Neotion

Neotion

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  Neotion Module •very fast response times • automatic firmware updates • capable of processing very weak signals, such as those from indoor antennas • fully compatible with all CI+ functions TEST REPORT CI+ Modul 70 TELE-audiovision International — The World‘s Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine — 05-06/2014 — www.TELE-audiovision.com www.TELE-audiovision.com — 05-06/2014 — TELE-audiovision International — 全球发行量最大的数字电视杂志71
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  TEST REPORT CI+Modul Neotion for reception of simpliTV Thomas Haring simpliTV is the name of an Austrian provider of ter-restrial HDTV channels. Ever since the analog switch-off date in Austria, ORF1, ORF2, ATV, Puls4, Servus TV, ORF3, ORF Sport+ and 3sat have been available nationally via DVB-T. In some regions, ATV2, gotv, SchauTV, Okto, Tirol TV, Ländle TV, LT, dorftv and other regional stations can be received in addition to that national offering. With DVB-T being the established digital terrestrial transmis-sion standard in Austria, all those channels can only be viewed in standard definition. In order to introduce ter-restrial HDTV in Austria, the simpliTV platform was launched. It is a fully-owned subsidiary of ORS, the tech-nical service provider for the country’s public broadcast-ing corporation ORF. Using DVB-T2, simpliTV broadcasts terrestrial HDTV all across Austria. Organised as a pay TV operation, however, this means that even generally free-to-air channels such as ORF1 HD, ORF2 HD and Servus TV HD are only avail-able with permanent encryp-tion in place. If you’re interested in sim-pliTV, you may opt for either of the two following solu-tions: One is the so-called simpliTV box, which is basi-cally a DVB-T2 receiver with built-in CI+ decryption soft-ware. Alternatively, you can go for a simpliTV CI+ module that you can use with your existing DVB-T2 receiver or a CI+ enabled TV panel. Sim-ply insert the module into your device’s CI+ slot and you’re all set to enjoy terres-trial HDTV right away. Let’s take a closer look at CI+ at this stage. It is the successor to the well-known CI standard and adds ad-ditional control and content management features to its basic decryption function. For instance, content pro-viders can have a say as to whether users are allowed to use the fast forward or rewind features during play-back of recorded content. In addition, the CI+ stand-ard calls for encrypted con-tent storage on external storage media, which means you cannot simply record a film and then burn it into a DVD or Blu-Ray disc. What’s more, content providers are free to tag their broadcasts with an expiration date, so that – for example – record-ed content is only available for playback for a period of 90 minutes after the initial broadcast. Once that time has expired the recording becomes nothing more than wasted hard disk capacity. As far as simpliTV is con-cerned, many of those tech-nically possible restrictions are not implemented. The only thing you should know is that recordings are saved with full encryption in place. Other than that, no CI+ con-tent management features are enforced. Whether or not the situation will remain unchanged in future largely depends on the actual TV stations and content provid-ers, rather than simpliTV as a mere distribution platform. We use the Neotion CI+ module for receiving sim-pliTV. This module is ad-dressed directly and without a smartcard – every time it is slotted into a receiver the Neotion modules verifies that the receiver is in actual fact CI+ compatible, and as soon as the terrestrial signal comes in the module looks for firmware updates. In our case the Neotion identified a firmware update that was available over the air and in-stalled it right away on our test module in a matter of a few minutes. 72 TELE-audiovision International — The World‘s Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine — 05-06/2014 — www.TELE-audiovision.com During our test all avail-able signals were decrypted flawlessly and without inter-ference of any sort. Channel switching was not slower with encrypted DVB-T2 channels than with other existing FTA DVB-T channels. We performed a number of reception trials at our test location in Vienna. Our large rooftop UHF antenna obvi-ously yielded splendid results for the simpliTV UHF chan-nels 36, 53 and 60. But then again, even a small indoor antenna with active signal amplification delivered a rea-sonable signal for reliable re-ception. This involved some hunting for the optimum in-door position of the antenna, however. The final spot more or less reflected the build-ing’s or room’s reception properties rather than purely aesthetic considerations, so as always it’s a case of ‘win some, lose some’. We did not find any fault with the video and audio
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  5 6 10 11 12 13 14 7 8 quality delivered by simpliTV, even though we should men-tion the signal from individual TV stations “as is”, which means there may be considerable variations from one channel to the next, or even between different broadcasts on the same channel. Commercial channels, in particular, ap-parently upscalers to native HD pro-duction 1. The Neotion module has detected a new firmware version for download. 2. The internal firmware of the Neotion module can be updated automatically over the air. 3. It does not take more than a couple of minutes for the update to be completed. 4. Sat.1 HD Austria, received with the Neotion module using the CI+ standard. 5. simpliTV channel list. 6. ProSieben HD Austria 7. ZDF HD 8. Even though simpliTV uses CI+ encryption, it is possible to fast forward or rewind when playing back existing recordings. 9. simpliTV even allows time-shift viewing with CI+. 10. Only CI+ enabled receivers will be able to properly identify the module and activate the decryption process. 11. Technical specifications of the inserted module. 12. The simpliTV module works without a smartcard and is addressed directly through the DVB-T2 broadcasting frequencies. 13. The terrestrial reception range offered by our rooftop UHF antenna. The highlighted channels 36, 53 and 60 carry the DVB-T2 HD channels of the simpliTV package. 14. The terrestrial reception range offered by our small indoor antenna. Even though the signal levels are rather poor, the Neotion module is still capable of decrypting simpliTV channels. 3 that simpliTV distributes prefer the use of technology. During our test, the Neo-tion module did an excellent job in combination with sim-pliTV. We did not experience any signal dropouts and the receiver’s response times were impressively fast – just as with standard FTA chan-nels. The automatic firmware update feature is a smart so-lution as it takes a frequently cumbersome burden off your shoulder. The Neotion mod-ule is kept up to date and all you have to do is enjoy ter-restrial HDTV. 2 4 9 1 74 TELE-audiovision International — The World‘s Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine — 05-06/2014 — www.TELE-audiovision.com www.TELE-audiovision.com — 05-06/2014 — TELE-audiovision International — 全球发行量最大的数字电视杂志75