TEST REPORT HDTV PVR Satellite Receiver

Jiuzhou DTS6600 The receiver comes in a

rather plain but nonetheless
good-looking silver case. The

A HDTV PVR
front panel supports a very
easy to read 4-digit segment
display, flanked by two LEDs

for all walks of life

to indicate the box’s operating
mode.

Hidden behind a flap are

seven keys to operate the DTS
6600 without remote control,
as well as two CI slots which
For Jiuzhou it goes without saying that they accept all standard modules
such as Irdeto, Seca, Viaccess,
provide up-and-coming market segments with Conax, Nagravision and so on.
Only the standby button can
innovations. This is also why we were hardly be reached without opening
the flap.
impressed to find a pre-release model of Jiuzhou’s
HDTV DVB-S/2 PVR receiver in our test lab. After
all, HDTV in combination with PVR functionality is a 12-01/2009
JIUZHOU DTS6600
clear step into the future. And with the DTS 6600 A brilliant blend
of ease of use
and great functions
Jiuzhou intends to become a significant player in
future.

30 TELE-satellite & Broadband — 12-01/2009 — www.TELE-satellite.com

 The back panel reveals a The included remote con-
comprehensive range of con- trol sits nicely in your hand, TELE-satellite World www.TELE-satellite.com/...
Download this report in other languages from the Internet:
nections such as the satel- its buttons are easy to reach,
Arabic ‫ﺍﻟﻌﺮﺑﻴﺔ‬ www.TELE-satellite.com/TELE-satellite-0901/ara/jiuzhou.pdf
lite input and loop-through clearly labelled and provide Indonesian Indonesia www.TELE-satellite.com/TELE-satellite-0901/bid/jiuzhou.pdf
output, a HDMI interface for convenient feedback when Bulgarian Български www.TELE-satellite.com/TELE-satellite-0901/bul/jiuzhou.pdf
Czech Česky www.TELE-satellite.com/TELE-satellite-0901/ces/jiuzhou.pdf
fully digital video and audio pressed. German Deutsch www.TELE-satellite.com/TELE-satellite-0901/deu/jiuzhou.pdf
transmission, three sockets English English www.TELE-satellite.com/TELE-satellite-0901/eng/jiuzhou.pdf
Spanish Español www.TELE-satellite.com/TELE-satellite-0901/esp/jiuzhou.pdf
for YUV as well as three addi- The user’s manual is drawn Farsi ‫ﻓﺎﺭﺳﻲ‬ www.TELE-satellite.com/TELE-satellite-0901/far/jiuzhou.pdf
French Français www.TELE-satellite.com/TELE-satellite-0901/fra/jiuzhou.pdf
tional RCA jacks for stereo up just as smartly and pro- Greek Ελληνικά www.TELE-satellite.com/TELE-satellite-0901/hel/jiuzhou.pdf
audio and composite video vides a clear structure, fea- Croatian Hrvatski www.TELE-satellite.com/TELE-satellite-0901/hrv/jiuzhou.pdf
Italian Italiano www.TELE-satellite.com/TELE-satellite-0901/ita/jiuzhou.pdf
and – specifically for the Euro- tures illustrations where they Hungarian Magyar www.TELE-satellite.com/TELE-satellite-0901/mag/jiuzhou.pdf
pean market – two scart euro- are needed and answers all Mandarin 中文 www.TELE-satellite.com/TELE-satellite-0901/man/jiuzhou.pdf
Dutch Nederlands www.TELE-satellite.com/TELE-satellite-0901/ned/jiuzhou.pdf
connectors. questions that might arise Polish Polski www.TELE-satellite.com/TELE-satellite-0901/pol/jiuzhou.pdf
Portuguese Português www.TELE-satellite.com/TELE-satellite-0901/por/jiuzhou.pdf
when using the receiver. To Romanian Românesc www.TELE-satellite.com/TELE-satellite-0901/rom/jiuzhou.pdf
A digital audio output makes sum up, this receiver cre- Russian Русский www.TELE-satellite.com/TELE-satellite-0901/rus/jiuzhou.pdf
Swedish Svenska www.TELE-satellite.com/TELE-satellite-0901/sve/jiuzhou.pdf
sure any home cinema system ates a good first impression Turkish Türkçe www.TELE-satellite.com/TELE-satellite-0901/tur/jiuzhou.pdf
is fed with crystal-clear audio in terms of workmanship and Available online starting from 28 November 2008
and a USB 2.0 port is avail- hardware quality, even though
able for connection exter- some might lament the some- 122 mainly German language call up a clearly structured and
nal storage media to use the what conservative design. channels. On a positive note well-organised menu of avail-
PVR functionality. The perfect we can state that all available able options. The main menu
overall impression is rounded HD channels from the German
off by a main power switch. Everyday use and English countries trans-
is divided into five groups
with a number of sub-groups
The Jiuzhou DTS 6600 mitted via ASTRA 19.2° East each. For the time being the
does offer an installation and ASTRA2 28.2° East were latest Jiuzhou receiver is not
wizard and our test model already included in that list. yet a genuine globetrotter
arrived with a pre-set list of as the OSD is only available
In order to customise the in German, English, Dutch or
box according to personal French. You can be assured,
preferences all you have to do however, that this list will be
is press the MENU button to extended by the manufac-
turer in one of the upcoming
software updates.

In order to allow full use

0.55

www.TELE-satellite.com — 12-01/2009 — TELE-satellite & Broadband 31

 Automatic search Info bar

EPG JPEG Viewer

of the HDMI connection the takes the correct time directly turing 56 European satellite even the most exotic LNBs
receiver supports video from the satellite signal, or positions is pre-stored and we can be made to work with this
output in 576p, 720p or 1080i. you can decide to set the time noticed that even the tran- receiver. A whole range of
The only feature we missed manually, if you so desire. sponder data must have been options for switching between
was an automatic switch, but updated only recently as they bands and polarisations makes
we assume that the manufac- What we like: you can set are very up-to-date. With an it even more versatile.
turer will add this feature in the receiver to show the cur- easy-to-use satellite and tran-
due time as well. rent time instead of the chan- sponder editor it is child’s play Now that the basic setup is
nel number even when it is to add, delete or edit satel- completed the 5000-channel
If you connect a regular turned on. Before you can lites as well as transponder memory needs to be filled with
CRT TV set to the box you will actually use all the features of entries. entries. To accomplish this,
most probably decide to use the DTS 6600 it first has to be automatic or manual search
the RGB video output mode. set up to work with your exist- Apart from receiving Ku modes can be selected. And
CVBS is available as well and ing reception system. To this band signals the Jiuzhou HDTV here we were in for another
if your TV set has the corre- end DiSEqC protocols 1.0 for receiver can also be used for pleasant surprise: the chan-
sponding inputs you may also up to four satellites, 1.1 for up C band signals and thanks nel search OSD is remarkably
use the YUV output. to 16 satellites as well as 1.2 to freely selectable LOF data clear and self-explanatory. An

Of course, basic features

such
as the
16:9 aspect
ratio and a number of 4:3
options are all implemented,
as is a digital optical audio a n d
output which can provide a 1 . 3
PCM or Dolby Digital (bit- (USALS) for moto-
stream) signal. rised antennas are available.

This latest Jiuzhou receiver A current satellite list fea-

32 TELE-satellite & Broadband — 12-01/2009 — www.TELE-satellite.com

indefinite number of available several satellites we ended filled and well organised we switches to a new channel it
satellites can be chosen for up with thousands of more or can exit the main menu by inserts an info bar with details
an automatic search, which less useful channels, which is pressing the – you guessed it! regarding the currently show-
are then scanned in a single way too many for real view- – EXIT button. This prompts ing and next event as well as
go. You can of course define ing pleasure. So what needed the receiver to switch to the icons for encryption, subtitles,
whether FTA, encrypted or all to be done next is bring some first channel on the list. The DD audio etc. Signal quality
channels should be found. In order and tidiness into this OK button calls up the chan- and signal strength as well as
addition, you can tell the box huge mess. nel list which lists all available satellite and frequency of the
whether you’re after TV chan- channels in a clearly arranged currently watched channel
nels, radio stations or both. Luckily, the DTS 6600 way. Using the FAV and SAT are also shown.
offers a number of options buttons of the remote con-
If required, you can also for achieving this. Individual trol you can either call up the The remote control comes
activate network scan so that channels can be deleted, channel list of a different sat- with dedicated keys for select-
any pay TV transponders moved, renamed or protected ellite or one of the favourite ing the audio track and subti-
that are not yet pre-stored with a PIN code to keep your lists. tles (if provided). In case your
will also be detected by the kids from watching unsuit- TV set has no built-in teletext
receiver. For our test satellite able material. A total of eight Sorting the channel list can decoder you can always fall
with just over 100 transpon- favourite lists are available to be done by pushing the Zoom back on the integrated soft-
ders finally took almost ten be filled with just the channels button on the remote. ware teletext decoder of the
minutes, which means it is a you really watch on a regular Jiuzhou box. While the DTS
little on the slower side. basis. The new Jiuzhou receiver is 6600 does not (yet) offer
reasonably fast when switch- automatic output resolution
Naturally, a manual scan During our test editing both ing between channels, which switching, it can be done
gives you even greater the channel and favourite lists holds also true for changing easily by pushing the Function
options and you can manually went about smoothly and flaw- between SD and HD offerings. key on the remote control to
enter frequency, symbol rate, lessly. Here again the manu- What we really appreciated in quickly change between the
polarisation, PID, modulation facturer has come up with a our test was the video quality available options.
(with the receiver supporting logical and user-friendly con- via HDMI on a 42-inch plasma
QPSK in DVB-S and QPSK as cept which even novices will and a 40-inch LCD flat screen This is very handy when-
well as 8PSK in DVB-S2) and come to understand in next to TV. There really was nothing ever a HDTV channel trans-
FEC. no time. to be left desired. mits in 1080i (and can best be
viewed when this resolution
After our test search on Now that the channel list is Whenever the receiver is set for the receiver as well)

Manual search Playing back a recorded HDTV

34 TELE-satellite & Broadband — 12-01/2009 — www.TELE-satellite.com

and you then zap to a SDTV the going gets tough. What we
channel, when either 720p liked in this regard was that it
or 576p should be chosen for delivered useful results even
best video display. when the signals came in very
weakly, such as for horizontal
The EPG menu always shows transmission from NILESAT 7°
information for six channels West or ASTRA 2D 28.2° East
at a time. With the help of at our location.
the colour-coded buttons you
can change the date or jump SCPC was a different story, Overview of recorded events and images
to the current time. Of course though, as we could not verify
the info bar provides infor- the manufacturer’s claim of 1
mation on currently show- to 45 Ms/s. We even encoun-
ing and next events as well. tered problems when trying
If you need to make sure not to receive various TURKSAT
to miss a particular event you 42° East transponders with
can define up to eight timer symbol rates of way above 2
entries. These have to be set Ms/s. Yet, once the tuner is
up manually. able to lock a signal reception
becomes very reliable.
Just like all our test receiver
the Jiuzhou DTS 6600 finally Finally, we want to address
had to prove its worth when one of the main features of

Editor for satellite and transponder entries

www.TELE-satellite.com — 12-01/2009 — TELE-satellite & Broadband 35

 Expert opinion
+ this receiver, the USB 2.0 replacement for those old-
The Jiuzhou DTS 6600 is an easy to use HDTV interface. It can be used to fashioned slide projectors.
DVB-S/2 PVR receiver with hardly anything left to attach external hard disk
drives or USB memory sticks, Apart from PVR functional-
be desired thanks to its wide range of features.
which transform the DTS 6600 ity and displaying JPEGs the
It is perfectly suited for everyday use and will Thomas Haring into a genuine PVR receiver. USB interface is also used to
TELE-satellite
delight beginners and experts alike. Test Center This feature worked without a update the receiver’s oper-
Austria glitch in our test and both HD ating software, which is first

- and SD recordings could be

played back perfectly, includ-
downloaded from the Jiuzhou’s
website to the PC and is then
The product we received for our tests was a pre-release model,
ing the time shifting. The installed on the receiver with
which means that some details turned out to not yet fully opera-
tional. SCPC is a point we would like to address in this regard,
remote control does not come the help of a USB stick. If you
as well as the time it takes to perform a search, and the missing with a PVR key, which means prefer it the easy way you will
timeshift feature. We do assume, however, that the manufacturer that the ZOOM button and also be able to download new
will have solved these teething problems by the time the receiver the colour-coded buttons are software directly via satellite
hits stores. used for PVR commands. as this feature will be imple-
mented by the time the final
A FileExplorer can be product hits the shelves.
TECHNIC accessed via the main menu
DATA and is used to show data Summing up, the new Jiu-
Manufacturer Sichuan Jiuzhou Electric Group Co., Ltd. located on the external stor- zhou DTS 6600 is a HDTV
Jiuzhou Electric Building, Southern No. 12 Road
age medium. The DTS 6600 receiver with great potential.
Hi-Tech Industrial Park, Nanshan District, Shenzhen, China
does not only list all available It includes a number of useful
Fax +86 755 26748419
recordings, it can also list and ideas which are combined
E-Mail huangwei@d-telemedia.com display JPEG images on the TV with just the right mix of ease
Model DTS6600 screen, which is a very handy of use and comprehensive
Function Digital PVR satellite receiver for SDTV/HDTV in DVBS feature and an excellent features.
and DVBS2 (QPSK/8PSK) MPEG2 and MPEG4
Channel memory 5000
Symbolrates 1-45 Ms/sec.
ENERGY
DIAGRAM
SCPC compatible yes
DiSEqC 1.0 / 1.1 / 1.2 / 1.3
USALS yes

HDMI connection yes

Apparent Power
Scart euroconnectors 2
Mode Apparent Active Factor
Audio/Video outputs 3 x RCA StandBy 17 W 9W 0.52
Reception 20 W 11 W 0.55
Component output 3x RCA
S-Video output no
UHF Modulator no
Active Power
Digital audio output yes
EPG yes
C/Ku band compatible yes
PVR function yes (with external USB 2.0 storage medium)
Power supply 90-250 VAC, 50/60 Hz
Dimension 34/26.5/6cm The receiver is in standby for the first 15 minutes, followed by another
Weight 2.8kg 15 minutes with active reception and channel switching, PVR playback,
etc.

50 Years
which also include LED, RFID products, ambitions even aim to reach the USD 1.5
Broadband Network Systems, optical and billion turnover target. Jiuzhou’s aim is
coaxial cable, and of course satellite recei- to become a leading company in the top

Jiuzhou!
vers, which are being exported for their ranking enterprises in China and amongst
most parts. Jiuzhou belongs to the Top
the companies worldwide operating in the
100 companies in China in the electronic
digital TV technology.
information sector. Furthermore, Jiuzhou
belongs to the Top 500 group of most
On 16th November 2008 Jiuzhou officially successfull enterprises in China und with A more detailed report on Jiuzhou has
celebrates its 50th birthday. The state- its turnover of up to USD 1 billion in 2008 been published by TELE-satellite in its
owned company started in 1958 and is it also belongs to the Top 1000 largest 02-03/2008 issue, which is available for
specialized into digital television systems, enterprises in China. For 2009 Jiuzhou’s download at www.TELE-satellite.com

36 TELE-satellite & Broadband — 12-01/2009 — www.TELE-satellite.com