AzBox Premium HD Plus Excellent Video

TEST REPORT HDTV Receiver with Full HD

AzBox Premium HD Plus 0.52
True HDTV
and Infinite Features
We could hardly wait for the new Opensat AzBox Premium HD Plus to arrive. After all,
it's the first satellite receiver with 1080p full HD video output. We noticed right away
that the manufacturer had chosen a sturdy yet very elegant packaging
design, and our eyes grew even bigger when we opened the box to
first discover a rather large external power pack. As a matter
of fact, Opensat really had taken the step of separating
receiver and power pack, which actually is a
smart move considering the fact that
modern receivers generate a huge
a amount of heat, a
substantial part of
which comes
from the power
pack.

04-05/2010
AzBOx PREmium HD PluS
Excellent video quality
with full Internet access

So with the AzBox Premium
HD Plus Opensat has done
something which is so simple
and yet so smart that you

36 TELE-satellite — Global Digital TV Magazine — 04-05/2010 — www.TELE-satellite.com

Internet browser

At last a receiver that doesn‘t
have to be almost completely
disassembled simply to add a
hard disk. That‘s what we call
smart design.

Added to that is a very styl-
ish front panel that will blend
into any living room environ-
ment. It‘s only the buttons on
the upper side that take some
time to be comfortable with,
and depending on where and
how the box is positioned they
might even be a bit hard to
reach.

Bang in the middle of the
front panel a very easy to
read VF display is located just
below three LEDs which indi-
cate the current operating
mode. To the left there are
cross-shaped buttons for navi-
strike you: First, five screws gating in menus and lists and
are easily identifiable on the together with the previously
a little less background hum- upper side of the casing, and mentioned buttons on the
ming, especially with a major secondly, four buttons are upper side they allow oper-
heat source being separated located not on the front panel ating the receiver when the
really ask yourself why other from the main unit. But this is but on the front part of the remote control is misplaced or
manufacturers have not come a truly minor nuisance rather upper side. – heaven forbid! – the batter-
up with it before. Nonethe- than something which might ies have run empty.
less, Opensat has equipped potentially reduce your view- The raison d‘être of the five
the AzBox Premium HD Plus ing pleasure. screws becomes clear very Hidden behind a flap on the
with a small fan to be on the quickly: Unscrew them and left section of the front panel
safe side. While doing a great Looking at the AzBox for the you see a slot for integrating two CI slots can take in all
job it would help if it created very first time two issues will any 3.5-inch S-ATA hard disk. standard modules. There is

www.TELE-satellite.com — 04-05/2010 — TELE-satellite — Global Digital TV Magazine 37

TELE-satellite World www.TELE-satellite.com/...
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Available online starting from 2 April 2010

also a built-in card reader as of-the-art components, an
well as a USB interface for impression that is reinforced
hooking up external storage with every touch of a button.
media. Unfortunately, our test unit
arrived without a printed
Turning the receiver around manual, but this was readily
the back panel leaves noth- available for downloading from
ing to be desired either. Apart the Opensat website.
from the two sets of must-

AzBox Premium HD Plus channel list
have satellite IF inputs and Installation
loop-through outputs there is Turn on the box for the first
HDMI, 6 RCS jacks for YUV, time and it will welcome you
CVBS and analog audio, scart, with the installation menu on
network interface, USB, opti- your TV screen. Here you start
cal digital audio out and even out with setting your personal
a socket for attaching a 0/12 V preferences, beginning with
switch. DXers will love this last your preferred language.
feature, particularly as many
manufacturers have done The AzBox Premium HD
away with it completely. Plus is a truly international
fellow with Portuguese,
A mechanical power switch Dutch, Czech, Russian, Span-
rounds off an already perfect ish, Polish, Serbian, Hungar-
Display settings
first impression. ian, Greek, Bulgarian, Italian,
Slovakian and Turkish being
The AzBox Premium HD Plus available next to regulars such
comes with an ergonomically as English, French or German.
shaped remote control that Similarly, audio language
might overwhelm users with and subtitle language can be
all its buttons at first sight. chosen so that the receiver
But once you get the knack of automatically selects your
it and have become familiar preferred tongue if provided.
with the enormous range of
features this box offers, you‘ll The internal clock of the
slowly fall in love with your receiver can either be set
remote and wouldn‘t trade it manually or using data sent
Channel list editing
for anything in the world. It via satellite. A number of dif-
does come with a universal ferent display formats are
mode so that you‘ll be able available, which goes to prove
to control your TV set with that Opensat has looked at
the same unit, making room every aspect down to the very
for more useful items on the last detail.
coffee table.
We were particularly inter-
Both the receiver itself and ested in the networking capa-
the remote control boast a bilities of the AzBox Premium
high level of workmanship and HD Plus, as this receiver
it clearly shows that Opensat comes with a competent web
has decided to use only state- browser, RSS reader and You-
EPG Modus 1


Tube player. For adding the From the installation menu
box to an existing network we proceed to the ‘TV chan-
you can always use the good nel’ sub menu for adjust-
old RJ45 socket, but you ing the receiver to our local
might leave out all the cabling antenna and distribution
and go for WLAN, which is equipment. The test unit
supported thanks to the built- we received came with two
in WiFi module. During setup DVB-S2 tuners, but according
EPG Modus 2 the box will detect all available to Opensat DVB-C and DVB-T
WLAN base stations and will will also be available shortly.
hook up to the desired net-
work once the correct pass- What’s best, any combina-
word is entered. tion of tuners can be paired
or easily exchanged to suit
It goes without saying individual needs. With two
that DHCP assignment of all satellite tuners three differ-
required network parameters ent modes can be selected:
is supported, but you may Twin, Loop Through and
always go manual and enter Separated. With Twin the
all details yourself. The WEP software assumes that two
and WPA2 protocols make identical signal inputs are led
File viewer sure your data stay where to the two IF sockets. Loop
they belong and are only Through means that only one
yours to see. signal input is available which
is led to IF 1 and then looped
In contrast to a number through to IF 2.
of competing network-ready
receivers the AzBox Premium Using the Separated mode
HD Plus cannot only access two cables from two differ-
content supplied on the local ent sources can used, so that
network or the Internet, but tuner 1 is fed signals from a
can be set up to become a DiSEqC setup for several sat-
fully-featured server for all ellite, for example, while tuner
other networked devices. You 2 gets signals from a single
may want to turn it into an FTP LNB permanently aligned
GOGO channel list download via Internet
server, file server or Telnet towards a different satellite.
server, and the receiver is The pre-stored satellite list
even able to handle dynamic includes data from a total
DNS so that it becomes possi- of 182 European, Asian and
ble to access it from anywhere American satellites, which
in the world over the Internet. means virtually all of you
System settings also include a should be able to find ‘your’
feature to format all storage birds.
media in order to make room
for new recordings, if need be. We truly loved that fact
that many satellites are not
The AzBox Premium HD only separated according to
Plus is a master of video C band and Ku band, but also
Info bar
output options. Next to com- according to footprint. EUTEL-
posite and component video SAT W2 at 16° East, for exam-
various HDMI resolutions can ple, shows up twice – once
be selected, ranging from with parameters of transpon-
576i all the way up to 1080p ders that can be received in
(full high-def), which is an Europe, and the second time
absolute first for a digital sat- with all African transponders.
ellite receiver. We should also Thumbs up from us for this
mention the fact that audio extremely helpful approach.
options are just as versatile, If only other manufacturers
with PCM or RAW being avail- would also go to such lengths
able next to Dolby Digital, for when compiling their satellite
example. and transponder lists!
Extended info bar


If you have more than one If you own a motorised
LNB to address there’s the antenna you will have been
DiSEqC 1.0 and 1.1 protocols waiting to hear that not only
for using up to 16 LNBs as well DiSEqC 1.2 but also DiSEqC
as various SCR settings. A 1.3 (USALS) is implemented,
wide range of LOFs for the C or so that this receiver will be a
Ku bands comes pre-stored, brilliant match for each and
but there’s always the option any DiSEqC motor. So now
LNB settings of manually selecting any out- that all parameters and satel-
of-the-ordinary parameters. lite entries have been matched
You will hardly find an LNB the with local requirements it’s
AzBox Premium HD Plus is not time to search for channels.
perfectly happy with. To that end the AzBox offers
four different search modes.

In any mode you can select
one or more satellites which
are then scanned for TV, radio,
FTA or encrypted channels.
We tested the box for a com-
plete search on HOTBIRD 13°
Main menu
East, which only took slightly
more than five minutes for a
total of 1288 TV channels and
426 radio channels.

Transponder search works
just the same way, with the
only difference being tran-
sponders rather than satellites
that are selected for a search.
Thanks to the comprehensive
and well-designed transpon-
der databank this really is fun!

Manual channel search
Pros will mostly go for the
extended search, which pro-
vides access to a whole bunch
of search criteria, with PID
search being one of them.
There are signal strength
and signal quality bars on the
upper section of the screen
to clearly show right away
whether or not transmissions
are available on any selected
transponder.

MP3 playback
Feed hunters and DXers
listen up now! The AzBox
Premium HD Plus has a blind
scan feature built in as well.
All you need to do is enter the
start and end frequencies,
polarisation and step size and
let the receiver scan the full
range within for any active
transponders, regardless of
pre-stored lists. Using a blind
scan search you really can be
sure of adding all available
Picture viewer


transponders to the internal The receiver switches to
memory. the first channel on the list.
Pressing the OK button calls
The flip side is that such up the comprehensive chan-
a search naturally takes its nel list which – next to the
time, and for the same satel- channel name – also displays
lite as before (HOTBIRD 13° EPG information if supplied
East) it now took 13 minutes. by the provider. This way you
YouTube player On the other hand, we ended can check instantly which
up with 1416 TV channels and events are transmitted on
431 radio stations and at the the individual channels, with-
same time updated the pre- out having to zap through all
stored transponder list in a channels. It‘s difficult to imag-
most hassle-free way. ine a more comprehensive yet
at the same time easy-to-nav-
Speaking of updating the igate channel list design.
channel list: Opensat has
come up with an innovative You can sort entries accord-
feature for its AzBox Premium ing to satellite, genre, pro-
HD Plus – the so-called GOGO vider, country, FTA/CAS or
list. It can look up pre-assem- you can create your own
bled and regularly revised favourites lists. This way each
RSS feed reader
channel lists from the Inter- desired channel can be found
net and install these in the in a breeze, even though the
receiver. box can store up to 15000
individual channels.
Gone are the times when
owners of motorised dishes If you press the MENU
had to perform a channel button a new windows comes
search on each satellite to up allowing you to edit each
slowly fill their channels list. channel list entry without
These days you simply press having to go through a dedi-
a button and the AzBox Pre- cated menu. Channels can
mium HD Plus will take care be deleted, moved, renamed,
of this in next to now time. added to a favourites list or
Software update via Internet
Wouldn’t you too rather watch genre, country or provider.
satellite TV than watch your The corresponding satellite
receiver search for new chan- name is also inserted for each
nels? entry, which is a great feature
for channels that are trans-
Everyday use mitted on more than one sat-
After leaving the installa- ellite, especially if you you‘re
tion menu the next thing that in alphabetical sorting mode.
pops up on screen is the main
menu, which again is divided Thanks to the integrated
into 11 sub-section: TV, You- TimeShift feature the cur-
Tube, Plug-ins, Films, Music, rent event can be paused at
Photos, File Manager, FTP, any time, only to be contin-
Satellite search
RSS, Browser and Settings. ued from that very point at a
later stage. You‘ll never miss a
Just by looking through all scene any more whenever the
items it becomes clear that phone rings during a movie or
the AzBox is so much more news report.
than your average digital sat-
ellite receiver. Home Multime- We were particularly
dia Centre would be a more impressed with the fantastic
appropriate designation. Still, video quality of the AzBox.
let‘s focus on good old TV While it is true that – unfor-
reception for the moment, tunately – 1080p transmis-
so this is the menu item we sions via satellite are not
select. (yet?) available, the internal
Settings


1080p upscaler does a won- that can be used to expand and turn on your TV to watch. turer‘s software development
derful job. Zapping between the feature range of the digi- The following formats are department. It‘s only logical
channels is fast, with slightly tal receiver. The sky‘s the recognised and played back: that Opensat has taken the
less than a second even when limit for resourceful software XVID (SD and HD), DIVX, continuous merging of satel-
switching from an SD to a HD developers and the best thing MPEG1 and MPEG2, MPEG4.2:, lite receiver and Internet one
channel. about the AzBox is its direct WMV9 and H.264 in all its dif- step further and ships its new
download from the Internet. ferent varieties. flagship product with a com-
Not that we had doubted it, This does away with the need petent Internet browser. If
but as always we also tested for looking around for plug- Prefer music to movies? The you cannot find anything you
SCPC reception with low data ins on the Internet first and AzBox is the box for you too, like on TV you don‘t have to
rates and as expected this new then transferring them to the as it can play back MPEG Audio fall back on some more or less
Opensat receiver delivered receiver for installation. MP1,2,3 and MPA, as well as useful built-in games to kill
flawless results with a symbol AAC, M4A, WAV, WMA, FLACC time, but may rather access
rate of just over 2500 ks/s. With a simple touch of and OGG files. This makes CDs a news site on the Internet,
Weak signals from NILESAT 7° button on the remote control a thing of the past. look for tomorrow‘s weather
West came in nicely too, even you choose any plug-in you‘d or even check your mail.
though their C/N was close to like to add and that‘s about it. Internet
the tuner‘s threshold level. Judging from past develop- Opensat has equipped all We found the Internet
ments we can expect some aspects of software updating browser to be working very
Multimedia great stuff from the AzBox and channel list editing with well in our test. It takes some
While the AzBox is not on online community. Internet features in its new time to get used to navigating
equal footing with a standard AzBox. No more over-the-air with a remote control rather
PC, it is nonetheless strong With ever more Internet loading of new software for than a mouse or touchpad,
competition in several fields, bandwidth becoming avail- hours – top-notch receivers but once you internalise this
as its built-in multimedia and able to more and more users, like the AzBox Premium HD new concept it doesn‘t pose
Internet features make for videos can be downloaded just Plus have a radically differ- any problem and quickly turns
welcome distraction during as easily as music and pic- ent approach: FTP downloads into fun.
commercial breaks. tures these days. While this is from the Internet.
a great thing it‘s not much fun In an increasingly net-
With the integrated YouTube watching a blockbuster movie Apart from a huge benefit worked world more and more
player you can easily access on a PC or laptop display. The und time saving for users this people expect to be fed with
this popular video portal any- AzBox enters centre stage allows manufacturers to react instant news on topics that
time you wish. The fact that once again as it is capable of to any problems more quickly suit their interest. A virtu-
a lot of content is available in playing back almost every- and provide software updates ally endless number of RSS
high-def already is an added thing you throw at it through for any glitches that might feeds meets that demand and
bonus for the YouTube play- its two USB interfaces. become apparent during Opensat decided to add an
er‘s full-screen presentation every day use. RSS reader to its new AzBox
mode. So all you have to do is save as well. It can be used to con-
a film on an external storage True enthusiasts may even veniently display the latest
The AzBox belongs to the medium using your PC, hook try several software versions news items provided through
group of receivers with a up the external hard disk or for beta tests to provide valu- a user-defined set of RSS
dedicated plug-in interface memory stick to the AzBox able feedback to the manufac- lists.


DiAGRAm

mode Apparent Active Factor
StandBy 31 W 14 W 0.45
Reception 42 W 22 W 0.52

Just imagine – from now as there is no need any longer
on you cannot only watch the to route transfers via your PC Apparent Power

morning news on your favou- first.
rite channel before leaving
for work, you also get all the To sum up, the AzBox Pre-
latest information in all your mium HD Plus truly impressed Active Power

areas of internet served up us in any possible way. It is a ENERGY
right to your TV screen, before true leap forward in home mul-
you have even turned on your timedia and opens a window to
PC! the future of satellite receiv-
ers. Despite the enormous
First 15 minutes: Standby. Second 15 minutes: During the first minute the
Last, but by no means least, range of features Opensat has receiver powers up, followed by 14 minutes of active use including switch-
the AzBox Premium HD Plus made a point of designing a ing channels, recording, playing back, etc.
comes with its own FTP client user interface with an eye on
which can be used to load data usability. Never did it cause TECHNiCAl
DATA
directly to the receiver‘s hard confusion and all capabili-
Manufacturer Opensat, Edificio OPENSAT, Lagoa
disk from any FTP server in ties of this new receiver were C.P 4950-283 Mazedo, MNÇ Portugal
the world. This is particularly ready at our fingertips at any Fax +351 251 652 966
handy for transferring films, time. E-Mail info@azbox.com
Model AzBox Premium HD Plus

Expert Opinion Function

Digital HDTV DVB-S2 receiver with
various Multimedia & Internet Features
+ Channel Memory 15000
The AzBox Premium HD Plus is a receiver filled
Symbolrate 2-45 Ms/sec.
right to the brim with interesting features. At the
SCPC Compatible yes
same time the manufacturer has not forgot what
DiSEqC 1.0 / 1.1 / 1.2 / 1.3
the box was designed for: satellite reception.
uSAlS yes
Despite its impressive list of functions the
Thomas Haring HDMI Output yes
AzBox Premium HD Plus is still easy to use and TELE-satellite
Test Center Scart Connector 1
thus suitable for the whole family. Austria
Audio/Video Outputs 6x RCA
1080p video output is a true first in satellite
Component Video Output yes
receivers and we can only hope that content providers will offer
that resolution via satellite sometime soon. S-Video Output no

With its AzBox Opensat has designed a great package deal UHF Modulator no

offering TV reception, multimedia and Internet. 0/12 Volt Connector yes
Digital Audio Output yes

- EPG yes
Every once in a while some minor software flaws became C/Ku-Band compatible yes
evident. The EPG, for instance, caused the system to freeze PVR-Function yes
occasionally. We have learned from the manufacturer, how- USB 2.0 Connector yes
ever, that they are working hard on perfecting the software Ethernet yes
so that we can assume these problems will be a thing of the E-SATA no
past soon. Dimensions 340/243/66 mm
Weight 2.65kg (without hdd)


AzBox Premium HD Plus Excellent Video

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AzBox Premium HD Plus Excellent Video