I bought a Mini DVB-T with USB and Card Reader from "Samy's" formerly known as "The Warehouse" in adelaide, cost $50, I have the Wintal Mini DVB-T, and this is exactly the same except it has a USB and SD card slots, the nice feature of this device is it can record tv to a USB stick or SD card, it records in mpeg2 format, I get 80 minutes recording time on a 4gb stick, very good quality too, it can also play xvid files from the usb stick.

So if any ones interested, samy's stores - http://samswarehouse.com.au/stores.htm

Website of the manufacturer - http://www.goldtech-digital.com/English/Cl...;SortPath=0,173,

Thanks for the heads-up, Joe. Since buying an el-cheapo 7" LCD monitor from Big-W when they were $48, I've been on the lookout for a small STB that also operates off 12V, for camping, etc. I have a small-ish HD STB that I could use at a pinch, but something smaller would be even better, even if only SD. There's been a few on eBay that I've had my eye on, but this one looks like a much better proposition. I'll have to make a detour past our local "Sam's" (I didn't even realise that the name had changed again), and see if there's any left.

EDIT: None left, but hopefully they'll get some more in.

They've reappeared in the catalogue which starts today, but neither Woden nor Queanbeyan had received any when I called them. Woden suggested calling back tomorrow.

Any further thoughts on yours, Joe, now that you've had it for a few weeks?

Picked one up today - not bad for $50!!

Other than the obvious fact this is a SD mini STB, it also records (+ playback) to/from USB/SD card (and a few other card formats I'm not sure which).

(That begs the question whether this topic should be in the PVR thread rather than in with the the SD STB topics!!)

The unit itself looks identical that of the older mini types (black), with RF In/Out, SPDIF RCA, 3.5mm AV out, and 12v DC jacks on the back.
On the front however, along with the usual OK, MENU, STANDBY, 4 x NAVIGATION buttons there is a 'CARD' slot and USB slot.
There is also a IR reciever, and a 3.5mm jack for a remote IR reciever which is supplied.
Also the LED on the front glows blue when on, and red on standby, which is nice.
The unit is only slightly warm to the touch when in operation.

The supplied remote is a bit cheap feeling but has a nice array of buttons, which seem more suited on a standard STB remote rather than a PVR, as the play, ff rew buttons are not obvious (although anyone from a Wintal type backround will understand).

On startup, the unit asked for the usual country, region, time parameters.

Channel scan was super quick, <2min, and was going in no time.
Channel changing was also quick, <1sec.

The remote has a 'video' button which is the aspect button (with 4:3 PS, 4:3 LB, or 16:9).

Now for the interesting stuff...

Pressing the RECORD button on the remote, does nothing when there is no media, but when media is present, it brings up 'REC'in the top of the display, which stays there whilst in recording.
I tried a 512MB SanDisk SD card, no problems, also tried a WD Elements 80Gb HDD, also had no problems - although when first plugged in, took a while to be ready as had the check the partition structure, about 1min. It also seemed to cope well with a lot of hot-swapping, although I would not recommend it to protect the contents of your media!!

So a 3.30min recording took about 170MB of space (you do the math!!).

As for aspect ratio, it will playback in whatever mode you have in live mode. It definetly records in 16:9 however, as I had it recording/playing back in 4:3 mode, once I put it onto the PC it plays in 16:9 in standard Windows Media Player.
It records the file saving with the channel, date, time in the file name, eg TEN DIgital YYDDMM_HHMMSS.

Also it played back some Wintal recordings (ripped to mpeg) that do not play with the standard PC Windows Media Player, but this unit played back with no problems.

As far as I can see there is no EPG record function, other than the 'Wakeup Timer' which is really 8 timers with start/stop times, and once/daily/weekly etc, which is OK.

Photo viewer is good, with standard slideshow.

Music player is also OK, with good playback. I would love to know how to get shuffle working, as whenever you play a file, it comes up with 'Repeat-DIR', not sure if this is changeable?? I have tried every button on the remote.
It also shows prev / next tracks in the display.

In summary, it would make a good player in the car coupled with a few SD cards, rather than worrying about DVDs, but for home use it would be better going for a standard STB I imagine.

I might just buy another one...

Thanks for the review, Coopers. I'd be happy just to be able to get my hands on one. I'll call my local Sam's outlets again later this morning, and see if any have arrived yet. There's someone on eBay selling the Lenoxx version, but it only mentions an SD slot (so probably no USB), and at $89.95 (incl. postage), it's nearly twice the price.

It'd be interesting to see if the Cobolt can record HD. Some SD PVR's can.... they just can't play it back, so it's necessary to move the recordings to a PC for viewing / editing. If the Cobolt is able to record HD, then moving the media to a PC for viewing / editing is obviously easy. HD will chew up storage at a much greater rate, but you've already proven that it'll work with an external HDD via USB. I've also got a 16GB USB flash drive, which I intend to try if I can get one.

Well, apart from what coopers has said, the box was worth the $50, there are a couple of quirks with the box, it can play xvid's but can't play divx, also to play the xvid's in the right aspect ratio, the box must be in NTSC mode, also it will repeat the xvid unless you exit the folder it is in, can't see any option to turn repeat off.

I have tried to record a HD channel, it recorded fine in 1080, but with no audio, a 1mn 15sec HD file is 148mb.

I have mine in the bedroom on a portable tv, I have a 60gb external 2.5" hard drive for recording, the box powers it from the usb.

Picked up one of these at Sams Booval Qld for $5 off - $45. Couldn't go wrong. However it won't tune VHF I (Channels 1 to 4) - only VHF II (5-12) plus UHF. Would this be a signal problem or something else? It tunes all the (Brisbane) 7, 9 SBS SD and HD, Radio etc but not 10 and 2. Any tips? Otherwise it works fine recording, playback etc even other source mpeg though it won't playback AVI (sound only) from the digital camera. Plays jpeg, mp3 fine too. If I get this sorted it is a great gadget!

The lowest RF channel used for digital TV in Australia is 6.


According to the information I found for Brisbane (Mt Coot-tha), TEN is on RF channel 11 and the ABC is on RF channel 12.

The Sam's stores in Canberra still don't have any of these boxes.

I managed to get one of the few remaining units on Saturday in Melbourne (Out of stock at Rowville and Northcote). I plugged it in to an old crt tv and it seems great - I have to admit I'm not a experienced DTVphile like many of you but am happy with my first DTV related purchase (esp for the price).

I noted that using the RF (aerial) pass thru feature, the picture was clear when the DTV unit was on (in use) but when in standby mode it introduced some static into the signal/TV picture (using the TVs normal/analogue receiver).

One related query, my old Sharp tv has some dodgy (loose) component connectors so I would like to use the aerial (RF) connector to pick up the digital tuner's signal (the set top box has a pass thru/RF out port so it might be possible, just like a traditional VCR set up). Can anyone confirm if this is actually possible with this unit and if so what channel I should tune my tv to (I've checked the manual and website but couldn't find anything - TV's AV channel only works off the faulty component connectors)?

Thanks for any help...

Thanks for the reply Colin. Put me on the track to try manual tuning. Still didn't work. This was set up on the downstairs 2nd tele. Then tried upstairs with the "real" signal and it tuned in fine!

A lot of STB's and PVR's are like that, unfortunately; only passing the RF signal when it's actually on.


Even if it could, I wouldn't. Even composite video would look better than RF.


As per my previous post, I haven't been able to get one yet, but I doubt that they have an RF modulator in them.

EDIT: I've been calling or dropping into Sam's at Woden nearly every day since they reappeared in the current catalogue. When I dropped in today, I saw the last one being sold to the customer in front of me.

I've had one of these STBs since last Friday, and unfortunately I don't share the same optimism as others in this thread.

Problems I've encountered:

*Recorded files have a stutter every 5-10 seconds (enough to be unwatchable).
*Can't skip to certain location in recorded file (meaning if you're halfway through watching a one-hour file and want to come back to it later, you'll havee to suffer the agonising "32x" speed to get back to where you were. Oh, and if you accidentaly hit the menu button, you'll have to start all over again.
*Rewind / Fast Forward speeds unbearably slow.
*"Wake-Up Timer" recording mode very temperamental - e.g. I had two shows set to record, the first show was missing and the second show recorded, but there was a follow-on recording from the same channel immediately after (probably what caused the first show to go missing in the first place).
*Picture quality looks washed out (maybe because I'm used to connections other than composite, but still looks worse on average than other composite sources I've seen).
*Interface is a bit more counter-intuitive than you'd expect - just a general observation, not enough to be annoying by itself, but still noticeable and adds to the feeling of having a sub-standard product (e.g. doing a one touch record gives the message "initialising reocorder".
*Temperamental sharing signal strength with other sources.

Oh, and just because I'm wondering...



This may be a silly question, but how did you record a HD channel with this?


Even for $50 / $45 / $42.50, it's not worth the hassle. "You get what you pay for" comes through once again.

Choose a HD channel (you won't see a picture) and press record, play the recording on your pc.

I don't get any stuttering on my recordings, they all play smooth, and picture isn't washed out.

Maybe I just got a dodgy unit, or it doesn't like me. I can't speak for every unit ever made obviously My friend is looking at getting one despite my warnings, so I'll have another look if it goes through.

Your mileage may vary.

Could it be that whatever SD card or USB drive that you're using isn't quite fast enough?

Could be. I was using a Transcend 8GB USB drive (i.e. not what you would call a generic cheapy), so I assumed it was the unit itself. I admit I didn't test it with another USB drive (and it's been returned now so I can't anyway).

Well I finally managed to get one of these suckers about half an hour ago. It would seem that they're now $60, but because they remembered me, I got it for $50. Now to set it up.....

Yes, I agree you do get what you pay for...

I set a wakeup timer to record, and left the unit in standby mode. Nothing recorded - not sure why.
Have not tried setting a timer and leaving it on.

Also I set it to manually record a 1/2 hour program (everything so far I recorded up to 5 mins only). For some reason it could not play back the file.

The media also DOES matter. I found record / playback worked no problems with a WD 120Gb passport and the SanDisk 2Gb SD cardwas perfect, but with a Lexar 4Gb USB drive the playback was very stuttery - no good at all.
Must be something to do with the access time of the drive.

Still playing with the unit...

I also have recorded HD as noted above. Media Player properties shows video as 1920 x 1088. Video is perfect - alas no sound.

Yeah, it's a pity about the lack of audio in HD recordings. Oh well.

Not that it bothers me, but it doesn't appear to record subtitles.

Timer recording (using the EPG) worked OK for me (from standby), once I realised that the default is simply to turn on, not to record.

I deliberately setup a timer recording for a few minutes ahead, then played an XviD .avi file to see what'd happen...... it locked up, and didn't record.

I'm using an (unreliable) Adata 16GB USB flash drive, and so far, so good.

As already mentioned, it records using MPEG2. The box says MPEG4, so I don't know what they're on about there.

I saw a Lenoxx STB950 in The Good Guys at Tuggeranong today.... $79. It looks identical to the Cobolt, so the pictures on eBay and the Lenoxx website are wrong.

Thanks Colin. Good to know. Shame they design set top boxes in this way compared to the signal pass through with VCRs though (just more electricity to be wasted if digital channels are not being viewed).

After some playing, here are some of my experiences as a novice which may help others:

• No problem recording while channel is on screen (works every time) but using the "Wake-Up Timer" recording feature seems a bit flaky - works sometimes, other times it just seems to turn the unit on (I definitely have it set to "recorder" mode). When I check the entry again it's still there (naturally no longer active) and looks fine. Still trying to work this one out for some consistency...
• I've tested recording to an adata branded USB stick and got no stuttering. Picture was clear and recorded always in widescreen (even if show is 4:3 eg. South Park (black bars added to sides)
• Cant' program recorder from EPG guide (From your post did you find way to do this Colin?) Have to manually set channel, time and duration like a traditional VCR. Eight recording slots available to program (up to a year in advance).
• Can record HD channels without sound manually (Just press the Record button again if a "Not valid" message comes up and you can bypass the HD limitation! Watch the HD show without sound on your PC just for fun!)
• Playback is great for recorded shows, photos, mp3s (playlist loops so good for a party jukebox - good sound)
• Picks up digital radio channels well but you can't record them. Also shows EPG for digital radio but ABC/SBS aren't providing info just yet (only a reference to a relevant radio channels webpage)
  
  Minor quirks
• If you play shows via the menus onscreen you can use the Exit button to quit and go back to the listing. If you view shows via the File button on the remote I can't find a stop or exit button equivalent (so the video either finishes after playback or I have to turn the unit off - Maybe others can find a way but it seems like a quirk)
• If you browse through the EPG the channel changes in the background as you go but if you use the quick menus to change channels (via the OK button on the remote) you have to press OK after browsing to a channel to change to it! Up and Down channel selection buttons on remote work immediately. No delay in picking up signal.
  
  Tips (May not be obvious to some)
• If you are viewing the EPG use << and >> to browse through program guide for others days
• Use the Exit button to quit out of normal video playback (there isn't a "Stop" button as novices might expect)
  
  General comments
• Quality: On screen menus have the occasional minor grammar/spelling problem; Manual isn't the best but suffices
• I think it is worth it for the price if you are looking for a basic SD box compared to other products currently on the market. Consider the small portable size and USB recording/playback features as a real bonus and you can't go wrong for $45!
• Some playback only products are starting to appear (eg. http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2008/11/that_wd_...le_for_199.html for $199. Can play some more formats). In comparison the Cobolt seems like an even better value proposition given it has a digital tuner built in and can record tv!
• 12 month warranty and software upgradable via USB (Anyone for a homebrew O/S? Fingers crossed!). Teletext and 3 built-in games (for when you realise there is nothing much new on digital TV yet after all!)
• Still wondering why they can't fit in full HD support in all devices given they can fit it in a usb stick sized tuner for PCs!

That's the way DTV is in Australia - always transmitted as 16:9, and pillarboxed if the source is 4:3.


Highlight the desired program in the EPG, then press the blue ("TTX") button. (I discovered this when I pressed the "i" button when in the EPG.)


Yeah, it's a pity that it doesn't record the AC3 audio as well, like my other SD PVR's can.


Press "RECORD". (It even says so in the manual.)


More processing grunt required for HD playback, and the PC ones would be using the PC for most of the hard work, I guess.

It's in the manual, but for those who have missed it, or haven't discovered it yet, pressing "i" twice when watching a channel brings up some more techo details.

I think I have a dud card slot in mine. I bought a Kingston 8GB SDHC card to leave in the Cobolt, but it doesn't see it. Nor does it see four other 1 and 2GB SD cards that I have. The only card that it'll see sometimes is an old 32MB SanDisk, but it won't set the working directory to it (not big enough to be of any use anyway). I tried the same cards via the USB port and a card reader, but it'll only see the 1GB cards that way, nothing bigger.

To add insult to injury, nothing else that I have can make use of the 8GB card, except for the PC via a card reader. $32 effectively wasted. In hindsight, I should've tried the card slot first, with the cards I already have.

So I guess I'll just have to keep using the 16GB USB flash drive for now. In further tests that I've done, I've had it miss a few timer recordings. I suspect that it's because the drive isn't always initialised properly on power-on.

Ah yes! I had previously pressed the "i" button but didn't realise there were some more options if I scrolled down on that dialog box...


Thanks. Not sure why I missed that entry... Kind of funny they chose the "Record" button for stop when they use "Exit" for everything else.

I tested doing a live record to the SD card slot (using a standard speed 2Gb Sandisk SD card) and it was fine. I had the USB stick in the unit at the same time and was able to set the default storage location using the "Device" button as expected.

I've since found a possible use for the 8GB SDHC card. It should work in my son's camera, although I might have to upgrade the firmware (I don't know what's currently in it). Massive overkill, but better than it sitting a drawer.

I had my Cobolt in another part of Canberra yesterday, so had to re-scan to get the channels from Black Mountain instead of Tuggeranong Hill. Maybe it's because I'm referencing the channels by LCN, but what I ended up with was a second set of LCN's (with the same LCN numbers), but the original LCN's had now changed to the Black Mountain frequencies as well. When I change it back, I'll try to remember to set the channel referencing back to the default setting, and see if it makes any difference*. I'll be taking mine "on the road" soon, so I'm going to be doing a bit of re-scanning anyway.

Oh, and it gets some of the VHF channel numbers wrong, but they all appear to be there. I don't have it in front of me right now, but I think it was something like:

05 = 6
06 = 7
07 = 8
08 = 9
09 = 9A
10 = 10
11 = 11
12 = 12

*EDIT: It did, sort of. The only extras to appear in the channel list were the useless ones that I always delete, but the original channel list simply changed frequencies, as before.