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TELE-audiovision.com— 03-04/2013 — TELE-audiovision International — 全球发行量最大的数字电视杂志
M e d i a C o m
TEST REPORT
MFT-910 Plus
30 TELE-satellite International — The World‘s Largest Satellite Magazine —www.TELE-satellite.com
Free-to-Air Satellite Reception
In Europe, Asia and The Middle
East there are hundreds of freely
receivable satellite TV and radio
programs. The number of FTA pro-
grams in the Americas is also stead-
ily increasing. Why then should you
spend extra money for a satellite
receiver with CI slots for PayTV
reception when this option might
never be used?
MediaCom`s Free-to-Air Receiver
model MFT-910 Plus takes this into
account and does not come with any CI
slots or card readers. The simple silver-
colored cabinet would fit into the envi-
ronment of almost any home. The front
panel is fitted with an easy-to-read dis-
play that shows one of the 3000 possible
channels. Seven buttons placed next
to the Standby button allow not only
normal operation directly from the front
panel but also its programming. This is
always a good feature to have especially
if the remote control was misplaced or
its batteries died.
The rear panel comes with all of the
standard connectors. The version that
we tested came with six RCA jacks: two
video outputs and two sets of analog
stereo audio outputs. The European
model comes with Scart connectors.
The IF is looped through. The receiver
is also equipped with a UHF modulator
with an output that spans the channel 14
to 83 range. Four quick-clamp connec-
tors supply the 0/12 volt programmable
output as well as the necessary outputs
for a servo polarizer. This is especially
important if a corotor is used for both the
C-band and Ku-band. The serial interface
can be used to upload new software into
the receiver but not for uploading of Sat-
coDX transponder data. A digital audio
output is also not to be found here.
The small remote control comes with a
few extra features. For example, zoom-
ing of the video is possible as is freezing
the video. Brightness, contrast and color
can be adjusted simply with the push of a
button. Colored multifunction buttons pro-
vide easy access to specialized functions.
Everyday Use
Eight different LNB types are set up in
the installation menu to guarantee that
this receiver can work with almost any
set up. DiSEqC 1.0 and 1.2 allow use with
up to four different LNB’s and also with
a DiSEqC motor. Up to 150 satellites can
be activated, 53 of which come prepro-
grammed with up-to-date transponder
data. The receiver comes with three scan
functions: SMATV for a small community
system, a manual scan with PID entry
for the experts and, of course, a normal
automatic scan. The scan can be further
refined to look for ALL channels, FTA
only or encoded channels. Our 80-trans-
ponder test satellite was scanned in just
seven minutes. Signals with symbolrates
starting at 2 Ms/sec were handled with-
out any problems. If the same satellite is
scanned again at a later time, only newly
found channels would be written into
memory. If used with a mechanical polar-
izer, the critical skew values can easily
be set up. To make the installation and
alignment of the antenna all the more
easier, the signal strength plus the all-
important signal quality are blended into
the display as bar graphs.
In the subsequent editing mode
where channels can be deleted, moved,
renamed, etc., the video of the current
channel is blended in as an insert. Popu-
lar channels can be moved into one of
four different Favorites lists for easier
recall at a later time. A Parental Lock
feature is also provided so that kids can
be blocked from seeing inappropriate
programs.
Switching from one channel to another
produces only a minimal delay. An Info
bar is momentarily displayed showing
channel details such as satellite, provider,
signal strength/quality, date and time.
PAL and NTSC signals are automatically
recognized and properly displayed. The
Electronic Program Guide (EPG) displays
program information for up to seven days
in advance assuming of course that the
provider makes this information avail-
able. Teletext is accessed using the
remote control from the TV.
Conclusion
For the reception of FTA signals, the
MFT-910 Plus from MediaCom is ideal.
The installation and use of this receiver
are greatly simplified through the well-
written user manual and the informative
menus. DiSEqC 1.0 and 1.2 permit use
of this box with any antenna configura-
tion. If used with both C and Ku-band
configurations, the terminals for a servo
polarizer should make those users happy.
Particularly noteworthy is this receiver’s
excellent signal sensitivity. The tuner
in the MFT-910 Plus in conjunction with
a 75cm antenna worked very well (in
good weather) on Telstar 12 where other
receivers would have had difficulties. A
nice little extra is the picture zoom func-
tion with the ability to select the picture
segment to be zoomed.