Nearly around the same time as the introduction of the KNC1 TV-Station DVB-S2 Plus of KNC1, Technotrend announced a similar, own TV-Solution for DVB-S2 based modulation techniques. Technotrend is well known as a long terming TV-Card producing company and therefore also for solutions with superior quality, which often surprise with their ability to run quite well on freeware applications. During to shipment problems of a producer the card could only be shipped out in very small amounts. HDTVTotal.com has been able as one of the few HD-platforms in the Internet, to get one of the high demanded cards and offeres a complete testreport of the S2-3200 to you.
In similarity to the KNC1 TV-Station DVB-S2 Plus the Technotrend S2-3200 doesn't offer an own MPEG-4 Decoderchip that would be able to overtake the decoding of H.264-signals.Therefore a very strong system is needed, to have the pleasure of viewing non-stocking HD-pictures via satellite. Despite of that, we couldn't resist to undertake the card a ingoing review.
The driverinstallation of the TV-card is very easy. The card has to be inserted in a free PCI-slot and the pc has to be rebooted afterwards. After the reboot, the card is detected by Windows XP (under Win 2000 this would be certainly similar) and a new hardware component demands for drivers. As installation medium the user only has to select the shipped driver cd or a downloaded (actual) driver from Technotrend and the card is available within the system. That's all!
After the successfull installation of the drivers, it is now possible to install the shipped software, named BDA-App. A data-client for recieving of DSL via satellite for example will be installed also with the software. A short test of casablanca as a dataclient has been finished successfully.
Finally after the installation of the main-software it is essential to install the Cyberlink PowerDVD7 H.264 Edition. With this Version of PowerDVD7 the Cyberlink H.264 Codec would be installed, that is essential for playing of HD-video content. A test of the supplied PowerDVD7 Version with a DVD resulted successfully. It is possible to play a DVD with this PowerDVD7 Version as well - you will receive a good software dvd-player also with the TechnoTrend S2-3200!
The driver and software installation needs about 5 minutes and was passed without any problems. IRQ - problems weren't noticed - an IRQ assignment through the BIOS of the motherboard mustn't be done manually by the user. The card runs stable without any manual interference.
The one and only little remark of us is, that the card will become very hot. It is better to let one slot between the card and another empty or to buy a little slot-cooler, like one's for harddisks. The card is especially during the HDTV-handling very hot (we recognized that on our own by getting burned fingers!!!), what might have also negative aspects on the reliability of the card. Afterwards we fixed a little slot-cooler on the card, solving our problems.
The card comes with an own software with the not very well clinking name "BDA-APP". This software serves the absolutely minimum of compatibility and functionality. Thanks to the BDA-drivers it is possible to use external programs as well, that are partially preferable in comparision to the shipped software.
3.1.1 BDA-APP
The software offers all main functions, that everybody wants to have in a modern tv-card software today. Recording,Playback and Organization of tv stations and radio stations via satellite.
The surface makes the impression of being a little bit confusing, but it fulfills its sense. Recordings are possible via a timer function, that is controllable via the taskplaner function of windows. Furthermore a programming on weekly or daily basis is possible. Within the EPG [01] there is a function integrated to send the showed data directly to the timer - recordings are created very easy on this way. However, it is possible to create a recording through using the program guide integrated in the software.
The videotext function is structured classical and offers all functions, that are supposed of a videotext.
However the program DVB-Viewer Pro is not delivered with the tv card, we didn't want to pass up a golden opportunity to test especially the H.264 playback of the program. The software costs 15 € - the access data is delivered by E-Mail after registration and payment. All in all the program offers much more functions, as the originally delivered software - therefore everybody should think of buying this or some other software, because the delivered one of technotrend doesn't offer too much functions.
In our test we wanted to analyse the support of H.264 & DVB-S2. After a short test of our already with a Technotrend budget card used DVB-Viewer Pro 3.5 version we found help in the forum of dvbviewer. A download of the actual beta version (3.5.0.50) and the required dvb-viewer filter (2.8.2) helped us a lot. After the installation of the updates and a final search run [02] there were some HD-DVB-S2 tv-stations available in our channellist (Pro7HD, SAT.1HD, ASTRAHD and AnixeHD).
A short test of the stations resulted in a good result - they were playbacked well. Also the playback of recorded broadcast streams (*.ts) was possible.
Conclusion of the alternative programme:
A very good alternative in comparision to the original software and with 15€ for a lifetime licence not even very expensive. A further advantage of the DVB-Viewer software is that it is possible to use a few tv cards with it simultaneously. In a HTPC this would be a great solution to record with one card and to playback with the other one! The program supports such a large amount of tv cards so that it is often possible to use more than one in one pc. In confrontation to the delivered original BDA-APP software it is noticeable that there are much more options to manage than in the original software. It is possible to set the video codecs freely, the hardware, audio and other preferences are also easy to adjust. Also the EPG - support , the timer and the channellist are much more comfortable as the one of the delivered original BDA-APP software.
The Cyberlink optionassistant, that is opened with a klick into the audiopreference dialog, allows to adjust the speaker settings as far as special theatre / music themes. The program plays back every tested video/audio file without problems - neither HD-recordings with AC3 - audio nor MPEG-2 recordings including MPEG-2 audio resulted in problems. Within the audio dialogue it is furthermore possible to set the program whether to record an available AC3-stream or to use the "standard" PCM- stream. A direct output via the SPDIF of a soundcard (here the Creative Soundblaster Audigy Platinum) is possible. Our test-system #1 delivered an excellent AC3 sound to the KenWood VRS-5100 amplifier outputting to our magnat speakers. The signal has been recognized as an raw AC3 stream and depending on that been converted.
A manual change of the audio tracks is also possible. With a simple right-click on the channel and a drop down menü the audio format change is very easy. It is possible (depending on the channel, of course) to select between several tracks (stereo, Dolby, etc...) and on some channels between different languages, too.
3.3 Video
Vastly more ample are the set-up possibilities in the video options inside the set-up dialogue. On the one side there are options to choose between different hardware-modes (VideoMixingRenderer & VMR 9), as well as to change colour-settings (brightness, green/red, yellow/blue, contrast, chroma). Further important settings are hardware-acceleration plus deinterlacing-modes (bob or weave). During testing we made the experience that espacially in fast camera-pannings (action movies, soccer live-broadcastings) a setting fixed to "bob" is advantageous, because in this case the appearances of the "combing-effect" in tv-broadastings had been minimized.
A special software-attribute is the separately usable setting-dialogue for H.264-channels. Within it you can set-up all values discretely, which are used for channel-coding in H.264. For hardware-acceleration there is just one mode available - DXVA.
TechnoTrend S2-3200 is naturally able to receive and display DVB-S signals. In that case it doesn't hardly distinguish from cards of other manufacturers, except in one point: During testing we had the subjective feeling, that the card runs highly stable and that we hadn't encountered any dropouts. Captured files were in good order at 100%, the picture was clear and sharp (depending on the source) and the preformance just reached an agreeable level. Performance fluctuated between 8% and about 15% system capacity on test-system #1 (test system #2 30-50%), which had obviously been assisted by a good hardware-acceleration of the used graphics-card. Even with activated time-shifting the system never reached more than 25% system-capacity. Dropouts or stutters never occured during testing. Just between the channel-switching periodes the picture delayed for about 1-3 seconds, which did never atrracted attention disruptively.
The main-argument for Technotrend S2-3200 surely is its abilty to receive DVB-S2-modulated channels. This comes with a modulation-method that can use bandwidth of a satellite-transponder more efficiently. Furthermore HDTV has been send just in MPEG-2 so far (Astra HD, Euro 1080) and in bitrates of about 16-20 mbit/s. The new DVB-S2 standard place emphasis on H.264 (one form of MPEG-4), which is said to notably improve image-quality at equal bandwidth compared to mpeg-2. Both advantages in bandwidth will initiate the channels to focus on these techniques for HDTV in the near future, because it enables a more cost-saving broadcast and thus there is just one card fulfilling these reqirements considered as future-proof for coming years. Test-system #1 managed to play HDTV in H.264 flawless without bigger problems. No droputs occured. The system-capacity was about 35 and 56% during activated hardware-accelleration by graphics-card (an ATI Radeon X1800XT) - notabene by use of a DualCore CPU! According to that SwitchingPeriods are even longer - a channel-switch took about between 2 and 5 seconds on our test-system #1. TimeShift, which should have been able by any tv-card, caused peeks up to about 70% in capacity-load, which also caused short dropouts. The software reacted on activated TimShifting with extanded delays in H.264-playback. Our test-system #2 wasn't able to playback HDTV-content via DVB-S2 - a CPU-load of more than 80% and permanent dropouts made watching of DVB-S2 channels proverbially a misery. Capturing with parallel deactivated audio/video-output was practical with 35% system-load! Pure watching of HD-content seems even possible with much weaker computers.
In contrast capturing while parallel playback of H.264-coded channels worked faultless with test-system #1. Our test-system #1 was able to record hd-programme of Pro7, Sat.1, AstraHD and AnixeHD without any problems. The recordings in H.264/Mpeg-4 were stored as *.TS TransportStreams - no other format is selectable for capturing H.264/MPEG-4. For storing MPEG-2 coded channels one can select between MPEG, TS and PVA. Both last formats are of real interest for HD-fans, because these record the complete Transportstream, so all brodcasted data alike video, audiotrack(s) and additional and auxiliary data (EPG, 16:9-switch-command).
Recorded files were played smoothly with slightly lower CPU-load of about 30% via VLC Media Player, MediaPlayer Classic or PowerDVD 7. Also audio was stored straightly in AC3. Strange to say Media Player Classic handled it bst of all mentioned programmes - even fast-forwarding of the captures was possible without problems and without causing a system hang-up. Here output was send to a Samsung 20" TFT - impressive images! Image-errors like during our KNC1 TV-Station DVB-S2 Plus testing did not occur during test-operation - our system played all caputeres faultless and without dropouts. A readjusting of colour-settings, like it was necessary for the KNC1, wasn't for our test.
After serveral successful captures of amongst others Lost [03] , Grey's Anatomy, Pirates Of The Carribbean (German: Fluch der Karibik) [04] and Freaky Friday [05] on Pro7HD as well as Navy CIS [07] on Sat.1HD we clearly recognised, that image-quality can be much better compared to their simultaneously broadcasted SD-versions. Also on upscaled programmes differences to their sd-channels are recognisable - albeit the difference isn't as prominent as with natively broadcasted hdtv contents, but it reaches a "near-DVD" level.
In BDA-APP it was not possible to use another codec instead of that included in PowerDVD7. However in DVB-Viewer a small ckeck to proof that other cocecs are selectable and working was successful: Mainconcept's MPEG-4/AVC Codec operated properly. For this the demo-version of Mainconcept MPEG-4/AVC Encoders v.2 was installed. It ranged in system-load on almost similiar niveau like that of PowerDVD7.
TechnoTrend's S2-3200 possesses a interfaceport for a optional available CI-module, alike KNC1's. This Common Interface for TT-budget-S/C/T-1500 Module is available in the TechnoTrend Shop for about 30€ and cann be connected to the card via ribbon-cable. A detailed test about the CI-module will follow as soon as we will get a CI-module and other needed hardware. Neither S2-3200 nor its CI-interface possesses an official certification for a single pay-tv provider like Premiere, Sky or Canal+, but all current free CAM-modules are supported and therewith receiving of a lot of pay-tv channels is possible (within limitations), although it violates their general terms and conditions.
The card is delivered together with a remote-control and included batteries and an infrared-sensor, which will be pluged in at the back besides the F-jack. After that each key can be reserved for proposed function by seting it up under "Settings -> Keyboard" in BDA-APP. A first test of this feature let anticipate a good functionality. You can reserve any key for almost each reasonable function and comfortably operate by remote-control. Especially for Media-Center solutions surly a good choice! But when the card is used in a Media-Center the ordinary Media-Center remote-control can also be used to a certain degree.
Internet via satellite
The TechnoTrend S2-3200 possesses its own software, BDA-DATA, which provides the possibility to use the internet via satellite. We were able to test it with Casablanca so far, which streams certain prearranged content from the internet (like news and other top sites, which can be voted into the rotation-stream) on the local harddisk-drive and grants access via a proxy. This worked without further problems.
LNB-control - Diseqc 1.0
The card supports Diseqc 1.0 and can home on several satellite-positions by a motor-driven rotatable dish. Thereby one has to pay attention that the amount of controled LNBs is not too high, because the delivered voltage by PCI-bus could eventually be to low.
HDCP as the coming encryption-standard for HD-content will be used on upcoming HD-medias like Blu-ray Disc and HD-DVD (here besides AACS) as well as for HDTV-channels via satellite, cable and terrestric. Pro7HD and Sat.1HD is currently lacking of such a HDCP-flag. As one of few channels PremiereHD and AnixeHD are broadcasting such HDCP-flag right now. Normally this should prevent an output to non-HDCP-capable components und likewise capturing of these outputs.
Our tests with AnixeHD proofed nontheless, that we were able to record it without problems (if that had not been deactivated HDCP in that time). If and how this is possible with PremiereHD, we will check as soon as the right CI-module will arrive and will lie in our hands.
Conclusion: Recapitulating this card can be recommendated. The card shines because of its tolerable cost of about 130€, a good, sophisticated software, sweeping driver-support as well as a crystal clear pictures. Also future-proof isn't missed out - H.264-support, optional CI-module. Furthermore it is the first and only sophisticated TV-tuner card tested by us.
So we give it a recomendation, for people with according powerful computers!
Primarily the advantage compared to the KNC1 not to be stuck to its original included software but are allowed to switch to alternative software-solutions, like DVB-Viwer Pro, we like very much. Similar to KNC1 it is possible to connect an optional add-on - the fitting CI-module to TechnoTrend's tuner-card is relatively inexpensive (just about 30€). A small deficiency is the missing Linux/Mac-support as well as the lacking optional connector-ports - there are no analogue input-jacks like there is on the KNC1. Except a F-jack and a IR-port for the remote-control there is no further connector.
5.1 Manufacturer's information about the product and its development progress
To the time of test-end TechnoTrend had not replied to our questions. Amongst others we hoped to clear-up our questions about how processing of HDCP broadcast-flags are handled exactly, which CAMs are supported, if captruing in *.mp4 will be eventually possible, or when support of alternative operating-systems are developed.
We still hope that TechnoTrend will reply to these questions. We will add them to our review about the CI-module as soon as they will arrive.
Details of TechnoTrend: S2-3200 (DVB-S2 Budget TV-card)
- SCPC/MCPC up to 45Msymbols/s
- QPSK with 1/2, 2/3, 3/4, 5/6, 6/7, 7/8
- up to 60 Mbps datarate
- SCPC up to 30Msymbols/s
- QPSK and 8PSK with 1/4, 1/3, 2/5, 1/2, 3/5, 2/3, 3/4, 4/5, 5/6, 8/9
- LDPC and BCH decoder according DVB-S2 requirements
- Digital Nyquist filter with factors 0.20, 0.25, 0.35
- up to 90 Mbps datarate
Range Frequency
- frequency range: 950-2150 MHz
- QPSK demodulation according EN 302 307
- RF entry-level: -65 up to –25 dBm
- port: IEC F-Typ female
- LNB-control: 14/18V, 22 kHz, Tone Burst, DiSEqC 1.0, max. 400 mA
Internal / External
Internal (PCI)
Ports
1x Ant-In
1x InfraRed-connector
Miscellaneous
-
Identical in construction
Not identical in construction or similar
Software
Driver
Eigenentwicklung
BDA (since WinXP SP2)
TV-software
Included
Alternative
- BDA-APP
- DVB Viewer
Compatibility:
Operating-system:
Windows
since Windows 98
Apple
Not compatible
Linux / Unix
Driver under progress
Copy-protection:
HDCP (HDMI and DVI)
Passed-through, but no activation
Macrovision (YUV)
Passed-through, but no activation
Module:
CI-module
Scope of delivery
TV-card TechnoTrend S2-3200
Remote transmitter for S2-3200 incl. batteries AA (TypeR6)
Infraredreceiver for the S2-3200
CD with drivers
TV-cardsoftware of TechnoTrend (BDA-APP) as well as documentation
TechnoTrend: S2-3200 (DVB-S2 Budget TV-card)
TechnoTrend S2-3200 - Shipment
Enter TechnoTrend: S2-3200 (DVB-S2 Budget TV-card) gallery
S2-3200 - BDA-APP Mainscreen
BDA-APP timer-controlled recording
BDA-APP Videotext
S2-3200 - DVB-Viewer Mainscreen
DVB-Viewer Filter
S2-3200 - BDA-APP audio-setting
BDA-APP audiotrack-switch
System #1: MPEG-2-HD 17%
System #1: AstraHD - MPEG-4 loop 56%
System #1: Pro7HD - Freaky Friday 47%
System #1: Sat.1HD - NCIS 30%
System #2: Pro7HD - Pirates Of The Carabbean (Fluch der Karibik) 83%
"Lost in HD"
CI-Modul
S2-3200 - connectors (LNB and IR)
S2-3200 - settings in BDA-APP
AnixeHD broadcasts activation for HDCP
