Just a warning to anyone who might be considering buying one of these (I haven't seen them mentioned before).....

http://digilink-av.com/HDDigitalSetTopBox/...55/Default.aspx

I bought one recently, as Big Pond Shopping offered them to staff for $79 (plus $10 postage), and I was on the lookout for a smallish HD STB that runs off 12 volts DC.

It seems OK for the money, except that there doesn't appear to be any way of allowing for Daylight Saving Time, just a list of states to choose from.

The Digilink web site doesn't list a contact number, but I found one via the White Pages. The guy that I spoke to there couldn't help me, claiming that the STB derives its time from the EPG. When I pointed out that the EPG is transmitted with times in GMT, and that the STB must be able to apply the correct offset in order to display the local time, he was stumped. I asked about the possibility of there ever being a firmware upgrade to address this, but he couldn't help me there, either.

So feeling somewhat annoyed, I thought I'd try to alert Big Pond Shopping to this issue, so that they can either pull this STB from their catalogue, or at least display a warning (eg; "Good for ~ 6 months of the year only, except in QLD and NT." ), unless they have enough clout to force someone to come up with a firmware upgrade. They guy that I spoke to there wanted the order number, so that's now a job for tomorrow.

Why is it so important to have the exact time on a STB. ? I could understand if it was recording a program.

So that the EPG and Now & Next aren't out by an hour. Sure, I can mentally compensate for it, but there's a lot of people out there who can't. (eg; My wife, who told our daughter that she could sleep in when daylight saving started.)

With the HDV-2500, it's probably better to leave it on QLD time if you're in NSW, ACT, VIC or TAS. That way it's consistently out by an hour when DST is in effect. If I set it to NSW/ACT (or VIC, or TAS) it screws up badly, with it sometimes displaying the correct time on one side of the screen, whilst on the other side it's an hour behind.

It appears to have a rudimentary timer function, but with four PVR's in the house already, I don't really have a need to feed it into a recorder.

Hi, Colin 2905,

It sounds you are the only one troubled by this matter.

If you choose the proper Time Zone fixed on the table, e.g. If you are in NSW, then you fix it on NSW. Everything will be alright. The TV broadcaster will give such a signal whether you need a GMT time or DST time. Technically speaking, it's a basic function of the S/W.

one of my friend working in this field told me above, wish it can help you. If helpless, you'd better ask the DGLINK after service, some real problems may happend.

Regard

Victor

Apart from the DST problem, how have you found the unit overall?

I too bought one and have found that I'm getting excellent channel selection for Ch7, 9 and SBS. Ch10 is abysmal with the picture constantly breaking up & pixilating. The sound isn't much better, with constant stuttering or breaks. As for Ch2, the unit can't even find that. Using the Auto search function the unit starts at VHF Ch6, up to C11 then jumps to UHF. Er, hello! What about Ch0 to 5A?

During the auto search period, the Signal strength and Quality bars both show a good strong signal, well into the green 89-95%+ range

When I use the antenna loopin-loopout feature to get Ch2, all of the FTA channels have very strong herringbone patterns. CH10 is a wipeout. If I route the antenna lead directly from the wall socket to the TV, Ch10 is still lost in electrical interference until I physically remove the power from the plugpack of the STB unit!

The antenna and coax is all near new and professionally replaced due roof damage cause by a fire in the roof cavity (6 months ago). Under a standard, Free-To-Air connection, picture quality is clear and steady. The best it's been for some time so I don't believe the antenna and lead-in to be the problem.

I suspect that not many people actually have one of these yet. I only received mine earlier this week, and I had a week's head start on the general public.


I'm in the ACT, which is lumped with NSW. If I select NSW/ACT, then it's definitely not right. I can bring the time up on the screen, and see it change back and forwards beween AEST and AEDST every 15 seconds or so. It does the same if I set it to VIC. Setting it to QLD or NT, which don't have DST, results in a time that'd you'd expect for that state (and it's stable). Setting it to TAS, which currently has DST in effect, incorrectly results in EST. I forgot what happened when I set it to SA. Setting it to WA results it what you'd currently expect for WA, but it'll be interesting to see what it does this Sunday, when DST comes into effect there.


Which I suspect is flawed. The guy that I spoke to at Big Pond Shopping offered me a replacement unit, but I suspect that it'd behave in the same way. I said that I'd rather speak to someone (preferably technical) who has one of these in front of them, and see what their's does. He also offered me a refund, but I said that I'm happy enough with it for what I paid for it.

I like it. I recently bought a 7" LCD monitor from Big W for $48 (on special, normally $98.88), which also runs off 12V DC. So just for fun, I've already run both off the car battery, "because I can".


Are you within range of more than one Ch 10 transmitter? If so, go back into the channel search part of the menu, look for Ch 10 duplicates, and delete all except the one with the best quality reading. I say that because.....

I can get my DTV signals from my local UHF translator on Tuggeranong Hill, or less reliably, the main transmitter site on Black Mountain. If I bother scanning both on any other STB that I have then I usually end up with a primary set of LCN's as expected (2, 3, 5, 6, 8, etc), as well as a secondary set of LCN's that the box assigns in the 350+ range. But the HDV-2500 is different. If it finds the same LCN(s) on more than one RF channel, it'll attempt to display the one(s) on the lowest RF channel first. Only if it loses that signal enough will it then switch to the same LCN(s) on the higher RF channel(s). Under the right conditions in the right area, or for travelling perhaps, this could actually be used to advantage. But under other conditions, it could lead to the problem that you're having with Ch 10, so I'd check that first.


Starting at RF channel 6 is correct, as we don't have any DTV transmissions below that. But there should've been an RF channel 12 in your list (mine has it). I also noticed that it has an RF channel 27A, which I've never heard of, as well as a few RF channels into the 70's range. Perhaps the Chinese know something that we don't?

As for the ABC on digital, have you looked up what RF channel it should be in your area, then tried scanning it in manually?


I'm using the loop-out on mine, but only to get to a PVR (which is digital).


Do you normally receive ABC and TEN on digital OK, or is the Digilink STB your first DTV device?

And what does your HDV-2500 do with regards to DST?

Oh, and another thing. Like a lot of el-cheapo STB's, this one fails the part of the DVB-T compliance test with regard to redirects. In layman's terms, you'll never see 7 / Prime HD unless you scanned it in when it was actually HD at the time.

Must admit this is my first go at DTV. Being staff thought I'd check it out as a fairly cheap browse, before getting too serious about it all. My son raves about the DTV setup he has in his room. Runs his via one of those set top curly antenna equivalents to the old 'Rabbit Ears' so I figured that signal strength shouldn't be the problem with a professionally aligned, external antenna!

As far as the DST on my unit is concerned, I didn't even notice when set it up.

I'll check out a few of your suggestions over the weekend and see how I go.

Many thanks.

Keith.

At least then you have the option of temporarily swapping things around for fault-finding purposes, if your son will let you touch his setup, that is.

Can you confirm that your particular HDV-2500 has RF channel 12 in its list? According to the ABC's web site, that's what's used in Melbourne. If you don't have it, that'd explain a lot (and is going to result in a lot of complaints!). From memory, the firmware in mine (which as I said before, does have RF channel 12) is dated 2008-06-04.

I just picked up one of these and spent the better part of 2 days getting it to work...It was set to 576p stupid machine...got it working and then had to go buy a new high quality rf lead because the one i had didnt get any channels at all even though it worked perfectly with my crt tv...but i cant seem to get sbs i get everything else but that...and i even had to put different batteries in the remote because the ones that came with it were weak...i couldnt even change chanells from the couch about 2.5 metres away...other than that its good so far...

And i cant get the component cables to work can anyone help me with that???

We are extremely happy with our unit, with two exceptions

1) the remote did not seem powerful enough. I found the ruby plastic in front of the sensor impedes IR and there's a little black plastic "+" over the front of the sensor itself. Judicious modification has solved that.

2) I can't work out how to assign channels to the numbered buttons and have to resort to the tedious 3 or 4 step process of using the FAV button. Can anyone tell me how to fix. You need to explain as if talking to a seven-year-old.

I have sort-off solved 2). If you are viewing a channel and press and *hold* the numbered key to which you would like to assign then it happens. The problem after that is pressing the button later may get the SD channel when you may have set the button whilst watching the HD. Perhaps it depends on how long you hold the button. I hope this gives someone else a clue.

I too bought one of these as a telstra staff member and been fiddling around for weeks on and off to get this work
agree remote too weak - thanks for the advice on infrared being interrupted

what i cannot figure out is if my digital coverage is good in my area or not. as it originally only picked up one channel and i was trying to isolate if my antenna or cabling. have now replaced with quad shield cable and a antenna socket i know works in the house, but now only picks up 70/71/72/73 (not sure what channels they are as still trying to get STB to talk to TV with right input settings & cables - but in interim i would at least expect to see more channels on the STB display). we are in the inner west of sydney so getting desperate now to call a antenna technician. ideas anyone...

ANYONE??????

Here's a tip about this STB. Experiment with that "Res" button up the top of the remote. Whatever you set that on will overide the broadcast res. e.g. if 1080i is being broadcast you can set to 720p and you may get a better looking picture. This is because displays have "sweet spots". They have varying ability to process i or p signals, various native res., not to mention how the display behave when the broadcasters send out non-standard signals e.g. 1440X1080i

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Keith_54
I have one of these units as well. I was pleased to see your comment on this box. Yes the box does cause huge levels of interference to analogue channel 10 when the STB is in use. In fact it causes a dramatic level of interference even in standby mode. It appears that the internal power supply in the unit is conducting interference out through the power cable which in turn is radiating the RF (at analogue channel 10 frequency) hence the interference when the unit is in standby. I have conducted an EMC check on the unit and it is the cable to the power supply that is radiating, a fix I tried was to use kitchen foil to wrap the power lead and ground the foil to the case. This got rid of a considerable amount of the interference when I used a linear power supply not the switch mode supply provided by the manufacturer. I suspect the poorer performance with digital channel 2 and 10 is a result of the STB interfering with itself. Evidence of this is the continuously moving quality figure I saw in my installation on digital channel 10.

I will say, without prejudice, that I do not believe the unit meets the EMC regulations in Australia (see ACMA website) and therefore should not have been sold in Australia.