distribution platforms to deliver its mobile news, sports, SPAIN
HDTV programming with their and entertainment TV programming in international markets. The MobiTV service is PUBLIC BROADCASTER
package "Premiere HD" from available in the U.S., UK, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic and SET FOR REFORM
November via Astra. A special will soon be available in Canada through Rogers and Bell Canada. The service offers The Spanish Government has
Premiere HD trailer can now be MSNBC, ABC News Now, NBC Mobile, ESPN, CNBC, FOX Sports and the Discovery approved a wide package of new
seen on the Astra HD demonstra- Channel, among others. TV regulations that will change
tion channel. The ‘Premiere HD’ the face of the country's TV
service will carry three 24-hour market. One of the bills is about
programmes that will feature films, sport and docu- will be carried by Sky, NTL and Chorus. The service the reform of state-owned group RTVE. The group
mentaries. The football World Cup is already con- will broadcast initially for 12 hours per day Monday- will become a Corporation, financed by a mix of
firmed in HDTV format on Premiere. Friday and 15 hours Saturday and Sunday. advertising revenues and public funds, independent
from the Government and with a General Director
HUNGARY THE NETHERLANDS being appointed by the Company's board of direc-
SHOWBIZ TV TO LAUNCH IN JANUARY DE MOL PLANS SECOND TV CHANNEL tors, instead of by the Government.
A new cable TV channel called The storyTV will Dutch media tycoon John de Mol plans to launch a
be launched across Hungary by prominent per- second TV channel in the Netherlands. The new, DIGITAL MOBILE TRIALS TO TAKE OFF
sonalities and the magazine publisher Sanoma in still-unnamed, channel would air at the end of 2006 Abertis Telecom, Nokia and Telefonica Moviles
January 2006. The channel will be broadcast for 18 with family programming. Another new TV channel, Espana are teaming for a mobile TV trial in Madrid
hours a day, from 7am until 1am, reaching about 2 TV Oranje, will start on October 1, featuring Dutch and Barcelona between September 2005 and
million households, and will focus mainly on stars artists, orchestras and cabaret. February 2006. It will provide 500 users access
and celebrities. The cable channel will be based in to content from Antena 3, Sogecable, Telecinco,
Budapest. SCANDINAVIA Telemadrid, TVE and TV3 on Nokia 7710 smart
VIASAT TO ROLL OUT PVRS phones equipped to receive mobile TV broadcasts.
FRANCE Viasat Broadcasting has selected Pace Micro Tech- The pilot will allow the three companies to test the
CANALSAT AND SFR LAUNCH TV nology to roll out its personal video recorder service feasibility of Digital Video Broadcasting-Handheld
PACKAGE FOR MOBILES in Scandinavia. The Pace TDS460 set-top box will (DVB-H) technology and new mobile TV services.
CanalSatellite and leading French mobile opera- allow Viasat subscribers to pause or rewind live TV;
tor SFR have launched the world's first TV channel record one program while watching another and UNITED KINGDOM
package for mobile phones. The two companies will record two programs at the same time. Viasat is BBC AND BSKYB TO LAUNCH HDTV
offer 17 channels accessible 24-hours a day on 3G expected to launch the service in the third quarter. The BBC is preparing to launch a HDTV service
cell phones through SFR's Vodafone Live! portal for early next year after increasing the amount of satel-
an introductory monthly fee of €7. Phone users will TV2 TO LAUNCH FOURTH MOVIE CHANNEL lite capacity it rents from SES Global. The BBC said
be able to watch CanalSat's major theme channels, Denmark’s TV 2 will launch its fourth network this it would use the extra space to "reconfigure" the
including Cine Cinema info, CNBC, Cuisine TV, November - a 24-hour movie channel named TV satellite broadcasting of its TV, radio and interac-
Planete as well as a 3G Discovery Channel. 2 Film. The channel will feature Danish films, as tive services. Meanwhile, BSkyB has taken up three
well as titles from Disney, Sony and MGM, and additional satellite transponders on Astra, securing
M6 SEEKS TO SELL TPS STAKE will be available on TDC Kabel TV and Canal Dig- enough new satellite bandwidth for up to 12 HD TV
M6 is looking to sell its stake in satellite platform ital. Negotiations are underway with Telia Stofa. channels.
redesigned, and now have a colourful, easy Page up and down buttons have
to read style. If the default display is not to been added to the remote to make
your liking, the Starsat Tools software (also navigation of the channel list and EPG easier.
known as IRD Tools) gives you the option of It takes some time to remember that the ESC individual transponder searches are availa-
uploading a picture to be used as the menu button, referred to as Exit on the screen, exits ble. DiSEqC 1.0 and 1.2 control is available,
background. a menu without saving. To save the changes but there’s no USALS. Manual searches are
-
Test Center
UK
Star Sat’s Starsat Tools can download
A few inconsistencies in the menu design make it a little less user-friendly than it
.SDX files from the SatcoDX website, or use
could be. There’s no digital audio output, and no USALS support.
files saved in .SDX format from the World of
Main menu
SR-X3500CUCI Ultra
Digital Receiver with 2CI &
2 universal integ. modules
TECHNICAL Manufacturer STAR SAT, PO Box 42291,
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Channel list
DATA
Fax +971-4-2287765
E-Mail [email protected]
Satellites 153
USALS no
Scart Connectors 2
EPG yes
Installation menu
RESULT
Features
Channel Memory
Channel
INTERNATIONAL
Scan Speed
SATELLITE
Video Quality
Audio Quality
TELE
Tuner Sensitivity SatcoDX data
switch to a channel when the selected pro- becomes 5667; 6111 could be 6117 or 6167; and transponder editing functions are quick
gramme starts. The time can be taken from 27500 becomes 27531 and so on. and easy to use, so it’s an easy job to quickly
the satellite or set manually. A sleep timer wipe the transponders from a single satellite
and power on / off timers are also included. If this is your only receiver, no problem position and scan again to find everything
– you get to see the channels and all is good. that’s currently being broadcast – much
-
Test Center
10.900-11.200 range of Eutelsat W1 (10°E) on UK
Channel Information
Technomate
TM-7755 2VA 2CI
Blind scan receiver with 2
embedded VA slots & 2CI Channel list
USALS setup
Features
Channel Memory
Channel
INTERNATIONAL
Scan Speed
SATELLITE
Video Quality
Audio Quality
Tuner Sensitivity
TELE
Branislav Pekic sidered would see the NFL becoming a shareholder HD, in early 2006. In preparation for the move, nearly
in the sports network. all of NGC's current production roster is already
being captured in HD, and the channel's buyers have
UNITED STATES ABC PREMIUM CONTENT ON PROTEUS spent most of the past year acquiring programming
TIME WARNER SUPPORTS FOX ABC has taken its latest stride into the world of mobile in HD. At launch, more than 90% of NGC's primetime
BUSINESS CHANNEL TV, offering a range of premium content based on its grid will be seen in HD, the network said.
Time Warner Cable is close to a deal to carry Fox daytime soaps, primetime drama Alias and late night
News' business channel, which would give the yet- show, Jimmy Kimmel Live. The US network has part- KROGER TO ROLL-OUT
to-be-launched network a critical mass of subscrib- nered with mobile entertainment specialist Proteus, STORE TV NETWORK
ers to compete against incumbent CNBC. Fox, which already counts Fox, Discovery, Granada, HBO The Kroger Co., a supermarket chain of 2,500
which is owned by News Corp., is seeking carriage and Paramount among its TV client base. For ABC, stores, is launching a chain-wide satellite and Inter-
of the business channel on Time Warner Cable's the Proteus tie-up follows other deals in the mobile net-based TV network to inform customers about
"expanded basic" channel line-up, giving it 9.8 mil- space such as that with MobiTV owner Idetic, to offer products, services and promotions. The system,
lion viewers. News Corp. executives have pledged streaming of ABC News. provided by In-Store Broadcasting Network, will
to have a minimum of let Kroger coordinate mes-
20 million viewers for sages channelled through
the channel before MEXICO is Bite TV which wants to sett the trend for multi- in-store TV and radio net-
its debut, expected in TELEVISA AND INTEL TO platform entertainment. The channel was launched works. IBN will install the
early 2006. DEVELOP DIGITAL TV in April on cable but plans to go nationwide this fall. network over the next 18
Televisa is joining forces with Intel Corp. to develop It limits itself to short live-action and animated films months and, once com-
HORSE CHANNEL and expand Spanish-language digital home serv- and music videos targeted to a specific audience: pleted, will serve 68 mil-
FROM THIS FALL ices in Mexico, Latin America, Spain and the US. short-attention-span guys between the ages of lion in-store shoppers
The HorseTV Media Televisa will oversee content distribution, which 18 and 34. But most of all, it is determined to be each week.
Group is planning to includes music, videos and games, via Internet multi-platform, available not only on digital cable
launch a cable net- and consumer electronics devices. Televisa said it and satellite, but also on the Internet, cellphones PAY-TV OPERA-
work in the U.S. this would seek joint investment opportunities with Intel and PDAs. TORS FIGHT FOR
fall featuring entertain- Capital as part of its convergence strategy. SPORTS CHANNEL
ment and informational VENEZUELA Satellite pay-TV networks
programming about CANADA VENEZUELA WARNS U.S. DishNetwork and DirecTV
horses. The Horse FOUR PAY-TV APPLICATIONS FILED OVER TELESUR TV are trying to liberate Com-
Channel is expected Canada's broadcast regulator in July said it would Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has warned cast's SportsNet channel.
to launch as a 24-hour consider proposals for new premium pay TV serv- the US not to interfere with a new region-wide TV Comcast Corp. has long
outlet this fall and will ices in October, which could lead to the break-up of station in South America. A joint effort by Argen- refused to sell rights to
be available as a sub- Canada's current pay-TV duopoly with the launch tina, Cuba, Uruguay and Venezuela, Telesur TV, its regional sports chan-
scription channel via of one or more new national premium pay TV began broadcasting July 24. The station is mar- nel to satellite competi-
cable and satellite. Pro- networks. The CRTC will hear proposals for four keted as an alternative to major news outlets like tors. However, the FCC is
gramming will include English-language applications from Quebecor, CNN and Fox News with a focus on Latin America. now considering whether
competitions and high- Spotlight Television, Allarco, and Channel Zero. Chavez said if the US "interferes" with the station to approve the proposed
stakes rodeos, classic it would spawn an "electronic war." Meanwhile, the purchase of bankrupt
horse movies, real- BITE TV PLANS MULTI ACCESS APPROACH U.S. House of Representatives voted to broadcast cable operator Adelphia
life stories, and funny The latest addition to the Canadian digital TV offer alternative programming in Venezuela. Communications Inc.
home videos. by Comcast and Time
Warner Inc. The satellite
PACE TO PROVIDE STB’s FOR DIRECTV AL GORE’S TV CHANNEL DEBUTS firms suggested that, as a condition of approval,
Pace Micro Technology has signed a deal to pro- Current TV, the cable network for young adult audi- Comcast should be required to make SportsNet
vide DirecTV, with set-top boxes. Under the terms of ences co-founded by former U.S. Vice President available to them.
the arrangement, the UK manufacturer will supply Al Gore, launched in August into 20 million homes
so-called "next generation" boxes to the US broad- on DIRECTV, Time Warner Cable and Comcast. O.J. SIMPSON FINED FOR PIRAT-
caster from next year. The network is offering short-form programming: ING SATELLITE TV
15-second to five-minute segments throughout the A federal judge has ordered former football player,
COMCAST CONSIDERS SPORTS day, exploring the people, places and issues of rel- O.J. Simpson to pay $25,000 in damages for pirat-
NETWORK LAUNCH evance to young adults across the U.S. The chan- ing satellite TV signals from DirecTV. A 2001 raid of
Comcast Corp. is reportedly looking into turning nel is also allowing viewers to contribute their own Simpson's home, turned up illegal devices, known
its Outdoor Life Network into a sports channel that content. as "bootloaders," which authorities say are used to
would rival ESPN, with talks already said to be steal TV programming. During the raid, the illegal
underway with the National Football League. The NAT GEO IN HDTV FROM 2006 devices were connected to his TV and receiving
Wall Street Journal reported that Comcast is eyeing National Geographic Film & TV and Fox Networks unauthorized signals.
Opentel ODC7200CPVR
Are You Ready for High
Class Digital Cable TV?
When we say “Digital TV”, we usually mean “Satellite Digital TV”. However, these days the – the member of 7000 family. This flap,
traditional, terrestrial, analogue TV is rapidly being converted to digital mode in more and when opened, reveals two slots for smart
more countries. And so is cable TV. If you live in an area where cable TV is popular, chances cards. The Opentel ODC7200CPVR does
are that your cable operator is already considering switching to digital. not have a CI slot. As you have most likely
already deduced from its name, the receiver
What does it mean for you, the subscriber? priate type of RF tuners and demodulators has a built-in HDD. A look at its rear panel
You will have to add a cable set-top-box and their software is adjusted accordingly. reveals that it also has two tuners. Next to
between a cable jack in your wall and the TV- This is also true for Opentech, the manufac- their inputs and outputs, are the TV antenna
set. Is such a receiver similar to a satellite turer of the Opentel ODC7200CPVR. input and modulator output. All these inputs
box that you are familiar with? Yes, it is, but and outputs use IEC-169 connectors. As
there are some differences. What are these? At first glance, it is hard to distinguish the expected, there are two Scart connectors
Read a separate article in this issue of TELE- Opentel 7000 family of receivers from the and a set of three RCA sockets to connect a
satellite that deals with this topic. 4000 family. All models use the same, silver TV-set or a VCR that is not compatible with
colour, casings. Why change something that Scart. Home theatre owners will be happy
Generally, the TSI team does not test cable is still very elegant and modern? The front to discover S/PDIF output with digital audio.
TV receivers, but this time, we made an excep- panel has a hemispherical, smoked-glass And the list is completed by the two compu-
tion. Why? We thought that many of you, dear window, behind which a 4-digit display is ter-related ports: RS-232 and USB 2.0. They
readers, would like to have some orientation mounted. The display is green and, as usu- are used for software upgrade, programming
about the subject when your cable network ally, shows either the channel number or the one receiver from another and, of course, for
operator starts offering you digital boxes. present time. Four crescent-shaped buttons file transfers between the receiver and a PC.
Manufacturers of digital TV receivers offer placed around it, allow you to switch channels Workmanship of the box is very good.
their products in various versions. They may and adjust audio volume. The fifth button on
differ in embedded CAS or the number of CI the left toggles the receiver between the As does the receiver itself, its remote
slots. Moreover, many of them offer differing operating and standby modes. Only by the control design deserves a compliment. It is
front-ends to their boxes: satellite, terrestrial printing on the front panel flap, can you tell elegant, lightweight and sits nicely in hand.
or cable. In such cases, they have the appro- that you have the Opentel ODC 7200C PVR The only thing that can be questioned is the
Everyday use
On the first power up, you are asked to
choose language. The choice is very limited:
English, Suomi and Svenska. This, as well dynamics of 60 dB for the 256-QAM – the or a single channel programme list. It is fast
as the embedded conditional access system most demanding mode of modulation. Wow! and well designed. All information that you
- Conax, clearly identifies the target market Please note that it may happen in cable net- may need is either displayed right from the
of this receiver. Yes, it is Scandinavia. Cable works that you get too strong signal which is beginning or after just a single button press.
receivers are more often designed for the really impossible in normal TV-SAT systems. As in every other menu, help is also shown
particular operator rather than for the world Some receivers misbehave in such a situa- at the bottom of screen explaining each but-
or continental market. So, no need to burden tion. Just for curiosity, we checked to see if tons’ function. You can select programmes
it with too many languages. the Opentel ODC 7200C PVR could handle for recording directly from EPG. Such book-
a cable signal complying not with the Euro- ing is called „a reservation”. If you just want
After selecting the menu language, it is pean but with the US standards. As could be a pop-up to be displayed at the beginning
time to set up the channel search. You can expected from a receiver targeted for a spe- of your favourite program, you should book
do that in two ways: automatically or manu- cific region in Europe, the receiver could not “a reminder”. The model delivered to us for
ally. If you choose the first option, you have lock to a signal modulated in QAM Annex B. testing had a large hard disk (120 GB). It is
to enter the frequency range (by default 110 really quiet. If you like to listen quietly to
– 900 MHz), symbol rate and QAM mode (16-, Channel memory can store up to two music before you fall asleep, this receiver
32-, 64-, 128-, 256-QAM or Auto). Automatic thousand channels. That should be more will suit you. The very near-silent hard disk
channel search speed is very disappoint- than enough for any cable network. After and a sleep timer activated with a single
ing. We waited ten minutes during which the collecting channel data, Opentel ODC 7200C button press will do the trick.
scan proceeded from 110 MHz to 172 MHz. PVR automatically divides them into TV and
If it was to go with the same speed to 860 radio channel lists. The found channels can The Opentel ODC 7200C PVR enables you
MHz, it would take two hours! A much more be put in one of 8 favorite lists, renamed, to watch one channel while recording up to
practical way to find the channels is to select moved, deleted or locked with PIN if children three others. Unlike satellite PVR’s, in cable
the manual channel search. Here, for every should not watch them. Channels can be TV, when you connect tuner A output to
multiplex, you enter its center frequency rearranged in every favourite list (you can tuner B input, you have a total freedom in
and symbol rate. Luckily, you do not need change their position) and a list itself can be choosing which channel you want to watch
to specify the QAM mode. It may be set to renamed. Channel zapping speed is abso- and which to record. Of course, when you
AUTO. When all data is entered, the actual lutely acceptable. It is well below one second. want to break a world record in concurrent
channel search does not take much time. Due Right after a channel zap, an info box is recordings, you must take into account that
to its nature, you do not expect that many shown at the bottom of a screen. Everything there are only 2 tuners. So all the channels:
changes in channel database in cable net- that you need is included in it: channel name the one you watch and the ones you want to
work as in satellite TV. So, you will probably and number, program title, short descrip- record must be transmitted in no more than
not need to repeat the search too often. The tion, start and end time, current channel list two digital channels (in TV-Sat, we would call
Opentel ODC 7200C PVR had no problem in name, signal strength and quality bar graphs them: two transponders). When playing back
locking on to and processing low and high bit and a set of icons. The icons indicate: CA the recordings, except for the fast forward
rate data streams. We tested it with 32-QAM, status, parental lock status, availability of and rewind functions you also have 3-second
SR=4000 and 256-QAM, SR=6900. Then we teletext, availability of subtitles, additional jumps forward and backward as well as slow
decided to measure its tuner sensitivity and soundtracks and Dolby Digital audio. If we motion and pause functions available. You
dynamic range. And this is a really good press the Info button when the box is dis- can add bookmarks to the most interest-
point about this receiver: its specification played, an additional program description is ing moments. You can zoom to a fragment
promises to handle signals from -15 dBmV shown, of course assuming that this data is of the screen, no matter whether moving
through to +25 dBmV. We observed that the included in the incoming data stream. or paused, coming from the live broadcast
reception threshold was -19 dBmV, and even or from playback. If you prefer, instead of
+40 dBmV was not too strong signal for the An electronic program guide (EPG) is avail- storing a full recording, you may just cap-
Opentel box (measured as digital channel able in two modes: grid navigator showing a ture a screenshot of your favorite actor or
power). So, the receiver’s front end has the few neighbouring channels on the timescale politician.
-
had nothing to complain about the transfer Test Center
Poland
itself. However, the recorded audio/video
files copied from the Opentel ODC 7200C Slow channel search. Long booting time: 15-20 seconds to see the logo and 20-25
PVR to our PC had no file name extensions seconds to get audio and video. We could not play the AV files transferred via USB
to PC. It could be expected from such high-end product as the Opentel ODC 7200C
and thus we had a hard time trying to find
PVR that its front panel display would show something more than a 4-digit channel
out how to play them. We tried a number of
number.
media players with various codecs installed
Channel search
Opentel ODC7200CPVR
Twin Tuner FTA +
Conax Digital Cable PVR
TECHNICAL Manufacturer Opentech Inc., Seoul, Korea,
www.opentech.co.kr
Information box
DATA
E-Mail [email protected]
Distributor 13F., SJ-Technoville 60-19,
Gasan-Dong, Geumcheon-Gu,
Seoul, Korea 153-801
Fax +82-2-3397-0685
Model Opentel ODC 7200C PVR
Scart Connectors 2
Modulator yes
EPG yes
Teletext yes Recorded channel list
USB 2.0 Connection yes
HDD 40 GB ~ 2 TB
(in the device under test: 120 GB)
Features
TEST
RESULT
Picture-in-picture
Channel Memory
Channel
Scan Speed
Channel
INTERNATIONAL
Switching Speed
SATELLITE
Video Quality
Audio Quality
TELE
Tuner Sensitivity
Mp3 player
the “menu” button on the remote takes you ponders or perform a scan after modifying it gram DnUpManNext5.3.exe. After connect-
to a nicely designed main menu. From here or after adding a new one. It is worth saying ing a PC to the receiver through the serial
you can choose among five other menus. that in this menu there is also an option that port, you can transfer the channel list to
lets you search a specific channel by entering the PC as a cdf file. From the PC you can
The first menu that must be accessed at PID values. The receiver can handle up to 64 take advantage of all the same edit functions
the very beginning is the “Installation” menu. satellite positions and it has enough memory that you would have otherwise needed the
Oddly enough this is the third menu in the to store up to 4,900 channels. remote control for thereby saving quite a bit
list instead of being the first one as might be of time. Unfortunately, importing data from
expected. Here you must set all the param- When you’ve accumulated a very long list other sources such as SatcoDX is not pos-
eters according to your antenna configura- of TV and radio channels, perhaps you need sible. This same program can also be used
tion. Regardless of whether you have a fixed to set some time aside and start organiz- to update the receiver’s software when it is
antenna, a motorized one (DiSEqC 1.2 or ing everything you’ve found. In the channel available on the Internet. New receiver soft-
USALS) or a multifeed system, the receiver manager menu you can sort the list by chan- ware can even be downloaded via the Hotbird
can handle all of these configurations. The nel name, by type (FTA and scrambled) or satellite at 13° east. This new software can
LNB field offers a list of ten pre-set local by transponder, or you can manually move a then be transferred from one box to another
oscillator frequency (LOF) values, but should desired channel or group of channels within through its STB-to-STB feature.
you need an LOF not in the list, the receiver’s the list. You can also rename a channel,
firmware lets you enter it manually. When delete it, lock or skip it and also change its Another menu item available is “Prefer-
everything is properly set up, the two signal PID value (you can only change the PID if it ences”. When selected, the user can set the
bars graphs will indi-
cate a good signal
with green bars. At
this point a channel
scan can be started
and this can be car-
ried out in several
different ways. There
is an auto scan,
where you can decide
to scan one or more satellites at once (there was entered manually). Channels can be also menu languages, the first and second audio
are already 55 satellites preprogrammed, moved into one of the four existing Favorites tracks and subtitles plus choose specific
with fairly up-to-date transponder data, but lists and, once inside one of these lists, you’ll OSD settings such as background colors,
perhaps not all that complete: 57 transpond- be able to sort the channels in the same way menu transparency and brightness, paren-
ers for the Astra satellites at 19° east, are as in the main list, plus edit, lock or skip tal locks or play one of the integrated video
you sure that nothing is missing?). The same them. games (Tetris, Snake or Sokoban). We need
scan could be set to consider only FTA chan- to mention that one of our first actions was
nels or ALL (FTA and scrambled) channels. The receiver’s software has been designed to disable the pin code needed to access the
Furthermore, you can perform a “network with the editing of data in mind. In every menu items. It wasn’t difficult to find its
search” to allow the receiver use stream data menu, you have the ability to edit nearly value (0000), but perhaps for a beginner this
so that it can find a more complete list of everything: channels, satellites, Favorites would be a problem.
channels. list names, frequency of transponders, PID
values, etc. Furthermore you can also add, Once all of the editing chores have been
To complete the automatic scan on the 89 modify or delete transponders. completed, we can see how well this receiver
preprogrammed transponders of Hotbird, behaves while channel surfing. Switching
about 6 minutes was needed. This is a fairly With your PC you have the ability to from one channel to another on the same
typical time among digital receivers. It is accomplish this task in a much easier way. transponder required about one second.
also possible to do a manual scan: here you Simply go to the Botech web site (http:// This unfortunately makes channel surfing
can scan one of the preprogrammed trans- www.botech.com.tr/) and download the pro- not all that much fun. A small Info banner
Main menu
Features
TEST
RESULT
Extended EPG
Channel Memory
Channel
Scan Speed
Channel
INTERNATIONAL
Switching Speed
SATELLITE
Video Quality
Audio Quality
TELE
EPG
Tuner Sensitivity
The six default lists are called “TV All”, “Radio changing speeds, 32 Favorites lists. Good picture quality plus user-
All”, “Music”, “News”, “Sports” and “Movies”. friendly menu and EPG.
-
Channels can be sorted alphabetically or fil-
Nickolas
tered by satellite, frequency, network, type Ovsyadovsky
TELE-satellite
and encryption mode. To select the desired Channel search is fast and easy but only for the popular satellites. Test Center
Favorites list, press the blue “UHF” button on Unfortunately, the “blind scan” function is not yet included. Hungary
the remote control.
Channel selection
General Satellite
FTA-7001S
Digital FTA set-top-box
Quick automatic search
TECHNICAL Manufacturer General Satellite Corporation
Novoladozhskaya str. 4/1
DATA
St.Petersburg, 197110, Russia
Website http://www.general-satellite.com
Scart Connectors 1
RCA Video/Audio Output no
EPG yes
Teletext yes
Features
TEST
RESULT
Filtering by provider
Channel Memory
Channel
Scan Speed
Channel
INTERNATIONAL
Switching Speed
SATELLITE
Video Quality
Audio Quality
TELE
Tuner Sensitivity
Tetris
EYCOS S10.02F
No Frills
Digital Satellite TV
The advancement of digital satellite technology can easily be seen in the way prices for set- worry about any additional installation set-
top boxes have dropped over the past several years. Or, to put it another way, you are always tings. It is this target group that the Eycos
getting better and better quality for an affordable price. S10.02F will best serve since it is already
preprogrammed for the reception of Astra,
The Eycos S10.02F is a good example of this electronic equipment landscape. Only after Hotbird and Turksat. The target market
new generation of price-conscious receivers flipping open the front panel flap will you find for this box is clearly the German-speaking
that still manage to offer all the necessary the receiver‘s buttons that let you operate countries in central Europe as well as their
features for reliable and uncomplicated sat- the box just in case the remote control disap- Turkish-speaking citizens.
ellite signal reception. Just five years ago, pears. A card slot is also visible. In our test
the same amount of money for this box would receiver, this card slot did not serve any func- If the preprogrammed settings do not
have gotten you an average analog receiver. tion although it can be assumed that Eycos work for you, they can all be modified to your
Today the Eycos comes with all the necessary in cooperation with individual programming needs through the individual menus or, if
standard features you‘d expect plus a little providers will outfit this model with an inte- necessary, the receiver can be totally reset
bit more. grated conditional access system. and reconfigured step-by-step from the
beginning. That the Eycos S10.02F has more
The S10.02F is a digital satellite receiver The Eycos series of receivers includes in it than first meets the eye can be seen in
designed for the reception of free-to-air (FTA) models with integrated modulators as well as the list of available menu, audio and subti-
TV and radio channels. The Korean company a CI interface. Aside from these features, all tle languages. Nearly every European lan-
Eycos opted to use a European design firm - of the models are identical to the basic model guage plus Russian and Persian are offered.
the compact box was clearly designed with a that we tested. In addition to the time setting, the timer list
Retro look in mind. Particular emphasis was and the initial parental control settings, the
placed on ergonomics and logical operation.
Everyday Use System Settings also provides options for
the audio and video outputs as well as for
You can‘t help but notice the bright blue Newcomers to the world of satellite TV and the OSD display and the length of time the
colored four-digit display that shows the cur- radio would like nothing more than to con- Info bar remains on the screen after chang-
rent time in standby mode and the current nect their receiver, turn it on and not have to ing channels.
channels.
Main menu
EYCOS S10.02F
Digital FTA satellite receiver
TECHNICAL Manufacturer EYCOS Multimedia Systems
189-1, Kumi-dong, Bundang-ku EPG
DATA
Seongnam, 463-810, Korea
Tel +82-31-716-2289
Fax +82-31-716-2655
Email [email protected]
Satellites 64
USALS yes
Programmable 0/12 V no
Scart Connectors 2
S-VHS Output no
EPG yes
Features
TEST
RESULT
DiSEqC 1.2
Channel Memory
Channel
Scan Speed
Channel
INTERNATIONAL
Switching Speed
SATELLITE
Video Quality
Audio Quality
TELE
Tuner Sensitivity
Satellite options
FortecStar FSIR-5400NA
New Power Scan Receiver
We were about to close the books on this issue of TELE-satellite magazine when a pack- so that another receiver can be connected.
age was delivered to our office door. It turned out to be a prereleased version of the new In addition to the three RCA jacks for video
FSIR-5400NA satellite receiver from FortecStar Communications out of Canada. Although this and stereo audio, you can also connect
receiver only arrived just at press time and we did not have time to put this box through its your TV using the outputs from the built-in
paces, we still wanted to introduce it here. We will, of course, follow up with a more detailed modulator. The modulator output can be
test report in the next issue of TSI. set to either VHF channel 3 or 4 via a tiny
slide switch. For improved video and audio
quality, there’s also an S/PDIF optical audio
output and an S-VHS video output. Last but
not least there’s the RS-232 interface and
the main power switch.
Golden Interstar
DVB-T/S 8300 CI Premium
Digital and Terrestrial -
Plus Spectrum Analyzer!
Digital satellite TV has already found its way into over a million homes in Europe while the a dark-colored glass panel behind which can
changeover of terrestrial TV from analog to digital in many of the old world countries is taking be found the four-digit display and the infra-
its time. If you are interested in both of these methods then you definitely should not skip red receiver for the remote control. Along-
over this test report. side are the buttons for channel selection,
volume control and on/standby arranged in
a half circle.
The DVB-T/S 8300 CI Premium is one of the And this is just what is printed on the
newest receivers to come out of the German receiver‘s box leaving you with the idea that To the right is a flap under which can be
manufacturer Golden Interstar and its list of this is a technologically advanced and reli- found two SmartCard slots as well as slots
features promise quite a lot: two tuners - one able product. We took a closer look at the for two CAM modules making this receiver
for digital satellite reception and the other for 8300 CI Premium to see if it could deliver compatible with the reception of PayTV sig-
digital terrestrial signals - enough memory everything as promised. nals.
for up to 6000 channels on as many as 1000
transponders, every DiSEqC protocol plus The design of the box is simple yet ele- A Menu button and an OK button are also
USALS and to top it off a two-year warranty. gant. Two thirds of the front is enclosed in to be found behind this flap. Together with
the channel up/down buttons and the volume These settings are only first found in the nothing appears to have been left out in
control buttons, all of the system settings third submenu. The available languages the channel scan settings. After selecting
for this box can be handled directly from the are English, French, German, Arabic, Per- a desired satellite, a channel scan can be
front panel. sian, Polish, Russian, Turkish, Czech, Greek, started by simply pressing the blue button
Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Hungarian and on the remote control.
This is an intelligent solution for those Italian even though the printed user manual
moments when you discover that the remote indicates that only eight languages are avail- In addition to a progress bar graph,
control needs a new set of batteries. It is able. Golden Interstar was confident enough to
unfortunate that the manufacturer didn‘t also included an elapsed time indicator (min-
think to include an Exit button as well; it‘s In the installation you must first choose utes and seconds) for the channel scan. 75
easy enough to get into all the menus but between satellite and terrestrial. In satellite Astra transponders were scanned in just
getting out is a little bit more involved. mode a list of all the preprogrammed satel- 3 minutes and 26 seconds. An incredible
lite positions is displayed on the left side of achievement considering that we activated
Looking at the rear panel you will find an the screen. the Network scan and searched for all avail-
input for the satellite antenna, an input for able channels!
digital terrestrial signals plus one for stand- The 8300 CI Premium has 83 of these
ard terrestrial channels. positions with additional positions that can The scan of terrestrial channels follows a
be added manually. All of the current set- similar path. It can be an automatic scan
All of these three inputs also have corre- tings for the selected satellite are shown in for all available digital channels in Europe or
sponding looped-through outputs with the a window on the right side. Here you can a manual scan on a particular channel fre-
standard terrestrial output connected to a not only select the local oscillator frequency quency. The Astra position alone delivers
modulator. In addition to the two Scart con- (LOF), the DiSEqC settings or activate a over 1000 TV and radio channels. If recep-
nectors for a TV and VCR, there‘s also a set Network scan, but you can also view the tion is expanded to multiple satellites, the
of three RCA jacks that provide composite signal strength and quality in a spectrum number of channels will, of course, increase
video and stereo audio outputs plus there‘s analyzer display for every transponder from dramatically. Naturally some form of organi-
extra connectors for a 0/12-volt programma- the selected satellite. zation of all these channels is necessary. For
ble output and an S/PDIF output for digital starters, channels can be individually moved
audio. This feature is extremely helpful when into one of the eight Favorites lists.
precisely aligning the antenna since in spec-
The remote control is not too big and not trum analyzer mode the signal strength and In many cases this is where the user-
too small and is light and easy to use. We quality is displayed as two moving lines of friendliness typically comes to an end. What
would have preferred to see the volume con- different colors. What resembles the lines good is a high-speed channel scan and lots
trols set apart from the ring buttons so that on a medical chart help to precisely map of channel memory when it will take you an
the ring buttons could be used for other com- signal changes as the result of moving the entire weekend just to sort through all the
mands, but this is really our own impression antenna. The supreme advantage to this channels and move them into appropriate
and doesn‘t in any way take away from the type of display is that instead of having just Favorites lists?
overall ergonomics of the remote control. a display of the signal conditions at that
moment, the overall results of moving the Fortunately, the 8300 CI Premium did not
Main menu
Features
TEST
RESULT
Channel list
Channel Memory
Channel
Scan Speed
Channel
INTERNATIONAL
Switching Speed
SATELLITE
Video Quality
Audio Quality
TELE
Tuner Sensitivity
Satellite setup
housing used for the twin LNBF is the same them in dBm, subtract 109 from the pro-
as the one for the quad or quatro. The only vided values (for example: +70 dBµV equals
difference was that there were only two –39 dBm). We decided that apart from the
output connectors for the twin versus four purely electrical measurements, we wanted
for the other two. The plastic segments to observe the results on a real receiver. We
making up the housing did not in all cases used a DSN GR-7400CI, a receiver that was
line up perfectly with each other although presented in the previous issue of TELE-
the same can certainly be said for the satellite International. The receiver’s signal
LNB’s of other manufacturers as well. All of strength reading is shown on the same chart
the models come with rubber sleeves that as the output measurement. Coincidently,
are used to protect the cable connections the Y-axis values are well suited to show
from rain or dust. The manufacturer did not values in dBµV and % at the same time.
provide much technical information on the
boxes in which the LNBF’s were packed in, Of course, the most interesting param-
nor was a data sheet included. eter to measure would be the C/N ratio
although it is rather difficult to measure correction that all digital TV receivers per-
First of all, we decided to compare the Max pied up by transponders and this poses a big However, if the channel BER were higher,
Communication LNBF’s with another unit problem in determining a noise floor. If we the error correction function would not be
from a different manufacturer. We selected could ask a satellite operator to switch their able to recreate the original data resulting
as our point of reference, a twin LNBF with a transponders on and off when we needed it, in dramatically deteriorated video and audio
noise figure of 0.8 dB that was several years this would solve our measurement problem. quality. Except for the measurements taken
old. We used a tripod on which a 90 cm dish However, because we suspected that they with a meter, we noted down the signal
was installed. LNBF’s were mounted on the would not be willing to cooperate with us in quality readings provided by the GR-7400CI.
feed support one after another. The antenna that way, we had to approach the problem These readings are nearly as good an indi-
was directed to Sirius 2/3 at 5.0° east. For differently. cator of signal quality as the channel BER
testing, we selected a channel transmitted measured by a sophisticated and expensive
on the weakest beam (Europe BSS) and in Instead of finding out the C/N ratio, we meter.
the middle of the Ku-band: 11.766 GHz, hor- measured the channel bit error rate (chan-
izontal polarization, SR=27.500 MS/s. nel BER). This parameter tells us how often
an erroneous bit occurs (due to noise and Discussion
We measured the power of the output
signal supplied by the LNBF – which closely
interference) in the data stream. A signal
having a channel BER equal to 1x10 -4 is of the Results
corresponds to the LNBF’s conversion gain. regarded as very good – it is called QEF As you can see in figure 1, the variation
The higher the gain, the higher the power (Quasi Error Free). In our tests, we dealt of output power from the LNBF’s under test
of the output signal. Except for the digital with greater channel BER values (signal was is about 5 dB. Since the conversion gain of a
channel power (DCP), we measured the relatively weak and noisy), but still no video typical LNB is 50 to 60 dB, such a difference
amplitude level. The results presented here or audio distortions were noticeable at the in output power is quite normal. So the only
are expressed in dBµV. If you prefer to have receiver output. That’s because of the error conclusion that can be drawn here is that
Figure 1. Figure 2.
Signal strength measurements and set-top-box readings Channel BER measurements
www.TELE-satellite.com — TELE-satellite International 69
LNB TEST REPORT
Expert conclusion
+
All four models provide the low noise performance that the manu-
facturer promises. The conversion gain is sufficient and there is no
difference in signal strength and quality on different outputs of the
twin and quad models. If you have a 0.8 dB or worse LNBF, upgrad-
ing with the Max Communication device will significantly improve the Peter Miller
reception of weak signals. TELE-satellite
-
Test Center
Poland
TECHNICAL
DATA
Manufacturer Max Communication GmbH,
Siemensstr. 53, 25462 Rellingen, Germany,
http://www.maxcommunication.de/
E-mail [email protected]
Vantage Digital
slide over the “F” connectors once the cables
are connected to the switch and are designed
to keep the “F” connectors on the switch free
from dirt and moisture. Keep in mind that
A Switch for
these protective sleeves need to be inserted
on the raw coax cable before any “F” connec-
tors are mated to the cable.
Any Application
We connected the switch to a 76cm dish
pointed to Intelsat Americas 5 and a 1.2-
meter dish pointed at Hispasat. The receiver
controlled the switch flawlessly. There was
a negligible delay when switching from one
Vantage Digital, a company based in Karlsruhe, Germany, is a supplier of digital satellite TV input to the other.
products. Their product line consists of satellite antennas, receivers, switches and amplifiers
along with assorted installation accessories that include cable and multifeed assemblies. Their
assortment of switches includes everything from a simple DiSEqC A/B switch to an 8-input/1- VT-DS 4/1 PL
output DiSEqC switch. Vantage also has quite an assortment of amplifier and signal distribu- The next switch we looked at was the VT-
tion products. They were kind enough to provide us with an assortment of their switch and DS 4/1 PL. Like the first switch, this model
amplifier products so that we could take a closer look at them. also comes enclosed in a weatherproof gray-
colored plastic housing. Unlike the first
switch, this housing is designed in such a way
that no protective sleeves are needed for the
“F” connectors. One side of the housing is
exposed providing access to the connectors
on the switch that are recessed inside the
open side of the housing. When properly
installed, this exposed side is pointing down
to the ground preventing any moisture from
reaching the connectors.
VT-DS 2/1 PL
The first switch we looked at was a simple
DiSEqC A/B switch. This simple dual input/
single output switch comes fully enclosed in
a weatherproof gray-colored plastic hous-
ing. The two inputs can be connected, for
example, to the LNB’s on two different satel-
lite dishes or it can be used with the Ku-band
and C-band LNB outputs of a single dish. In
either way, the result is a single cable to the
receiver with the receiver controlling the VT-DS 4/1 PL DS 4/1 PL switch connected to the same
switch via its integrated DiSEqC protocol. 4-input/1-output switch 10-foot dish plus two additional antennas
VT-DS 8/1
The next switch that was put under the
microscope was the VT-DS 8/1. This switch
is far more unique than the others we have
looked at so far in that it can handle up to eight
different inputs and route them to a single
output. It is not weatherproof like the first
two models so if this switch is to be installed
VT-DS 8/1 8-input/1-output switch
outdoors, you must make certain that it is
properly protected from the elements. strength is at maximum for the first satellite.
Store the position and repeat the procedure Conclusion
This is not your normal everyday switch. for the remaining seven inputs keeping in Vantage offers a variety
The DiSEqC 1.2 logo printed on the label mind that the entire set up procedure may of very reliable switches
clearly points this out. DiSEqC 1.2 is normally take some time until all the satellite positions for almost any application.
associated with antenna motors but in this have been “found”. It is also possible to con- Whether you only have
case it is used to control this switch. From trol the eight switch inputs with the DiSEqC two satellite antennas, two
the receiver’s point of view, this switch looks 1.1 protocol. Even DiSEqC 1.0 would work LNB’s on one antenna, or if
like an antenna motor and this simply means but in this case only the first four inputs could you have as many as eight
that each of the eight inputs will be assigned be used. antennas scattered around
its own “motor position” in the receiver’s your backyard, Vantage has Ron Roessel
antenna motor menu. Once all the positions have been stored, the correct switch for your TELE-satellite
Test Center
we wanted to see how well the switch per- needs. North America
come incorporated with at least DiSEqC 1.2, Function A/B Switch 4-input/1-output 8-input/1-output
this should really not be a problem. Frequency Range 5-2300 MHz 5-2300 MHz 950-2300 MHz
August 10 saw a big scare for EUTELSAT’s The Egypt Satellite Channel (ESC) replaced
busy W1 satellite at 10.0 degrees east. At Euronews at 11.585V 27500 3/4. Meanwhile,
around 1200UTC all signals disappeared from Iqraa replaced ESC at 11.862V. Rotana
the satellite. APTN’s UP4 and GVW (Global Zaman also started at 11.623V 27500 3/4
Video Wire) services and Serbia’s RTS Sat following a promo. Abu Dhabi Sports on
were hastily moved to the W6 (formerly W3) 11.862V 27500 3/4 became free-to-air on
satellite at 21.5E. Several hours later W1 came August 1st, and it is clear now also on Nilesat
back to life, with the moved services returning (7.0W), 11.996H 27500 3/4.
the next day when the satellite was back to full
operation. At 30.5E, ARABSAT 2B saw the start of Al
Jazeera on two new frequencies, 12.722H
Aldana TV tests on Nilesat
As always, HOTBIRD (13.0E) saw many new 3400 3/4 and 12.722V 2800 3/4. The USA ver-
channels starting. Among them were OL TV sion of LBC Sat began at 12.654H 3900 3/4.
on 10.834V, RTVi Nashe Kino on 11.013H, satellite, the channel had not changed even its
Radio Millennium on 11.302H, MKTV Sat, PIDs since October 2002. Over at INTELSAT 602 (62.0E), a set of Ira-
24Ore TV on 11.449V, Conto TV and Calab- nian channels started. Radios Sarasari,
ria Channel on 11.531V, TBN Russian on Several other channels started or moved on Payam, Javan, Quran Maaref, Farhang Var-
11.566H, Music Nation on 11.746H, Puglia the ASTRA 2/EUROBIRD 1 position. They zesh and Salamt are all at 11.147V 27500 3/4
Channel on 12.520V (all symbol rate 27500 include: Yooplay TV on 11.222H, Vectone in the Farsi language.
FEC 3/4). Ten Sport started at 11.304H 27500 Music on 11.224V, The Wrestling Channel
3/4, becoming encrypted soon after. and You TV 2 on 11.260V, DM Digital on
11.264H, Aastha TV and ChoicesUK TV on
It was a quiet period at ASTRA 1 (19.2E). 11.307V, ATN Bangla on 11.527V, Screen-
Radio Top 40 from Germany started at shop and Price-Drop TV on 12.032H, iBuy
12.633H 22000 5/6. Astra’s Satmode promos TV on 12.129V, Sony’s SET Max on 11.973V
and data moved to 11.973V 27500 3/4, and – all 27500 2/3.
Premiere Win started regular programmes
in Nagravision on 12.032H 27500 3/4, after Tests began for The Hits (12.304H), Discov-
broadcasting an FTA promo for a while. ery Real Time (11.222H), Paramount +1
(11.546H) - all 27500 2/3, plus FX+ 10.876V
22000 5/6 all using Videoguard encryption. All
of these are expected to join the Sky Digital
Sports Max on Intelsats 805 and 707
platform shortly. Passion TV also began tests
at 11.260V in the clear.
On EURASIASAT (42.0E), Imedia TV
In the Slovak Link package on EUROBIRD 1 changed SR, the new parameters are 12.608V
at 12.643H 27500 3/4, JOJ, TA3 and Radio 37500 5/6. Radio Time started at 11.804V
Hey began broadcasts. The same channels 24444 5/6 and Halay replaced WOM Plus on
in this package also appeared at ASTRA 3A the same frequency. WOM Europe on 11.852V
(23.5E), 12.565H 27500 2/3. 4444 5/6 was replaced by Smart Musik.
On ARABSAT at 26.0E, Dubai’s EDTV chan- At HELLAS SAT (39.0E), TV Pika, Islah TV,
ITV tests on Palapa C2
nel, Dream 2 and Melody Hits started in the Euro1080, Debate TV and the Hellas Sat
Do-It-Yourself
Satellite TV
A new type of FTA satellite TV channel has taken to the North American airwaves. It is
called UonTV and it is unlike any FTA channel that has ever been beamed from a satellite. The
idea behind this new channel is that the viewers become the programmers. In other words,
programming for this channel is provided by anyone that has something to show. According
to UonTV this could be anything from a home video of a high school graduation. to local little
league games, infomercials and videos of corporate meetings being sent to regional offices
and anything in between.
UonTV was created with small businesses of UonTV, “our goal is to make FTA more
and individuals in mind and provides them diverse”. At the moment there is only one
with access to the power of digital satellite UonTV channel but the goal is to add more
TV broadcasting at extremely inexpensive specific niche channels in the future. UonTV
pricing. For as little as US$ 20.00 per half is already in discussions about this.
SatcoDX Coverage Area
hour, there is a potential to reach millions of
satellite viewers across North America. It will be interesting to see where all of this
goes from here. For more information on
UonTV uses the widely popular Intelsat what UonTV is all about, visit their web site:
Americas 5 satellite located at 97° west. www.uontv.com
UonTV began broadcasting in July 2005 and
is based in San Diego, California with pro-
duction facilities in Hawaii. Their signal is
broadcast in the Ku-band on Intelsat Ameri-
cas 5. With a footprint covering all of the
USA, Canada, Mexico and much of the Carib-
bean, UonTV can be viewed by anyone in this
area with a simple, inexpensive FTA satellite UonTV Promotion
reception system. The Ku-band dish simply
needs to be pointed to IA5 with the receiver
tuned to these parameters:
Also at 80E, the +0, +2, +4 and +7-hour ver- International and SIC International replaced
sions of Ren TV started at 3.578R 29659 3/4, their respective info cards on 12.425H 22500
after a brief spell at 3.480R. 3/4 and became encrypted. TV Polonia here
also became encrypted. To redress the bal-
Asianet Plus started on INSAT 2E (83.0E), ance somewhat, the following FTA services
3.642V 19531 3/4. On the same satellite, started on the same transponder: Channel
Akaash Bangla began at 3.612V 9625 3/4. One, IRIB3, DMC Channel, The Healing
Channel and TV Romania International.
CHINASTAR (87.5E) saw a set of free-to-air
channels replace the former encrypted chan- To contribute information, use the “Contact
SatcoDX” link at www.SatcoDX.com.
TEST REPORT Antenna Motor
Stab HH90
Motorized
antenna
ing all the necessary hardware accessories:
screws, nuts, clamps, bolts, F-type connec-
tors with protective covers and even a simple
for poets
spanner for assembling everything. Last but
not least, you will find a very helpful user
manual inside the package. It is full of pic-
tures and detailed explanations. Almost all
the parts are made of metal; only a portion
Have you ever thought about looking for channels on satellites other of the motor‘s cover is plastic. Despite that,
than the only one that you can receive with your fixed dish? Were you the entire assembly is very light (2.6 kg) and
deterred from doing that by the complexity of the motor setup and its compact. It is durable in appearance and the
cost? Well, we have good news for you! The new Stab motor - HH90 is workmanship leaves nothing to be desired.
for everybody.
Installation
The motor and its accessories are packed downwards - not upwards. Moreover, the The motor can be controlled by USALS or
in a small carton. If you never worked with shaft is not permanently connected to the DiSEqC 1.2 compatible receivers. We used
hardware like this before, it will probably motor. The shaft should be first attached a USALS system first. Before starting the
surprise you how easy and simple all this is. to the dish and then to the motor‘s pivot. installation, you should find the geographical
The hardware consists of three main compo- This is done with only one screw. The part coordinates of the location where the antenna
nents: a motor with built-in control circuitry, to which you fasten the dish is 14.5cm long. is to be installed. You can read them either
a bracket used to fasten the motor to the Thus only unusual dishes having two U-bolts from a map (an accuracy of 0.1° is more
pole and a shaft. The HH90, in contrast with far apart for mounting will pose a problem. than sufficient) or find them on the Internet.
two other members of the Stab HH family Except for the three main components men- Instead of „googling for it“, you can try the
(HH100 and HH120), has its shaft directed tioned above, there is a plastic bag contain- service provided by Stab on their webpage,
www.usals.info. After entering the type of
motor (HH90), your country, city and e-mail
address, you will get an automatic response
providing the necessary data. We were really
surprised to discover that the system also
worked for very small village locations - and
not only for larger towns. In addition to the
Longitude and Latitude values, you will also
need to know the Dish Elevation expressed as
an angle in degrees. If you don‘t get it from
the Stab automatic service, you can find it on
the paper maps attached to the user manual.
Once all three parameters are known, you
can proceed with the actual installation.
onds - which is very acceptable. Finding the necessary geographical data for your location is very
easy if you use Stab’s web page. It is both USALS and DiSEqC 1.2
compatible.
As already mentioned, we used almost the Peter Miller
maximum allowable dish size (90cm) to test
the motor. That‘s because, the larger the
- TELE-satellite
Test Center
Poland
None
dish, the narrower its beam. Thanks to this
TECHNICAL
DATA
Manufacturer STAB S.r.l., Via Seminiato, 79, 44031 Ambrogio (FE) Italy,
www.stab-italia.com,
E-mail [email protected]
Phone +39-0532-830739
Fax +39-0532-830609
Model HH90
Connectors F type
Wireless SmartWi
PayTV in Every Room
Who isn’t familiar with this problem? The PayTV card is installed in the receiver in the living
room yet here you are now in the evening looking to watch that one movie in your bedroom.
Or maybe it’s Junior complaining that he can’t watch PayTV in his own room. Up until now
there were three more or less practical solutions to this problem: either you routed coax cable
throughout the house thereby building your own little cable network or you used small trans-
mitters that sent the signal to every room. The problem with these solutions is still the same:
only one channel can be received on every TV. For the more desperate viewers there is still
the third option: setting up multiple PayTV subscriptions. For most users though, this is not
a realistic alternative.
Engineers at the Danish company SmartWi taining the original card and receives the valid this: cards that don’t belong to the system
thought that there had to be a better way and keys transmitted back from the card reader in a) can’t be accessed and therefore b) can’t
ultimately came up with a viable and simple only milliseconds. And there you have it! The cause any damage. It will also prevent your
solution. The PayTV card is inserted into an PayTV channel can be received! The whole next-door neighbor from accessing your net-
external card reader that also doubles as thing functions not only with just one or two work. By momentarily inserting the card in
a transmitter. In the receiver are inserted cards but rather can work with as many as the card reader slot, it will be programmed
special SmartCards that also act as receivers seven receiver cards at the same time (five and ready for use in only a few seconds. Now
themselves. If you want to watch a PayTV of which are active). The system operates in you need only insert the PayTV card in the
channel, the necessary key is requested from the 868-915 MHz range. The manufacturer card reader and the reception card in the
the reception card via the receiver. The card specifies a reception range of over 15 meters receiver.
transmits the request to the card reader con- in enclosed rooms. In open air there was no
data although distances For our test we used a standard Viaccess
of up to 150 meters may Adult channel SmartCard. This card was rec-
not be out of the ques- ognized by the card reader without any dif-
tion. ficulties and even the decryption using two
Topfield receivers in separate rooms with
Unfortunately, not all encryption systems are supported at the moment. Boxes with
manufacturer’s homepage should you run into integrated card readers also have some difficulties handling the reception cards. A
software update should be able to take care of this problem.
an unusual problem.
TECHNICAL
DATA
Manufacturer SmartWi, Denmark
E-Mail http://www.smartwi.net/contactus.htm
Dimensions 90x57x23mm
TELE-satellite in:
KENYA
TELE-satellite International Magazine is the world’s largest satellite magazine. It is
currently published in 11 different languages and distributed around the world. For example,
TELE-satellite can be found at local newsstands in the east African nation of Kenya. Local
TELE-satellite reader James Mwangi took these pictures at some of the local shops.
TELE-satellite is distributed in Kenya by “Nation Media
Group Limited”. Established in 1960, it is the largest The photo right shows
the shelf in „680 Gift Shop“,
magazine distributor in East Africa. TELE-satellite is pri-
Kenyatta Avenue, Nairobi.
marily distributed in Kenya’s capital Nairobi, the econo-
mic hub of the country. TELE-satellite is the only satellite
magazine available in Kenya.
The magazines are first shipped from the printer to OHL
AIRCARGO in Frankfurt, Germany. In Frankfurt the
magazines are packed and prepared for shipment and
sent by air freight to Nairobi. In this way the magazi-
nes are available in Kenya just a few days later than in
Europe.
Satellite TV is not yet very popular in East Africa, mainly
due to the lack of suitable satellites and channels that
can be received. But this is about to change. More and
more satellite organizations and channel providers are
entering the African continent and thus creating demand
for satellite receivers as well as demand for a specialty
magazine such as TELE-satellite.
Installation
on the PC
The package contains the PCI card, one
CD for the software, the drivers and the user
manual plus there’s also a standard sized delete the ones you don‘t want to keep in the red “Record” button. There’s also a time
remote control and the corresponding infra- list, move them into favorites lists, etc., just shift function that freezes the picture on
red receiver cell that connects to a USB port the same way as with most of today’s set-top the frame you were watching last when you
on the PC. After the proper installation of boxes. The only difference is that this chore pressed the appropriate button. You have
the tuner card into an empty PCI slot and is now done via the mouse and the keyboard, the choice of returning either to the live
the connection of the coaxial cable from the a much more convenient way than fiddling broadcast or follow-up from the moment
antenna, you can reboot your computer and on a remote control. The scan provides the of the interruption. Recorded content on
insert the CD to install the drivers and the option of storing either ALL the available the hard disk can be called up in a list and
software. The entire process will only take channels or only those that are FTA by acti- selected for playback. It is also possible to
a few minutes. You are now ready to launch vating the appropriate radio button on the import any MPG compliant files from other
the “DVB-TV” program provided by the man- screen. Unfortunately, even when selecting sources and play them back through the
ufacturer (remember, there are alternatives the FTA-only option, it still managed to store DVB-TV interface. All of these commands
as well that can be found on the Internet). all of the available channels. can also be accessed via the well-designed
For our tests, we used the one provided on remote control.
the original CD.
Everyday Use Additional software can be downloaded
As with every digital satellite receiver, the The user interface on the PC screen from the DigitalRise website or alternative
first step is to set up your antenna configura- is made up of two parts: one is a window sources (see Forum) that will allow you to edit
tion. Here, you have the choice between a representing the television screen and the your recordings i.e. by cutting out unwanted
single LNB on a fixed dish, simple DiSEqC, other is the “command console” inspired parts or convert recordings into formats that
DiSEqC 1.0, DiSEqC 1.2 and USALS. All of by those for CD or DVD players like “Real can be stored on a DVD, etc. Depending on
the various LNB local oscillator frequencies Media”, etc., but adapted to integrate all the your multimedia hardware, all this content,
(LOF) for the C-Band and the Ku-Band are necessary controls for a satellite receiver. be it movies or music, could then be distrib-
supported. Once this step is completed, you Additionally a third part can be called uted to other monitors or computers via a
can start the satellite scan. A very large up that lists all the channels in memory. wired or wireless LAN. It seems that the pos-
number of satellites from all around the Double clicking on one of the channels will sibilities are only limited by the user’s imagi-
world are presented in a drop down list, and bring up the contents that are being broad- nation. The same is also true for the use of
if the one you are looking for is not in this cast in the window representing the TV the conditional access module.
list, you can always set it up manually. The screen. Here again patience is a virtue: six
computer where we installed this tuner card whole seconds are required to switch from Last but not least, another software pro-
is a Pentium 4, 2 GHz machine with 512 Mb one channel to another. If channel surfing is gram, available free of charge from Digital-
of RAM. That is more than enough power your favorite pastime, you won’t have much Rise, can convert this tuner card into an
compared to the minimal requirements of fun with this tuner card. The EPG comes up Internet via Satellite modem for a one way
the manufacturer’s specifications. First, we on a separate window after a click on the system where the user sends out the request
used a DiSEqC 1.0 antenna with two LNB’s appropriate button on the console (again on his traditional phone line but receives the
(on Hotbird 13.0° east and Astra 19.2° east), some time is needed before the list is dis- date from the satellite at speeds compara-
and then we connected a dish mounted on a played) and allows you to set the timers for ble with those of a broadband connection. Of
USALS motor. The software correctly recog- recording. Recording can also be accessed course, this application requires a subscrip-
nizes your local coordinates and drives the directly from the console by clicking on the tion with an appropriate provider.
antenna towards the selected satellite, but
somehow slower than with other receivers.
Expert conclusion
But, it’s the channel scan that demands a
lot of patience. On a satellite like Astra or
+
The DVB-S PCI Sat CI tuner card offers a low cost, pleasant and
Hotbird it can take up to 45 minutes for each
rewarding addition to your multimedia environment for the individual
of them! You could take an extended lunch
who likes experimenting and has the necessary time. It has many fea-
break if you plan to scan several satellites
tures and a promising future.
at one time. The program will hopefully have Yanis Patalidis
TELE-satellite
-
finished scanning by the time you get back Test Center
France
home. Nevertheless, all available channels
are recognized. You can store them in a folder The major drawbacks are the very long channel scan times and also the lengthy
(by default a folder will be named based the channel switching times plus all the other functions that require analysis of the data
actual date of the scan). Of course, it is pos- stream like teletext or the EPG.
sible to modify the names of these channels,
www.TELE-satellite.com — TELE-satellite International 93
TEST REPORT Digital Satellite Tuner PCI Card with CI Info-Box
Website www.digitalrise.biz
USALS yes
Teletext yes
EPG yes