Archive for August, 2009

Optical LNB Satellite Dish Fibre Optic Cable

August 21st, 2009 zou

Global Invacom Optical LNB The Satellite Reception Revolution
At first you might be thinking that it’s one of Luke Sky-walker’s newest weapons, but in reality it’s one of the most ingenious ideas that we have seen in several years; an idea that does away with the biggest problem facing the direct reception of satellite TV: namely the signal attenuation or signal loss in the coax cable between the LNB and receiver as well as the problems associated with signal distribution to multiple users.

But what’s so special about an optical LNB ? First we want to remind you how a standard LNB works: the LNB receiver the focused satellite signals from the antenna, converts them to a different frequency range and routes these signals to a satellite receiver tuner via a coax cable.

Since this frequency range is limited to 950 to 2150 MHz, two tricks had to be used in order to receive the entire frequency spectrum of a satellite. The first would be the polarization of the signal and this would be either a vertically or horizontally polarized signal. Circularly polarized signals (left and right) are also used but on a much smaller scale. It really isn’t necessary to go into any additional detail on circular polarization; for the purposes of this article they behave in the same way.

The 13V or 18V control voltage carried by the coax cable to the LNB dictates whether vertically (13V) or horizon-tally (18V) polarized signals are received by the LNB. The second is the 22 kHz control signal that is used to switch between the low and high bands. The low band covers the satellite frequency range from 10.7 to 11.75 GHz while the high band covers from 11.8 to 12.75 GHz.

If the LNB “sees” the 22 kHz control signal from the receiver, it sends the high band signals via the coax cable to the tuner. If the 22 kHz signal is not there, the LNB switches to low band. In the end there are four possible scenarios (vertical or horizontal in low band OR vertical or horizontal in high band) but only one of them can be used at any one time.

If it’s a single satellite antenna conference calling system for just one user, then everything is fine and dandy. But the moment there are more than one user receiving satellite TV from the same antenna, that’s when the first problems surface.If,for example, user “A” needs the LNB to operate in the vertical low band, everyone else on the same system would be stuck receiving the same vertical low band signals; the number of available channels would be severely limited. In reality, such a setup would make absolutely no sense; none of those users would have any fun watching TV.

Up until now, this type of problem was solved using LNB’s with up to eight individual outputs; each attached receiver would be able to operate independently of all the others and get whatever band/polarization it needed.

If more than eight end-users were involved, multiswitches would then come into play. In this case a Quattro LNB with four unique outputs that cover the four band/polarization combination would be used. These signals would then be distributed to as many users as is needed. But all is not as simple as it seems. All of the coax cable that is used along with the various multiswitches used for signal distribution bring with it signal attenuation that in truth cannot be ignored. The signal attenuation associated with 8 to 10 user outputs can still for the most part be considered negligible. But with 20, 30 or even 40 outputs, the signal attenuation problem could be quite significant.

This is where the optical LNB comes in. A stacker built into the LNB converts the four band/polarization combination into different frequency ranges between 0.95 and 5.45 GHz. After wards, the RF signal is converted to a digi-tal signal and transmitted by laser via a fibre optic cable.Hence the name optical LNB.

At the other end of the fibre optic cable, the light beam enters a converter box called a GTU (Gateway Termination Unit) where it is transformed back into a signal that is recognizable by any standard satellite receiver.

These GTU’s from Global Invacom are available in Twin, Quattro or Quad versions. While the Twin and Quad versions are connected directly to a receiver, each output of the Quattro version delivers one of the four band/polarization combos and is typically integrated with existing multiswitches. This means that one fibre optic cable can carry the entire frequency range of a satellite. A 3mm thick fibre optic cable running from the optical LNB is all that’s needed.

Since the light beam contains the entire frequency spectrum of a satellite, it is possible to connect as many receivers as is needed with each operating independently from all the others all from this one fibre optic cable. Even, for example, if an entire large apartment building needs to be supplied with satellite signals, the optical LNB brings with it enormous possibilities.

From this point it would be enough to lay one fibre optic cable from the LNB to a central distribution point. It would then be split into multiple fibre optic cables with one routed to every floor of the apartment building. On every floor the cable would be further split and routed to each individual apartment. The end user would then be able to connect not just one receiver, but, for example, he could easily connect a Twin Tuner PVR in the living room, another receiver in the kids room and yet another in the bedroom.

If standard coax cable were used, each apartment would need four coax cables from the multiswitch in order to accomplish the same thing.

It’s not hard to recognize the enormous potential that optical LNBs have. It greatly simplifies and reduces the installation costs of larger satellite reception systems. It also brings with it new possibilities even for individual users. We all know this problem: while planning a satellite system a few years ago, who would have expected the big boom in Twin Tuner PVRs? Many of these systems only included one signal cable and in many cases there’s no more room to add any extra cables in the ductwork.

Up until now, you had to make do with fairly decently functioning stackers or muddle through using the loop-through feature on a receiver. But in the future it will be enough to swap the existing cable with a fibre optic cable so that four or even more receivers can be used at the same time and totally independently from each other.

Installation
The optical LNB is some-what larger than a standard LNB and elongated. It’s not surprising; the entire electronics needed to convert to an optical signal has to fit inside. Underneath the LNB are two connections, the optical output for the fibre optic cable and also an “F” connector. The “F” connector is not used for any signal transmissions; instead it is used as the power connector for the LNB since no power can be carried by the fibre optic cable.

Global Invacom chose an “F” connector for good reason. Yes, a typical power supply connector could have been used but why go that route if a coax cable is already in place? Many existing systems will convert to using an optical LNB and that’s why the “F” connector makes sense. The existing coax cable is simply plugged into the “F” connector on the LNB; the other end of the coax cable is connected to the included power supply which in turn is plugged into a wall outlet. The coax cable becomes the power cable for the LNB.

Unlike coax cable which is relatively insensitive to dirt accumulation, the cleanliness of fibre optic cable is much more critical. The problem is not with the cable itself – it is encased in a metal jacket that helps prevent the cable from getting bent, twisted or otherwise deformed but with the connectors: they require extreme cleanliness. For this reason, Global Invacom offers their own special cleaning cloth which is used to clean the ends of the fibre optic cable before being connected to the LNB or converter box. And while we are on the subject of cables, Global Invacom will also be offering matching prefabricated cables once the sale of the optical LNBs has begun. Sizes will include 1m, 3m, 5m, 10m plus various additional lengths up to 200m.

With the help of an adapter plug, these prefabricated cables can be connected together so that any desired length can be achieved. Global Invacom will also make the fibre optic cable available by the meter without any connectors. In this case special equipment will be needed to attach the optical connectors. The fibre optic cable,like other standard cables, is further protected from dirt and moisture with a rubber outer casing that surrounds the metal protective jacket. This outer casing is avail-able in a variety of colors or if necessary can be painted to match the environment. Additionally, it is an LSZG (Low Smoke Zero Halogen) material that won’t give off any poisonous smoke if it should catch fire.

Another important advantage of fibre optic technology is that it is completely immune to any electromagnetic interference. Fibre optic cables can therefore be placed in close proximity to strong electrical fields without any problems at all. Nothing like that exists in the TELE-satellite building but in order to be prepared for future applications, we ran a 50m long fibre optic cable through existing duct-work past electrical and data cables from the roof all the way to our test center.

The small diameter of the fibre optic cable came in handy here: roughly three fibre optic cables fit in the same space that one coax cable required. Since the cable is quite robust thanks to its metal jacket, we were able to pull it through ductwork without any complications and even bend it around corners that were less than 90°.

Everyday Use
Once we laid the fibre optic cable all the way to the office roof, we swapped the old standard 0.3 dB noise figure LNB that was on our offset antenna with the optical LNB.

Next we ran the coax cable to the closest wall outlet to power the LNB and then we were ready to go. After quickly cleaning the end of the fibre optic cable, we plugged it into the converter box along with a ’signal analyzer” via a short coax cable.

We were impressed with the initial results regardless of what frequency was received and the satellite we were pointed to, the optical LNB was a step ahead in terms of signal quality. These results did not change when the fibre optic cable was split four times and connected to four receivers that were operated at the same time. The higher MER values on HOTBIRD at 13° east were clearly recognize able as were the strong signal peaks in the spectrum.

The results that the optical LNB delivered were so impressive that our standard 0.3 dB noise figure LNB together with 50m of coax cable simply could not keep up.

According to the manufacturer, the splitting of the fibre optic cable is currently limited to 32 outputs. This limitation exists because of the laser’s signal strength. For special applications, Global Invacom can generate a stronger laser signal so that the number of outputs can be increased as needed.

The extremely small signal attenuation through the fibre optic cable of a mere 0.3 db over 1000 meters (!) definitely comes into play here.

Optical LNB Applications
If the Global Invacom idea catches on, then there will no longer be a need to use coax cable for direct satellite reception and we don’t see any reason why this vision shouldn’t become reality.

Fibre optic cable is not any more expensive than good quality coax cable. The optical LNB is in practice identical to standard LNB models; even supplying the power via the coax cable should become the norm.

Not only that, fibre optic cables can be used anywhere;it doesn’t matter if it’s placed next to high voltage lines or even a powerful electric motor. Global Invacom even thought about those customers that receive DVB-T signals via a coax cable: thanks to a special adaptor, fibre optic cable can be used here too.

Optical LNB Advantages
The biggest plus with the optical LNB is that all four band/polarization combination can be transmitted through the one cable at the same time.That brings with it the advantage that the signal can be split as often as needed and that each output can operate completely independently from all the others. The extremely long distances that fibre optic cables can be run without any appreciable signal attenuation is another huge bonus.

Fibre optic cables are small in size and will easily fit in any ductwork. Because of its extremely low signal loss, it is significantly better over very long distances than coax cable in terms of signal quality.

With weak signals this could easily be the difference between receiving a signal and not receiving it. Distances covering several kilometers can be run without any significant signal loss;Global Invacom has already performed some field tests in that regard. Additionally, the optical system has lower material costs compared to systems using expensive multiswitches.

Price
What would it cost to convert to an optical system? In many cases, the implementation of an optical LNB can actually lead to cost savings
since the setup of a system for multiple users can now be calculated differently than in the past. Only one LNB at about 200 Euros is needed. The material needed to connect two or four receivers is also around 200 Euros. The necessary fibre optic cable runs a little under 2 Euros per meter (shorter lengths with connectors cost more per meter versus longer lengths that cost less).

Then there are the optical splitters that run about 30 Euros for a two-way splitter, roughly 70 Euros for a four-way splitter up to 160 Euros for an eight-way splitter. The installer would also have one-time costs associated with optical test equipment.

Outlook for the Future
For Global Invacom the market introduction of the optical LNBs is only the firstof many large steps. At the moment the signal makes its way from the LNB to the converter box via a fibre optic cable but the remaining short distance to the tuner is still covered by a coax cable. For this reason Global Invacom has already been in contact with tuner manufacturers with the idea of incorporating fibre optic technology directly in the receiver. For the end user this means that no converter box would be needed and that the signal could be carried digitally all the way to the chipset in the receiver.

As we would expect, Global Invacom is thinking even further ahead and already has the technology to carry not only satellite signals but also telephone, Internet and local network services.

This would mean that the TV, receiver, PC, telephone, etc, would not only be served by a single cable, but that all of these devices could communicate with each other through the fibre-optic cable. Controlling all of these devices now takes on a whole new meaning. The optical LNB should prove to be a formid able competitor to the classic coax cable system setup. Who would be satisfied with a limited preset number of channels when they can receive the entire frequency spectrum of a satellite with 1000 channels free of charge?

And thanks to conference call service providers Internet access and telephone via Global Invacom’s fibre optic technology, cable’s Triple Play promotion doesn’t count for much anymore. An optical LNB allows the transmission of these three communication conference calling service more cost effectively to as many households as is needed over long distances and with more choices for the end-user. We should also mention that Global Invacom’s fibre optic technology could revolutionize Internet access in the future since no other type of connection today is as fast as via a fibre optic cable and let’s not forget that the same fibre optic cable can carry all of your favorite satellite TV signals.

We are witnessing the dawn of a new age in direct satellite reception and in just a few years we will only be able to marvel at coax cable in a museum and no longer on our satellite antennas and receivers thanks to innovative companies like Global Invacom!

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HD Satellite PC Card TeVii S470

August 21st, 2009 zou

TeVii DVB-S/S2 PCI-E Card S470
In the past several years one development in particular has become more and more popular: the incorporation of digital receivers in a PC and of course the digital receivers with built-in PC’s. We are keeping an eye out on the development of set-top boxes that, in addition to the normal function of receiving digital TV and radio content via satellite, can also connect to the Internet so that video conference calling clips or IPTV can be played back. These home multimedia powerhouses would also be able to display your pictures, play back music and even allow you to play games. At the same time, more and more homes are warming up to the idea of PC reception. There are a number of reasons for this: receiving satellite TV through a PC is less expensive than with a stand-alone set-top box, conference call recording digital content can take place directly on the hard drive of the PC  this saves the user time when burning a DVD in that the data doesn’t first have tobe transferred over to a PC.Then there are those house holds that despite having an LCD monitor that they use with their PC’s, they still have an older TV that is used for normal TV viewing. And since watching HDTV programming without a high resolution LCD or plasma TV makes no sense, this content is also viewed through a PC.

The Taiwanese company TeVii recognized this trend a long time ago and has strengthened their development of  TV and radio reception solutions for PC’s. This wouldn’t be the first time that TELE-satellite introduced a TeVii product; one of these was the TeVii S650 USB box.

This time it’s the new S470 PC Card. This new model is not connected externally; instead it is linked directly to the motherboard via a PCI-E slot. This is a modification of the well-known PCI slot in that much higher transmission speeds are now possible; perfect for HDTV reception. PCI-E slots come in two different hights, and TeVii even provides the S470 with both brackets: the standard one for regular PCs and the low profile bracket,which is ideally suited for the new slim PCs.

We began by installing the card in a typical PC. For us this turned out to be an older Pentium IV 3 GHz PC with 1GB RAM. According to the manufacturer, the mini-mum PC requirements are a 2 GHz CPU for SDTV or 2.4 GHz for HDTV, 512 MB RAM for SDTV and 1GB for HDTV as well as a graphics card with 128 MB of memory. Our test PC falls just within these requirements. Naturally, the TeVii card supports the Windows XP and Vista as well as Linux operating systems. The MyTeVii software is only compatible with Windows; Linux users must find suitable alternatives in the Internet. We were happy to see that TeVii included 64-bit drivers for Windows.

The TeVii card is delivered in a handy box. Included is a remote control with batteries, an IR receiver, a software CD and fold-out installation instructions. The TeVii S470 is plug&play compatible and for our test PC this meant install-ing the card in an available PCI-E slot and then putting the cover back on the PC.

We quickly connected a satellite cable from one of our signal distributors to the IF input on the card and last but not least connected the IR receiver. Now it was time to play. After turning on the PC, Windows XP immediately found the new hardware. Instead of letting Windows search for matching drivers, the installation CD was inserted into the appropriate drive. The installation assis-tant appeared and began installing the necessary driv-ers as well as the MyTeVii software.

At this point it is also possible to select whether just the drivers and MyTeVii software should be installed or if the TeVii Data program should also be installed. This program permits the use of Internet via satellite conference calling service but more on that later. After clicking the OK button it takes only a few seconds before all of the required data has found its way to our test PC. If for any reason you don’t happen to like the TeVii software, a demo version of ProgDVB can also be found on the installation CD. We will have more on this pro-gram and other alternative programs a little later.

The included remote control sits very nicely in your hands, is clearly labeled and left us with a very favorable impression in terms of its workman-ship.

Software Setup

When the TeVii software is started for the first time,itinitially greets the user with a blank screen. A preprogrammed channel list isn’t activated nor does the soft-ware ask the user to perform a channel scan. Considering that the TeVii S470 is being distributed around the world and that a preprogrammed channel list would probably not make sense anyway, it would have been nice if the user was directed to an automatic or manual channel scan.

The TeVii developed user interface provided us with a very clean and organized impression. On the right side are the channel list and avail-able satellites; the currently selected channel is displayed to the left. An EPG bar at the bottom of the display window provides information on the currently running program. The size of the playback window can be adjusted to your liking; the TV picture can also be viewed in full-screen mode.

Clicking the right mouse button opens the Options menu giving the user access to all of the necessary settings. The TeVii software itself is very international conference call ; it can communicate with the user in a variety of languages: English, French, German, Arabic, Chinese, Finnish, Ital-ian, Polish, Russian, Span-ish and Swedish. With this many choices, no one should have any problems finding  a matching language.

The settings menu comes with a variety of options and settings possibilities. Nearly every aspect of the software can be matched to the users requirements, such as, how content is displayed, the stor-ing and operation of the channel lists, the control of LNBs, the use of multiple monitors, setting up recordings and time shifting, the video and audio Codec’s, the IR receiver, the parameters for the EPG display and last but not least an Expert menu that provides access to the basic parameters of the software. Despite all of these settings possibilities, the Main menu has remained clear and easy to understand. TeVii accomplished this thanks to the window architecture that is part of MS Windows. It would not be possible to clearly present so many settings in a standard set top box. Once all of the needed settings are taken care of, the TeVii card must then become acquainted with the antenna system with which it will be used.

Since the card works with all the different DiSEqC protocols, it can be used with a typical multifeed antenna (DiSEqC 1.0), a Wave frontier antenna with up to 16 LNBs (DiSEqC 1.1) as well as a motorized system (DiSEqC 1.2 and USALS) without any problems. The S470 comes with a large selection of pre-programmed satellites that includes 170 American, European and Asian satellites. It’s not very often that we see a receiver that comes with so many satellites to choose from that are also for the most part very up to date. Thanks to the easy to understand OSD structure it is quite easy to match the necessary parameters (DiSEqC, LOF, etc.) to each individual satellite. It’s also just as easy with just a few mouse clicks to access, delete or edit transponders. The same holds true for the satellite settings.

To make sure that the signal from the LNB can be processed correctly, it is necessary to provide the correct local oscillator frequency (LOF) and switching point between low and high band. The MyTeVii software comes preprogrammed with a number of LOF values for the Ku-band and C-band and if you happen to be using an LNB with a non-standard LOF, it can simply be entered in manually. When all the parameters from your antenna system have been entered, the next step takes you to a channel scan. At this point you can perform a manual transponder scan or let the TeVii S470 handle all of the scanning work automatically.

Since the S470 is a PC solution, the size of the channel memory is for all practical purposes unlimited and almost begs to be filled with channel data. The card is both DVB-S and DVB-S2 compatible and therefore, in addition to QPSK modulation in DVB-S, it also supports 8PSK in DVB-S2. The “Auto” setting switches between the two by itself. An automatic scan of HOTBIRD at 13° east was completed in just a little over six minutes in our tests. Not bad at all considering this is a PC solution. The TeVii card also gallantly passed one of our toughest tests with the horizontal transponders on NILESAT at 7° west. The S470 also performed perfectly with our SCPC test; it was able to process the narrow band signals on TÜRKSAT 42° east without any difficulties.

Everyday Use
Thanks to the extremely fast data connection through the PCI-E bus, the S470 can switch between channels very quickly; it makes channel surf-ing a lot of fun. It doesn’t matter if you’re switching between HD channels or SD channels or if you’re switching from HD to SD or vice versa, the switching time is just a little over one second. This is actually quite good considering this is a PC solution and it even leaves some set top boxes in the dust. When in Windows mode, the software, if desired, blends in EPG information on the current program at the bottom of the display.

It is also possible to make this EPG information as well as channel data visible on the on-screen display. This is especially practical when the PC monitor is being used in full-screen mode as a TV and the TeVii software is being controlled from the couch via the remote control. The per-fect design of the TeVii software is only further confirmed in the channel list. It can be sorted and modified a number of ways so that, for example, channels can be grouped by package, transponder or satellite or Favorites lists can be filled with channels that you watch more often. Unwanted channels can be marked and deleted with just a single click. Adult channels can be locked out with a PIN code so that kids can’t accidentally stumble on those channels.

It is quite practical that the editing of the entire channel list takes place directly in the MyTeVii software window thus making any changes immediately visible. In addition to the playback of  live TV, the S470 naturally also comes with recording and time shift func-tions. For one thing, record-ings can be manually started. They can also be started at a specific time through the EPG or programmed manually. Thanks to the time shift function, you won’t miss any of the action in that movie you’re watching should the telephone ring. The movie is simply paused and when you’ve had enough of talk-ing with your favorite Aunt, you can pick up watching that movie where you left off.

The TeVii software can store recordings as a trans-port stream or in MPEG compatible format so that it can be played back with any video player. The EPG was designed with clarity and simplicity in mind. It displays all of the information provided by a broadcaster in an easy-to read and logically sorted format. Ideally, this would let you see programming information up to seven days in advance with data on each individual program such as content, provider, etc.

For the most part, the TeVii software appears to be perfect, but TeVii kept in mind that good can always be made better. For this reason the engineers included a plug-in interface that with the help of the software will let you add a variety of extra features.

How much of a load does thiscard put on the processor?
A big question is this: if you plan to do other work with your PC while the TeVii software is playing back video, how much does this TV reception affect the running of other programs? In SD mode, a PC with half way decent hardware will have no problems at all. But with HDTV the outlook is different. If it involves HDTV in 720p format, our older Intel Pentium IV did not have any problems and was able to produce an interference-free picture with a processor load of about 75%.

But in 1080i mode, video dropouts were the norm and the CPU load climbed to nearly 100%. At the same time, doing other work on the PC was not really possible while TV playback was in operation. We therefore decided to test the card in a more modern PC (Intel Core2Duo). The result was as expected: the card was able to realize its full potential and played back HDTV in 1080i format without any problems at all. With that in mind, we want to make it clear that the manufacturer’s hardware requirements for HD reception are really the minimum requirements.

If you are more experienced in handling your software set-tings and if your video card supports H264 acceleration, then TeVii has some tricks on hand, how to bring down processor load significantly.This is what’s needed to do: Go to main menu: Settings, Directshow Filters, Cyberlink, Video and in the properties mark “Use Hardware Accelerator” or “DXVA” (depending on your system). Apply the changes and go to the main settings menu of MyTeVii, go to Autograph and proceed like this: If you are using Vista or Windows 7 choose “Enhanced Video Renderer”. If you are using XP choose Video Mixing Renderer 7. That’s all, close settings windows, and restart MyTeVii. Note that the enhanced Video Renderer is not compatible with the IVR mode and thus will work only in simple mode, this means no OSD.
The only feature that was missing from the TeVii S470 PCI-E card was a CI slot. For you, the end user, this means that PayTV reception is not possible. However, there are two solutions to this! You may wait till 3rd Quarter 2009 and TeVii will introduce the S475, which is a DVB-S2 low profile PCI-E card with CI daughter board. It will feature a CAN tuner with a loop through. The other possiblity is software. There are quite a few TV viewers available that work well with the TeVii S470,the most popular and most widely used of these would of course be ProgDVB. Obviously, ProgDVB can’t magi-cally pull a CI slot out of a hat, but it is possible to access another receiver through card sharing using a valid Smart-Card. It could work like this: you have a valid “PayTV subscription” card that is inserted in a receiver in your living room. You set up your PC in such a way that it has access to this receiver through a network connection. With the proper plug-ins, this will let you access the SmartCard in your receiver with the TeVii S470 and thereby share that SmartCard with your living room receiver and the TeVii card.

ProgDVB isn’t the only one out there. There are a number of other programs that together with the S470 will provide you with TV reception. Refer to Table 1 for the necessary links. In meantime, the new MyTeVii 4.xx software, which was not yet available at time of this test, will also support all kind of plugins including softcams, card sharing and so on. We also don’t want to forget the radio lovers out there. The TeVii S470 is not just for TV reception; it naturally can also be used for top-quality satellite radio reception. And just like TV channels, radio channels can also be recorded and digitally stored.

TeVii Data
TeVii doesn’t only specialize in satellite TV and radio reception products; there’s also a completely different application. The magical phrase here is Internet via Satellite. The technology behind this is quite simple: the user sets up a connection via modem or ISDN. The speed of this connection can be a mere 56kbps but it only plays a very small role. If the user surfs the Internet or starts a download, the request is sent via modem to the Internet via Satellite provider which then retrieves the data via a high-speed connection and routes it to a satellite. The customer at the other end only sends the information request via modem to his provider; the information he needs is sent back to him at high speed via satellite.

The only drawback is that every person that can receive the same satellite can also receive the data you requested. Yes, the data is encrypted and only meant for you to receive but there is software available that will bypass this encryption so that the data can be seen by others as well. In our tests, data reception using the TeVii software functioned flawlessly. We didn’t expect any-thing else.

What’s better? PCI-E Card or USB Box?
Unlike the S470 PCI-E card, the TeVii’s S650 is externally connected to a PC via USB 2.0 and powered by an exter-nal power supply. We were interested to find out which of these versions would be better for the end user. To this end we checked the pro-cessor load on our Intel Pentium IV PC in SDTV mode as well as in HDTV (720p and 1080i) mode. We discovered that both the USB version and PCI-E version placed about the same load on the PC.

As you can see in the processor load screen shots, both values are in the same range. The variations that can be seen are due to smaller changes in the video (the same scene shown for a longer period of time) resulting in less of a load on the processor. For the end user the choice ultimately comes down to personal taste. The USB box is clearly more flexible and can also be used on camping trips together with a laptop. The PCI-E version has the advantage that it doesn’t need an external power supply and doesn’t have an external box that takes up valuable space on your desk.

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HD Satellite Receiver AB IPBox 91HD PVR

August 18th, 2009 zou

AB IPBox 91HD Modern powerful Linux-based HD PVR doesn’t have to be expensive.We are living in hard times. It just happened that worldwide economic crisis hit us right in the middle of HDTV boom. Everybody starts to save on all possible things. HDTV might seem luxury under such circumstances. Would it mean that the bird that flew so high lately would have its wings cut? Not at all! ABCom,the Slovakian expertin Linux-based receiver manufacturing, offers a great anti-crisis solution. Just because the income now is less than it used to be, picture quality is something that doesn’t have to suffer. We got a chance to test their latest add-on to the HD receiver conference call line, the AB IPBox 91HD. Having pleasant memories about ABCom top receiver models, we were excited to see what the budget member of the family is going to be like.

After opening the package that arrived to our test lab we first thought is there a mistake? We already tested ABCom’s 250 and 350 Prime, and the new box’s front panel looked exactly the same. But after a more careful look the curious eye is caught by HD and HDMI abbrevations on the receiver, meaning that we have something brand new in our hands!

Front panel really gives a dejavu feeling with its seven buttons in the middle of it (Menu, Exit, OK, Left, Right, Up and Down), as well as a horseshoe-shaped Standby button on the left side. The smartcard reader on the right is there to make the pay-tv fans happy. And last but not least the four-symbol segment display in case you would be interested in the channel number currently on or other conference call service providers information.

Rear panel might seem a little ascetic at first.But what do we actually need nowdays for HDTV reception? An HDMI output? You got it. S/PDIF audio output for a perfect sound? Here it is. Of course, the whole thing would not work with-out a satellite signal, so we have here an LNB input with a loop-through output. Multimedia features and Optic PVR ? USB interface is right where you expect it to be. Oh, you still wouldn’t like to completely forget about Standard Resolution SDTV? Ok, there is a single SCART output, rather for backwards compatibility. But don’t forget to connect the thing to your home network, since AB IPBox 91HD is a Linux-based receiver, and you would miss a lot of fun if you don’t. Because of its power, 91HD needs to be adequately cooled, that’s why we again have here a cooling fan. Luckily much more quiet then in our previously tested 910HD sample, but, unfortunately, still clearly audible.

With the remote control almost all features of the box can be easily addressed with, but it would have been nice to keep the possibility to control a TV-set with it (as in all previously tested ABCom models), as well as the button giving direct one-click access to PVR recordings. Except for that it can be positively characterized: it became lighter and all its buttons are easily reach-able with just one finger.91HD’s user manual keeps up with good traditions. You can hardly wish for a more detailed explanation of all receiver’s basic features. There are some interest-ing tips there as well, if you would like to go beyond simple satellite reception. Even a newbie would hardly get lost. The package also contains a CD with a lot of goodies for your receiver, including programs for a software upgrade, channel editing and so on. It’s no longer a need to hunt for them on various websites.

Installation
Once 91HD is powered up for the very first time,theuser lands in an Installation Wizard that doesn’t differ much from the one in top ABCom HD models. Actually, its software is as good as with its older brothers, but first let’s set the preferred languages on the welcome screen.

On-screen menu can be displayed in English, Russian, French, Italian, Dutch, German, Danish, Slovak, Czech, Hungarian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Greek, Turkish, Korean, Croatian, Bosnian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Finnish or Ukrainian. The same choice you get here for the preferred audio conference call language as well as teletext character set. Next step lets you select your time zone, daylight savings options and if you would like to set the current time manually or rather let the receiver update it automatically from the satellite stream.

Third step brings us closer to the satellite-related stuff. First you have to add receive-able satellites by pressing the red button. LOF frequen-cies can be freely entered, as well as endless DiSEqC options selected, since the receiver supports all versions of this protocol, from 1.0, 1.1, 1.2 to USALS. Once all work here is done, you’re only one yellow-button-click away from channel search.

Actually, ABCom prepared some surprises for us here. For example, you can now select from Default Scan, Smart Scan and Reset Scan. They might not be significant during the installation process, but might save you a lot of headaches later on. The firs tone justs cans the satellite, adding new channels in the end of the main list. Smart Scan completely resets the main list, keep-ing the favorite one, scans the satellite, then updates your favorite list with actual channel parameters. Pretty convinient! And the last one, Reset Scan, just removes all the channel data from all lists, and initiates the search.

Hardcore DXers would be happy with 91HD’s DVB-S/S2 tuner sensitivity, and also by its SCPC performance. Our SCPC test channel of the day – Jamawar from EUROBIRD 2, with SR of just 1780, was processed flawlessly!

But while we are still at the installation stage, it would rather make sense to decide how fast you’d like to see the first picture on your TV screen. If you would rather prefer a more up-to-date channel list, run the regular channel search, which, for an 86-transponder satellite position in our test, was completed in 5 minutes com46 seconds (significantly faster then before!), resulting in 1188 TV and 217 Radio channels. However, if you find even that too long,press the green button for a “Quick Load”. Live picture and sound would hit your screen within seconds !

Everyday use
The menu system and end-user functionality of 91HD is almost equal to 900HD or 910HD, just set aside a bit by some minor hardware limitations. The channel list is still feature-loaded, allow-ing one-click sorting by alphabet, FTA/encrypted, provider or satellite. If the alphabet sorting is on, it’s easy to select the first letter of the channel you’re interested in, just select it on the remote in a way you would do on your mobile phone when typing an SMS.

Pressing the yellow button allows you to jump right to the next letter if some-thing went wrong. Pressing “i” and entering the password (0000 by default) gives access to deleting,hiding, locking, renaming and moving the channels, as well as to our all-time fave – adjusting the default audio volume for channels. Press-ing the “FAV” button toggles to favorite-list mode, the same “Sports”, “Drama”, “News”, “Movie” and “Music” default groups are pre-programmed, the user is free to add as many new ones as he wishes.

Adding new channels to favorite lists takes place in a convinient window with two panels, just copy the needed ones from left to right and voila, you have all the channels you like in one place, without the need to search for them again and again in the main list. And remember, if you choose “Smart Scan” next time you’d like to search for new channels, your favorite lists will not be lost!

If you press the same “i” button once outside of the channel list, it will bring the good old infobar, showing channel number, name, satellite, current time, avail-ability of teletext, broadcasting format as well as SD/HD resolution. Bottom right corner contains information about the transponder frequency and SR. Second click brings up a bigger window, with a provider name, used encryption systems list and a possibility to set recording “bookmarks”, in case the channel is being recorded by PVR or if you have the time shifting mode turned on.

In case of 91HD, we can only connect the hard disk to the USB port on the rear panel of the receiver. At first this raised questions here in the test lab if it would be sufficient for HD recording, however, numerous tests didn’t raise any further concerns. The perfect HD picture we had during the regular reception was re-played from the HDD without any dropouts or glitches.

It’s easy to start recording, easy to stop it, but, unfortunately, not as easy to get back to it when it’s needed. The user first has to go to the main menu, choose “Multimedia”, then “Recorded Files”. In two previous models of ABCom HD receivers this window could be reached by pressing one single button on the remote control. Except for this inconvinience, PVR is as good as before. Recording can be either started by clicking the “red circle” button on the remote control, either by selecting the needed show in EPG, either by accessing a special “Recording Schedule” submenu. No matter if it’s in SD or in HD, the main match of the year will no longer be missed, even if you have lots of urgent work to do!

EPG in 91HD is also realized in good old two-variant way. Pressing “EPG” button once brings up a list of the upcoming events for the currently selected channel, second click opens a real program guide – you will see a big grid with event titles from current and neighbouring channels. The schedule can be zoomed in and out, and is only limited by amount of information the broad-caster is willing to share.

If it just happens that you Optic can’t pick a show fittingforyour current mood, probably it’s the right time to discover the rich amount of good-ies 91HD has, that are not directly connected with satellite reception. Since this is a Linux-based system, various plug-ins can be installed, allowing you to play tetris, sudoku or pingpong, check e-mails or weather forecasts. Remember we advised you to use the wonderful LAN socket and connect the receiver to your home network or directly to Internet? Here it really starts to make sense, because if the broadcaster was not accurate enough to properly add the information to the EPG, a special plug-in would look for the needed schedules on the Internet.

Or, what was really great to discover, now it’s possible to listen to Internet shout-cast radio stations right on the receiver! Forget about remaining in silence if the bad weather made satellite reception impossible for some time! And these are just the ones included in the offical firmware,there are lots and lots of other plugins,it’s just enough to google around, and your receiver’s functionality will go beyond your imagination!

Multimedia features
Even if Internet international conference call is inaccessible from the receiver, you can still view photos, play MP3s or movies from your HDD. While testing the 910HD we noticed that sometimes audio and video were not perfectly synchronized; this problem was solved quite elegantly in latest firmware versions, also for 91HD.

If you start playing your favorite film and notice the lack of synchronization , just press “Channel Up” or “Channel Down” arrows to make the audio appear ear-lier or later. The step is 100 ms, so after a few click you would get a perfect match. The only drawback is that if you pause or fast-forward the video, the selection is lost, and you would have to set it again. This hopefully should be easy to fix for the manufacturer.

Firmware upgrade
We can also underline some serious improvements here. The convinient Internet update is up and running again and is offering the most actual version (9341 at the moment this report was written). If for whatever reason you prefer not to use the direct Internet update, the USB one also became much more convinient. No more endless rebooting, just go to Main Menu – Advanced Setup USB Mode, plug in the USB stick with a firmware file you’d like to use, and voila within seconds it will be copied to receiver’s memory and installed.

If your budget is tight during crisis, it doesn’t mean that you have to forget about HD reception and all the wonderful features brought by Linux-based receivers. ABCom introduced its 91HD just in time, it’s offered at almost unbeatable price for picture quality and range of options it delivers. DVB-S, DVB-S2, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 are perfectly received and recorded, your own media files are easily played back,even listening to Inter-net shoutcast stations no longer requires a computer. The firmware is frequently updated with new goodies, and there are hundreds of addons available for you to install. Looks like 91HD is worth every penny paid for it.

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Digital Satellite Analyzer

August 11th, 2009 zou

Satellite Analyzer

Spectrum Analyzer With Rotator control

Convenient and quick  searching by project name setting

I/Q Constellation diagram(HD level 8PSK)
PRE-BER,Post-BER,SNR and MER measurement
“Blind scan” for DVB-S,DVB-S2,DSS and TP list
easy upload and download new satellite file list
data logger with USB port

Spectrum Analyzer
accurate level measurement
peak detection :code, level, of
DiseqC 1.0/1.1/1.2 (Rotator) suporting
Easy portable and lightweight type
Li-poly Battery  (7.4V 3800 mA)

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Multimedia Powerhouse IPDVD Box

August 10th, 2009 zou

IPDVD Box Pocket Sized Multimedia Powerhouse. Since the larger receiver manufacturers introduced the first PVR set top boxes to the market a few years ago, their top of the conference call line models come with features such as MP3 playback, picture viewers or video conference calling players. But every one of these receivers has one thing in common: their development focused mainly on TV and radio reception as well as the use of the PVR functions. Yes, these boxes could handle MP3 playback, etc., but the integration of these extra multimedia features was not necessarily well thought out. For one thing, with many of these receivers, the content had to first be uploaded to the internal hard drive, a process that could take a long time depending on the type of connection (network or USB) and what chipset the receiver has.

This was reason enough for the Chinese firm IPDVD to develop a multimedia box to bridge this gap in the market. The requirements were quickly finalized: a digital video and audio conference call output should provide an extremely high quality version of the media content, the data itself should be accessed directly from a network or an external storage device, TV content should be accessible via the Internet and all of this should fit into the smallest possible housing.

With these requirements finalized,the IPDVD engineers went to work. When we were told a few weeks ago about the IPDVD box and asked if we would like to test it out, we naturally agreed and the manufacturer sent us a sample unit for testing.

The IPDVD box is easy to handle and at 12×10x2.5 cm it can easily be incorporated into any living room TV setup. On the front side of this elegant black and silver box are two easy to access USB 2.0 ports for connection to external storage devices such as a USB hard drive or memory sticks. Next to them is a nicely positioned IR receiver.

The back panel of the IPDVD box is nicely equipped and comes with all the necessary types of connections. For the best possible picture qual-ity there’s an HDMI output, a digital audio output for superb audio, a network interface, a jack for the external 12V power supply as well as a multi-pin connector for use with the included adapter cable. This adapter cable provides a set of three YUV outputs as well as one for CVBS and two audio connections.

The included remote control is logically laid out, properly labeled and sits comfortably in your hand.
The workmanship of the box and the remote control is exceptional and leaves nothing out. We were a little surprised at the internal cooling fan; it makes a somewhat loud whirring sound while the box is in operation and even when it’s in standby. But the manufacturer already reacted: the new IPDVD Mini 1.3 has a very quiet fan.

As far as its power requirements go, it uses the same amount of power in standby mode as it does during normal operation.

Installation
Once the package contain-ing the IPDVD box arrived, we did not want to waste any time getting to work testing out the features of this box. We connected the box to our plasma TV with an HDMI cable and at first saw nothing;the TV screen remained dark.

We then connected the included adapter cable to the box and used the CVBS output with the TV. A few seconds later, the main menu appeared on the screen and our first task was to search for the HDMI problem. It didn’t take long to find out what was wrong.More precisely, it wasn’t a problem at all but rather an operational mistake: when we switched the picture output in the main menu from CVBS to HDMI, the box instantly began to use the much better quality HDMI output.

For us it was no problem handling these settings. For a beginner though who might be more used to Plug&Play type boxes or might not have the proper adapter cable available, this could become a hurdle he might not be able to jump over. The manufacturer should consider shipping the IPDVD boxes from the factory with both the CVBS and HDMI outputs already activated.

At the very least the user manual should clearly explain this. The package shipped to us included an instructional pamphlet that was only in Chinese but, according to the manufacturer, a user hand book should be available in English by the time production starts. In meantime, the new model IPDVD Mini 1.3 has the HDMI output increased from 1.1 to version 1.3.

When the box is turned on for the first time,the Main Menu appears. It is recommended though that you first check the basic settings of the box in the Setup menu. At the moment only English and Chinese are the avail-able on-screen display (OSD) languages however other languages will become available in the near future. Other settings such as the display timer or the desired subtitle language can be accessed in the Preferences menu.

A large selection of video output formats are available including CVBS in PAL and NTSC, YUV in 480 i/p, 576 i/p, 720 i/p and 1080 i/p and this in 50 or 60 Hz. Then there’s HDMI 480p, 576p, 720p and 1080i/p also in 50 or 60 Hz and then of course VESA in 1280×768, 1360×768, 1366×768, 1440×900, 1680×1050 und 1920×1200.

Additionally, there are settings related to picture format (4:3 or 16:9 as well as selecting which format should be used for 4:3 signals on 16:9 TV’s) and last but not least a variety of digital audio output settings (Digital RAW, Digital PCM and Analog RAW).

The connection with your LAN as well as the Internet is handled in the Network settings page. The box also sup-ports DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol)and can there fore automatically acquire all the necessary local router or DSL modem information. Naturally, the more experienced users can set up all of the IP data manually. A time server is already pre configured to provide the box with the current date and time.

To top it all off, the logically designed and easy-to-use Main menu also provides a variety of options for DVD and audio CD playback (such as a child lock). You can also restore the software to its factory default settings or upload new software directly from the manufacturer’s server via the Internet.

Everyday Use
Operating this box is divided into two main operating areas:Playing Back Local Media Most of you probably recognize this problem: You’re sitting comfortably in your living room and want to listen to some music on your stereo system but the music you want to hear is on your PC in your home office.

Normally you would have to first burn it to a CD so that it can be played back in your living room. And what about when your relatives come for a visit? You want to show them pictures or videos from your last vacation but this data is also stored on your PC. What will you do now?

The IPDVD box has the perfect solution: it integrates itself into your local network thereby making all of that data available for your TV where before it could only be seen on your PC.

And the best part is that the box can do all of this without needing any special configuration or added software since a standard PC with a fairly up to date operating system (Windows XP or higher) is good enough.

In order to playback music, video and picture data through the IPDVD box, you simply connect it to your local net-work and then turn the PC on.

The PC should recognize the IPDVD box and asks the user to make the data avail-able. This availability takes place through Windows Media Player, a part of the operating system, and is taken care of in just a few mouse clicks. You merely select what data should be made available and the rest is handled for you by Windows and the IPDVD box.

Especially interesting is that Windows Media Player isn’t the only media source supported; Bonjour (for MAC users) is also supported as are the UPnP, SSDP, DLNA, NSS , SMB, NFS,HTTP protocols and the myi-Home, WizD, Swiss Center, MSP Portal, Llink and GB-PVR servers. Every user should be able to find the ir matching connection method even when they don’t want to or can’t use Windows Media Player.

As soon as the date is made available, a new entry will appear in the IPDVD Main menu with the name of your PC. Selecting this entry will provide access to all of the music, video and picture data that you previously made available. You can play back MP3 music, videos, photos, even an entire slideshow.

The list of supported video and audio formats is so long we had to put it in a separate table; it shows the many capabilities of the IPDVD box.

Throughout our tests we had absolutely no problems operating any of the box’s features; everything ran fully automatically and was so easy to use that even newbies to the world of multimedia would thoroughly enjoy using this box.

We were especially impressed with the video player that effortlessly played back every known format regardless of whether it was a video downloaded from the Internet, a digital satellite receiver recording or a video camera recording.

SD as well as HD content is also supported! Only when you use a larger TV can you really enjoy all of the HD content available via the Inter-net or recorded via a satellite receiver. The two USB jacks on the front side can be used with external storage devices that can also be accessed by the box. This is especially practical if the pictures or videos you want to see are still stored in a camera. In this case, you simply connect the camera via a USB cable to the box making those pictures you just shot also available on your TV.

IPTV via Internet
The second operating area of the IPDVD box is the process-ing and display of video and audio conference calling content from the Internet. For this purpose the box uses the Media Service Portal from Syabas Technology.

The Media Service Portal (MSP) is really nothing more than a specially prepared Internet page for set top boxes from which every possible media format can be accessed. With the help of plug-ins, all of your favorite video/audio content can be displayed.

A variety of these plugins are ready to be used; those more experienced users can create their own plugins for media content that is not yet supported.The box is shipped with several dozen plug-ins already included. Only those more important and popular ones are mentioned here:
Number one would have to be the plugin for the You-Tube video portal. It lets you use this service the way you’d be familiar with on a PC. You can search for videos in the YouTube database; the most viewed videos, the highest rated videos and your particular favorites are at your fingertips.

Despite the fact that the picture quality of  YouTube video is better suited for viewing on a PC and not so much on a larger TV, we were satisfied with the video presentation. Recently, YouTube switched over to better encoding and this move certainly paid off for them.

The Flickr and Picassa plugins provide a connection with their respective online services. They give you access to pictures from other users and also let you upload your own photos for your friends and relatives to see.

Other plug-ins, for example, give you weather information for the entire globe or even local traffic information. And Podcast lovers were not left out either; content can be found in the plug-ins for every possible subject. Even individual video channels such as Cranky Geeks or Revision 3 with up-to-date Internet information can be found.

An interesting extra, especially for those users outside of the USA, is the ability to watch TV channels such as CNN, NBC and CBS with pro-grams like Larry King, Anderson Cooper, Today Show, Meet the Press, Face the Nation, NBC Nightly News and CBS News. You can even tune into a large variety of radio pro-grams such as news services from BBC, ABC or MSNBC any time you want.

Of course, the box can also work with every type of RSS feed letting the user stay up to date with current events.If you plan on using any other services, you can simply expand your Media Service Portal with additional plug-ins. At the same time, a Community page can be called up through the IPDVD box that lets you choose from specific plugins from developers sorted by category.

At the moment IPTV is working very hard to start their own video platform; it’s already online and has quite an array of content available. However, for now much of this content is geared towards Asian viewers; eventually it will be expanded to make it more interesting for other countries and continents.

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Business Communication New Satellite

August 7th, 2009 zou

ARABSAT 5A
This C-band multi-mission satellite will be launched on a Proton Breeze M vehicle from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It will be located on 30.5° East and replace the old ARABSAT 2B satellite. It will have 26 C-band (16 normal + 10 in the so-called Appendix 30B) and 24 (12+12) Ku-band transponders. The satellite will be built and delivered in orbit by a joint team of Astrium and Thales Alenia Space. Astrium, as the leading partner, will supply the platforms and integrate the satellites. Thales Alenia Space will design and build the communications payloads. The team will also upgrade the ground control segment for the extended ARABSAT satellite fleet.ARABSAT5 Aisan Eurostar E3000 model satellite with a launch mass of 4,800 kg and a spacecraft power of 11kW at the end of its 15-year service lifetime. It will be capable of serving the entire Africa and Middle East (MEA) regions, as well as most of Central Asia with a large range of communications services such as television backhauling and broadcasting, telephony, business communications, Internet trunking and the provision of “VSAT” and other interactive services.

AMC-5R
This SES-Americom satellite has been built by Orbital Sciences Corporation on the Star-2.4 Bus platform and will replace AMC-5 at the 281.0° East (79.0° West) orbital position. It has 24 C-band and 24 Ku-band transponders that will serve the Continental United States and portions of the Carribean. Six of the channels in each band can be cross-strapped to the opposite band, allowing signals to be transmitted to the satellite in one frequency and received in the other, giving customers added flexibility while enabling new service developments and enhancements. The bird has a launch mass of 3,152 kg, approximately 5 kW of payload power and a mission life of 15 years.

INTELSAT 16
INTELSAT 16, the new satellite with 24 Ku-band transponders will occupy 302.0° East (58.0° West) orbital position. The satellite employs Orbital Sciences Corporation’s Star-2.4 Bus and will be launched from Baikonur cosmodrome on the Proton Breeze M vehicle. The satellite has a lifetime of 15 years and a mass of 2,5 tons.

It will provide high power Ku-band capacity for DTH services in Latin America and serve as a complement to the INTELSAT 9.

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Pay TV Satellite Receiver

August 2nd, 2009 zou

Decoding of Encrypted Content
The currently used DVB standard provides for encrypted channels to be decoded according to the following procedure: A subscriber receives a “smart card” from their content provider. This smart card is equipped with a key that is required to decode encrypted channels and/or programs. The relevant key is sent to the card via satellite. As each card features a unique serial number content providers are in a position to activate or deactivate each individual smart card as necessary. In order to decode the encrypted transport stream transmitted by the satellite a code is required which is re-generated every few seconds. This code is calculated directly by the CI module or  in case a proprietary receiver with built-in card reader is used – by the internal chipset of the box, using a number of different parameters which include among others  the key that is stored on the smart card.

Pay TV content can be decoded either by proprietary receivers  which means receivers that are specifically designed for a certain system or provider – or by using a common interface (CI). Some content providers such as Sky Digital in the United Kingdom provide proprietary receivers and consequently force their customers to only use certain approved receiver models which feature an integrated smart card reader and an internal chipset on the main board that takes care of decoding encrypted signals.

This type of encryption holds a number of benefits for providers (easy change of encryption system, full control over which features are supported by proprietary receivers, etc.). Subscribers, on the other hand, are left with no choice and have to take what their provider deems right for them. For example, content providers are able to determine that recordings that are saved on the internal hard disk cannot be transferred to external storage media such as DVDs. Or even some EPG features may be blocked, such as searching for programs on channels that are not part of the subscribed package. End users have no way of selecting alternative receivers that might offer all the features they are looking for. If, however, a content provider allows the use of CI (common interface) modules, subscribers are free to use the provided smart card in any receiver they like, provided it is compatible with the CI standard. This option gives full control to the user rather than the provider, as any CI compatible receiver can be used, and whenever new features become available a new receiver can be bought and used.

The so-called common interface is an interface based on PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card Association).

It measures 10 by 5.4 by 0.4 mm and is available for a whole range of encryption systems including Irdeto, Viaccess, Media-guard, Nagravision and Cryptoworks. A CI module simply has to be inserted into the corresponding slot on the receiver and instantly adds the option of pay TV receiver with a valid smart card.

Everyday useAs long as a standard CI receiver is used for watching an encrypted channel everything works smoothly and no problems should arise. While a subscriber is watching pay TV the provider is constantly transmitting new keys to the smartcard so that the decoding process is not interrupted.

The advent of PVR receiver and the possibility to save the transport stream of a digital channel directly onto a hard disk has revealed some weaknesses of the decoding process. In general, a smart card can only generate the required code for channels that are transmitted on a particular transponder, which means that while it is possible to decode two channels simultaneously (one for watching live, the other for recording), these two channels need to be on the same transponder. If they are on different transponders, only one channel can be decoded while the recorded channel is saved with encryption in place, because the CI module can only deal with one transponder at a time.

If you want to solve this problem you can of course use more than one smart card and CI module, but quite honestly, who is able or willing to afford that? That’s why almost all PVR receivers are designed in a way that allows storing encrypted content module on their hard disk as well. This means that the (second) encrypted transport stream is saved in an unprocessed format and as soon as a user calls up the recorded program it is dealt with as if it came right from the satellite, and it is decoded on the fly by sending the data from the harddisk to the CI module first.

While this is a solution that certainly has its merits, it also comes with a major drawback: Content providers change the key on their smart cards at regular intervals, and once this has happened the CI module is no longer able to generate the code required to decode data that was stored before the key change. Depending on the provider the key change intervals can range from several times a day to once every few months. The result, how-ever, invariably stays the same and any recording not decoded by the time the smart card key is changed via satellite is lost for good.

Some smart manufacturers quickly came up with a better solution: They allow decoding and re-saving an encrypted recording so that you end up with a decoded event that is saved on the internal hard disk and yours to view without limitation. While some receivers initiate this procedure automatically, others require manual activation. What happens in each case is that the encrypted recording is sent to the CI module for decoding and then stored again on the hard disk.

The use of a card splitter in combination with a second CI module is another way of working yourself around inherent smart card limitations. This way the smart card is used twofold by not inserting it into the receiver but into a dedicated control box instead which in turn is connected via cable or “WLAN” to two cards that are slotted into the CI modules in the receivers. This way two different pay channels can be recorded simultaneously using only one smart card.

What does the future hold?Right now a lot of effort is focused on further developing the CI specification with a project called CI Plus. This new standard will not be compatible with the current CI standard, which implies that receiver in future subscribers of pay TV using CI Plus will have to buy new receivers. What most clearly sets apart CI Plus from the current standard is its integrated copy protection mechanism which can make it impossible to copy recorded pay TV content from a receiver’s internal hard disk to any other storage medium. In addition, with CI Plus it will be possible to better protect children or minors from viewing unsuitable material. While the latter certainly is a most welcome development, imminent copy protection is a matter of heated debate. After all, even a single and perfectly legal copy of a recorded movie for private use will become a thing of the past if this feature is implemented. Users would be left with no choice but either to keep all recordings on their hard disk (which might eventually cause some storage capacity issues) or to wait until a movie they like is broadcast again.

What the new CI Plus specification suggests, however, is that content providers are free to decide themselves whether or not to activate these copy protection features. So let’s hope the rules of the marketplace will finally determine that only those providers will stay in business successfully that allow their subscribers to make a DVD or Blu-Ray copy of their favourite recording.

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