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OPINION
EXPERT
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RECOMMENDED
PRODUCT BY
Vitor Martins
Augusto
Test Center
Portugal
Spaun Sparos 711
Professional Digital TV Meter
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84 TELE-audiovision International — The World‘s Leading Digital TV Industry Publication — 03-04/2015 —
● Excellent 10-inch touchscreen display with high resolution
● Easy to use
● Compatible with all modulations used in Europe
● Offers all measurement types, including echo and MER vs.
carrier for DVB-T/T2
● Uses open files formats that allow measurement protocols to
be created with MS Office
● Very long battery life
● Virtual keyboard only available in AZERTY layout, QWERTY
and QWERTZ are missing
● Max Hold function can be improved
● Limited DiSEqC 1.2 functionality
end, we measured all DVB-C
transponders at the wall out-
lets in two different houses.
Our verdict: absolutely im-
pressive! Without any prepa-
ration at all we performed a
measurement at the first wall
outlet and then edited the
list the meter had created
and gave it a meaningful file-
name. All this took less than
five minutes.
Then we measured all ad-
ditional wall outlets using the
automatic measurement pro-
tocol. This only took roughly
two minutes for each outlet.
Once we had completed the
last outlet we exported all
measurement protocols onto
an external storage medium
and then opened the files
with MS Excel on our PC. The
entire workflow was straight-
forward, no questions were
left unanswered, and the
amount of time we were able
to save was nothing short of
impressive. Spaun has done
an excellent job with this new
meter and its clear focus on
professional installers.
Another job involved re-
aligning a DVB-T antenna. Un-
fortunately (for this test), we
did not have any issues with
echoes or LTE interference
at our location, which meant
this was a task that could be
finished almost before it was
started. So in order to test all
DVB-T/T2 measurement op-
tions offered by the Spaun
Sparos 711 we had to gener-
ate faulty signals ourselves in
the test center.
The Spaun Sparos 711 is
an excellent meter for tech-
nicians and installers: It is
lightweight yet robust, with
its huge touchscreen display
providing an enormously ef-
ficient user interface. The en-
tire concept and design clear-
ly has one goal in mind – the
highest level of productivity
in everyday use.
Never before have we seen
a meter whose battery will
last all day long, yet that’s
what you get with the Spaun
Sparos 711. Measurement
protocols can easily be trans-
ferred to a PC using a USB
storage medium and can be
freely edited with MS Office
thanks to the CSV or BMP file
formats that are used.
What’s more: All that hap-
pens with breathtaking speed,
above all when it comes to
automatic searches and au-
tomatic detection of recep-
tion parameters of unknown
transponders. And we’re not
just talking fast, we’re talk-
ing faster than any meter we
have seen before.
To sum up, the Spaun Spa-
ros 711 has got us truly excit-
ed. It meets all demands pro-
fessional installers may have
and then some. In a nutshell,
Spaun has done everything
right with this meter and de-
serves our kudos for that.
Installers are always pressed
for time and need a tool that
increases their productivity.
Now they have one with the
Spaun Sparos 711.
During our in-depth test
we always discovered new
features and functions that
add even more efficiency to
measurement jobs. Yet, we
did not have to consult the
manual or waste time figuring
out how those features can be
used – they just work the way
Read the complete test report:
TELE-satellite-1205/eng/spaun-sat-hd.pdf
Read the complete test report:
TELE-satellite-0909/eng/spaun.pdf
you expect them to work.
The minor issues we men-
tioned above can certainly
be eliminated with one of the
upcoming firmware updates.
The example of the Spaun
Sparos 609 demonstrates
that we can only expect the
best from Spaun in terms of
product support.
You won’t find many manu-
factures that supply firmware
updates for their products
over such a long period of
time as Spaun does. For the
Spaun Sparos 609, for exam-
ple, you can currently choose
from five different firmware
releases, all with exemplary
explanation of newly imple-
mented features and func-
tions.
It’s no wonder then that
Spaun is one of the leading
companies in the TV recep-
tion business. A reputation
that is hard-earned and well-
deserved.