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TEST REPORT

06-07/2008

28 TELE-satellite & Broadband 06-07/2008 www.TELE-satellite.com

Perfect Picture Quality Thanks to the Scaler

HDTV Receiver with Scaler

Arion AF9400PVR HDMI

The term HDTV has been on everyones mind for quite sometime now and the countless plasma and LCD TV owners arepatiently waiting for a breakthrough in this new technology. InEurope though the reality still seems to be that only a handfulof HD transmissions are available and that most of the channelsare still only in SD format. If you want to watch an SD programon a large diameter TV screen, youll quickly discover that thismay not be the best solution.

The South Korean company

Arion thought about ways inwhich they could help withthis problem and came upwith the idea to develop a PVRreceiver with a built-in Scaler.The Scalers job is to take theincoming signal and increaseits resolution by interpolatingthe missing pixels such thatthis increased resolution doesnot contain any raster, some-thing that is unavoidable witha simple increase in resolu-tion.

The cabinet of theAF9400PVR HDMI is simplebut elegant. On the front panelyou will nd an extremely easyto read VFD display as well asa fold-down ap behind whichare a set of eight buttons tocontrol the receiver shouldthe remote control go missing.

This ap also hides two CI slots

that can be used with all thetypical modules (Irdeto, Seca,Viaccess, Conax, Nagravision,etc.). A pair of LEDs on the leftand right side of the housingindicate the receivers opera-tional status.

The excitement began tobuild when we took a look atthe rear panel. In addition toa satellite IF input and looped-through output for both of the tuners, we also found twoScart connectors, an S-Video

Info Bar

output and naturally anHDMI jack to connectthe receiver to a plasmaor LCD TV. On top of thatthere are also three RCAvideo and stereo audiooutput jacks, a program-mable 0/12V output, anRS-232 interface, a USB2.0 output to link with aPC, an RF modulator outputand, of course, an opti-cal digital audio output. Toround out the entire picture,theres also a main powerswitch.

The included remote con-trol is ergonomically designedand sits nicely in your handwith buttons that are clearlylabeled. As a special bonus,Arion also included a second,smaller remote control withlimited functions; an interest-ing idea, because it would make

it easier for those less tec hni-cally-inclined family membersto use their new receiver.

Especially noteworthy isthe detailed user manual; it islogically written and explainsevery function of this receiverin easy to understand steps.

Everyday UseThe new Arion receiver

is denitely mul ti -l ingual interms of the on-screen menulanguages. Next to English,German, French, Italian, Span-ish, Greek, Hungarian, Dutch,Farsi, Polish and Portuguese,the user can also choose fromRomanian, Russian, Swedish,Serbian and Turkish.

The video signal can be

delivered via Scart in RGB and

CVBS modes. Additionally,multiple modes are availablefor the 4:3 and 16:9 screensizes. Along with the PAL stan-dard, the receiver can alsohandle NTSC signals and caneven be set to automaticallyswitch between the two stan-dards.

Since this is a twin tuner

PVR, both tuners can be oper-ated in three different modes.In Loop Mode, only one sat-ellite signal source is neededsince the input signal islooped-through from the rsttuner to the second tuner. Inthis case, while one channelis being recorded, not all of the remaining channels will beavailable on the second tuner.In Twin Mode, two identi-cally switched satellite signal

ARION AF9400PVR HDMIA solid and easy to use receiver that with its Scaler can present

satellite channels inexcellent quality.

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sources are routed to bothtuner inputs so that everychannel is available on bothtuners at the same time.The T1/T2 Mode tells theAF9400PVR HDMI that bothtuner inputs will be occupiedbut with independent satel-lite signals. In this mode, notevery channel is available onboth tuners.

A motorized antenna(DiSEqC 1.2 or 1.3/USALS)can be set up directly in theinstallation assistant. Thenext step displays the listof 54 satellites that unfortu-nately isnt quite up to date.

During the installation, it

is actually quite easy witha single push of a button toset up the LNB and DiSEqCparameters for each indi-vidual satellite. In additionto the two motor control pro-tocols, the Arion AF9400PVRHDMI also supports DiSEqC1.0 and 1.1 and is thereforecapable of handling multi-feed reception using up to16 LNBs. And unlike manyreceivers from other manu-facturers, this new Arion

box actually comes with aprogrammable 0/12V outputthat can also be set up foreach individual satellite.

After a brief push of thered function button, theArion begins to scan ourselected satellites and com-pleted scanning our 110transponders in a blinding 4min 20 sec.

The Main Menu is dividedinto six large areas: in theChannel Search menu, mul-tiple settings for antenna

congurat ion an d sat elli tedata can be taken care of.The receiver offers an auto-matic scan, a manual scanand an expanded search withmanual PID entry. Of course,

a network scan is also pos-sible as is scanning for onlyfree-to-air (FTA) channels.

In the Channel Editingmenu, everything is gearedtowards organizing the chan-nel and transponder lists. Asmany as 8000 channels canbe stored and in this menuthey can be deleted, moved,renamed, locked out with aPIN code or transferred intoone of four Favorites lists.

For owners of plasma andLCD TVs the menu settingsbecome especially interest-ing: here you can, amongother things, set up theHDMI output signal to your

personal needs. In our testsusing a Technisat LCD and aPioneer plasma TV, it quicklybecame clear that this stepwas absolutely necessary inorder to get optimal picturequality. Next to brightness,contrast and sharpness, youcan set noise suppression tothree different levels.

The Scaler works in threedifferent resolution modes:576p, 720p and 1080i. If you

still intend to use the twoScart jacks despite havingthe HDMI outputs, the samemenu also carries all of the

necessary setting possibili-ties. The receiver providesthe video signal through theScart outputs in CVBS andRGB. An S-Video output for aprojection TV is available onits own output jack; unfortu-nately, YUV is missing.

The remaining three cat-egories deal with the CImodules, the hard driveand subsequent decryption

of previously recorded pro-grams plus, of course, theextra accessories integratedby the manufacturer such asa calculator, calendar andvarious games.

The importance of the sub-sequent decryption must bestressed. The receiver can atany time take a prerecordedprogram stored on its harddrive and automatically copyand thereby decrypt it. Thedisappointment that used tobe associated with recordedprograms that could nolonger be decrypted becausethe provider changed theencryption codes is now athing of the past. As longas the CI module supportsthis function, the receivercan simultaneously take twoprograms and store themdecrypted. In a test withan Alphacrypt CI module, itworked perfec tly.

The Arion AF9400PVR HDMIis available from the manu-facturer with a pre-installedhard drive or without one sothat you can select your ownhard drive. Even though thehard drives installed by themanufacturer are specicallydesigned for home enter-tainment use and therebyare very quiet, it is also pos-sible for the hard drives tobe automatically turned off

after a user-settable time.

After this extensive jour-ney through the many dif-

ferent settings possibilitiesof this receiver, we naturallywanted to take a closer lookat its operational features.What caught our eye was itsability to record four pro-grams simultaneously.

Since the receiver hasonly two tuner inputs, thefour programs that are to berecorded must naturally beon only two transponders.

Based on the number of recordings, the receiver alsotakes those channels thatcan no longer be receivedand deletes them from thechannel list. Recorded pro-

Technical Parameters

EPG

Main Menu

Expanded EPG Info

Settings for Every Satellite

HDMI Settings

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DATA

TECHNIC

32 TELE-satellite & Broadband 06-07/2008 www.TELE-satellite.com

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grams that have already beenviewed are marked with theirown symbol. The receiver canalso identify the spot where aplayback was stopped so thata single push of a button isenough to restart the playback

from where it was left off.

The detailed channel list canbe activated by pushing theOK button. With the help of

the function buttons, the listcan be arranged by tuner andFTA/CAS and also be sortedalphabetically. Thanks to themulti-picture function, youcan get a quick overview of currently running programson 2,4,9,10,13 or 16 differentchannels.

When switching betweenchannels, an Info bar appearsmomentarily and displaysinformation on the current andupcoming program as well asspecic channel data (tele-text, subtitle, Dolby Digitalaudio, etc.) and information onthe satellite in use. A secondpush of the OK button displaysexpanded EPG data on the cur-rent program as long as thisinformation is made availableby the provider. Another pushof this button displays techni-cal parameters for the channelsuch as frequency, polariza-tion, symbolrate and PIDs.

Arions EPG is generally quitegood; it is logically laid out, isquickly displayed and showsall information correctly andneatly sorted. Timer entriescan be directly set up throughthe EPG.

The Arion manufactured

tuner is very signal sensitiveand had no trouble dealing withthe weaker signals on BADR26 east or NILESAT 7 west.The receiver also mastered ourSCPC test; the 2-45 Ms/sec.

spec given by the manufac-turer was right on the money.Additional tests at some of ourother locations also came backpositive. It became quicklyclear that the extremely sen-sitive Arion tuner is a step

ahead of the competition andeven managed to deliver asurprisingly good signal eventhough reception was just atthe threshold level.

As a manufacturer, it isalmost a must to equip yourPVR receiver with a USB 2.0or network interface in orderto be on the same level in themarketplace although the lmindustry and some PayTV pro-viders might not be too happywith this. Arion did not miss

the boat here either; in fact,they went the extra mile andinstalled a chipset that actu-ally takes full advantage of the capacity of the USB 2.0interface. In just about threeminutes a 2GB recording wastransferred from receiver toPC and this without needingany supplemental softwaresince the receivers hard driveis recognized by Windows asa storage device. Arion alsooffers a free settings editorthat lets you easily managethe channel and favorites listson your PC.

Since Arion is continuouslyconcerned with the furtherdevelopment of their receiv-ers, new software is regularlymade available that can becomfortably downloaded viasatellite or copied from a PCto the internal hard drive viathe USB interface and thenactivated via the Data Man-ager. This is also possible

for the channel list; it can bedownloaded in the blink of aneye and without the use of theserial interface. Uploading andbacking up of the channel listis only possible serially.

Manufacturer Arion, South Korea

Tel +82 (0) 31 361 3000

Fax +49 (0) 31 361 3099E-Mail info@arion.co.kr

Model AF9400PVR HDMI

Function Digital Satellite PVR Receiver with built-in Scaler

Channel Memory 8000

Satellites 54

Symbolrate 2~45 Ms/sec. (in our Test starting at 2 Ms /s)

SCPC Compatible yes

USALS yes

DiSEqC 1.0 / 1.1 / 1.2 / 1.3

Scart Connectors 2

Audio/Video Outputs 3 x RCA

UHF Output yes

0/12 Volt Output yes

Digital Audio Output yes

EPG yes

C/Ku-Band Compatible yes

Power Supply 100-240 VAC, 50/60 Hz

Expert Opinion+The Arion AF9400PVR HDMI is a solid and easy

to use receiver that did not reveal any problems inour tests. Thanks to the integrated Scaler, normalSDTV channels can be displayed in outstandingquality. Even those channels that because of costissues have a less than average picture can have

improved video quality. If a channel transmits inhigher quality, the Scaler makes viewing natu-rally that much more fun. Especially noteworthy is, besides theextremely fast USB 2.0 interface, the possibility to record four channels at the same time.

-The satellite and transponder lists could be more up to date.

Thomas HaringTELE-satellite

Test Center

Austria