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DATA
TECHNICAL
Manufacturer
Tenow International Ltd, Unit C-8A, Shennan Garden Building
High-Tech Park, Shenzhen, CHINA
Phone
+86-755-26501345 or 26501201
Email
Website
Function
PCI-E card / USB 2.0 Box for DVB-C,
compatible with most current TV applications
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Vitor Martins Augusto
TELE-audiovision
Test Center
Portugal
TBS6618
Fully compliant with DVB-C
and ITU J83 A/C Specifications
Receiving Frequency:
47~862 MHz Tuning Range
Input level: -65~-10dBm
16QAM, 32QAM, 64QAM, 128QAM and
256QAM Support
Symbol Rate: 0.87 to 9Mbaud
Single CI Slot
Standard Profile TV Card Size:
130x83mm (Length x Height)
TV Card Weight: 80 Gram
Package Gift Box Size: 205x140x50mm
(Length x Width x Height)
System Requirements:
Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7 or Linux
DirectX9.0 or later Version
Available PCI-E x1, x4, x8 or x16 slot
Cable TV connection
For HDTV:
Dual core CPU
1GB RAM or Above
Graphic Card with at Least 64MB RAM
Package Content:
1 x TBS6618 PCIe
DVB-C TV Tuner CI Card
1 x remote control
1 x IR receiver
1 x Software CD
TBS5680
Fully compliant with DVB-C
and ITU J83 A/C Specifications
Receiving Frequency:
47~862 MHz Tuning Range
Input level: -65~-10dBm
16QAM,32QAM, 64QAM, 128QAM and
256QAM Support
Symbol Rate: 0.87 to 9Mbaud
Single CI Slot
TV Box Size: 103x88x22mm
(Length x Width x Height)
TV Box Weight: 165 Gram
Package Gift Box Size: 210x175x55mm
(Length x Width x Height)
System Requirements:
Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7
DirectX9.0 or later Version
Available USB Port
Cable TV connection
For HDTV:
Dual core CPU
1GB RAM or Above
Graphic Card with at Least 64MB RAM
Package Content:
1 x TBS5680 USB
DVB-C TV Tuner CI Box
1 x remote control
1 x USB Cable
1 x Software CD
TELE-audiovision.com/11/03/tenow
More about this company
79
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01-02/2013 —
TELE-audiovision International —
全球发行量最大的数字电视杂志
TBS 5680
great DVB-C receiver for USB
simple installation
BDA drivers for compatibility with most cur-
rent TV applications
great TBSViewer application included
good remote with clever integration
None
TBS 6618
great DVB-C receiver for PCI-e
simple installation
BDA drivers make the TBS 6618 compatible with most cur-
rent TV applications
great TBSViewer application included
good remote with clever integration
extremely sensitive tuner
some applications are missing on the included CD and must
be downloaded from the TBS website
Expert Opinion
quickly discovered the tbs-
vhid_v1.0.0.8.zip archive for
downloading. Unfortunately,
this handy solution is listed
neither for the TBS 6618 nor
the TBS 5680.
After installation TB-
SVHID can be launched on
the PC and it really works
wonders: The buttons of a
remote control are visual-
ised as keyboard keys and
since TV applications invari-
ably are operated with key-
boards you will never have
to face any compatibility is-
sues. Major TV applications
such as WMC, DVBViewer,
TBSViewer, DVBDream or
ProgDVB come already fully
pre-configured.
If need be, you can also
conveniently set up the sys-
tem to work with other soft-
ware as well. Quite frankly,
we do not know of any man-
ufacturer with a similarly
clever system integration of
the remote control.
If you own an a laptop
computer and would like to
use that device for watch-
ing DVB-C at home, the TBS
5680 is the solution you’ve
been looking for. The fact
that the USB box comes with
an external power supply
unit is not a problem at all,
as DVB-C can only be used
stationary anyway – contra-
ry to DVB-T.
For desktop computers we
recommend the TBS 6618,
which is a sturdy PC card
that also comes with a CI
slot. Thanks to BDA driv-
ers you don’t need an engi-
neering degree to turn your
desktop PC into a Windows-
based multimedia center.
TBS lends proof to our
recommendation that to-
day’s generation of TV cards
should always be as inde-
pendent as possible from
proprietary software.
The DVB-C PC cards test-
ed in this report are shining
examples of that strategy.
TBS clearly focuses on top-
quality hardware and fault-
less drivers, while leaving
the choice of TV software to
end-users.
That does not mean, how-
ever, that those simply look-
ing for an easy tool to watch
DVB-C are left in the dark.
They should opt for the TB-
SViewer which will provide
just the functions and fea-
tures they require.
Our test has demonstrat-
ed that both the TBS 6618
and the TBS 5680 are excel-
lent DVB-C receivers that
will integrate well with any
TV application that runs un-
der Windows. Both of them
are characterised by top-
notch hardware components
and extremely low-thresh-
old tuners.
On the software side TB-
SViewer is fine for simply
watching TV, but if you in-
tend to exploit all capabili-
ties of the TBS cards to the
full and to get the most out
of DVB-C there’s no way
around purchasing profes-
sional software.
TBS has complemented its
product range with DVB-C
tuner with CI slot for PCI-e
and USB.
In our eyes, TBS has
rightfully become a refer-
ence manufacturer for DVB-
S/S2, DVB-C and DVB-T/T2
cards at this stage. Keep up
the good work!