Hi, just joined today and would like to know a little more about the Kross digital set top box as it is in the Woolworths catalogue for this week for $79. Will probable race down to buy one tomorrow morning. Am not expecting anything much for the price and the discription doesn't explain much, just say's :

* Widescreen or traditional screen format
* Auto tune function
* 5.1 Digital audio out
* On screen display
* Teletext function
* Software upgradable



Would also like to know if it has coaxial cable out for a dish that I picked up for $20 (small 2 foot grey type)

This box is DVB-T, not Satellite (dish), use a nrmal TV aerial, ch6-12, 28-69.

oh, so is it still digital then, with rca conections ? Any links to the model for specs ?

Take a look at the thread about the Muller STB from Coles, it appears to be exactly the same product.

I don't see anything like that mentioned in the other thread. What are you basing it in? Have you seen the box yourself?
(Note: not a flame, a genuine query.)

I can't vouch as to whether they're the same box or not, but both brands are distributed by the same company, TinShed Trading, which has their Australian office just near me in Erskineville.

Timmy,
do they have a good deal on sheds???

Only digital sheds, analogue sheds are so passé.

The Kross is smallish looks a bit like a adsl modem with two LEDs and a few buttons and external power adapter. It not uch different from other stb's. I bought one today for use in a bedroom.

Well I raced down to buy one and they hadn't got them in yet at the Mandurah store so I took a drive to another Woolies store and bought 2 of them, wow I don't know why I haven't bought one earlier. My tv reception (percentage wise) would be around 90% with occassional snow/lines but it picked up the major 4 channels abc,7,9,10 with a german channel of some sorts (abc I think) with 2 radio stations sweeet Don't have the extra ariel for sbs & country stations, after auto scanning to load stations every now & then would freeze for a mili second, pixelation on certain parts of screen & the high pitched bip but came good after a while. Signal strength was around tyhe 74% in the green, had the unit on for a few hours and got a little warm but it seems to be the norm with stb's, so if anyone that has an older t.v with good reception take the chance & buy one, for $79 you can't go wrong, may even buy a couple more for birthday present's for the family.

p.s only 12 month warrenty, may get a few good years out of it.

How different, if at all, is it from the Muller?

Same styling (which I don't like) ??

Does the Kross have a one-button aspect to fill the screen on a 4:3 telly?

Does the Kross do teletext on a non-text tv?

Does it do logical channel numbering, or does that have to be set up manually like the Muller?

anything else of interest to report from those who have bought one?

Chris

Funny you should ask about the teletext, tried to get it to work on my non teletext t.v but with no luck, can set up (tune) manually have not tried that as yet and it will fill the screen on the 4:3 setting but when I try to get letterbox will come up with black border around edge (square picture)and on 16:9 does the same but seems a little stretched vertically, but I do have an old t.v from the 80's

Just bought one from Woolies. Kross meets almost all my expectation for the price except that the teletext is not functioning properly. The closed captions are never erased. The whole screen will be covered by closed captions eventually.

The following question may be asked too early. But do anyone know if this defect can be fixed by software upgrade? If yes, can anyone give a pointer for the download of the PC utility and the software for the set top box?


Kross doesn't have a one-button aspect.


Yes, Kross does teletext but doggy.

Just found 3 built in games but with no sound oh well nice extra though. Hey tuner how do you get teletext to work do you need to type in a number or do you need a teletext t.v?

I also brought a KROSS today in Perth from Woolworths for $79 and it works fine in Perth Metro area without any drop outs in signal.

Aussie Dave from Mandurah saw your post - I have a Dick Smith box I brought befor Xmas ($125) to use down at Melros to fix up the poor reception from Perth (Rolestone) transmitters (over 100KM away) and that works reasonably well but I still get some dropouts, Dave I'm waiting for Pinjarra transmitters to go digital to see how that goes. At Easter I'll take the new KROSS down to Melros to give it a performance test from Melros.

Back to the KROSS performance - notices someone had a problem with Teletext not working as it should on a non teletext TV and it does but you need to first set the STB to receive chan 7 then press your text and page down to teletext. Remember only Chan 7 (at least in WA) trreansmit teletext

Cheers

Ray, I am not sure if you are referring to my problem. Kross is the first toy that I have to use teletext. Follows are my educated guess of closed captions. Please correct me if I am wrong.

First, the digital channel of Channel 7 does not have closed captioned for teletext. If I selected 801, "Searching" was kept displaying. I can have closed captions only when I select subtitles.

Second, the digital channels of Channel 9 and 10 do have teletext. When I press "TEXT", closed captions are displayed. I suppose only closed captions are avaliable for the teletext of Channel 9 and 10.

Maybe I didn't describe my problem clearly in my last post. My problem of closed captions is that after closed captions are displayed on screen, they are never erased. As closed captions are displayed on different area on the screen, I end up with almost a screen full of closed captions. The closed caption feature of Kross is not usable because when I enable the closed caption, I will have pictures with texts only. A picture will explain this problem more clearly. Can anyone tell me if I can paste a picture in my message?

Cheers

Sorry Dave, I missed your message. Teletext is only available for some tv programs. The "Teletext icon" will appear on the "information bar" when teletext is available. For those programs with teletext, just press the "TEXT" button and voila you will have teletext.

Cheers

Aaahhhh ! ic will have another go tomorrow & read a bit more of the manual, so it's only certain program's that have teletext & closed captions are different altogether.
Ray as long as you get a good picture (reception) on your t.v you shouldn't have many dropouts, as for me where I am it depends on the day & the weather, may not be able to use it over winter.
thnx Ray & tuner

Befor I bought I looked in this forum http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showtopic=12494
It was a safe bet for me to go out & buy 1 or 2 or 3...
some good pdf file's too on arials. If you need a small pdf viewer go here
http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php

What outputs does this Wollies STB have? Svideo/SVHS like the Coles unit or just Composite (red, white and yellow) output? Or even Scart?

No Scart. Just SVideo and composite.

Yes I have seen both, they appear to be identical.

Can someone with one of these Kross boxes confirm that it doesn't have RF out?

Another poster says that it's only got RF-loop, so to get any "digital tv" from the box you have to use an AV input (either composite or s-video).

If it doesn't have RF out, that would be one of the things making it different from the Muller at Coles.

It's me again. I found nothing in the manual of Kross mentioned about RF out. I tried to tune the analog channel of my tv to receive signal from Kross last night but in vain. I suppose Kross has no RF out. According to what you said about Muller, I guess Kross and Muller are different products.

Edited: I am not sure if I test the RF out correctly. I connected the loop out of Kcross to my VCR and connected the RF out of my VCR to my tv. I think it's unlikely the VCR will block the RF out of Kcross. But my test result will be wrong if the VCR does block the signal. I can't test the RF out of Kross again for I have kissed the stb goodbye for the closed caption doesn't work.

Any RF out will only be an aerial pass through that you would then connect to the VCR.

I am not sure what RF out technically is. Accoriding to Orionn's question, I think he want something like the RF out of a VCR. The RF out of a VCR does an aerial pass through and also adds its output as an analog channel. So Orionn is asking if we can connect the antenna loop out of Kross to a tv to view digital channels.

Edited: Please forgive my rudeness. The striked texts are almost the best a non-native English speaker can do. That's why I need closed caption so desperately to improve my English. What I want to say is for my definition, RF out is the output similar to that of a VCR. It does an aerial pass through and also adds its output as an analog channel. Loop out just does an aerail pass through. I believe that Kross has loop out but not RF out. Yes, someone please confirm that.

The Kross unit does not have RF out. It has an aerial in and out, but this is a loop only. The instructions mention an RF out option, allowing the user to program in the UHF channel that will carry the signal, however the menu option that allows this is not available.

Why not use the cpmposite out - isn't there an appropriate input on the telly? If this is the case you can buy a $10 switch from the reject shop etc. and manually switch from the VCR to the STB.

WR

Have bought two of these and am happy so far. I have played extensively with this unit and may be able to fix some issues:
No RF out - A/V RCA or S-Video only
Teletex will work on stations that send teletex as well otherwise only captioning (if available for the program)
Not all programes are "widescreen" so you will get shows that are displayed as a square box smaller than the screen ( when selecting letterbox). If you select "fullscreen" however you will not see widescreen shows as intended.

Now: has anyone sourced any firmware upgrades as where I am one station is broadcasting on Ch68 but my units only go to Ch67? Does everyone else's only go to Ch67?

I'm surprised how everyones interest here seems to be price first and performance second.

I've got a stack of rejected samples with a common theme - engineered for Germany, needing modifications for Australia. Legend appears to be another. I only need to read "If you select "fullscreen" however you will not see widescreen shows as intended. Now: has anyone sourced any firmware upgrades as where I am one station is broadcasting on Ch68 but my units only go to Ch67? Does everyone else's only go to Ch67? " to realise again, you get what you pay for!

We've got 2 levels of SD receivers with a comon theme. They both work very well, and the better one with seriously corrupted signal others drop out for.

Can't help with firmware. I tried to google for "scommtest.exe" which is mentioned in the handbook, but no english language sites. Hopefully when something is available there will be a post here.

Meantime: I noticed that when I changed channels the other day, the title displayed the program name. I recently sorted the channels into a more logical (to me) sequence, and since then I get no program titles. I presume these are being broadcast - but I get a nice neat blue bar at the top of the screen, but no program name. As a Kross user, are you seeing the same or does it appear to be working properly?

WR

So you don't have any closed caption "left over" problem. Maybe its only the STB that I had has this problem.

Chinese is my mother tonge. The sites for scommtest.exe are Chinese web sites. I downloaded one file but the uncompressed files are in source code. I don't dare to compile and use it.

Cheers

Haven't had any probs with program names to date.




Yes I get the lag on captioning as well, but I wont be using it as I dont like reading a show!

Found manufacturer!!

http://www.d-telemedia.com/picupload/showp...t.asp?RecID=128

No luck on support unless someone knows Chinese!

Ah Ha! DigitalMedia just announced being a native Chinese speaker. There may be some possibilities openning up here...

WR

The English support site of the manufacturer is empty except asking for password. The Chinese version seems have something shown up but so sloooow to fireup. Tell you all if I can find anything for that site.

You guys are so great to locate the site of the manufacturer. Both the Chinese and English software download required membership login. We have no luck so far.

When up against it why not try the direct approach! Email has been sent to the Asia/America contact 15min ago!! Lets wait and see.......

If email, why not try the distributor, Tinshed. They seems quite helpful.

Cheers

Just to expand a bit more on the KROSS, the rear panel has the following connectors from L to R
Antenna In
Loop Out (this can goes to another TV or VCR etc)
Comp Video out (YELLOW)
Audio L (WHITE)
Audio R (RED) wow so we have stereo output....
Digital Audio Out - suppose this is 5.1 Digital Audio
S Video out connector
RS232 for reprogramming - don't know where you get the download software
12V DC in

Has some success connection the STB into my Analog Capture card on my PC. At the moment as I write this forum the STB is sending ABC2 to the capture card that is saving it to hard drive for later viewing (or even burning to DVD)

Last night found I could record the AV output from the STB into my VCR - works fine with good quality colour.

Aussie Dave the German program you could see was possibly SBS2

Well I got my moneys worth - just to know find a site that provides software support for the product and possible system upgrades if I have some problems.

Didn't know and Digital channels tranmitted teletext must check it out and see if it runs OK

Cheers all

After my XBox and DVD player, the only input I have left is on the side of the TV, and I don't want AV cables hanging out the side looking messy. And I don't want to have to get up and switch the switch box. The Coles ones have RF out, but aren't available in Sydney.



I don't watch much TV, but I have a widescreen TV, so it would be nice. I'd spend $79 on a box, but not $150 (almost twice as much), which seems to be the next step up. I doubt the picture quality or usability of the twice-as-expensive box would be twice as good.

When you have multiple TV's, forking out $200+ for one box makes it not happen. I have one TV set up for our kids, they don't need bells and whistles.

As for the "fullscreen" comment: If you select "letterbox" then any widescreen shows are displayed correctly BUT any non-widscreen shows are shown as a square (the ends are missing- hence NOT WIDESCREEN). If you select "fullscreen" then it displays all progams as entire screen like current analogue and you do not get the full widescreen effect (the widesreen shows are "wider" than a standard TV)!

As for firmware, looking through the forum there are lot of the "expensive" brands that seem to have firmware readily available - surely if they are that much "better" then why upgrade them??? As for signal and quality, no corruption at all and no signal loss - all from a low powered repeater approx 25km away!!

Yes, you do get what you pay for - but sometimes you can also pay for what you don't need.

Just to let readers know about some availability (or rather not) of these STBs in Brisbane.

Woolworths Stores Contacted:
Carindale Sold Out
Capalaba Sold Out
MorningSide Sold Out
Camp Hill (Did not receive any to start with)
Woodridge Sold Out
Mt Gravatt Sold Out

3rd party info:
Beenleigh Sold Out

However the Capalaba store said that they 'expect more in a month or two'. Stores contacted only had 8 units to begin with.

Coles Stores contacted about the Muller (Coopooroo, Cannon Hill- stated that they did not know of them- so perhaps they have not been sent to QLD stores

Good Hunting....

Cheer's Ray for the info & you too bear, this thread seem's to have taken off the last couple of day's. I finally got teletext to work "HORAY" now I will work on the letterbox, 16:9 bizo

For me as a first time user/owner of a STB, I am thrilled with what I have got, still working out all the features, maybe when the box stop's working I myself may look into getting a better, higher priced model with all the fruit, but for now I am Happy as Larry Still waiting for the Mandurah Store to get them in, they said Thursday and by what I have read in this thread with the ones from Woolies & Coles I will buy another 2, I think I need help...

Havn't had the blue bar as yet or worked out closed caption problem, I'll keep pressing those button's, what I have noticed though are the extra buttons down the bottom of the remote with no markings on them or above them, what are they for?

Hello all,

I was also interested in the Kross I have one on hold but wanted to check information first.

Regarding software upgrade I telephone the importer mentioned in this thread on the previous page and spoke to a technician and told me this model doesn't upgrade but the next model will. They put the book for the next model in the box which is similar but does the upgrade.

I was searching for a box after Aldi sold out and someone told me about the Kross by wanted to investigate more. I saw on eBay the digiCrystal model and was going to get that.

Would work out the same price around $80 as they sell at Strathfield for $149 I think.

So $80 from eBay including postage from the wholesalers who are selling them are

are autherised to do so by digicrysal have 30-day return policy which is good.

Has anybody had anything to do with the digicrystal set top box.

Regards Mark

Hi All

Recently bought the KROSS STB and for the price think it is great. Only problem I get no prime. Did a rescan during good day and had station listed but no picture or sound. Tried again at night but it disapeared again. I currently live in Banks, ACT and wonder if anyone else hashad same problem. If so how do I fix. Using normal TV set up I can view Prime but is not a good picture when compared to other normal stations.

Thanks Darren

it sounds like an antenna problem or electrical interference if you cant get certain channels. my pc's really mess up my reception so i have to move my antenna further away.

If its what I think it is then you have the same problem as me. Being in Banks you are pointing to the Tuggers transmitter which transmits Prime on Channel 68. The two Kross boxes I have don't go to Channel 68. It's possible you are getting a signal from Black Mountain, hence working on a good day. Don't bother trying for Weston Ck transmitter - only ABC & SBS. Maybe an antenna and amp pointing at Blk Mt (suggest getting pro advice on this) will help until I sort out the missing channels. Have been in touch with distributor, their box does the same, so they will follow up with Hong Kong.

NEW TO THIS GAME, DOES ANYONE KNOW IF THE 5.1 WORKS ON THE KROSS
SET TOP BOX . I HAVE CONNECTED IT TO MY DIGITAL RECEIVER VIA
THE RCA DIGITAL OUT ON THE KROSS BUT THE SOUND COMES OUT
AS STEREO NOT DISCRETE 5.1 .... HAVE TESTED THE RCA DIGITAL INPUT
ON MY RECEIVER/AMP WITH DVD PLAYER AND IT WORKS PERFECTLY IN 5.1
OR ARE WE BROADCASTING IN 5.1 YET IN OZ ?

Dont need to SHOUT!

5.1 doesnt "work" because the networks dont broadcast SD with 5.1 sound, only "HD".

I recently bought a KROSS STB and to get it working connected it directly to my 13 yo TV using the only TV/AV channel. However, I had to disconnect usage of the DVD and VCR till I bought myself an AV Switch Selector as my TV has only one set of RCA inputs. Up to this point of time I got from the STB what it promised. However, when connecting up the devices thru the AV Switch Selector, though the quality of my picture reception has improved dramatically, I have no control of the STB (except power on/off). I am unable to switch between or view additional channels, EPG or teletext. To switch between channels I have to use my TV’s remote, which was the arrangement pre-STB days. I am also now able to use the DVD and VCR. However, I note that the DVD, as before is playing through my only TV/AV channel. Tips from anyone as to what I did wrong would be much appreciated.