TEST REPORT                            Tenow PC Card Software                                                                                            3
该独家报道由技术专家所作




Software for
                                                                                                                       ception, the Windows Media
                                                                                                                       Center can also receive TV
                                                                                                                       and radio via DVB-T/T2 with



Tenow PC cards
                                                                                                                       the only difference compared
                                                                                                                       to satellite reception being
                                                                                                                       the scanning interface.       A
                                                                                                                       test scan of the entire UHF/
                                                                                                                       VHF bands was completed in

Here’s how to get the best                                                                                             just about four minutes and
                                                                                                                       identified all of the currently
                                                                                                                       available DVB-T/T2 transpon-
                                                                                                                                                              TELE-satellite Magazine
out of Tenow Cards                                                                                                                                           Business Voucher
                                                                                                                       ders.

                                                                                                                          After all of the basic set-

  Hardware is only as good as the software that goes                               LNB’s was integrated by Mi-
                                                                                                                       tings have been taken care
                                                                                                                       of, it just takes a few mouse
                                                                                                                                                              www.TELE-satellite.info/11/11/tenow
with it. That’s why Tenow includes a CD with each of its                           crosoft.                            clicks to switch over to TV re-         Direct Contact to Sales Manager
products on which can be found a variety of programs                                                                   ception mode which appears
that we want to take a closer look at here.                                           Based on the location, the       to be quite good.
                                                                                   preprogrammed satellite list
                                                                                   in the next step contains an          Thanks to the Internet con-
  Windows Media Center                                                             assortment of entries that          nection, the Windows Media
   The Tenow engineers have              For this purpose, Windows                 include relatively up-to-date       Center not only integrated all
recognized for some time                 Media Center offers a step-               transponder data.        Before     of the channels found during
that it isn’t always necessary           by-step installation assistant            the Windows Media Center is         the scan into the channel list,
to reinvent the wheel and that           that works with a sample col-             ready to use, you need only to      but it also sorted them based
it often makes sense to sim-             lection of preprogrammed                  perform a scan in order to fill     on location. It places all of
ply use an already available             information.    This includes             the channel list with entries.      the user’s local channels at      4                      7
structure. And it’s exactly              not only the satellite list al-           For this task there’s an auto-      the top of the list and there-
just such an already avail-              ready in the software but                 matic channel scan for an en-       fore makes them immediate-
able structure that has been             also a prefabricated channel              tire satellite entry as well as a   ly accessible.
worked very closely with: the            list that the Windows Media               manual transponder scan.
Windows Media Center.                    Center can download auto-                                                        In our case it was the en-
                                         matically from the Internet                  The   automatic   channel        crypted Austrian ORF chan-
  The Windows Media Center               after entering in your local              scan, for example, on HOT-          nels that are transmitted via
operating system manufac-                postal code and current loca-             BIRD at 13° east required           satellite. Well, this situation
turer Microsoft’s integrated             tion. Before we can get down              a total of 5 minutes and 30         gave us the perfect opportu-
components (starting with                to business with setting up               seconds after which nearly          nity to test the CI slot in the
Windows Vista, depending on              the hardware, the Windows                 every available channel made        TBS5980 USB Box and see
the version) are what makes              Media Center displays all                 its way to the channel list.        if it works with the Windows
it possible to operate and               the recognized devices and                                                    Media Center. No sooner did
control TV and radio PC ex-              thereby makes it possible to                  In addition to satellite re-    we insert the module in the
pansion cards.                           activate or deactivate indi-
                                                                                  1                                                                      5                      8
                                         vidual components.
  Of course, with this kind
of universal solution, it’s not             In the case of Tenow’s
possible for the manufacturer            TBS6984 Quad Tuner card
to incorporate special fea-              this would be an especially
tures and customer requests;             practical feature if not all
for this reason the Windows              four of the tuners have sig-
Media Center is very easy to             nals coming into them. The
use and integrated into the              unused tuners can very eas-
operating system.                        ily be deactivated thus avoid-
                                         ing any problems with the
  Before you can use Tenow               distribution of any recordings
products with the Windows                over the receiver sections of
Media Center, it first has to            the card.
be matched to the specific
requirements of the hard-                   For those owners of satel-            2                                                                      6                      9
ware. In our case it means               lite systems with more than
a channel scan in DVB-T/                 one LNB, the Windows Media
T2 and DVB-S/S2 modes as                 Center offers only a rudimen-
well as the correct setup of             tary support of the DiSEqC
reception parameters for use             protocol: version 1.0 with
with our satellite antenna.              up to four freely selectable

1. Windows Media Center setup            6. Manual Channel Scan
2. All four tuners in the TBS6984        7. Expanded EPG information can be
PCI-e card are correctly recognized      displayed for every channel
in the Windows Media Center
3. HDTV channel with the Windows         8. The visually appealing list of
Media Center                             previously recorded programs
4. EPG is downloaded via the             9. The Info bar provides the user with
Internet                                 detailed information on the current
5. Automatic Channel Scan                status and channel



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                                                                                                                                                                                                             1                                                 33
1   6

                                                                                                                                                                                                              1. Channel scan of TURKSAT 42°
                                                                                                                                                                                                              2. Thanks to the sensitivity of the
                                                                                                                                                                                                              tuner, SCPC reception is also possible
slot and we were able to en-             displayed for multiple chan-              so that the user never has to       a good digital/PVR receiver                                                            without any problems
joy ORF in HD quality.                   nels in an easy to follow grid.           worry about it. It was espe-        such as timer recordings,                                                              3. Timer function
                                                                                   cially enjoyable to play with       language selection, subtitles                                                          4. EPG display in the TBSViewer
   When switching between                   For those Tenow products               the TBS6984 Quad Tuner              and a nicely organized dis-                                                            5. The TBS6984’s four tuners are
channels,     the    software            that have more than one tun-              card; it was absolutely no          play function for previously                                                           recognized by the TBSViewer
blends in an Info bar that               er, the Windows Media Cen-                problem       recording   three     recorded programming.                                                                  6. Extensive satellite list
provides additional informa-             ter is also the best software             programs in the background                                                                                                 7. Thanks to the practical picture-in-
                                                                                                                                                                                                              picture feature, two channels can be
tion on the current program.             to use in these cases. If, for            while watching a fourth live           On the other hand it’s also                                                         displayed at the same time.
                                         example, you’re using the                 TV channel all at the same          possible to playback your en-                                                          8. The TBS6280’s two tuners
   At this point we have to              TBS6984 card with four tun-               time. And it didn’t matter          tire collection of music and                                                           9. DVB-T/T2 Scan
highlight another outstanding            ers or the TBS6280 card with              at all if it involved SD or HD      pictures through the Win-                                                              10. DVB-T2 support allows you to view
                                                                                                                                                                                                              HD channels terrestrially
feature of the Windows Media             two tuners, you don’t have                channels.                           dows Media Center.        Since
Center: for the important lo-            to worry about selecting the                                                  the Windows Media Center
cal channels there’s not only            proper tuner; this task is                   To round it all off, the         can also be controlled by the     2   7
the EPG data available via               handled by the software au-               functionality of the Windows        remote control that Tenow
satellite, the software con-             tomatically for you. All you              Media Center is further ex-         includes in the package, you
nects automatically to the In-           have to do is manually start              panded two ways: on the one         can sit back and enjoy watch-
ternet and downloads edito-              one or more recordings or                 hand it has all of the func-        ing TV from your favorite
rially prepared programming              program them via the timer                tions you’d expect to find in       easy chair in the living room.
information.                             and then continue to watch

  This has the huge advan-
                                         live TV.                                                                       Expert Opinion
tage of making all the EPG                 The distribution of record-                  + Perfect PC integration
data for various channels im-
mediately available. All of
                                         ing and live TV playback is
                                         handled automatically by the
                                                                                  +     + Automatic EPG update via the Internet
                                                                                        + Very easy to program
this information can then be             software in the background

                                                                                                                                                         3
  TBSViewer                              entire satellite, you sim-
                                         ply enter the start and stop
                                                                                   available but they don’t have
                                                                                   to be used. A scan of the
                                                                                                                       each time, a detailed Info
                                                                                                                       bar appears with informa-
  If for some reason you
                                         frequency values based on                 DVB-T/T2 VHF/UHF bands in           tion on the current program
can’t or don’t want to use
                                         those already in the soft-                Europe was completed in 4           within which can also be
the Windows Media Center,
                                         ware. It’s also just as easy              minutes and 50 seconds and          found EPG data. But unlike
Tenow has a fully featured
                                         to perform a scan across a                found all of the available sig-     the Windows Media Center,
free TBS Viewer that you
                                         specific frequency range.                 nals at our test location.          the TBSViewer has to rely on
can use as an alternative.
                                                                                                                       any EPG data that happens
The software was designed
                                            Since most of Tenow’s                     Once all of the basic set-       to be sent by the provider;           8                                        9
with ease-of-use in mind and
                                         products don’t have a CI                  tings have been taken care          you first have to switch to
comes with all of the neces-                                                       of, you are taken to the Re-        the desired channel so that
                                         slot, the channel scan can
sary features. Yet there’s no                                                      ception Tools main window.          the TBSViewer can read and
                                         naturally be limited to free-
feeling of the software be-                                                        At first glance it looks rather     process the data. Once this
                                         ly available channels and
ing overloaded and it’s very                                                       Spartan and only displays a         is done, the information is
easy to use.
                                         thanks to the practical up-                                                                                     4
                                         date function, the channel                few PVR function symbols,           displayed in a very orga-
                                         list can be updated at any                EPG controls as well as an          nized fashion up to seven
  Just like the Windows Me-              time without having to worry              overview of available record-       days in advance.
dia Center, the TBSViewer                about the software overwrit-              ings near the bottom of the
can also be used for both                ing any existing data.                    display.                               Thanks to the timer func-
DVB-S/S2      and   DVB-T/T2                                                                                           tion, you won’t miss the
reception.    In satellite re-             In satellite mode the                     At first you won’t find a         conclusion of your favorite
ception mode the software                TBSViewer was quite im-                   channel list but it does ap-        program and since the re-
shines with its 199 prepro-              pressive with its wide range              pear if you move the mouse          cordings are saved in tran-
grammed European, Asian                  of LOF (freely customizable)              to the upper right corner of        sponder stream format, you            10
and American satellites that             and DiSEqC settings capa-                 the display. It’s actually a        can easily create a DVD us-
for the most part come with              bilities; many different pro-             practical solution in that it       ing any of the many free-
reasonably current tran-                 tocols are supported. You                 makes quite a bit of space          ware or shareware tools that
sponder data.                            can therefore use a multi-                available in the channel win-       are readily available.
                                         feed antenna or a motorized               dow and yet is still easy to                                          5
   The TBSViewer’s channel               dish without any problems.                use. The channel list itself          Our overall positive im-
scan menu is highlighted by              Our automatic channel scan                is very well organized and          pression of the TBSViewer
its practical and easy op-               of HOTBIRD at 13° east was                can be sorted a number of           was further enhanced by the
eration. After selecting the             completed by the TBSViewer                ways such as by satellite or        practical picture-in-picture
desired satellite from the               in just a little over five min-           by provider. Thanks to the          function that let’s you pass
preprogrammed list, you                  utes; this is comparable to               practical search function,          the time during those long
can either mark a single                 the Windows Media Center.                 every channel is easy to find.      commercial breaks as well
transponder to be scanned                                                                                              as by the functional teletext
or you can enter a start and               In DVB-T/T2 mode there                      After   changing   channels     decoder.
stop frequency after which               are   preprogrammed     fre-
the software will search all
the preprogrammed tran-
                                         quency lists for various re-
                                         gions, in particular several
                                                                                                                        Expert Opinion
sponders that fall within the            states in Germany, Hong                        + Comfortable channel scan
selected frequency range.                Kong, the UK, France as well
                                         as Hungary. These prepro-
                                                                                  +     + Extensive LOF settings capabilities
                                                                                        + Channel list invisible during normal operation
  If you want to scan an                 grammed frequencies are


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                                                                                                                                                                                                  1                                                 35
DVBDream                             other basic settings like se-             not only for the beginner but       as well as the amount of data     8                                                                          TBS-VHID                           various software tools. Be-
                                         lecting the desired recording             also for the professional.          transmitted by the channel.                                                                                                                     cause of this clever method,
  In addition to the TBSView-                                                                                                                                                                                                     TBS-VHID       is   Tenow’s
                                         format (MPEG or transponder                                                   In this way, for example, the                                                                                                                   this program is compatible
er, Tenow has also included                                                                                                                                                                                                     own tool used to integrate
                                         stream) as well as activating                The foundation for all of        channel scan speed can be in-                                                                                                                   with nearly every reception
a version of DVBDream on                                                                                                                                                                                                        the included infrared re-
                                         the support for a future CI               this is a perfectly functioning     fluenced in that the manufac-                                                                                                                   tool and if there are spe-
the CD that comes with its                                                                                                                                                                                                      mote control. It contains
                                         slot. Lastly comes the chan-              core of basic features such         turer-determined time to read                                                                                                                   cial settings that haven’t
new products.        Unlike the                                                                                                                                                                                                 pre-configured profiles for
                                         nel scan.                                 as EPG display, PVR, Timer          the PIDs can be changed and                                                                                                                     been preprogrammed, this
Windows Media Center and                                                                                                                                                                                                        the Windows Media Center,
                                                                                   recordings, language selec-         the TimeShift and streaming                                                                                                                     can easily be taken care
the TBSViewer, this software                                                                                                                                                                                                    TBSViewer, DVBDream as
                                           A scan of ASTRA at 19.2°                tion and subtitle display while     parameters can be individu-
jumps right to the most im-                                                                                                                                                                                                     well as ProgDVB and gives              of. You can also modify the
                                         east was finished in a little             for the professional there’s a      ally set up via a network.
portant settings when it’s                                                                                                                                                                                                      you the ability to control ev-         operation of individual but-
                                         more than ten minutes; it’s               wide assortment of additional
started for the first time. This                                                                                                                                                                                                ery function from the com-             tons with just a few mouse
                                         not the best scanning time in             integrated features. For ex-           Our overall positive impres-
includes selecting the correct                                                                                                                                                                                                  fort of your easy chair.               clicks.
                                         the world but it did correctly            ample, there’s the ability to       sion of the DVBDream was
hardware that the DVBDream
                                         identify and process every                stream TV and radio channels        further enhanced by the abil-
can automatically recognize                                                                                                                                                                                                       The interface between the              For the user this all means
                                         available signal.                         directly via LAN as well as the     ity to place the channel win-
thanks to the BDA compatible                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           that the TBS-VHID Tool can
Tenow drivers. The next step
                                                                                   Internet making it possible to      dow in full-screen mode or        9                                                                      remote control and the vari-
                                                                                   start your own streaming ser-       keep it reduced to its own TV                                                                            ous software tools works in            not only control nearly ev-
involves adapting the soft-                 The DVBDream’s main win-
                                                                                   vice. There’s also a bit rate       window. In this way you can                                                                              such a way that the received           ery reception program via
ware to the reception system             dow is divided in such a way
                                                                                   viewer that provides precise        continue to work on your PC                                                                              remote control signals are             remote control, it can also
to be used.                              that the channel list is on the
                                                                                   data on the usage rate and          while keeping an eye on the                                                                              converted into keyboard                directly influence the opera-
                                         left side with a control bar lo-
                                                                                   the data transmission volume        TV window at the same time;                                                                              shortcut commands which                tion of the remote control’s
  And this is where the                  cated at the top that provides
                                                                                   of a transponder. The Demul-        an ideal solution if you want                                                                            are then used to control the           buttons.
DVBDream shines: not only                access to various functions
                                                                                   tiplexer statistic displays the     to watch, for example, a live
through its individual LOF               as well as a large window for
                                                                                   PIDs of the current channel         sporting event.
settings capabilities, but also          the TV playback. In general,                                                                                                                                                                                                   Expert Opinion
through its DiSEqC 1.0, 1.1,
1.2 and 1.3 (USALS) support
                                         the DVBDream comes with a
                                         multitude of settings capabili-
                                                                                                                        Expert Opinion                                                                                              + Preprogrammed for all of Tenow’s supported software
and its extensive 134 Euro-              ties and features; you can tell               + Full of features especially for the professional                                                                                       +   + Additional settings can be entered manually
pean, American and Asian
satellite list. After that the
                                         right away that this software
                                         through its simple and logical
                                                                                  +    + Internet streaming possible
                                                                                       + Can also record in transponder stream
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    + Operation of remote control can be modified
                                                                                                                                                         10
user can take care of a few              operation is an excellent tool
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                1
1                                       4                                                      5




2                                                                                                                                                                                                                               2



                                        1. LOF Settings                                        6
                                        2. DiSEqC Settings
                                        3. In DVBDream the user can select for themselves
                                        the desired codec for the supported video format


3                                                                                                                                                        4. Automatic channel scan        modified
                                                                                                                                                         5. DVBDream comes with a         8. EPG
                                                                                                                                                         wide variety of settings capa-   9. Bitrate Viewer
                                                                                                                                                         bilities
                                                                                                                                                                                          10. Multitude of settings capa-       1. The TBS-VHID Tool for the reception of remote control commands is
                                                                                                                                                         6. LAN Streaming                 bilities within the channel list      compatible with a large number of different programs
                                                                                                                                                         7. Each channel entry can        are available
                                                                                                                                                         be individually adapted and                                            2. The buttons can be individually programmed




                                                                                               7                                                             TBS6925                           After entering in the required
                                                                                                                                                                                               parameters (frequency, po-
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                data of about 30MB/sec, it               We also liked the fact that
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                might not be a bad idea to            Tenow included a complete
                                                                                                                                                             TS Recorder                       larization, LOF, symbol rate     use the manufacturer deter-           motor control in the TBS Re-
                                                                                                                                                           Tenow has another delicacy          and DiSEqC), it tries to read    mined limits (time duration
                                                                                                                                                         for the professional TBS6925          the desired transponder.                                               corder; it’s a tool that pro-
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                or maximum data recording
                                                                                                                                                         card: the TS Recorder is also                                                                                fessionals undoubtedly will
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                size) otherwise the remain-
                                                                                                                                                         included on the CD.                     If it’s successful, the user                                         use to receive satellites oth-
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                ing free space on the hard
                                                                                                                                                                                               will be able to see additional                                         er than those all-too-popular
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                drive could drop to zero in a
                                                                                                                                                           The TBS6925 is the only             technical parameters such
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                heartbeat.                            DTH positions
                                                                                                                                                         card in our tests that can            as modulation and stream
                                                                                                                                                         store the entire transponder          type. Now all you need to
                                                                                                                                                         stream, including all of the
                                                                                                                                                         available data, on a PC’s hard
                                                                                                                                                                                               do is push the Record button
                                                                                                                                                                                               and the TBS Recorder begins
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Expert Opinion
                                                                                                                                                         drive.                                storing all of the received          + Ability to record the originally transmitted signal

                                                                                                                                                           This is exactly where the
                                                                                                                                                                                               data on the hard drive.
                                                                                                                                                                                                 Since we are dealing with
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                +   + Integrated motor control
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    + Ideal for professional applications
                                                                                                                                                         TS Recorder comes into play.          a relatively large amount of


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                                                          1                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            37
TBS-IPdata                           nually entered. We were also                 It took us just a few mouse    TBS6984 Quad Tuner card; in
  If you’re not fortunate                happy to see that the DiSE-               clicks to set up an Internet      just a few short steps we had
enough to live in an area                qC protocols 1.0, 1.2 and 1.3             connection and put it to use.     Internet via satellite set up
that has DSL or fiber-optics             (USALS) are supported.                                                      on one tuner while the other
available, you’ll almost cer-                                                        We were especially sur-         three tuners were used for
tainly have Internet access                The necessary drivers for               prised at how well Internet       TV reception.
via satellite by subscribing to          the network interface are                 via satellite worked with the
an ISP, as this would often be           installed during the normal
the only high-speed solution.            installation process for the
                                         specific card or USB box and
                                                                                                                      Expert Opinion
The included TBS-IPdata pro-
                                         are therefore immediate-                      + Preprogrammed ISP data
gram is the perfect tool for
this situation.                          ly available to the operating
                                         system.
                                                                                  +    + Extensive preprogrammed satellite list
                                                                                       + Also compatible with multiple tuner cards
   It comes with an elaborate
list of preprogrammed satel-             2                                                         3
lites and transponders from
providers that offer these
services from around the
world. Of course, these pa-
rameters can be also be ma-
1




1. One of the recognized tuners on the
reception cards has to be selected for
use with the TBS IP Tools
2. The TBS IP Tools’ extensive
satellite list
3. A valid transponder was found;
Internet via satellite can now begin!




    TBS BlindScan                        Scan function the user has to
                                         enter the desired frequency
                                                                                   regardless whether it was
                                                                                   DVB-S or DVB-S2.       Even
                                                                                                                     processed. The results can
                                                                                                                     be stored in a data file which
   One of the more interes-
ting features that Tenow has             range and the polarization as             those with unusual symbol-        makes it available for further
integrated only in its sin-              well as whether the 22 kHz                rates (like 5778 or 8680 ks/      processing or for import into
gle tuner DVB-S/S2 cards                 signal should be activated or             sec) were recognized and          other programs.
(TBS6925,     TBS6921    and             not.
TBS5980) is an exceptional                                                                                            Expert Opinion
Blind Scan function.                        Our test scan of ASTRA
                                         4A at 4.8° east was comple-                   + Compatible with every LOF value
  The manufacturer did not               ted in just over seven mi-
                                         nutes and found every ver-
                                                                                 +     + Also recognized unusual symbolrates
                                                                                       + Ideal for finding new channels
build it into the TBSViewer
software; instead it is availa-          tical high-band transponder
ble in the form of the TBS               1                                                         2
Blind Scan tool. This little
program provides a total of
three preprogrammed LOF
values (for the Ku-band line-
ar and circular and also for
the C-band) and if desired
let’s you enter LOFs manu-
ally. DiSEqC 1.0 is suppor-
ted but unfortunately not
the 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3 (USALS)
protocols.

    When starting the Blind

1. The TBS5980 supports Blind Scan
and can even recognize unusual
DVB-S2 symbol rates without any
problems.
2. The TBS6925 professional card is
in the process of performing a Blind
Scan on ASTAR 4A at 4.8° east



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                                                          1

Tenow software

  • 1.
    TEST REPORT Tenow PC Card Software 3 该独家报道由技术专家所作 Software for ception, the Windows Media Center can also receive TV and radio via DVB-T/T2 with Tenow PC cards the only difference compared to satellite reception being the scanning interface. A test scan of the entire UHF/ VHF bands was completed in Here’s how to get the best just about four minutes and identified all of the currently available DVB-T/T2 transpon- TELE-satellite Magazine out of Tenow Cards Business Voucher ders. After all of the basic set- Hardware is only as good as the software that goes LNB’s was integrated by Mi- tings have been taken care of, it just takes a few mouse www.TELE-satellite.info/11/11/tenow with it. That’s why Tenow includes a CD with each of its crosoft. clicks to switch over to TV re- Direct Contact to Sales Manager products on which can be found a variety of programs ception mode which appears that we want to take a closer look at here. Based on the location, the to be quite good. preprogrammed satellite list in the next step contains an Thanks to the Internet con- Windows Media Center assortment of entries that nection, the Windows Media The Tenow engineers have For this purpose, Windows include relatively up-to-date Center not only integrated all recognized for some time Media Center offers a step- transponder data. Before of the channels found during that it isn’t always necessary by-step installation assistant the Windows Media Center is the scan into the channel list, to reinvent the wheel and that that works with a sample col- ready to use, you need only to but it also sorted them based it often makes sense to sim- lection of preprogrammed perform a scan in order to fill on location. It places all of ply use an already available information. This includes the channel list with entries. the user’s local channels at 4 7 structure. And it’s exactly not only the satellite list al- For this task there’s an auto- the top of the list and there- just such an already avail- ready in the software but matic channel scan for an en- fore makes them immediate- able structure that has been also a prefabricated channel tire satellite entry as well as a ly accessible. worked very closely with: the list that the Windows Media manual transponder scan. Windows Media Center. Center can download auto- In our case it was the en- matically from the Internet The automatic channel crypted Austrian ORF chan- The Windows Media Center after entering in your local scan, for example, on HOT- nels that are transmitted via operating system manufac- postal code and current loca- BIRD at 13° east required satellite. Well, this situation turer Microsoft’s integrated tion. Before we can get down a total of 5 minutes and 30 gave us the perfect opportu- components (starting with to business with setting up seconds after which nearly nity to test the CI slot in the Windows Vista, depending on the hardware, the Windows every available channel made TBS5980 USB Box and see the version) are what makes Media Center displays all its way to the channel list. if it works with the Windows it possible to operate and the recognized devices and Media Center. No sooner did control TV and radio PC ex- thereby makes it possible to In addition to satellite re- we insert the module in the pansion cards. activate or deactivate indi- 1 5 8 vidual components. Of course, with this kind of universal solution, it’s not In the case of Tenow’s possible for the manufacturer TBS6984 Quad Tuner card to incorporate special fea- this would be an especially tures and customer requests; practical feature if not all for this reason the Windows four of the tuners have sig- Media Center is very easy to nals coming into them. The use and integrated into the unused tuners can very eas- operating system. ily be deactivated thus avoid- ing any problems with the Before you can use Tenow distribution of any recordings products with the Windows over the receiver sections of Media Center, it first has to the card. be matched to the specific requirements of the hard- For those owners of satel- 2 6 9 ware. In our case it means lite systems with more than a channel scan in DVB-T/ one LNB, the Windows Media T2 and DVB-S/S2 modes as Center offers only a rudimen- well as the correct setup of tary support of the DiSEqC reception parameters for use protocol: version 1.0 with with our satellite antenna. up to four freely selectable 1. Windows Media Center setup 6. Manual Channel Scan 2. All four tuners in the TBS6984 7. Expanded EPG information can be PCI-e card are correctly recognized displayed for every channel in the Windows Media Center 3. HDTV channel with the Windows 8. The visually appealing list of Media Center previously recorded programs 4. EPG is downloaded via the 9. The Info bar provides the user with Internet detailed information on the current 5. Automatic Channel Scan status and channel 32 TELE-satellite — Global Digital TV Magazine — 10-1 1/201 — www.TELE-satellite.com 1 www.TELE-satellite.com — 10-1 1/201 — TELE-satellite — Global Digital TV Magazine 1 33
  • 2.
    1 6 1. Channel scan of TURKSAT 42° 2. Thanks to the sensitivity of the tuner, SCPC reception is also possible slot and we were able to en- displayed for multiple chan- so that the user never has to a good digital/PVR receiver without any problems joy ORF in HD quality. nels in an easy to follow grid. worry about it. It was espe- such as timer recordings, 3. Timer function cially enjoyable to play with language selection, subtitles 4. EPG display in the TBSViewer When switching between For those Tenow products the TBS6984 Quad Tuner and a nicely organized dis- 5. The TBS6984’s four tuners are channels, the software that have more than one tun- card; it was absolutely no play function for previously recognized by the TBSViewer blends in an Info bar that er, the Windows Media Cen- problem recording three recorded programming. 6. Extensive satellite list provides additional informa- ter is also the best software programs in the background 7. Thanks to the practical picture-in- picture feature, two channels can be tion on the current program. to use in these cases. If, for while watching a fourth live On the other hand it’s also displayed at the same time. example, you’re using the TV channel all at the same possible to playback your en- 8. The TBS6280’s two tuners At this point we have to TBS6984 card with four tun- time. And it didn’t matter tire collection of music and 9. DVB-T/T2 Scan highlight another outstanding ers or the TBS6280 card with at all if it involved SD or HD pictures through the Win- 10. DVB-T2 support allows you to view HD channels terrestrially feature of the Windows Media two tuners, you don’t have channels. dows Media Center. Since Center: for the important lo- to worry about selecting the the Windows Media Center cal channels there’s not only proper tuner; this task is To round it all off, the can also be controlled by the 2 7 the EPG data available via handled by the software au- functionality of the Windows remote control that Tenow satellite, the software con- tomatically for you. All you Media Center is further ex- includes in the package, you nects automatically to the In- have to do is manually start panded two ways: on the one can sit back and enjoy watch- ternet and downloads edito- one or more recordings or hand it has all of the func- ing TV from your favorite rially prepared programming program them via the timer tions you’d expect to find in easy chair in the living room. information. and then continue to watch This has the huge advan- live TV. Expert Opinion tage of making all the EPG The distribution of record- + Perfect PC integration data for various channels im- mediately available. All of ing and live TV playback is handled automatically by the + + Automatic EPG update via the Internet + Very easy to program this information can then be software in the background 3 TBSViewer entire satellite, you sim- ply enter the start and stop available but they don’t have to be used. A scan of the each time, a detailed Info bar appears with informa- If for some reason you frequency values based on DVB-T/T2 VHF/UHF bands in tion on the current program can’t or don’t want to use those already in the soft- Europe was completed in 4 within which can also be the Windows Media Center, ware. It’s also just as easy minutes and 50 seconds and found EPG data. But unlike Tenow has a fully featured to perform a scan across a found all of the available sig- the Windows Media Center, free TBS Viewer that you specific frequency range. nals at our test location. the TBSViewer has to rely on can use as an alternative. any EPG data that happens The software was designed Since most of Tenow’s Once all of the basic set- to be sent by the provider; 8 9 with ease-of-use in mind and products don’t have a CI tings have been taken care you first have to switch to comes with all of the neces- of, you are taken to the Re- the desired channel so that slot, the channel scan can sary features. Yet there’s no ception Tools main window. the TBSViewer can read and naturally be limited to free- feeling of the software be- At first glance it looks rather process the data. Once this ly available channels and ing overloaded and it’s very Spartan and only displays a is done, the information is easy to use. thanks to the practical up- 4 date function, the channel few PVR function symbols, displayed in a very orga- list can be updated at any EPG controls as well as an nized fashion up to seven Just like the Windows Me- time without having to worry overview of available record- days in advance. dia Center, the TBSViewer about the software overwrit- ings near the bottom of the can also be used for both ing any existing data. display. Thanks to the timer func- DVB-S/S2 and DVB-T/T2 tion, you won’t miss the reception. In satellite re- In satellite mode the At first you won’t find a conclusion of your favorite ception mode the software TBSViewer was quite im- channel list but it does ap- program and since the re- shines with its 199 prepro- pressive with its wide range pear if you move the mouse cordings are saved in tran- grammed European, Asian of LOF (freely customizable) to the upper right corner of sponder stream format, you 10 and American satellites that and DiSEqC settings capa- the display. It’s actually a can easily create a DVD us- for the most part come with bilities; many different pro- practical solution in that it ing any of the many free- reasonably current tran- tocols are supported. You makes quite a bit of space ware or shareware tools that sponder data. can therefore use a multi- available in the channel win- are readily available. feed antenna or a motorized dow and yet is still easy to 5 The TBSViewer’s channel dish without any problems. use. The channel list itself Our overall positive im- scan menu is highlighted by Our automatic channel scan is very well organized and pression of the TBSViewer its practical and easy op- of HOTBIRD at 13° east was can be sorted a number of was further enhanced by the eration. After selecting the completed by the TBSViewer ways such as by satellite or practical picture-in-picture desired satellite from the in just a little over five min- by provider. Thanks to the function that let’s you pass preprogrammed list, you utes; this is comparable to practical search function, the time during those long can either mark a single the Windows Media Center. every channel is easy to find. commercial breaks as well transponder to be scanned as by the functional teletext or you can enter a start and In DVB-T/T2 mode there After changing channels decoder. stop frequency after which are preprogrammed fre- the software will search all the preprogrammed tran- quency lists for various re- gions, in particular several Expert Opinion sponders that fall within the states in Germany, Hong + Comfortable channel scan selected frequency range. Kong, the UK, France as well as Hungary. These prepro- + + Extensive LOF settings capabilities + Channel list invisible during normal operation If you want to scan an grammed frequencies are 34 TELE-satellite — Global Digital TV Magazine — 10-1 1/201 — www.TELE-satellite.com 1 www.TELE-satellite.com — 10-1 1/201 — TELE-satellite — Global Digital TV Magazine 1 35
  • 3.
    DVBDream other basic settings like se- not only for the beginner but as well as the amount of data 8 TBS-VHID various software tools. Be- lecting the desired recording also for the professional. transmitted by the channel. cause of this clever method, In addition to the TBSView- TBS-VHID is Tenow’s format (MPEG or transponder In this way, for example, the this program is compatible er, Tenow has also included own tool used to integrate stream) as well as activating The foundation for all of channel scan speed can be in- with nearly every reception a version of DVBDream on the included infrared re- the support for a future CI this is a perfectly functioning fluenced in that the manufac- tool and if there are spe- the CD that comes with its mote control. It contains slot. Lastly comes the chan- core of basic features such turer-determined time to read cial settings that haven’t new products. Unlike the pre-configured profiles for nel scan. as EPG display, PVR, Timer the PIDs can be changed and been preprogrammed, this Windows Media Center and the Windows Media Center, recordings, language selec- the TimeShift and streaming can easily be taken care the TBSViewer, this software TBSViewer, DVBDream as A scan of ASTRA at 19.2° tion and subtitle display while parameters can be individu- jumps right to the most im- well as ProgDVB and gives of. You can also modify the east was finished in a little for the professional there’s a ally set up via a network. portant settings when it’s you the ability to control ev- operation of individual but- more than ten minutes; it’s wide assortment of additional started for the first time. This ery function from the com- tons with just a few mouse not the best scanning time in integrated features. For ex- Our overall positive impres- includes selecting the correct fort of your easy chair. clicks. the world but it did correctly ample, there’s the ability to sion of the DVBDream was hardware that the DVBDream identify and process every stream TV and radio channels further enhanced by the abil- can automatically recognize The interface between the For the user this all means available signal. directly via LAN as well as the ity to place the channel win- thanks to the BDA compatible that the TBS-VHID Tool can Tenow drivers. The next step Internet making it possible to dow in full-screen mode or 9 remote control and the vari- start your own streaming ser- keep it reduced to its own TV ous software tools works in not only control nearly ev- involves adapting the soft- The DVBDream’s main win- vice. There’s also a bit rate window. In this way you can such a way that the received ery reception program via ware to the reception system dow is divided in such a way viewer that provides precise continue to work on your PC remote control signals are remote control, it can also to be used. that the channel list is on the data on the usage rate and while keeping an eye on the converted into keyboard directly influence the opera- left side with a control bar lo- the data transmission volume TV window at the same time; shortcut commands which tion of the remote control’s And this is where the cated at the top that provides of a transponder. The Demul- an ideal solution if you want are then used to control the buttons. DVBDream shines: not only access to various functions tiplexer statistic displays the to watch, for example, a live through its individual LOF as well as a large window for PIDs of the current channel sporting event. settings capabilities, but also the TV playback. In general, Expert Opinion through its DiSEqC 1.0, 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3 (USALS) support the DVBDream comes with a multitude of settings capabili- Expert Opinion + Preprogrammed for all of Tenow’s supported software and its extensive 134 Euro- ties and features; you can tell + Full of features especially for the professional + + Additional settings can be entered manually pean, American and Asian satellite list. After that the right away that this software through its simple and logical + + Internet streaming possible + Can also record in transponder stream + Operation of remote control can be modified 10 user can take care of a few operation is an excellent tool 1 1 4 5 2 2 1. LOF Settings 6 2. DiSEqC Settings 3. In DVBDream the user can select for themselves the desired codec for the supported video format 3 4. Automatic channel scan modified 5. DVBDream comes with a 8. EPG wide variety of settings capa- 9. Bitrate Viewer bilities 10. Multitude of settings capa- 1. The TBS-VHID Tool for the reception of remote control commands is 6. LAN Streaming bilities within the channel list compatible with a large number of different programs 7. Each channel entry can are available be individually adapted and 2. The buttons can be individually programmed 7 TBS6925 After entering in the required parameters (frequency, po- data of about 30MB/sec, it We also liked the fact that might not be a bad idea to Tenow included a complete TS Recorder larization, LOF, symbol rate use the manufacturer deter- motor control in the TBS Re- Tenow has another delicacy and DiSEqC), it tries to read mined limits (time duration for the professional TBS6925 the desired transponder. corder; it’s a tool that pro- or maximum data recording card: the TS Recorder is also fessionals undoubtedly will size) otherwise the remain- included on the CD. If it’s successful, the user use to receive satellites oth- ing free space on the hard will be able to see additional er than those all-too-popular drive could drop to zero in a The TBS6925 is the only technical parameters such heartbeat. DTH positions card in our tests that can as modulation and stream store the entire transponder type. Now all you need to stream, including all of the available data, on a PC’s hard do is push the Record button and the TBS Recorder begins Expert Opinion drive. storing all of the received + Ability to record the originally transmitted signal This is exactly where the data on the hard drive. Since we are dealing with + + Integrated motor control + Ideal for professional applications TS Recorder comes into play. a relatively large amount of 36 TELE-satellite — Global Digital TV Magazine — 10-1 1/201 — www.TELE-satellite.com 1 37
  • 4.
    TBS-IPdata nually entered. We were also It took us just a few mouse TBS6984 Quad Tuner card; in If you’re not fortunate happy to see that the DiSE- clicks to set up an Internet just a few short steps we had enough to live in an area qC protocols 1.0, 1.2 and 1.3 connection and put it to use. Internet via satellite set up that has DSL or fiber-optics (USALS) are supported. on one tuner while the other available, you’ll almost cer- We were especially sur- three tuners were used for tainly have Internet access The necessary drivers for prised at how well Internet TV reception. via satellite by subscribing to the network interface are via satellite worked with the an ISP, as this would often be installed during the normal the only high-speed solution. installation process for the specific card or USB box and Expert Opinion The included TBS-IPdata pro- are therefore immediate- + Preprogrammed ISP data gram is the perfect tool for this situation. ly available to the operating system. + + Extensive preprogrammed satellite list + Also compatible with multiple tuner cards It comes with an elaborate list of preprogrammed satel- 2 3 lites and transponders from providers that offer these services from around the world. Of course, these pa- rameters can be also be ma- 1 1. One of the recognized tuners on the reception cards has to be selected for use with the TBS IP Tools 2. The TBS IP Tools’ extensive satellite list 3. A valid transponder was found; Internet via satellite can now begin! TBS BlindScan Scan function the user has to enter the desired frequency regardless whether it was DVB-S or DVB-S2. Even processed. The results can be stored in a data file which One of the more interes- ting features that Tenow has range and the polarization as those with unusual symbol- makes it available for further integrated only in its sin- well as whether the 22 kHz rates (like 5778 or 8680 ks/ processing or for import into gle tuner DVB-S/S2 cards signal should be activated or sec) were recognized and other programs. (TBS6925, TBS6921 and not. TBS5980) is an exceptional Expert Opinion Blind Scan function. Our test scan of ASTRA 4A at 4.8° east was comple- + Compatible with every LOF value The manufacturer did not ted in just over seven mi- nutes and found every ver- + + Also recognized unusual symbolrates + Ideal for finding new channels build it into the TBSViewer software; instead it is availa- tical high-band transponder ble in the form of the TBS 1 2 Blind Scan tool. This little program provides a total of three preprogrammed LOF values (for the Ku-band line- ar and circular and also for the C-band) and if desired let’s you enter LOFs manu- ally. DiSEqC 1.0 is suppor- ted but unfortunately not the 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3 (USALS) protocols. When starting the Blind 1. The TBS5980 supports Blind Scan and can even recognize unusual DVB-S2 symbol rates without any problems. 2. The TBS6925 professional card is in the process of performing a Blind Scan on ASTAR 4A at 4.8° east 38 TELE-satellite — Global Digital TV Magazine — 10-1 1/201 — www.TELE-satellite.com 1