TEST REPORT
06-07/2007
TELE-satellite & Broadband
— 06-07/2007
— www.TELE-satellite.com
Elegant CI Receiver with LCD Display
To our great surprise, we
found that one of these slots was
already fitted with a TechniSat
Smart Card for a 30-day free trial
of the radio package on Astra at
19.2° east. If you happen to like
listening to that radio package,
just fill out the order card that
came with the receiver package
to keep the Smart Card active
after the 30-day trial.
Six buttons are located to the
right of the display for control of
the receiver should the remote
control not be available. Nev-
ertheless, it would be a good
idea to keep fresh batteries in
the remote since most of the
receiver’s features can only be
accessed through the remote.
As long as we’re on the subject
of remote controls: TechniSat is
trying to follow a very straight
line by including the same
remote in all of their units. If you
already have a TechniSat box to
call your own, you should have no
trouble at all getting comfortable
with the remote that comes with
the DigiPlus STR1. It sits nicely
Satellite Receiver
TechniSat DigiPlus STR 1
There are already plenty of bulky
CI receivers
with segmented displays available. So you can just
imagine how excited we were to actually be holding
an elegant receiver with readable display on our
hands!
The new TechniSat DigiPlus STR1 was nicely
packed and impressed us not only from its exter-
nal appearance but also from its internal workings.
The large and extremely easy to read display in
the middle of the front panel stands out as soon as
you open the box. To the left behind a flap are two
well-hidden integrated card readers for Conax and
Cryptoworks.
in your hand and all buttons are
within easy reach of your thumb.
On the rear panel, you will find
two Scart connectors, three RCA
jacks for video and stereo audio,
a digital audio output (optical
and coaxial), a satellite IF input
as well as a service connection.
Unfortunately, you won’t find
a main power switch, a looped-
through IF output, an S-Video
output and a modulator output.
The included user manual is
in typical TechniSat quality: it
is quite detailed with numerous
illustrations and should there-
fore be an excellent tool even for
beginners.
Everyday Use
After turning on the receiver
for the first time, you are taken
directly to the Installation Assis-
tant that guides through all of
the necessary setup parame-
ters step-by-step. Choosing the
desired OSD language is the first
step. You can choose between
German, French, Italian, English
and Spanish. A second version
of this receiver with the choices
English, Turkish, Czech, Hungar-
ian and Bulgarian is also avail-
able.
The next step involves select-
ing your location. A large selec-
tion is available that includes
Germany, Switzerland, Great
Britain, Spain, Holland, Turkey,
Denmark, Norway, Russia, Lux-
embourg, Austria, The Czech
Republic, France, Italy, Belgium,
Poland, Sweden, Finland and
Greece. If you now ask yourself
what the use would be in the
receiver knowing location, the
answer is simply ISIPRO. The
ISIPRO system was developed
by TechniSat to provide up-to-
date and country-specific chan-
nel lists to the user. As soon as
a new channel is added or an old
one removed, the receiver rec-
ognizes this automatically and
loads the updated channel list
via satellite. The days of time-
consuming channel scans and
channel sorting are over.
The next step is based on your
existing antenna system. Natu-
rally the receiver is compatible
with all standard DiSEqC proto-
cols as well as with the Techni-
Sat developed Multyenne system
previously introduced by TELE-
satellite. The Multyenne system
provides for multiple satellite
reception at the same time. A
DiSEqC motor can also be oper-
ated. The preprogrammed satel-
lite list includes all of the more
popular DTH satellites in Europe.
13 additional satellites can be
manually added if need be.
The DigiPlus STR1 supports a
variety of LNBs, from your basic
single LNB, through a Quattro
LNB up to and including Tech-
niSat’s own one-cable solution
(Disicon series). Additionally,
there are also corresponding
local oscillator fre-
quency (LOF) values
for the C-band and
also for circular
LNBs available. And
if you absolutely
must use your S-
band antenna with
this new TechniSat
receiver, you can set
up the necessary
LOFs manually. A pair of signal
and quality displays constantly
keep an eye out on the incoming
satellite signal letting you easily
adjust all the settings as needed
for optimum reception.
Before the installation pro-
cedure comes to an end, the
receiver takes a quick look to
see if any new software is avail-
able via satellite. Only after
this step is completed can you
get into the channel menu. The
user must choose between the
ISIPRO system mentioned earlier
and an automatic channel scan
for all or free-to-air (FTA) only
channels. We began our tests by
activating the ISIPRO system;
the download of an up-to-date
channel list started immediately
and was completed in just about
one minute. The DigiPlus STR1
needed a little more time, roughly
eight minutes, to download SFI
data. This system is similar to
the familiar EPG but on the one
hand it comes with a number of
sort and search functions and on
the other it is a single download
for all of the major broadcasters
with information up to a week in
advance.
After
successfully
exiting
the Installation Assistant, the
receiver switches over to the
first receivable channel. The Info
bar that immediately appears
displays the current channel
number and name as well as the
title of the current program. This
information is also visible on the
receiver’s LCD display and can
easily be read from a distance.
The receiver switches between
channels in just under a second
TECHNISAT DIGIPLUS STR 1
The Ideal Receiver for Every
Living Room and Every
Age Group
