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TELE-audiovision International — The World‘s Leading Digital TV Industry Publication
— 03-04/2015
—
TELE-audiovision.com23. As expected, the Spaun
Sparos 711 is capable of show-
ing a constellation diagram for
all modulations. We had previ-
ously fine-tuned our terrestrial
antenna with the help of this
meter, so the constellation dia-
gram shown here looks almost
perfect.
24. One of the quadrants of the
constellation is enlarged in
this screenshot. This allows an
even closer look at the details,
even though this is not neces-
sary at all. Thanks to the large
and high-resolution screen of
the Spaun Sparos 711 it’s hard
to miss a thing in any display
mode.
DVB-T
Measurement:
12. In measurement mode the
Spaun Sparos 711 presents all
relevant information simultane-
ously. Seen here are the results
for a DVB-T transponder. To
access more detailed data you
only need to tap on measure-
ment, live spectrum, live video
or service information.
13. If you tap on the upper left
section of the display, which
shows the measurements, a
new screen is launched with all
measurement results as well
as corresponding reception
parameters.
14. All those reception parame-
ters are presented with virtual
buttons. Simply tap on one of
the buttons to change any of
those details, including modu-
lation. The Spaun Sparos 711 is
wonderfully easy to use, since
all menu items always stay the
same, irrespective of the signal
that is being analysed. You can
switch from DVB-C to DVB-S
at any time without having to
leave measurement mode. This
may seem slightly weird at first,
but once you get used to this
process flow you don’t want to
change a thing about it.
15. The feature we liked best is
called Auto Lock. Using it lets
the meter identify all reception
parameters – fully automati-
cally and in record-breaking
time. It takes no more than 3
to 5 seconds until the signal
is correctly locked, even with
unconventional symbol rates.
This is an enormous help, par-
ticularly when it comes to ana-
lysing unknown transponders,
which is frequently required for
aligning satellite antennas to
more exotic orbital positions.
16. The spectrum display builds
up really quickly and offers
very high resolution. Seen here
is a yellow marker on a DVB-T
transponder with a frequency
of 754 Mhz. To the right you
can see an LTE signal, which
thankfully is spaced with
enough distance not to cause
interference.
17. If you tap on the quadrant
showing the live video this
screen section will be resized
to full-screen mode. Additional
options available in this mode
are volume adjustment, calling
up the service list or accessing
PID and NIT details. In addition,
this is where the ASI input can
be activated – this way the
stream to be analysed is no
longer the transport stream
provided by the built-in tuner,
but the transport stream that
is led into the ASI input. The
ASI output is active at any
time and gives out the active
transport stream. It should
be noted at this stage that the
currently selected channel can
be recorded onto an external
USB storage medium. A great
option if you want to have a
closer look at the MPEG stream
on your PC.
18. The volume can be adjus-
ted in full-screen mode. This
actually makes sense conside-
ring that it’s best to take care of
volume during playback rather
than hiding it in a separate
configuration menu.
19. A tap on the SERV button
calls up a list of all channels.
A lock symbol is inserted
next to encrypted channels.
What’s also convenient with the
Spaun Sparos 711: A dedicated
column indicates whether a
channel broadcasts in standard
definition or high definition.
20. The PID button opens a
table with all associated PIDs.
21. And a tap on the NIT button
lists all data from the network
information table. The amount
of data can be huge, which is
why a touchscreen device like
the Spaun Sparos 711 is par-
ticularly handy since it allows
easy scrolling.
22. It is possible to call up
the service list with channels
available on the transponder
directly from the main menu.
Simply tap on the quadrant in
the lower right corner of the
screen.
you’ll soon get used to gliding
your finger across the screen
until you reach the exact fre-
quency you’re looking for and
than tap to place your marker
right there. This works ab-
solutely perfectly and most
probably you’ll never look
back to older meters with
their rotary knobs.
As thorough testers we’re
always in for surprises, and
with the Spaun Sparos 711
it’s the spectrum mode that
has wowed us with an awe-
some feature: It can show
the live video of the ana-
lysed channel together with
the real-time spectrum. The
way this works is that the live
video is superimposed in a
slightly transparent way over
the spectrum display. With
all this information available
on a single screen usability
of this meter is taken to new
heights. Simply tap on a tran-
sponder and then use the NIT
TV button to call up all NIT
data while at the same time
watching the live video. No
need to enter any reception
parameters whatsoever. Inci-
dentally, if you would like an-
other channel superimposed
over the spectrum display all
you need to do is head back
to the main menu, select the
desired channel and call up
spectrum mode again. If you
then press the NIT TV but-
ton you will be able to see the
channel you have previously
selected in the main menu.
Certain tasks may be facili-
tated by such a procedure, so
it’s reassuring to know that
there’s an easy way to ac-
complish it.
It goes without saying that
the Spaun Sparos 711 sup-
ports constellation diagram
measurements in all operat-
ing modes. This is of particu-
lar importance in the realm of
DVB-C, as it can help enor-
mously in identifying causes
for inferior reception quality.
As expected, quadrants can
be enlarged and the constel-
lation diagram reacts swiftly
and comes with high reso-
lution. Its colour palette is
more than sufficient, a detail
that might appear minor but
which can eventually make or
break the user flow and effi-
ciency of a constellation dia-
gram. All digital modulations
are supported, including DVB-
T2 with shifted constellation.
Many countries have im-
plemented digital terrestrial
television using so-called
single-frequency technology
networks (SFN). This means