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TELE-audiovision International— TheWorld‘s Largest Digital TV TradeMagazine
—05-06/2014
98. Our external DVD/Blu-Ray
drivewasquickly andcorrectly
identified.
99. DVDplaybackwith theGiga
BlueHD 800Quad.
100. Anydesired event canbe
searched for in theEPGand
thenmarked for theAutoTimer
feature.
101. Restrictions (regarding
channels and timesof activity)
canbe added toeachAuto
Timer entry tomake sure re-
reruns arenot recorded, for
example.
102. TheAutoTimer feature can
becustomised to a veryhigh
degree inorder toguarantee
flawlessoperation.
103. Overviewof currently
activeAutoTimer entries.
104. DVDBurnplugin
105. DVDBurnplugin
106. Configurationoptionsof
theDVDBurnplugin.
107. Recordings canbeedited
beforebeingburnt ontoaDVD.
108. Burning inprogress.
local network or make con-
tent stored on the receiver’s
hard disk available to other
clients on the same network.
Talking about network in-
tegration: Unless you have
deactivated theweb interface
during the initial setup rou-
tine all network parameters
can easily be controlled and
adjusted via a web browser
on your PC. All you need to
do is key in your receiver’s IP
address to gain complete ac-
cess to the channel list, EPG
or recorded events. You can
even remotely put the Giga
BlueHDQuadPlus into stand-
by mode or send messages
to the receiver which will be
shown on the TV screen. We
were particularly pleased to
find out that it’s possible to
perform a keyword search
across all EPG data and cre-
ate timer entries right from
the PC. Thisway you can con-
trol and operate the receiver
from your office or evenwhile
on holidays. It gives you the
option of browsing through
the EPG and mark events for
recording, if desired.
Let us go back now to the
main menu of the Giga Blue
HD Quad Plus once more to
have a look at all the avail-
able setting and adjustment
options. For those of youwho
simply want to turn on the
box and watch TV without
further ado let us just state
that you’d be hard pressed to
find a parameter that cannot
be changed here. To all the
rest of you out there – and
we know this is by far the
majority – we say: read on!
Obviously the look and feel
of the OSD can be adjusted
to meet individual prefer-
ences, and the same is true
for the receiver’s PVR behav-
iour. This area alone boasts
more than 30 customisation
options. Never before did
we test a receiver that was
so open to customisation as
the Giga Blue HD Quad Plus.
Keyboard layout, status LED,
OSD, you name it – a few lit-
tle tweaks is all it takes to
make this box look and per-
form exactly how you want it
to.
Naturally, all settings and
adjustments that have been
taken care of during the ini-
tial setup are available via the
mainmenu as well. And while
we were at it, the fact that a
blind scan function is also im-
plemented put a huge smile
on our faces, since this was
an option that had not ap-
peared in the installation wiz-
ard. Before launching a blind
scan users can define the re-
quired reception range, polar-
isation and symbol rate range
to be targeted. A full blind
scan search on HOTBIRD at
13° East only took nine min-
utes and resulted in 2401 TV
and radio stations. As far as
SCPC signals are concerned
the Giga Blue HD Quad Plus
also delivered excellent re-
sults on TURKSAT 42° East,
where it reliably detected all
transponders using low sym-
bol rates.
A product like this does ap-
peal to amateurs and profes-
sional alike, and in order to
keep the pro segment just
as happy as the amateurs,
Impex-Sat has also thrown in
a manual search with a wide
range of adjustment features.
Thanks to the available
Ethernet port on the back
panel, the Internet plays a
major role for the Giga Blue
HD Quad Plus, not least as a
platform for making available
software updates in order to
improve and enhance the re-
ceiver’s range of features. For
a manufacturer which does
not only launch a product but
also supports its customers
throughout the product cycle
this aspect is of great impor-
tance.
What’s more, this receiver
comes equipped with a so-
called plugin interface that
can be used to add features
and functions in an organised
and, above all, simple way.
A plugin archive is available
online from which users can
select those plugins that of-
fer them most added value.
Those plugins can then be
downloaded and installed
with a single touch of a but-
ton. The online archive is di-
vided into 11 categories such
as skins, drivers, DVB, codec
or settings, so that users will
find their way around the ex-
tensive offering quite easily.
The range of features and
functions on offer is more or
less endless. Do you need a
plugin that automatically ad-
justs the volume to the same
level when you switch to an-
other channel? Got it! Want
some extra fine-tuning op-
tions for DiSEqC settings?Got
it! Care for a new skin for the
user interface? Got it again!
And the list goes on, sinceyou
will also find plugins that ac-
cess YouTube videos, content
libraries of various broad-
casting networks, Internet
TV or radio via the Internet,
among other things. Social
media, webcams from all over
the world, a web browser or
pre-defined and perfectly
structured channel lists for a
number of satellites are other
examples for useful plugins.
Not only is the archive huge
in its current state, it is set to
grow by the day so that in the
end only the sky is the limit
when it comes to using those
neat software extensions.
Thanks to the many profes-
sional and amateur software
developers out there we rec-
ommend you have a look eve-
ry once in awhile.
If there is one plugin that
– in our opinion – deserves a
special stage call it’s the DVD
Burn plugin. It can be used
to burn existing recordings
made by the receiver onto a
DVD using an external DVD
drive connected to one of the
receiver’sUSBports. If you’re
looking for an easy and fast
way for permanently archiv-
ing your favourite recordings,
you need not look any further
than this plugin.
The list of features of the
Giga Blue HD Quad Plus is
rounded off by integrated
DVD player software. What
that means? Well, the receiv-
er can either play back DVDs
from an external DVD drive,
or youmay opt to read out all
DVD data on your PC, save it
into an external hard disk or
USB memory stick and then
watch its content with this
receiver. Naturally, we had a
go at this added function and
found it towork smoothly and
flawlessly. The best part is
that this way you don’t need
an additional DVD player or
even DVD recorder. Unfortu-
nately, however, the Blu-Ray
standard is not supported by
the Giga Blue receiver, even
though the external DVD
drive we used was perfectly
capable of playing Blu-Ray
discs as well.
Another bonus function
we’d like to present to you
is the so-called Auto Timer.
It can be used to enter the
name of your favourite crime
series – or any keyword for
that matter – and the receiv-
er will then look through the
entire EPG archive and cre-
ate an individual timer entry
for each match. Even better,
with Auto Timer turned on
the receiver will not only per-
form a single EPG scan and
set up timer entries, but it
will keep looking for match-
ing events until this function
is turned off again. Our test
demonstrated that this fea-
ture is not only very smart to
use but alsoworks absolutely
reliably. It gives you a huge
variety of configuration trim-
