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TELE-satellite International — The World‘s Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine
— 04-05/2012
— www.TELE-satellite.com
but with the Panodic M3601E
you’ll be on the safe side
again after 15 seconds.
The aspect ratio settings
are more or less self-explan-
atory and considering the
fact that video output invari-
ably is via HDMI we take it
as a given that virtually all
users will go for 16:9. Events
broadcast in 4:3 can be pre-
sented with bars on both
sides or can be zoomed up
to cover the entire screen,
depending on your personal
preferences. The initial in-
stallation process is complet-
ed with an automatic channel
search that in our case took
less than 60 seconds for the
entire VHF and UHF frequen-
cy bands.
Even though all major set-
tings are dealt with during
the installation routine we
do recommend visiting the
main menu for a quick look
around. It is made up of the
following items: Channel List
Editing, System Setup, Tools,
Game and Rec. Compared to
satellite television, the range
of DVB-T channels is small by
any standard, but still Panod-
ic offers professional channel
list management even in its
DVB-T receiver. Channels
can be sorted alphabetically
or according to FTA/encryp-
tion, they can be renamed,
deleted or marked as ‘not
suitable for children’. A to-
tal of eight favourites lists
can be created so that even
in very large families each
member will have their own
customised channel list. With
a small receiver like the Pan-
odic M3601E it may be nec-
essary from time to time to
clear the existing channel list
and create a new one – after
the box was used in a differ-
ent area with different local
channel frequencies, for ex-
ample. There is a dedicated
menu item even for that pro-
cedure, and we have to say
we are truly impressed by so
much attention to detail.
In System Setup the re-
ceiver’s parameters can be
adjusted to make sure it
both works with your exist-
ing antenna and other equip-
ment in the living room. The
manufacturer has even add-
ed a neat wizard to help with
optimum antenna alignment
– which is another feature
we truly appreciated. Based
on a previous channel search
it automatically selects one
of the detected frequencies
and displays easy-to-view
signal strength and signal
quality bars. This way it is
child’s play to find the best
possible alignment of a mo-
bile DVB-T antenna. In case
no previous channel search
exists users have to manu-
ally select a reference chan-
nel for signal analysis. It is in
this antenna alignment menu
(and only here!) that the 5V
power supply for the anten-
na can be turned on or off.
Once the optimum alignment
is achieved an automatic or
manual channel search can
be performed, which can
be restricted to free-to-air
channels only, if required.
The internal clock can be
set manually, but of course
the time stamp transmit-
ted via DVB-T channels can
be used instead. Users only
have to select their region
and the receiver then au-
tomatically determines the
correct time zone, i.e. the
time difference to GMT. Each
time zone is shown together
with large cities in that par-
ticular zone, so that there is
no excuse for not getting the
time zone right. Automatic
switching between daylight
saving and standard time
rounds off this very worth-
while menu item.
When we opened the chan-
nel list editor for the first time
we couldn’t find any way to
rename the eight favourites
lists, but when we looked
first time an installation wiz-
ard pops up on the screen
and smoothly runs the user
through the following rou-
tines: language, location,
HDMI output resolution and
video aspect ratio. We liked
the fact that language selec-
tion and location are inter-
linked, so that the receiver
automatically activates the
corresponding OSD language
after a country has been se-
lected. It goes without say-
ing that the language can be
changed at any time so that
a Frenchman in London will
also be happy, to give just
one example. A list of all
supported languages can be
found in the Technical Data
table.
We mentioned different
HDMI output resolutions
in the installation wizard a
moment ago. The following
modes are available: 576i,
576p, 720p, 1080i as well
as 1080p, which makes this
DVB-T receiver a perfect
choice even for so-called Full
HD. Every time this setting
is changed a small window
pops up asking the user to
confirm the selection within
15 seconds, otherwise the
receiver will switch back
to the previously used for-
mat. This might not sound
like such a big deal, but not
all TVs are 1080p compat-
ible and the ‘wrong’ selec-
tion would create nothing
but a black screen. And that
means no OSD either to undo
the setting. They say a small
leak will sink a great ship,