Dragons At

7/28/2019 Dragons At

1/8

72 73TELE-audiovision International The Worlds Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine 09-10/2013 www.TELE-audiovision.com www.TELE-audiovision.com 09-10/2013 TELE-audiovision International

R c t r d t lit HDTV RapoRT De TesTaRe

Funcioneaz prin intermediul EPG n dou moduri Comutare de mare vitez intre canale Reacie rapid la toate comenzile de control de ladistan Tuner potrivit pentru semnale slabe Player integrat i server pentru coninut multimedia

Dr g ns tDs-5500HD


2/8

0 .5 4

09-10/2013

www.TeLe- udi vi i n.c m/13/09/dr g n t

74 TELE-audiovision International The Worlds Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine 09-10/2013 www.TELE-audiovision.com

TesT RepoRT HDTV s t llit R c iv r

a s t llit R c iv r with M ny exc ll nt F tur

Just because its a highquality receiver doesnt

mean it has to be big. Drag-onsat wants to prove thiswith their new DS-5500HD.So, is it true? Well, thatswhat we wanted to nd outso we put this new receiverto the test.

After unpacking the box,there was really nothingthat stood out visually. At22 x 14.5 x 3.5 cm the DS-5500HD is nice and small. Itshould therefore easily ndits place in any TV cabinetor living room wall unit. Onthe front panel the manu-

facturer incorporated afour-digit display and right

next to it a status LED aswell as three buttons forreceiver operation with-out the remote control. If you turn the Dragonsat re-ceiver around, youll revealthe tightly spaced connec-tor panel. In addition to therequired connections, themanufacturer also includedthe CI slot and the internalcard reader on the back of the box. The satellite signalis fed into the Sat IF input.Right alongside the input isthe looped-through output

Dr g n t Ds-5500HDVery fast satellite receiver

with fully integratedInternet access

as well as an HDMI port, aUSB port, an RJ-45 network

interface, an S/PDIF output,an RS232 interface and aconnection for the includedCVBS/Stereo audio adaptercable. Power is supplied tothe DS-5500HD by an exter-nal 12V power supply. Thisallowed the manufacturer toeliminate the extra space inthe receiver that would haveotherwise been needed foran internal power supply.

The included remote con-trol is somewhat narrow andthe buttons on the lowerportion are rather small.Overall though, the qualityof the receiver and remote

control left us with a verypositive impression as didthe included user manual.

As has become standardwith nearly every receiver,the owner of a DS-5500HDwill also be greeted with anInstallation Assistant when

rst turning on the box. Itwill guide you through themost important basic set-tings. This includes OSD lan-guage, time settings, net-

work settings and of coursean automatic channel scan

to top it off.If one or more details aremissing or if you simply wantto get an overview of all thefunctions of your newly ac-quired receiver, we sug-gest you take a look in theMain menu. In the Systemsettings you can personal-ize nearly every one of theDS-5500HDs functions. Forexample, the resolution of the video signal output canbe set to 480i, 480p, 576i,576p, 720p, 1080i or 1080por you can let the receiverhandle this task automati-cally. We really appreci-

ate the fact that more andmore receivers, includingthe DS-5500HD, are fullyHD compatible even thoughthe availability of 1080p HDcontent depending on theregion is still very limitedor completely non-existent.But at least youre ready forthe future.

External USB storage de-vices connected to the re-ceiver via the USB interface
http://www.tele-audiovision.com/13/09/dragonsathttp://www.tele-audiovision.com/13/09/dragonsat


3/8

6

7

11

12

13

14

15

1

2

3

4

5

8

9

10


can be used without anyproblems. Formatting thesedevices (thankfully also inNTFS format) with this re-ceiver is also possible. If you really want to be able touse all of the DS-5500HDsfunctions, such as the vari-ous OSD display modes orits PVR features like fastforward/rewind, it de nitelypays to have a look in theuser manual where detailedinformation on these andother features can be found.All-in-all, the DS-5500HDsmenu structure is very logi -cally constructed and easyto use although one of theoptions to save energy inStandby that the manufac-turer incorporated in thedisplay settings gave us alittle bit of a headache in ourtest center.

To make it easy for thenew owner to get right tosatellite reception, Drag-

onsat included a very com-prehensive list of Europeanand Asian satellites alongwith the corresponding Cand Ku-band transponderdata. In some cases this listis very up to date; the newlylaunched ASTRA 1N satellitelocated at 28.2 east is cor -rectly identi ed. But in otherinstances its not quite up todate; important transpond-ers like 11494H or 11671Hon ASTRA1 at 19.2 east aremissing.

The DS-5500HD is com-patible with all the DiSEqCprotocols allowing it to beused with nearly every pos-sible antenna con guration.DiSEqC 1.0 can be used withup to four satellites, 1.1 withup to 16 satellites as well as1.2 and 1.3 for motorizedantennas. They also thoughtto include the ability to free-ly de ne LOF parameters.

Once these settings havebeen taken care of and thereceiver has been matchedto the reception equip-ment, the next step wouldbe to start lling the chan -

nel list with as many as10,000 entries. To handlethis task there is an auto-matic channel scan on oneor more satellites, a manualtransponder scan, an ex -panded transponder scanwith manual PID entry aswell as a Blindscan. If yourenot interested in receiv-ing encrypted channels, thescan can be set to nd onlyfreely receivable channels.This would save quite a bitof time and provide organi-zation later on when goingthrough the channel list.

The channel scan itself was fast right from thestart; the DS-5500HD need-ed only about ve minutesto nd 1568 TV and 373 ra -dio channels on HOTBIRD at13 east. If you invest a littlemore time, 12 minutes to beexact, the Blindscan func -tion will nd 1604 TV and374 radio channels on the

same satellites. Naturallythe Blindscan feature had toprove itself under more dif-

cult conditions, speci callyon TURKSAT at 42 east withall of its narrowband SCPCtransponders. It mastered

1. Th Ds-5500HD' m in m nu2. sy t m tting3. Th Ds-5500HD lsupports the NTFS le system.R c rd d d t n l ng r n dt b lit int 4GB i c4. Ch nn l li t dit r 5. Ch nn l li t ntri c n b

dit d ll th w y t th ir pIDv lu6. Th nk t th F v ritli t , ul r ch nn l c n b

cc d v ry quickly t nytim7. Th cu t miz d ch nn l li tc n b b ck d u n n xt rn lUsB t r g d vic8. R c rd r tting9. osD tting10. Th in t ll ti n i t nt

t rt with th osD l ngu gl cti n

11. N tw rk tting12. If y u r f r, y u c n dwith ut ll f th Ds-5500HD'm ny Int rn t f tur , but whw uld w nt t d th t?13. Tim tting14. D ylight ving tim

tting h v b n uniqu lylv d

15. L ngu g tting


4/8

22

23

24

6

17

18

21

16

19

20


16. Th r c iv r u rt ll f th t nd rd vid ut utr luti n17. Th r r gr mm d t llit li t i xt n iv nd u -t -d t18. Th r c ntly l unch d asTRa1N t 28.2 t i c rr ctlyli t d19. Th tr n nd r li t i n t lw y u -t -d t ; mi ing, f r

x m l , r f w im rt nt tr n nd r n asTRa1 t 19.2t th t h v numb r f HD ch nn l

20. Th DiseqC 1.0 nd DiseqC 1.1 r t c l r u rt d21. Th Ds-5500HD ff rtl ly driv m t riz d nt nn withth h l f th DiseqC 1.2 nd 1.3 r t c l22. F ur diff r nt c n m d r v il bl23. Th c n c n b limit d t ju t TV ch nn l r un ncry t dch nn l24. Th LoF r m t r c n b individu lly m tch d


5/8

6

26

27

25

28

29

30

31

35

36

37

38

39

32

33

34


this task without any prob-lems. This is exactly how aBlindscan should work!

With nearly 2000 differ-ent channels that alonewere found on a single sat-ellite, powerful editing andsorting capabilities of thechannel list are an absolutemust. And the DS-5500HDdid not disappoint here; thechannel list entries can beeasily deleted, moved, re -named, locked with a PIN

code to hide them from thecurious eyes of your kids orshifted into one of the manyFavorites lists. The channellist can also be sorted alpha-betically, by provider, satel-lite, transponder or encryp-tion system and it can all behandled with the push of onebutton.

When you look at the Mainmenu for the rst time itquickly becomes clear thatthe DS-5500HD is stronglyoriented to the reception of content via the Internet. Itmakes sense then that themanufacturer paid specialattention when designingits networking features. Thefact that the DHCP protocolis supported comes as nosurprise but we also appre-ciated that the receiver canalso be connected to theInternet wirelessly throughthe optionally available WiFior 3G dongle. This makesthe DS-5500HD perfect foroutdoor use out on the bal-cony or at a camping site.

After the channel list islled and the settings have

25. N tw rk tting26. If n c ry, m ny f th tting c n b r t tth ir f ct ry d f ult v lu27. Utiliti m nu28. Individu l pID ntry inth x nd d c n29. Blind c n functi n30. a ucc ful Blind c n

f HoTBIRD t 13; thu f r 37 n w ch nn l h v b nf und

31. sCpC r c ti n n h r in th icturvi TURKsaT t 42 t i

l ibl32. Ch nn l c n f r asTRa2 t 28.2 t33. s tting u tim r ntry34. additi n l tr n mi i ninf rm ti n35. epG v rvi w f r ixch nn l36. epG v rvi w f nch nn l37. subtitl l cti n38. Th t llit li t c n bdir ctly cc d thr ugh

d dic t d functi n butt nn th r m t c ntr l

39. pictur -in- ictur ,m d 1

been adjusted to your per-sonal tastes, the receiverautomatically switches tothe rst available channelwhen exiting the Main menu.And its at this point wherethe very attractively de-signed Info bar can be seenfor the rst time. In additionto the title of the currentprogram and, if desired, theupcoming program, the Infobar also contains a numberof symbols. These symbols

provide information on whatfeatures are available withthe current program, spe-ci cally, teletext, languagechoices, subtitles or HD res-olution. And its here wherethe dedicated function but-


6/8

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

48


40. pictur -in- ictur , m d 241. pictur -in- ictur ch nn l l cti n42. M ic vi w f u t 12 ch nn l43. Th ch nn l li t rt d by t llit44. Ch nn l li t ti n45. Th D wnl d m nu. H r th u r c n u d t

ftw r , a nd r r gr mm d li t n th r c iv r vi th Int rn t46. Th plugin m nu r vid cc t v ri ty f t l47. W th r f r c t48. Th M di ubm nu


7/8

53

54

58

59

60

61

62

55

56

57

49

50

51

52


49. N w ntri c n b dd dm nu lly t th Int rn t TV+ li t

50. Int rn t TV+ l yb ck

51. Unf rtun t ly, th Int rn tR di + li t i m ty nd d n'tc nt in ny r r gr mm dch nn l

52. Th Y uTub a in thFr TV+ cti n w rk d

rf ctly

53. Th w b br w r with numb r f b km rk t

int r ting g54. Th ch r ct r ntry vi thosD k yb rd w rk ju t lik m bil t l h n

55. Th TeLe- udi vi i nh m g with th br w r'

t tu b r t th b tt m f thdi l y

56. B km rk functi n

57. Th w b br w r wind wc n b dju t d in iz ndm v d t diff r nt iti n

58. Tw r c rding ( v n fr mHD ch nn l ) c n t k l c tth m tim

59. Th r c iv r di l y ll f th r vi u ly r c rd d c nt ntcl rly nd c nci ly

60. Th DLNa m di l y r c ncc th multim di c nt ntn th r d vic in th l c l

n tw rk

61. H r y u c n numb r of video les that are stored on

MaC nd r di l y d ndl y d b ck n th Ds-5500HD

62. Mu ic l yb ck vi DLNa inth l c l n tw rk

tons on the remote controlshow their worth: they pro-vide access to teletext, lan-guage selection, subtitles orthe Favorites lists.

The new Dragonsat re-ceivers channel list can beaccessed, as is typical, withthe OK button and presentsitself as very detailed andorganized. Thanks to thespeedy channel switchingtimes of less than one sec-ond, channel sur ng withthe DS-5500HD is actuallyfun. The Electronic Program

Guide (EPG) will also raisean eyebrow: it is availablein two different modes andprovides detailed program-ming information for severalhours for up to six channelsor it can show the entire

programming schedule for asingle channel for the nextseveral days. Since the newDragonsat also comes withPVR features, recordingscan easily be programmeddirectly via the EPG.

We de nitely like that younot only can record twochannels at the same timewhile watching a third chan-nel live, but the Timeshiftfunction is also automati-cally available at any time(up to a maximum of onesimultaneous recording). If

youre afraid of missing thenext episode of your favoriteTV series, then the ability toset up daily, weekly, week-day or weekend timer re-cordings would be just per-fect for you.

Overall, playing aroundwith the DS-5500HD was alot of fun and this was duein large part to the speedyreaction of the receiver toremote control commands.The decision by the manu-facturer to incorporate anSTi processor with 256MBFlash as well as 256 MBSDRAM was right on themoney.

Dragonsat even paid closeattention to quality whenthe tuner was chosen; in ourtests it was able to handleweaker signals like thosefound on BADR at 26 eastand also narrowband sig-nals such as those found onTURKSAT at 42 east. Wealso want to mention thepractical Picture-in-Picture(PIP) function that shinesduring commercial breaks. Itcan be used to show a secondTV channel is a small windowon top of the primary chan-

nel or display two channelsside-by-side in the same sizewindows. Also available, al-though not all too useful, isthe ability with the push of one button on the remotecontrol to provide a mosaic


8/8

DIaGRaM

eNeRGY

activ p w r

a r nt p w r M d a r nt activ F ct r activ 24 W 13 W 0.54StandBy 12 W 5.5 W 0.45D ee p S t an dB y 0 . 5 W 0 .5 W 1 .0 0

opINIoN

expeRT

+

RECOMMENDEDPRODUCT BY

Th m H ringTest Center

Austria

Dr g ns t Ds-5500HDHDTV Satellite Receiver

6

64

65

63

66

67


display of 9 or 12 channels.If you take a look at the

manufacturers website,youll quickly realize thatthey are constantly at workmodifying and improv -ing the DS-5500HD. Therehave already been multipleupdated software versionsposted there. New software

can not only be downloadedfrom the Dragonsat website,but updates can also be per-formed directly on the re-ceiver through an Internetupdate.

Dragonsat with their newDS-5500HD is standingsquarely behind the Inter-net as a secondary sourceof TV and radio reception.We here at TELE-audiovisionfeel that the manufacturer is

63. Th nk t ut m ticftw r u d t , it' v ry y

t k th Dr g n t u -t -d t

64. In dditi n t n w ftw r ,Fr TV+ a , Int rn t TV+nd Int rn t R di + li t c n

b d wnl d d vi th Int rn t.Even precon gured channelli t ( .g. f r asTRa2 t 28.2

t) r l v il bl f r d wnl d65. Ch nn l li t d wnl d f r asTRa2 t 28.2 t, HoTBIRD

t 13 t nd eUTeLsaT t16 t66. Fr TV+ a c n bd wnl d d nd u d t d fr mth Int rn t67. Th ictur qu lity f th

r r gr mm d Int rn t TV+ch nn l i v ry g d

de nitely on the right path;high-speed Internet accesshas already established it-self to be a viable competi-tor to satellite, cable andterrestrial TV.

If you enter the submenu Media, youll come acrosscatchy feature names likeInternet TV+, Internet Ra-

dio+ or FreeTV+. Whenthese were accessed dur-ing our tests we uncovereda small disappointment: amere seven TV channelswere preprogrammed andthe Internet Radio+ list wascompletely empty. On topof that, of the seven pre-programmed channels, onlythree could be accessed anddisplayed. If youre not sat-is ed with these choices,the alternative is to manu-ally add Internet channels.Fortunately, this can bedone without any problems.

The heading FreeTV+ pro-vides access to a variety of multimedia and content pro-viders via the Internet withthe help of some practicalApps. Currently theres onlyone App for YouTube avail-able; additional Apps weredisplayed as if they wereavailable for download butin the end they could not beloaded on our test receiver.Nevertheless, the YouTube

Energy: The rst 15 minutes active operation, the second15 minut n rm l t ndby, th third 15 minut x nd d

t ndby with n rgy ving functi n

H ndy nd y t u r c iv r highlight d by nic ly tructu-r d osD nd hi tic t d ftw r . Th nk t wid v ri ty f Int rn t f tur , thi b x i much m r th n n rdin ry t llitr c iv r. Thr ugh it c - ving d ign nd it xt rn l 12V

w r u ly it w uld b rf ct f r m bil lic ti n , uch, wh n c m ing.

Th l ding f a did n t w rk during ur t t nd th Int r-n t TV+ nd Int rn t R di + li t r v ry l cklu t r nd n d

m u d ting.

App worked perfectly andwhen all the other Apps workreliably, the user should bemore than satis ed.

To top it all off, the mul-timedia section has a cli-ent that provides access tothe Russian PayTV providerKartina TV and, of course,theres also the ability to

play back local video les inthe formats WMV, TS, MP4,MP4 HD, MKV, Flash, DivXand AVI. For audio les theMP3 format is available andfor pictures its the JPG for -mat.

In connection with thiswe also liked the integrat-ed DLNA media player withwhich you can reach acrossthe network and access yourmusic collection on your PCwith the DS-5500HD. Thesame, of course, is also truefor videos. And as if thiswasnt enough, Dragonsatmade it possible using theDLNA media player to accessall of the stored content onyour receiver, whether itsvideos, music or pictures,from a Windows PC. Thisworked exceptionally well inboth directions in our testsand at the same time it wasa lot of fun.

Of course, such an Inter-net-oriented receiver likethe DS-5500HD should not

be without a browser. AndDragonsat did not fail hereeither, however, improve-ments can be made hereas evidenced by the 10second startup time thatwas needed. Even the dis-play of websites despite a100Mbit Internet connec-tion was very slow here in

our test center - nearly 20seconds was needed to fullyload our Facebook page. Yetwe did like that Dragonsatincluded a number of pre-programmed bookmarks forsome of the more popularsites like Facebook, CNN orGoogle Maps. Entering char-acters via the virtual key-board also worked correctly.The browser itself can beindividually adjusted forsize and position such that,for example, a commercialbreak can be used to surf the Internet while still hav-ing the TV picture in view soyou know when it would betime to stop sur ng. The In -ternet features are roundedoff with a weather App, anRSS reader, a calendar anda calculator.

At this point we only wantto mention the submenuPlugin for completeness;it contains numerous toolsthat go deeper into the re-ception technology.

Dragons At

Documents

Transcript of Dragons At