DVBS-2 & DVB-T Receiver Skyworth ALI-HD - TELE-satellite ...

Skyworth have managed
to shoe-horn both a DVB-
S2 and a DVB-T receiver,
quite an achievement. And
even though the receiver
is 40mm high there is a
good range of connections
squeezed onto the back
panel. There are single
HDMI, Scart, component
and composite video connectors,
audio connections
in both digital and analogue
flavour, along with loopthroughs
to compliment the
satellite and terrestrial inputs.
The UHF output is for
loop-though purposes only;
there is no RF modulator
onboard. LAN and RS232
ports are also present for
upgrade purposes.
The front panel has buttons
for the most basic
controls next to an LED display
that shows the channel
number, a flap hides away a
CI slot and USB port, where
a storage device can be
connected. It’s worth noting
from the outset though that
the unit’s power requirements
are for a power supply
of between 175 and 240
volts, so it would be unsuitable
for use in the Americas
and other areas that use
110V.
A good range of antenna
connections are available
despite the initial basic
feel of the receiver. Options
range from a single
fixed dish through DiSEqC
switches and motors, with
USALS included for a very
easy motorised setup. 41
satellites around the world
are pre-programmed, others
can be added. LNB
frequencies are fixed, but
cover most configurations
available including C-band.
Hitting the scan button for
the first time gave me a real
surprise – it is very fast! A
scan over the whole of AS-
TRA 2 takes only 3 minutes
and 20 seconds to find 96
transponders. Adding the
network scan option ensures
that any frequencies
for the provider that are
not already in the receiver’s
database are also scanned,
but this adds a time overhead
onto the scan. The
same satellite scanned with
this enabled took over twice
as long – 6 minutes 50 seconds.
There is another way
though, blind scan comes
to our rescue and will flew
across the whole satellite,
picking up any new frequencies
and adding everything
it finds. The same 96
transponders were found in
a staggering 2 minutes 54
seconds, even faster than
the normal scan. That is
an average of just 1.8 seconds
per transponder. Blind
scan is clearly the way to go
here.
Our sample receiver also
had a DVB-T tuner built in.
While the satellite tuner can
receive DVB-S2, the terrestrial
part does not include
DVB-T2 to match, so there’s
no HD through the TV antenna
even if it is available
in your area. Scanning here
can be over the whole spectrum,
or an individual channel
can be specified.
At my location there are
only two DVB-T transponders
and one DVB-T2 – the
two traditional ones were
found and scanned in an
equally fast 27 seconds,
the DVB-T2 didn’t register
at all. I was a little concerned
as the frequency
bands to scan are set by
country, and the options of
Czech, Brazil, France, Germany,
Poland, Italy, Russia
and Sweden might not
have been good for me here
in England. But all of them
seemed to work just fine,
and if needed a look on the
internet to find the frequencies
to enter would be a last
resort to find your channels
if your country’s frequency
band did not match these
defaults.
The channel list is accessed
as usual from the
central OK button. Scrolling
is quite fast, and there are
page up and down buttons
to help out here too. The list
can be filtered with the left
0.5
www.TELE-satellite.com — 04-05/2011 — TELE-satellite — Global Digital TV Magazine
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