Technomate 6900 HD combo advice needed (watty, byte, etc?)

JHMEG

Ok, I posted a while back about the TM 6900 and didn't really get any questions answered.

I'm considering getting one of these, and as far as I can tell it's pretty future proof. If does the MPEG4/H264 thing on DVB-T and DVB-S for HD.

I can use my Dragon cam in it for Ch4/Five etc.

So, unless the powers that be invent some new standard, am I correct in saying that it will receive any FTA HD that RTE et al decide to provide us with on DVB-T, and that it also will do anything the UK broadcasters decide to provide us with on satellite?

Full specs are here:
http://www.technomate.com/viewproduct2.php?product=81

Or in short:

* 2 High Definition Tuners: DVB-S/DVB-S2 Satellite & DVB-T Terrestrial Compliant (MPEG-II/ MPEG-IV/ H.264)
* Output Resolution: 576p & 576i, 720p & 1080i
* 1 Smart Card Reader & 2 Common Interfaces (2CI)
* HDMI & Component Output (YPbPr) with Upscaler to Improve Picture Quality
* 10,000 TV & Radio Channels
* USB2.0 PVR Ready via external HDD or USB Flash Drive (memory stick) with Timeshift, Record & Playback functions
* MP3 player and JPEG viewer via external HDD or USB Flash Drive (memory stick)
* Software & Channel List download via USB 2.0
* Fully Featured VFD text Front Panel Display
* Sensitive Tuner
* Less than 1 second channel change
* Dolby Digital Optical S/PDIF
* DiSEqC 1.0, 1.1, 1.2 & 1.3 (USALS) compatible
* Auto Navigation system – select as many satellites as you want to search
* On-screen display with true full color resolution
* Enhanced 16 Favorite channel groups
* Channel control by: Favorites, Lock, Skip, Move & Delete
* Channel sort by: All, Alphabet, Transponder & CAS
* Multilingual OSD Menu: English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch, German, Italian, Turkish, Arabic, Russian, Persian
* Extended EPG and program reservation on EPG
* Teletext & Subtitle by OSD and VBI
* Last channel memory function
* Factory default channel list
* Various games
* Software & channel list upgrade via RS-232C: PC to STB, STB to PC, STB-STB and USB
* Parental, Installation & Receiver Lock
* Zoom function on Pause & Live channel
* Multipicture display
* Support for multiple language broadcasts
* SCPC & MCPC receivable from C/Ku band satellites LNBs supported: Universal, Single, Single S & C band wideband LNBs
* Multi TV Standards supported: PAL G, I, K, M & NTSC M with 4:3 & 16:9 Screen Formats
* 90-250V AC 50/60 Hz
* LNB Short Circuit protection onboard
* 2 Scarts, (RGB, CVBS) & S-Video

byte

Seems pretty future proof to me. If it's anywhere as good as the TM-1xxx series, it'll be a damn good box

I'd love one myself. May I ask how much it is?

JHMEG

They're hard enough to get as a lot of places don't have them in stock. Cheapest is £279, most expensive is £299, so not a lot of variation.

byte

Doesn't sound too steep for a 2-in-1 HD receiver

pbirney

Does it decode MPEG 4:2:2 feeds and have blind scan search?

byte

I'd be pretty sure it'd have blind search, though not sure about 4:2:2. Doubt it

byte

Just found a discussion over on AVF about this box.

It seemingly doesn't have blind search, and cannot decode 4:2:2

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=622914

JHMEG

What channels could one not get because of it not doing 4:2:2?

My limited knowledge of this is that 4:2:2 is used with MPEG2 and that only BBC are using MPEG2 in their HD trials (but are not using 4:2:2)

MPEG4 (H264) is becoming a sort of standard for HD, is it not?

watty

The BBC HD is MPEG4 but not on DVB-s2, on DVB-s.

4.2.2 is really mostly feeds. I don't think ANY regular channels use it.

JHMEG

So, watty, what would your opinion of said receiver be? Do you reckon it's future-proof?

JHMEG

Can I take that as no opinion then?:D

tmull

I now dought that the DM 8000 will ever see the light of day,so I have alsobeen looking at the Technomate HD box and trying to compare it to the Eycos 80-12 box. The e-Sata connection on the Eycos would give you more options on connecting an external hdd. HD boxes seem to be appearing at a regular rate now so I shall wait until Jan or Feb to make the move. But I would like anyone who has one of these boxes to give their impressions of same.TMULL