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20
TELE-satellite International — The World‘s Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine
— 09-10/2012
— www.TELE-satellite.com
for Linux-based receivers, as
it allows access to local serv-
ers and the Internet.
•
HDMI:
Our preferred
method of connecting any
digital receiver to a TV pan-
el or monitor with a cor-
responding input interface.
Both digital video and audio
are provided via HDMI.
•
YPbPr:
A mini phone jack
puts out a component video
signal using the YPbPr colour
scheme, which provides bet-
ter video quality with higher
resolution than the conven-
tional FBAS signal. If you own
a video projector without
digital input options you will
certainly be grateful for com-
ponent video. The receiver is
shipped complete with a suit-
able adapter cable.
•
Recovery switch:
This
is a neat feature for recon-
structing the boot loader in
case an unsuccessful flash
attempt has damaged the re-
ceiver’s firmware. We’ll deal
with that in more detail a lit-
tle later.
•
A/V:
Another mini phone
jack is available for com-
posite video and an audio/
video signal. Older TV sets
can be connected directly or
with the help of a euroscart
adapter, depending on the
available input socket(s) of
the TV. Once again, the cor-
responding A/V cable is sup-
plied, while those requiring
a euroscart adapter have to
obtain one on their own.
•
Two USB interfaces:
You can use those to attach
external hard disks, flash
memories etc.
•
e-SATA:
This connec-
tion can be used instead of
the USB ports for connecting
an external hard disk. e-SA-
TA supports higher transfer
rates than USB.
•
12V/2A socket:
Like the
AZBox ME the AZBox miniMe
comes with an external pow-
er supply unit. This reduces
the heat that is generated
inside the receiver and also
facilitates mobile use in cara-
vans, for example.
There is no mechanical on/
off switch, but with an exter-
nal power supply unit this is
not really required. You can
always plug out the cable
from the mains to fully dis-
connect the receiver, even
though we recommend us-
ing a switchable power strip
to be on the safe and eco-
nomical side. Obviously, we
checked power consumption
in deep standby, standby and
on modes. Please refer to the
chart at the end of the report
for all results.
The internal smartcard
reader is located on the left
side of the AZBox miniMe
and by default it is not ac-
tive, which means it does not
support any encryption sys-
tem known to us. The remote
control is the same that also
comes with the AZBox ME, so
we were able to swap the re-
motes and still operate both
receivers with any of the two
remote controls.
The remote sits nicely in
your hand and sports an er-
gonomic design that allows
reaching all buttons with your
thumb. What might be con-
fusing at first is that in addi-
tion to the usual ring-shaped
buttons around the OK but-
ton there is another set of six
buttons in an outer circle.
New users might find
themselves pressing the
EPG button instead of the
DOWN button when zapping
channels at first, but after a
short while your thumb won’t
miss its target. What’s more,
we’ve been using the AZBox
ME quite intensively in recent
months so it’s great to know
we can just stick to the same
remote.
If truth be spoken, it only
trickles down after a while
how smart the layout of the
remote is: As mentioned
above, all buttons can easily
be reached with the thumb
and individual buttons can be
distinguished even without
looking at them.
The actual high point of
the remote control, however,
is only revealed at second
sight: If you open the battery
compartment you will detect
a small button that activates
a learning function.
With that you can re-pro-
gram the right button in the
first row of the remote. By
default it turns on and off the
TV, but you can change that