TELE INTERNATIONAL - TELE-satellite International Magazine

Digital receiver with Open TV
The choice is yours. That’s what all
manufacturers are telling us. But in digital
receiver land, the choices are getting more
difficult every day. So many different technologies,
features and platforms all make
it difficult to choose a new digital receiver.
Should it be one with analogue reception
integrated as well? Or should it just be digital
with FTA only? Or with common access?
And now there’s a new feature to choose:
Open-TV.
Despite what many had expected, today
there are a large number of free digital
programmes available and one does not
have to pay for everything. Germany-based
manufacturer Kathrein now focuses on this
large group of users with the new UFD 510
digital Free-to-Air receiver offering Open-
TV. Besides processing EPG information of
the German pubcasters, it also processes
the ARD Online Channel and French Multivision
information. Now, you can see Meteosat
pictures on your own television whenever
you want it. For Kathrein, Free-to-Air
means Ku-band as well as C-band, MCPC as
well as SCPC. So we unpacked this new box
to give it a thorough test.
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UFD 510
The UFD 510 comes in a sturdy housing.
There were no plastics or wobbly Scart connectors
but a metal housing and tightly fastened
Scart connectors instead. Positioned
on the front is a green display indicating
one of the 1000 channels that can be programmed.
It also shows the current mode,
like EPG for Electronic programme Guide or
APPL for application. A real power switch
is present on the front and behind the lid
we found the three emergency buttons.
Also located behind this lid is a Common
Access PCMCIA slot, hence well protected
from dust. At the back, we found three Scart
(Peritel) connectors. One for your television
set, one for your VCR and one for a decoder
(like for instance for RAI). A serial RS-232
interface takes care of all connections to the
digital outside world.
The UFD 510 features an LNB output
to easily connect an additional analogue
receiver. For those wanting the highest
quality in video, a Y/C output can supply
your television or VCR with the appropriate
signal. Unfortunately, there is no digital
audio output present. For audio freaks this
may be a serious point, since the analogue
output limits enthusiasts in their possibilities
to process the signal. There is no RF modu-
lator built-in since the receiver is targeted at
the European market, where almost every
television set has a Scart input.
The remote control is striking with its
colourful buttons that are used for easily
operating the EPG and Open-TV services.
If another Kathrein receiver is also installed,
you can select the channel of the remote to
prevent accidental operation of the other
receiver.
In practice
The first installation is a real piece of cake
with this Kathrein receiver. Owing to the
DiSEqC 1.1 system it doesn’t matter if you
want to use a mono-feed, dual-feed or even
multiple dishes. The UFD 510 will handle
it all. The manual clearly describes all possibilities
in detail. It does not only mention
the multi-switches and wall sockets, but
also the product IDs from Kathrein. This
prevents a lot of trouble with third party
components.
First of all you will have to do an initial
installation. So let’s move on to the installation
menu. Here, you can set all LOFs for
every single satellite. Normally, you would
be using a universal LNB and the proper
LOFs are already programmed (9.75/10.6).
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