TechniSat DigiPlus STR 1 User manual

TEST REPORT
06-07/2007
TELE-satellite & Broadband — 06-07/2007 — www.TELE-satellite.com
Elegant CI Receiver with LCD Display
To our great surprise, we
found that one of these slots was
already fitted with a TechniSat
Smart Card for a 30-day free trial
of the radio package on Astra at
19.2° east. If you happen to like
listening to that radio package,
just fill out the order card that
came with the receiver package
to keep the Smart Card active
after the 30-day trial.
Six buttons are located to the
right of the display for control of
the receiver should the remote
control not be available. Nev-
ertheless, it would be a good
idea to keep fresh batteries in
the remote since most of the
receiver’s features can only be
accessed through the remote.
As long as we’re on the subject
of remote controls: TechniSat is
trying to follow a very straight
line by including the same
remote in all of their units. If you
already have a TechniSat box to
call your own, you should have no
trouble at all getting comfortable
with the remote that comes with
the DigiPlus STR1. It sits nicely
Satellite Receiver
TechniSat DigiPlus STR 1
There are already plenty of bulky CI receivers
with segmented displays available. So you can just
imagine how excited we were to actually be holding
an elegant receiver with readable display on our
hands!
The new TechniSat DigiPlus STR1 was nicely
packed and impressed us not only from its exter-
nal appearance but also from its internal workings.
The large and extremely easy to read display in
the middle of the front panel stands out as soon as
you open the box. To the left behind a flap are two
well-hidden integrated card readers for Conax and
Cryptoworks.
in your hand and all buttons are
within easy reach of your thumb.
On the rear panel, you will find
two Scart connectors, three RCA
jacks for video and stereo audio,
a digital audio output (optical
and coaxial), a satellite IF input
as well as a service connection.
Unfortunately, you won’t find
a main power switch, a looped-
through IF output, an S-Video
output and a modulator output.
The included user manual is
in typical TechniSat quality: it
is quite detailed with numerous
illustrations and should there-
fore be an excellent tool even for
beginners.
Everyday Use
After turning on the receiver
for the first time, you are taken
directly to the Installation Assis-
tant that guides through all of
the necessary setup parame-
ters step-by-step. Choosing the
desired OSD language is the first
step. You can choose between
German, French, Italian, English
and Spanish. A second version
of this receiver with the choices
English, Turkish, Czech, Hungar-
ian and Bulgarian is also avail-
able.
The next step involves select-
ing your location. A large selec-
tion is available that includes
Germany, Switzerland, Great
Britain, Spain, Holland, Turkey,
Denmark, Norway, Russia, Lux-
embourg, Austria, The Czech
Republic, France, Italy, Belgium,
Poland, Sweden, Finland and
Greece. If you now ask yourself
what the use would be in the
receiver knowing location, the
answer is simply ISIPRO. The
ISIPRO system was developed
by TechniSat to provide up-to-
date and country-specific chan-
nel lists to the user. As soon as
a new channel is added or an old
one removed, the receiver rec-
ognizes this automatically and
loads the updated channel list
via satellite. The days of time-
consuming channel scans and
channel sorting are over.
The next step is based on your
existing antenna system. Natu-
rally the receiver is compatible
with all standard DiSEqC proto-
cols as well as with the Techni-
Sat developed Multyenne system
previously introduced by TELE-
satellite. The Multyenne system
provides for multiple satellite
reception at the same time. A
DiSEqC motor can also be oper-
ated. The preprogrammed satel-
lite list includes all of the more
popular DTH satellites in Europe.
13 additional satellites can be
manually added if need be.
The DigiPlus STR1 supports a
variety of LNBs, from your basic
single LNB, through a Quattro
LNB up to and including Tech-
niSat’s own one-cable solution
(Disicon series). Additionally,
there are also corresponding
local oscillator fre-
quency (LOF) values
for the C-band and
also for circular
LNBs available. And
if you absolutely
must use your S-
band antenna with
this new TechniSat
receiver, you can set
up the necessary
LOFs manually. A pair of signal
and quality displays constantly
keep an eye out on the incoming
satellite signal letting you easily
adjust all the settings as needed
for optimum reception.
Before the installation pro-
cedure comes to an end, the
receiver takes a quick look to
see if any new software is avail-
able via satellite. Only after
this step is completed can you
get into the channel menu. The
user must choose between the
ISIPRO system mentioned earlier
and an automatic channel scan
for all or free-to-air (FTA) only
channels. We began our tests by
activating the ISIPRO system;
the download of an up-to-date
channel list started immediately
and was completed in just about
one minute. The DigiPlus STR1
needed a little more time, roughly
eight minutes, to download SFI
data. This system is similar to
the familiar EPG but on the one
hand it comes with a number of
sort and search functions and on
the other it is a single download
for all of the major broadcasters
with information up to a week in
advance.
After successfully exiting
the Installation Assistant, the
receiver switches over to the
first receivable channel. The Info
bar that immediately appears
displays the current channel
number and name as well as the
title of the current program. This
information is also visible on the
receiver’s LCD display and can
easily be read from a distance.
The receiver switches between
channels in just under a second
TECHNISAT DIGIPLUS STR 1
The Ideal Receiver for Every
Living Room and Every Age Group

DATA
TECHNIC
TELE-satellite & Broadband — 06-07/2007 — www.TELE-satellite.com
Expert Opinion
+
The TechniSat DigiPlus STR1 is an ideal receiver
for every living room and every age group. It is very
easy to use and, thanks to the Installation Assistant
and the ISIPRO system, many of the setup difficulties
that might otherwise pop up with a standard receiver
are done away with. It also comes with quite a few set-
ting variations for the more ambitious user or the pro-
fessional. SCPC reception is very good and thanks
to the SFI system the user has access to a fully-featured electronic
program guide that other receivers cannot offer.
-
It would have been nice to see a main power switch, a satellite
looped-through IF output and modulator on the rear panel.
Thomas Haring
TELE-satellite
Test Center
Austria
Main Menu
Antenna Configuration
Manufacturer TechniSat Digital GmbH,
54550 Daun, Germany
Tel [phone]
Fax [phone]
E-Mail http://www.technisat.com/en/kontakt.php
Model DigiPlus STR1
Function Digital CI Satellite Receiver with
two integrated card readers
Channel Memory 5000
Satellites 33
Symbolrates 1-45 Ms/sec.
SCPC Compatible yes, starting at 1.142 Ms/sec. (test result)
USALS no
DiSEqC 1.0 / 1.2
Scart Connectors 2
Audio/Video Outputs 3 x RCA
UHF Modulator no
Programmable 0/12 Volt no
Digital Audio Output yes, optical and coaxial
EPG yes
C/Ku-band Compatible yes
Power Supply 180-250 VAC, 50 Hz
and there are no noticeable video
or audio distortions after switch-
ing channels.
Since we entered Austria as
our test location, all German lan-
guage channels including those
from Austria were loaded. Even
the large German PayTV provid-
ers were made available in the
channel list. If we had chosen
Switzerland as our location, all of
the corresponding German-lan-
guage channels would have been
placed at the head of the list.
Overall, this is a well thought out
and extremely practical feature.
It should also be noted that the
so-called option channels of vari-
ous PayTV providers were also
supported and displayed without
any problems.
To change channels, simply
press the OK button to display the
channel list. The current TV chan-
nel continues to be visible in a
smaller window in the upper right
corner of the screen. The chan-
nel list can also be sorted by pro-
vider and each channel can have
its EPG info displayed assum-
ing that this data is available. A
push of the SFI button opens the
editorially arranged EPG system
that can handle a large number
of channels. Various modes such
as an overview (what happens to
be playing on each channel) plus
a total and detailed overview of
all the channels can be accessed
in just seconds.
Pushing the red function button
provides access to the Timer set-
tings from which you can choose
between a video recorder timer
and a channel switching timer.
The channel switching timer lets
you switch to another channel
automatically at a specified time
while the video recorder timer
operates in a locked mode so that
no one can accidentally change
channels or turn the receiver
off while a program is being
recorded.
If you’ve never been too happy
with the quality of the Scart’s
CVBS signal, you can go into the
Settings menu and change the
output to RGB or S-Video plus
activate automatic 16:9 switch-
ing. TechniSat also did not forget
to include child protection set-
tings; in addition to a typical
PIN lock-out of the entire menu
system, individual TV and radio
channels can also be hidden from
the nosy kids.
As practical as the ISIPRO
system is, it could never cover
every desired channel. This is
reason enough for us to take a
closer look at the manual chan-
nel scan.
The Channel Scan menu
offers four different modes: an
automatic scan on all available
satellites, a scan of individual
satellites or transponders as well
as a manual scan with PID entry
for DXers. In all four modes, the
scan can be set for all or FTA-
only channels. A look at the pre-
programmed transponder data
reveals that they are for the most
part up-to-date. For our channel
scan test, the DigiPlus STR1 man-
aged to scan 80 transponders in
a little over eight minutes. All
things considered, not bad at all.
The picture was not so rosy
with the reception of very weak
signals. Only those signals
starting with a C/N of roughly
5dB could be processed by the
receiver and displayed distor-
tion-free. We were thus unable to
use our 1.2-meter antenna on the
relatively weak horizontal signals
from NILESAT at 7° west. Even
our test center in Berlin reported
little to no success on ASTRA2D
at 28.2° east with a 1.2-meter
dish.
These less than positive results
with its tuner sensitivity were
more than made up for with this
box’s SCPC capabilities. Our test
transponder with a symbolrate
of 1.142 Ms/sec. was processed
effortlessly and displayed with-
out any distortion.
Radio fans will be very happy
the first time they switch from TV
to radio mode. Even in this mode
the STR1 displays easy-to-read
channel names, not to mention
EPG data should it be available.
Now you no longer need to turn
the TV on in radio mode since
even the TV and radio channel
list is visible in reduced size on
the receiver’s display. Channel Scan
SCPC Reception
Downloading the ISIPRO
Channel List