skyworth - tele-satellite · the skyworth hs18 is a pvr receiver, timer recordings can be set up...

16 17TELE-satellite International — The World‘s Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine — 04-05/2012 — www.TELE-satellite.com www.TELE-satellite.com — 04-05/2012 — TELE-satellite International — The World‘s Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine

SkyworthHS18

•IdealforhiddeninstallationonthebackofTVs•Perfectlysuitedasafullyfeaturedcampingreceiver•FullyfunctionalPVRthankstotheUSBinterface•Supportsallofthestandardpictureformats•VerysensitiveIRremotecontrolsignalreceiver

TEST REPORT Miniature HDTV Receiver

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04-05/2012

18 TELE-satellite International — The World‘s Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine — 04-05/2012 — www.TELE-satellite.com

An HD Compatible Mini DVB-S2 Receiver

TEST REPORT Miniature HDTV Receiver

The SCART connector is very widely used in Europe and for many years there have been small satellite receivers that you simply plugged into the SCART connector. But when the SCART connector was de-veloped, there was at that time no HDTV and as a re-sult these little SCART re-ceivers don‘t measure up to today‘s requirements. In order to display HD content on a TV, you have to use the HDMI jack.

And it‘s exactly this con-cept that Skyworth has addressed: the Skyworth HS18 is the first mini re-ceiver with an HDMI output. With the HS18 the HDMI ca-ble is a mere 10cm in length and not only that, it‘s incor-porated directly into the re-ceiver. This lets the set top box disappear completely behind the TV right next to the HDMI jack.

Thanks to the included mounting material, the 100g

HS18 can easily be fixed in place so that the tension on the HDMI cable won‘t be too much. It‘s small 11 x 7 x 1.7cm size takes up almost no space at all and yet comes with all the dif-ferent connection capabili-ties you‘d expect to find in a modern receiver. This in-cludes, of course, the satel-lite IF input, a USB 2.0 in-terface for external storage devices, a port for an RS232 adapter plug, a jack to plug in the external IR receiver as well as a jack for the ex-ternal 12V power supply. The package also includes a small but handy remote control. The buttons are clearly labeled and provide a comfortable back pres-sure when pressed.

One of the LEDs that is integrated into the infrared receiver shows the current operational status of the box, if it‘s red the receiver is in standby and if it‘s green the receiver is in opera-tion. All in all, we were quite

pleased with the workman-ship quality of the Skyworth HS18 and we also liked that it‘s just a little bit larger than a pack of cigarettes.

When you turn the re-ceiver on for the first time, you‘re greeted with the main menu and its six sub-menus. As usual, we started with the system settings with which you can set up the receiver to your per-sonal requirements. The very fist step is to select the desired OSD language. You can choose from English, French, German, Italian, Spanish Portuguese, Rus-sian, Turkish, Polish, Arabic as well as Farsi.

The HS18 works quite well with the available TV equip-ment in that it supports picture resolutions in 480i, 480p, 576i, 576p, 720p 50Hz, 720p 60 Hz, 1080i 50 Hz, 1080i 60 Hz as well as 1080p 50 Hz and 1080p 60 Hz. Clearly, if you own the HS18, you will be perfectly

prepared for the day when HDTV is transmitted via satellite in 1080p. We also found the two Auto modes quite practical whereby in the first mode the resolution is automatically matched to the incoming satellite sig-nal while the second mode orients the receiver to the resolution of the TV.

All of these capabilities are even further enhanced by the automatic time syn-chronization. Skyworth put some thought into this and doesn‘t ask the user to en-ter the local time differ-ence from GMT but rather provides a list of countries and cities to choose from. We found this to be not only more practical but also much more customer-ori-ented! Other settings possi-bilities include the ability to individually set the sharp-ness, contrast and bright-ness of the video output.

Once the Skyworth HS18 has been matched to the

Skyworth HS-18 DVB-S2Sophisticated, fully-featured miniature receiverwww.TELE-satellite.com/TELE-satellite-1205/eng/skyworth.pdf

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available TV system, the next step would be to set up the correct connection to the satellite antenna. The HS18 supports all of the available DiSEqC protocols, that is, 1.0 for reception of up to four satellites, 1.1 for up to 16 satellites as well as 1.2 and 1.3 for motorized antennas. The list of prepro-grammed satellite positions is made up of 46 entries and includes all of the stan-dard European satellites. We were happy to see that the list itself was very up-to-date. The transponder list as well as the satellite list can easily be edited so that it really only takes just a few button-pushes on the remote control to add, edit or delete transponder or satellite entries.

On the LNB side of things there are a large number of preprogrammed LOF val-ues available for the C-band and the Ku-band; manual LOF entry is not possible. Once the receiver knows exactly what satellites it can receive, the next step involves filling up the chan-nel list. To accomplish this task, there are three search modes available: an auto-matic channel scan on one satellite, an automatic chan-nel scan on multiple satel-

lites and also a transponder scan.

The user will like the ability to limit the automatic chan-nel scan to FTA-only (free-to-air) and also to TV or ra-dio only and to TV and radio. Added to this is the inte-grated network scan and as a special bonus there‘s also a BlindScan. The BlindScan feature functioned quite well in our tests and man-aged to find 1461 TV chan-nels and 516 radio channels on HOTBIRD at 13°E in just four minutes. In comparison the automatic channel scan of HOTBIRD at 13°E with the help of the preprogrammed transponder data found 1478 TV channels and 522 radio channels in about six minutes.

Once the channel list has been filled with hundreds of channels, it would be nice for the user to have a de-cent channel sorting and ed-iting function; the Skyworth HS18 doesn‘t disappoint here either. In a clearly and logically designed menu in-dividual channels can be as-signed a PIN code, deleted, moved, renamed or moved into one of the 32 freely namable Favorites Lists. It deserves to be mentioned here that if needed all the

1. Main Menu (Antenna installation)2. Main Menu (System settings)3. Main Menu (Tools)4. PVR Menu5. The extensive satellite list with all usable European orbital positions6. Antenna settings including position entry for DiSEqC 1.37. DiSEqC 1.1 for up to 16 LNBs is also supported8. The LNB LOF values can be selected from a preprogrammed list; manual entry is not possible9. Channel scan on one satellite10. Transponder scan11. The HS18 also supports BlindScan12. Thanks to extensive editing capabilities, the channel list can easily be matched to a user‘s requirements13. All channels on a satellite can be deleted with the push of just one button 14. Setting the time by choosing the country and city15. The receiver‘s software can quickly be updated via USB storage devices


channel entries from a sin-gle satellite can be deleted at one time; this would save some users a lot of time and aggravation.

In general we were quite happy with the quick reac-tion time of the receiver to remote control commands as well as with the sensitive IR receiver. Both of these

make using the receiver that much easier and can put a smile on the lips of users when they‘re working with the receiver such as when sorting the channel list.

Once the receiver has been completely set up ac-cording to the user‘s re-quirements, the main menu can be left simply by push-ing the „Exit“ button. This takes the receiver to the first channel in the chan-nel list. An informative Info bar appears that displays the title of the current and upcoming programs plus provides information on the availability of teletext, sub-titles or EPG data.

As long as the program-ming provider offers EPG data for the next several days, it can be evaluated and

displayed through the Sky-worth HS18. For this pur-pose there are two modes available: a complete over-view of a single channel and also a simultaneous display of five channels in a grid for-mat. Both formats are clear-

ly organized and offer the user a good overview of the upcoming programs. Since the Skyworth HS18 is a PVR receiver, timer recordings can be set up directly from the EPG. Unfortunately, you can only set up a total of eight timers; considering the number of TV channels that are available today, this number is somewhat small.

But this is made up for by the well-arranged channel list that can be easily ac-cessed with a single push of the OK button. The list can be further refined to those channels from individual satellites or from specific groups (provider, CAS). A practical search function with the use of the OSD keyboard is also available to help make finding specific channels much easier.

The new HS18 receiver from Skyworth comes with a fully functional and quite sensitive DVB-S2 tuner. Whether it was weak sig-nals, such as those on BADR at 26°E that come in relatively weak here in Aus-tria, or narrow band SCPC signals, the receiver could not be brought out of its rhythm. As a result, the

HS18 had no trouble at all receiving the 12634V tran-sponder on TURKSAT at 42°E with a symbol rate of 2.222 MS/sec. We were also surprised at the picture and audio quality of the small HS18. It can be used in an RV with a 24“ monitor just as well as with a 50“ LCD TV in your living room at home.

Even though the HS18 isn‘t much larger than a pack of cigarettes, it eas-ily becomes a fully featured PVR receiver thanks to its USB 2.0 port and the use of an external storage device. Its capabilities exceed many other mini receivers in that it can record two HD chan-nels simultaneously while showing a third TV channel live. Since the HS18 only has a DVB-S2 tuner, all three channels have to be on the

same transponder. As you would expect with a high-quality product, Skyworth also included a time shift function with the HS18 that allows the user to pause a live program and come back to it at a later time without missing a thing. In this way you can answer that tele-phone call or handle some other unavoidable interrup-

tion in the middle of your fa-vorite show without missing a beat.

The incorporated media player in the HS18 plays back all the prerecorded TV and radio content but is trumped by an MP3 jukebox, a picture viewer and a video player for all of the stan-dard formats (for example, MPEG, VOB, TS, MKV, AVI).

This makes the small Sky-worth HS18 box a fully-fea-tured multimedia receiver with which you can not only enjoy TV and radio pro-grams, but you can also en-joy listening to your favorite songs. And let‘s not forget that it can also play the lat-est video clips from the In-ternet and lets you present your vacation pictures and videos to all of your friends.

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16. The Skyworth HS18 becomes a fully-featured PVR receiver with the addition of a USB 2.0 storage device17. TimeShift is also supported18. An Info bar appears at the bottom of the screen with every channel change and provides information on the current and upcoming program19. EPG display of five channels20. EPG display of one channel21. Timer entries can be set up directly from the EPG22. Channels can be easily searched for using the OSD keyboard23. Two HD recordings can be handled at the same time; if a third recording is started, the receiver asks the user to stop a current recording24. While a recording is in process, the channel list only shows those channels that are on the same transponder25. The media player can play back content previously stored on a USB 2.0 storage device. 26. SCPC reception on TURKSAT 42°E is no problem at all27. Thanks to language selection, multiple audio channels can be managed28. The list with entries after scanning a satellite29. The HS18 is also a fully-featured MP3-Player, picture viewer and media center 30. MP3 playback31. Videos can be played back in a variety of formats without any interference32. AVI playback

We should also mention that the Skyworth HS18 is one of only a very few digi-tal receivers that we have recently tested that can work with the NTFS data system. This is particularly advantageous because you are no longer restricted by the FAT system which would require another file for any-thing over 4GB. This makes it easier to edit any record-ings and, for example, con-

vert them into a DVD at a later time on your PC.

On top of all these fea-tures that were just men-tioned, the little Skyworth comes with yet even more small but practical features including a dedicated button on the remote control to ad-just the video signal resolu-tion as well as an integrated teletext decoder. The inter-nal software of the HS18

DATATECHNICAL

Manufacturer Shenzhen Skyworth Digital Technology CO., LTD. Unit A 13-16/F, Skyworth Mansion., Gaoxin Ave. 1.S. Nanshan District, Shenzhen 518057, China

Internet www.skyworthdigital.com

Email sales [email protected]

Tel +86-755-26010018

Model HS18

Function Very small PVR Receiver with HDMI

Input frequency 950 - 2150 MHz

EPG yes

C/KU-Band yes

HDTV support yes (up to 1080p)

RS232 yes

Ethernet yes

USB 2.0 yes

Size 11 x 7 x 1.7 cm

Weight 115 Gr

+

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Thomas HaringTELE-satellite

Test CenterAustria

DIAGRAMENERGY

Active Power

Apparent Power

Mode Apparent Active FactorActive 12.5 W 7 W 0.56StandBy 0 W 0 W 1


Sophisticated and stable software, wide assortment of features and applications and excellent workmanship. Because of its small size it‘s an ideal receiver for RVs but would also make a very practical receiver for your living room

None

Expert Opinion

The first 15 minutes active use with channel switching, recording, playback, etc. The second 15 minutes in Standby

can also be easily updated through a USB storage de-vice. And as long as we‘re talking about updates, the next software revision from Skyworth should include the activation of the RJ45 inter-face and the integrated card reader.

All in all, we had a lot of

fun thoroughly testing the Skyworth HS18. It‘s a so-phisticated receiver that is loaded with features all of which are packed into a housing that is only a few centimeters in size. Thanks to its small size it can easily be used anywhere, whether it‘s in your RV or in your liv-ing room.

skyworth - tele-satellite · the skyworth hs18 is a pvr receiver, timer recordings can be set up...

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