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LOW COST HDTV SETTOP BOXES ...with recording to USB memory Did you know that high-definition digital set-top boxes make great personal video recorders when used with a USB flash drive or external (USB) hard disk? And the best part is they’re really cheap! Jim Rowe compares five commonly available units. M odern set-top boxes offer a lot more than earlier models, despite their sub-$80 prices. This makes them well worth considering for uses like recording late-night programs for watching at a more convenient time. In most cases they’re also capable of being used as a ‘media hub’, for playing videos downloaded from the web on your TV. An important feature is the ability to record programs onto a USB flash drive, an external USB SSD drive or a USB portable hard drive. This means they’re no longer just an STB but a personal video recorder or ‘‘PVR’’, as well. So since USB flash drives or ‘‘thumb drives’’ are available with capacities up to 64GB and beyond at very attractive prices, this means you can junk your old DVD+/-R recorder (or even older VCR) and record late-night TV programs very easily for viewing at a more convenient time. There’s no need to invest in one of those $250-plus PVRs with an internal 500GB or 1TB hard drive, either. Putting things into perspective, a 4GB USB flash drive can hold about an hour of HDTV or around two hours of SDTV. You can double these times for an 8GB drive, double them again for a 16GB drive and so on. This means that a 32GB thumb drive will hold about eight hours of HDTV programs, or 16 hours of SDTV – not bad for a drive you can currently buy for around $15 or even less! In most cases, you do need to use USB 2.0 or 3.0 drives with these STBs, especially for HDTV recording and playback. USB 1.1 drives probably won’t be fast enough for STB use. So how easy is it to make a recording – can you simply 86  Silicon Chip press a button on the remote control to start or finish it? Most STBs do allow this but generally they also provide the ability to set the start and finish times in advance, using the built-in electronic program guide (EPG). Many also allow you to use the USB recording function for time-shifting or ‘live pause’ viewing. This allows you to set it to record the program being viewed if you are called away for some reason, and then start watching it again when you return (from the point where you left), simply by pressing the Play button. Since it continues to record the program while you are playing it back, none of the program is lost – assuming there is enough space for it on the USB drive. You may be wondering if they are all capable of recording the range of SD and HD signals currently being broadcast in Australia. The answer to this is generally yes, since at present all of the DVB-T transmissions are being encoded in three main formats, as shown in the table opposite. And all of the STBs currently available seem to have no trouble handling these formats, as you’ll read shortly. Some quick comments about aspect ratio and picture resolution. First, remember that nominally all Australian DVBT stations transmit a picture with an aspect ratio (width/ height) of 16:9, or 1.78:1. But if you divide the ‘active pixels’ on each line by the number of lines shown in the small table, you’ll find that the only format that seems to give this ratio is the ‘HD’/720p format (1280/720 = 1.78:1). The SD/576i format gives 720/576 = 1.25:1 or 5/4, while the FHD/1080i format gives 1440/1080 = 1.33:1 or 4/3. The only apparent exception is 9HD in Perth WA, which siliconchip.com.au clips, in most of the file formats that can be downloaded from the internet. These digital image formats can usually be displayed: JPEG, BMP and PNG; and the audio formats: MP3, PCM, WAV, OGG and MP4; and finally the video formats: AVI, VOB, MOV, MKV, WMA, MPEG2 MP<at>HL and MP4/H.264 MP&HP<at>L4.1. Many of the STBs will also ‘play’ full HD 1080p MP4/H.264 HP<at>L4.1 files - known as the ‘Blu-Ray disc’ format. But at present none of them will play files in the newer and higher resolution ‘‘2K’’ or ‘‘4K’’ formats. Let’s now move on to look at five representative models of the currently-available low-cost HD STBs. We will be looking at them one by one, but before we do so please refer to the large comparison table where we have summarised many of their important technical details. We’d also like to make a few general comments which apply to all of them. How we checked them The five commonly-available set-top boxes we reviewed, with the rear panel shown above and the front opposite. On top is the Dynalink A2809, with the Laser STB-6000 under that, followed by the Strong SRT5432, the Teac HDB850 and finally the Digitech XC4929. does provide 1920 active pixels per line and thus can transmit video with an aspect ratio of 1920/1080 = 1.78:1 or 16/9. So what’s the secret? How is it possible for those SD/576i stations and most of the FHD/1080i stations to transmit a 16/9 picture? Well, in the above calculations we were assuming that the pixels making up each line were square in shape. But the stations can achieve a 16/9 aspect ratio quite simply by using elongated pixels to make up each line. The only format that actually uses square pixels is the HD/720p format used by ABC News24. The other thing to bear in mind is that although each of the three DVB-T formats shown in the table below has a rated picture resolution, this is essentially the maximum resolution it can provide. The actual resolution (and aspect ratio) depends very much on the program material being transmitted – which can vary significantly. We hooked up each one to a 42” high definition (1080p) LCD TV, looping its RF input and output into the TV’s antenna cable and connecting the STB’s HDMI output to one of the TV’s HDMI ports. We checked its basic performance as a DVB-T set-top receiver ‘front end’. All of them performed this key role with no problems – receiving all the local DVBT broadcasts with excellent video and sound quality. We then tried making test recordings from three local DVB-T stations – one using the SD (576i) format, one (ABC News 24) using the HD/720p format, and one using the FHD (1080i) format. In each case they’re all excellent performers. To check out their capabilities as multimedia playback hubs as well, we downloaded a number of 1080p and 720p video files (movie trailer clips, actually) from www.h264info.com/clips.html, plus a few 480p video files as well (from https://archive.org/) and some MP4/H.264 test pattern files (from www.w6rz.net). All of these files were copied to another 8GB USB 2.0 flash drive. Here again, most of them played pretty well all of these files with excellent results. There were a few problems which we’ll discuss shortly. But overall, the results were very impressive. Right – now let’s look at each of the five STBs in turn. Dynalink A2809 Multimedia hubs Another handy feature offered by most of these latest STBs is that they can also be used as a ‘multimedia hub’ to play back through your TV many of the common types of multimedia that can be recorded on a USB drive. This includes digital photo images and music as well as movie The Dynalink STB is available from Altronics (www. altronics.com.au) and its resellers. Despite carrying the highest price of the five ($79.95), it’s the smallest of them, CURRENT AUSTRALIAN DVB -T FORMATS H.264 is also known as MPEG-4 Part 10 Advanced Video Coding, MPEG-4 AVC or even MP4/H.264 for short. Essentially it’s an improved digital video compression standard, designed to provide good video and audio quality at substantially lower bit rates than previous standards like MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 Part 2. For example it offers a bit rate of less than half that of MPEG-2, which is why it has become the preferred standard for encoding Blu-Ray discs - and also for downloading video files over the internet. The H.264 standard is best viewed as a ‘family’ of standards, since it can be used to encode many different file profiles, from low-resolution files for viewing on handheld devices right up to 1080p HD video and the newer 4K and 8K even higher resolution formats. COMMENTS TYPE FORMAT RESOLUTION SD 576i 576 lines x 720 active pixels All SD broadcasts are currently in this format HD 720p 720 lines x 1280 active pixels Currently only ABC News24 uses this format FHD 1080i 1080 lines x 1440 active pixels Nine HD in Perth has 1920 active pixels/line NOTES: (1) ‘i’ indicates interlaced scan, ‘p’ indicates progressive scan (2) DVDs use 720p (720 x 576 x 50Hz for PAL, 720 x 480 x 60Hz for NTSC ) (3) Blu-Ray discs use 1080p (1080 lines x 1920 active pixels) While this list is current at press time (December 2016) it is quite likely to change in the reasonably near future, as TV stations re-organise and rationalise their channeling. siliconchip.com.au About H.264/MPEG-4 AVC January 2017  87 HDTV SET-TOP BOXES WITH USB PVR ABILITY – A DETAILED COMPARISON VIDEO FORMATS VIDEO DECODING FORMATS AUDIO DECODING AV OUTPUTS $79.95 16:9, 4:3, P/S, LB 1080p/1080i/ 720p/576p/576i/ 480p/480i MPEG4 AVC /H.264 HP<at>L4, MPEG -2 MP<at>ML.HL MPEG-1 Layer 1&2 HDMI, CVBS (3.5mm SOCKET) $69.95 16:9, 4:3, P/S, LB 1080p/1080i/ 720p/576p/576i/ 480p/480i MPEG4 AVC /H.264 HP<at>L4, MPEG -2 MP<at>ML.HL MPEG-2 Layer 1&2, MPEG 4 AAC , MP3, AC -3, LPCM , DTS, WAV, OGG , FLAC , ABR, CBR, M4A $69.00 16:9, 4:3, P/S, LB 1080p/1080i/ 720p/576p/576i/ 480p/480i MPEG -2 MP<at>ML, H.264 MP&HP<at>L4.1, (MPEG 4), DV, DivX BRAND, MODEL & SOURCE COST DYNALINK A2809 (ALTRONICS) DIGITECH XC4929 (JAYCAR) STRONG SRT5432 (BIG W) TEAC HDB850 (JB HIFI) LASER STB-6000 (BIG W) 16:9, 4:3, P/S, LB PAL-25 <at> 720x576, NTSC -30 <at> 720x480, $59.00 1080p/1080i/ 720p/576p/480p/ 576i/480i $28.00 16:9 & 4:3, 1080i (NTSC /PAL) 720p (NTSC /PAL) 576i/576p (PAL) 480i/480p (NTSC ) USB CAPACITY SUPPORTED USB FORMATS SUPPORTED 1 x USB 2.0, NOT SPECIFIED, RH SIDE PANEL BUT >32 GB NTFS, FAT32, FAT16 HDMI, YPbPr, CVBS (6 x RCA), SP/DIF AUDIO OUTPUT (RCA) 1 x USB 2.0, FRONT PANEL <=2TB NTFS, FAT32, FAT16 MPEG-2 Layer 1&2, MPEG 4 AAC , MP3, AC -3, LPCM HDMI (V1.3C), CVBS (3 x RCA), SP/DIF AUDIO OUTPUT (RCA) 1 x USB 2.0, FRONT PANEL <=1TB NTFS, FAT32, FAT16 MPEG -2 MP<at>HL, H.264 MP&HP<at>L4.1, VC -1 MP<at>HP & AP<at>L3 MPEG -1, MPEG -2, MP3, WMA, AAC -LC HDMI, YPbPr, CVBS (6 x RCA), SP/DIF AUDIO OUTPUT (RCA) 1 x USB 2.0, FRONT PANEL <=2TB FAT32, FAT16 MPEG-2 MP<at>ML.HL, MPEG 4 AVC /H.264 HP<at>L4 MPEG-1 Layer 1/2/3, WMA, AC -3 HDMI (V1.3C), CVBS (3 x RCA) 1 x USB 2.0, FRONT PANEL <=750GB NTFS, FAT32 measuring only 118 x 100 x 28mm and weighing only 113g. It can operate from 12V DC – making it suitable for use in vans and RVs and even “off the grid” rural properties. As well, it comes with a 230VAC/12V DC plugpack supply to allow use in urban locations. It also comes with an IR sensor extension lead, to allow the unit’s remote control to be used from a greater distance. On the other hand, it doesn’t provide component video outputs, making it less suitable for use with older TVs lacking an HDMI port. Similarly, although three of the other STBs provide an S/PDIF coaxial digital audio output, this is again missing on the A2809. Four buttons near the left-hand end of the front panel duplicate the functions of four of the buttons on the remote (Power on/off, VOL+/CH+, VOL-/CH- and Menu/Exit). So if you misplace the remote, you will be able to turn the A2809 on, change channels and adjust the volume. There were no problems when we tried out its functions as a DVB-T receiver front end or a USB-based PVR. Surprisingly it did seem to have problems playing a couple of the H.264/MP4 multimedia files. For example it wouldn’t play the video of the 1080p ‘The Simpsons’ movie trailer (1920 x 800p), only the audio, displaying a ‘VIDEO NOT AVAILABLE’ message – even though all of the other STBs played both the video and audio without any problems. Similarly, it alone refused to play a ‘Philips Circle’ 16x9 test pattern file (H.264/MP4 1280x720p <at> 29.97Hz), proclaiming it an ‘UNSUPPORTED FILE’. It certainly performs the basic roles of a DVB-T STB and a USB-based PVR as well as any of the others – together with the ‘‘bonus’’ ability of operating from 12V DC. Digitech XC4929 The Digitech XC4929 is available from Jaycar Electronics (www.jaycar.com.au) and its resellers. It is listed at $69.95. Measuring 220 x 170 x 45mm and weighing 530g, it’s the largest of the five STBs we’re comparing here. In addition to the features listed in the main comparison table, the XC4929 also provides a set of control pushbut88  Silicon Chip USB PORT(S), LOCATION tons on the front panel. Again, these duplicate most of the main control buttons on its remote control: Power on/off, Menu, OK and the four channel select and volume adjust buttons (CH-, CH+, VOL- and VOL+). There were no problems when we tried out the XC4929’s functions as a DVB-T receiver front end, a USB-based PVR or a multimedia hub. It received all of the local broadcasts quite happily and recorded each of the formats with a video and audio quality indistinguishable from the original. And it played all of the H.264/MP4 1080p, 720p and 480p files copied to our test USB drive very nicely indeed. The XC4929 operates only from the 230V AC mains. Strong SRT5432 The Strong SRT5432 is currently available from Big W stores for $69.00. It’s quite modest in size, measuring 160 x 104 x 28mm and weighing only 173g. That doesn’t include its 5V/2A plug-pack. Inspection showed up only one feature in addition to those listed in the comparison table: three small buttons at the right-hand end of the front panel, duplicating the Power on/off, Up and Down arrow buttons on the remote. As shown in the comparison table, while the SRT5432 does provide a coaxial S/PDIF digital sound output on the rear panel, it doesn’t provide component video outputs – only the HDMI output and composite AV outputs. When we first powered up the SRT5432, the remote control seemed to be ‘‘dead’’. After doing the usual battery checks we finally worked out what was wrong. Inside the remote control’s battery compartment, the vertical slots in the ends of the compartment intended to accept the positive ‘pips’ of the two AAA cells were just too narrow, so the pips could not protrude in far enough to make good contact with the metal electrodes inside. It was either a design fault or a plastic moulding fault. We carefully widened the slots in the plastic with a rotary milling tool. When the cells were refitted, the remote control sprang to life. After this there were no further problems when we tried siliconchip.com.au IR ELECTRONIC REMOTE TIMER TV PROGRAM CONTROL? GUIDE (EPG )? RECORD? √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ RECORD & PLAY AT SAME TIME FOR TIMESHIFT? √ √ √ PHYSICAL SIZE (mm), EXTRAS <8W, <1W IN STANDBY USER MANUAL (140 x 105mm, 25pp m/fold) 118 x 100 x 28, REM . IR SENSOR FOR REMCON , CVBS OUTPUT CABLE CAN OPERATE FROM 12V DC (COMES WITH 2 3 0VAC /12V DC PLUG -PACK) √ 4x 7-SEGMENT LEDS <8W, <1W IN STANDBY USER MANUAL (168 x 120mm, 32pp) 220 x 170 x 45, CVBS OUTPUT CABLE OPERATES FROM 2 3 0VAC ONLY. REVISED USER MANUAL CAN BE DOWNLOADED IN PDF FORM FROM www.jaycar.com.au √ 4x 7-SEGMENT LEDS <25W, <1W IN STANDBY USER MANUAL (140 x 100mm, 20pp) 160 x 104 x 28, CVBS OUTPUT CABLE. COMES WITH 5V DC PLUG -PACK QUICK START SHEET & USER MANUAL CAN BE DOWNLOADED IN PDF FORM FROM www.strong.com.au <10W, <0.5W IN STANDBY QUICK START SHEET, USER MANUAL (210 x 145mm, 16pp) 220 x 135 x 40, CVBS OUTPUT CABLE. OPERATES FROM 2 3 0VAC ONLY. QUICK START SHEET & USER MANUAL CAN BE DOWNLOADED IN PDF FORM FROM www.teac.com.au <8W, <1W IN STANDBY USER MANUAL (145 x 105mm, 22pp) 125 x 110 x 32, CVBS OUTPUT CABLE OPERATES FROM 2 3 0VAC ONLY. USER MANUAL CAN BE DOWNLOADED IN PDF FORM FROM www.laserco.com.au FRONT PANEL DISPLAY √ 4x 7-SEGMENT LEDS √ √ √ √ √ 4x 7-SEGMENT LEDS √ √ √ √ √ –– out the SRT5432’s functions as a DVB-T receiver front end, a USB-based PVR or a multimedia hub. As with the other units it received all of the local broadcasts without a problem, and recorded each of the formats with a video and audio quality that was again indistinguishable from the original. It also played all of the H.264/MP4 1080p, 720p and 480p files copied to our test USB drive. So apart from the remote control battery contact problem, its only real shortcoming is the lack of Y-Pb-Pr component video outputs, which will probably only concern you if you have an older TV which lacks an HDMI port. It is imported by Strong Australia (www.strong.com.au). Teac HDB850 The Teac HDB850 is currently available from JB HiFi stores for $59.00, imported by Teac Australia (www.teac. com.au). At 220 x 135 x 40mm and weighing 433g, it’s almost the same size as the Digitech. Again that includes its built-in mains power supply. It showed up only one feature in addition to those listed in the comparison table: three small buttons at the righthand end of the front panel, duplicating the Power on/off, Up and Down arrow buttons on the remote. As shown in the comparison table the HDB850 provides a coaxial SP/DIF digital sound output on the rear panel, as well as the Y-Pb-Pr component video outputs, HDMI output and composite AV outputs. The HDB850’s only real limitation seemed to be that it would only accept USB 2.0 drives with either the FAT32 or FAT16 formats – not with the NTFS format. Again there were no problems at all when we tried out the HDB850’s functions as a DVB-T receiver front end, a USB-based PVR or a multimedia hub. It received and recorded all of the local broadcasts without a problem. Video and audio quality was again indistinguishable from the original. It again played all of the H.264/MP4 1080p, 720p and 480p files on our test USB drive as well. Laser STB-6000 The Laser STB-6000 is currently available from Big-W siliconchip.com.au OPERATING/ STANDBY POWER QUICK START/USER MANUAL? MULTIMEDIA PLAYER CAPABILITY? COMMENTS stores for only $28.00, making it by far the cheapest of the five STBs. Imported by Laser Corporation Pty Ltd of North Ryde in NSW (www.laserco.com.au), it’s only slightly larger than the Dynalink – measuring only 125 x 110 x 32mm and weighing a mere 164g. This is despite the fact that it has an inbuilt mains power supply. The STB-6000 does lack a few of the features found on the others. There are no component video outputs, no SP/ DIF digital audio output, no four-digit LED display on the front panel and no buttons on the front panel either. But it’s not surprising with a price tag about half that of all the others. Despite this lack of frills, there were no problems at all when we tried out the STB-6000’s functions as a DVB-T receiver front end, a USB-based PVR or a multimedia hub. It received and recorded all of the local broadcasts without a problem and also played all of the H.264/MP4 1080p, 720p and 480p files copied to our test USB drive. Summarising So what conclusions can be drawn from this comparison of the five HDTVB-T set-top boxes? It’s clear that all five are capable of excellent performance, both as DVB-T receiver ‘front ends’ and as recording and replay devices for the SD and HD DVB-T programs currently being broadcast in Australia. All but the Dynalink unit are also very good at playing a large number of multimedia file formats downloadable from the internet, including MP4/H.264 1080p high-definition movie files. And the Dynalink is pretty good at this, just a bit finicky when it comes to a small number of file formats. If all you really want is a bare-bones unit at the lowest possible price, the Laser STB-6000 would be the way to go. But if you want as many of the extra features as possible combined with the best value for money, you probably have to choose between the Digitech XC4929 and the Teac HDB850, or perhaps the Strong SRT5432 if you don’t need the component video outputs. Finally if you want to “go bush” and power your box from 12V DC, go for the Dynalink A2809 and put up with its minor shortcomings. SC January 2017  89