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12-01/2012
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TELE-satellite International — The World‘s Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine
— 12-01/2012
— www.TELE-satellite.com
Icecrypt S3500HDCCI
Extremely small and
extremely powerful
Ferrari Engine
in a Mini Morris
You could easily pass by
and do not pay any atten-
tion to this unpretentious
small box. Actually it is that
small that you could put two
S3500HDCCI receivers side
by side on a single page of
this TELE-satellite magazine.
Placing it near a 50 inch flat
panel TV creates an amusing
impression. It is like putting
a mouse near an elephant.
However, the possibilities of
this “mouse” are astonishing!
Its front panel is very as-
cetic – just three buttons and
a single status LED shining
either in red or green. How-
ever, as soon as you look
at the rear panel you start
thinking that perhaps your
very first impression is quite
wrong. PCMCIA connector for
CA modules, card reader slot,
USB for external memory or
hard disk, Ethernet for con-
nection to the Internet, HDMI
and optical S/PDIF ports are
not necessarily the things
you expect to find in a simple
small box.
You might be a little bit sur-
prised that there is neither a
SCART connector nor three
color RCA outputs with CVBS
video and stereo audio but
closer examination reveals
that there is a mini jack con-
nector between HDMI and
S/PDIF ports. Having suit-
able A/V cable (mini jack to
3xRCA) you can easily route
analog video and audio to
your old TV-set or VHS re-
corder if you still have one.
Additionally, there are: 12 V
DC power input connector,
RS-232C port and a connec-
tor for an optional infra red
receiver if you want to hide
the S3500HDCCCI but still
be able to control it with its
remote control. Of course, a
plug type power supply unit
is also included.
A look at the remote con-
trol units leaves no doubt
- S3500HDCCI is equipped
with PVR functions and even
some trick modes normally
associated with much bigger
receivers. The remote sits
nicely in hand though its rub-
ber keyboard is rather typical
for not so expensive models.
But this is not the end of
the surprises. When you con-
nect the S3500HDCCCI to
your TV set and see its full
color on-screen graphics and
when you experience the
speed of operation you can
not believe that it all comes
from this tiny box. And that‘s
not all. It is a Linux based re-
ceiver! It means a possibility
to install many interesting pl-
ugins and add-ons available
on the Internet for this kind
of receivers. S3500HDCCCI
is like a top class receiver
without some not-so-neces-
sary features. But the power
of its processor, capacity of
internal memory or Inter-
net related functions are the
same as in top class receiv-
ers. Even blindscan channel
search is available! Can you
believe it?
OK, but let’s start from
the beginning. This Icecrypt
receiver right after the first
power up asks you to se-
lect the OSD language. The
choice is pretty wide: Eng-
lish, French, German, Dutch,
Greek, Spanish, Arabic.
Italian, Portuguese, Turk-
ish, Russian, Polish, Czech,
Swedish, Suomi, Danish,
Norwegian, Slovenian, Slo-
vak, Macedonian, Romanian,
Serbian, Hungarian and Thai.
The next installation step is
the selection of local time
zone and turning on or off
light saving time.
When you are through with
these basic settings, S3500H-
DCCI takes you to the ser-
vice search menu. Before the
search, you have to select
the right satellite and check
the configuration of your an-
tenna system. The Icecrypt
box is compatible with all
DiSEqC protocols (1.0, 1.1
and 1.2). We checked during
our test the operation with
1x4 and 1x8 switches as well
as a DiSEqC motor. Every-
thing worked perfectly. You
can use any type of LNB with
TEST REPORT Miniature HDTV Satellite Receiver