08-09 - TELE-satellite International Magazine

Finding the channel you want to watch will be a little
bit difficult in a range of 2000 channels. Therefore,
you can build your own favourites lists. Up to nine
different listings with a maximum of 99 channels
per listing can be built. This way, every member
of your family can have its own favourites listing.
But you can also use the nine listings to categorise.
It is easy to delete channels or to change
the order. You can even change the name of a
channel and it is also possible to lock channels.
Nokia will supply the 9800S with two listings
programmed: one FTA only and one with
both FTA and pay-TV. On the pay-TV side,
the box uses age differentiation to determine
if someone is allowed to watch certain channels.
This prevents your youngest from seeing
things he or she had better not seen. Channels
can also be locked with a four-digit code.
Nokia has built this 9800S being very sensitive.
So we tried C-band reception. Using a 2.4m dish,
the global and hemi-beams of Intelsat were caught
without any problem. However, you will need a
C-band LNB for this. With SCPC enabled in the
most recent firmware, many DXers will get a warm
feeling from this new box. Remarkable and a little
disappointing is the disappeared SCSI connector.
We still believe real multimedia is made of more
than a satellite receiver only. One should be able
to connect an external DVD or CD-ROM drive.
The teletext decoder processed the data very fast.
Whenever a channel uses subtitles or has a second
audio carrier you can easily select the service with
the option button. The i-button not only gives you
all data about the channel, but also time and a
short note about the programme on. Pressing the
i-button again will give more detailed information
about the programme and also about what’s next.
Conclusion
With the new 9800S Nokia offers a high-end digital
receiver targeted at family use. The use of both Ku-
and C-band reception, free satellite selection and
a real universal voltage range (95-260V, 50/60Hz)
make this receiver really globally approved. The
completely restyled EPG and on-screen display
sets a new standard as far as we are concerned.
The initial installation can also be done without
the manual, since it is made very simple and the
menus are all clearly laid out. In standby mode,
the 9800S only consumes about 3 watts.
Praxis DigiMaster 9800CI
For one year we have all been betting on dual
receivers, offering both analogue and digital reception.
However, the situation today shows us that
most analogue programmes are also available
in digital. That’s the reason why most manufacturers
now focus on the digital receiver market.
Where you used to need a dish of several meters
to be able to watch Thai TV, today a small dish
of only 75 cm will do the trick, offering a picture
without any sparks. Now, everybody can obtain
news directly from the source, from countries like
Chile and Argentina. For European people living
abroad it is now possible to directly tune into the
signals of Italy, Arab countries and many more.
There are some requirements to a receiver that
can be used globally. Some regions will require
proper reception of the C-band, where others
require Ku-band reception. A dual polariser with a
servo motor is needed to receive both signals, so
the receiver must be able to control this piece of
equipment as well. Another important issue is the
reception of FTA signals (Free-to-Air). But being
able to subscribe to some pay-TV package will
require the receiver being able to handle all kinds
of encryption methods. A Common Interface is the
solution.The new Praxis 9800CI will meet all these
requirements and many more. At the time we tested
this receiver there was no distributor in Europe yet,
so we had to get our test sample from Dubai. The
outside of the receiver looks much the same as all
its predecessors. There is no analogue receiver part
built in and the space coming available because of
this is now used to store more digital programmes.
A total of 2,900, to be precise (2000 TV, 900 radio).
For every region around the world this should
cover all needs. On the front, a large green display
indicated the channel ID, the programme mode
and time when in standby mode. Buttons hidden
behind a lid enables you to operate the complete
receiver. The standby-button can be easily operated
and is not placed behind the lid. Also neatly
covered by this lid are both slots for CI-modules.
A servo polariser can be connected to the
terminals at the back. There is no positioner built
into this receiver. This is a shame since after
testing this receiver for over a longer period we
found it would work well with a motorised dish.
Three scart connectors at the back connect
to your television set, VCR and an external
decoder (like for RAI for instance). Additionally,
outputs are available for audio-in and video-
in phono connectors. The 0/12 Volt connector
can control an external switch and the serial
RS-232 interface enables the updates of the
firmware and channel settings at 38.400 Baud.
A modulator is built-in and it is software adjustable.
It will integrate the receiver’s signal into an
existing terrestrial signal. A nice detail is that you
can use any channel available in the total UHF
frequency range (in Europe: PAL D/K, B/G, I and
SECAM L). Another item back on this receiver
is a main power switch. The remote control is
designed to fit easily into your hand and the
most important keys are all located together in
this circular layout which is common today.
According to the manufacturer of this receiver,
it is a real Plug-&-Play thing. This is generally
true, despite all the features available on this
box. Normally, you will use this receiver on one
or two dishes (LNBs). The initial installation, in
fact, only consists of setting the proper LOFs.
More dishes can be controlled by this receiver
since it supports DiSEqC 1.1 and the common
12V control signal. The antenna menu gives you
a lot of options to control your dish configuration.
For every satellite you can store a different LOF.
When one satellite operates in the C-band you
can store the 5.150 GHz and for the Ku-band 10.0
GHz. Another satellite can be set to a universal
LNB. Polarisation switching is done using the
14/18V-control signal from the receiver, but this
only goes for Ku-band reception, of course. For
C-band, you will need to use the servo polariser.
For every satellite you can store a different skew.
It is possible to use the 9800CI in a small CTV
network. Whenever a particular satellite is not
available in the long list, you can still easily add
it to the system by entering the values needed.
You can programme any channel from the
TELE-Satellite listing into the transponder listing.
Although you can manually set every detail of
a channel, the automatic search is much more
comfortable. PID-codes are filtered from the
data stream and stored with the channel. The
Praxis 9800CI is able to determine the FEC itself,
however this doesn’t go for the symbol rate.
www.TELE-satellite.com — 08-09/2009 — TELE-satellite — Broadband & Fiber-Optic 175