Digital Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial DVB-T Tuner Signal HD-527

The DVB-T receiver Signal HD-527 is another receiver from Signal series. 

• Signal HD-527 is dedicated for users who prefer traditional solutions with set-top-boxes. The receiver has two SCART outputs and S/PDIF output. The additional SCART and audio output are used for connecting an audio amplifier.

The heart of the digital terrestrial television receiver Signal HD-527 is Mstar7818 chipset. Thanks to the chipset, the receiver reacts very quickly to user commands. A small, practical case houses DVB-T receiver and multifunctional multimedia device. The use of this digital receiver is one of the cheapest ways to adapt an older CRT, LCD, or plasma television (if the LCD or plasma TV has only an MPEG-2 tuner) for the new world of digital television using MPEG-4. Even the owners of fully-featured televisions equipped with MPEG-4 tuners may also be interested in such a multifunctional device due to its integrated media player and Personal Video Recorder option (PVR Ready - possibility of recording DVB-T broadcasts on external USB memory). Signal HD-527 can also play pictures, music and videos - including those in high definition.

The front panel of Signal HD-527 contains alphanumerical LED display informing about the current channel and operation status, IR sensor, and USB 2.0 interface. The rear panel includes two SCART sockets, HDMI and SPDIF outputs, antenna input and RF loop output.

The receiver is compatible with the most popular MPEG-4 compression standard and with the earlier version - MPEG-2 - used in some European countries. The device provides excellent image quality both in SD and HD resolution. The USB port (PVR Ready) can be used for recording the received broadcasts on external data storage device, such as a USB hard drive or a flash drive.

HDMI output provides signal of the highest quality, suitable for HD broadcasts. The output should be used for connecting LCD/plasma televisions, via quality HDMI cables.

The receiver is fully compatible with the DVB-T standard (ETSI ETS300744) and receives digital FTA (Free-To-Air) channels in SD and HD resolution (HDMI output), compressed in MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 standard. It is equipped with functional and clear Electronic Program Guide (EPG) containing detailed information on programming for the current day and the whole week (depending on the level of the service from the broadcaster). Navigating the menus of the receiver should not be a problem even for those who have no experience in the use of such devices.

Signal HD-527 with PVR Ready function can record selected programs on external memory device. It recognizes FAT32 and NTFS file systems. An external hard drive has to be powered from suitable power supply.

Available recording modes:

• instant recording (of the currently watched program)
• timer recording - schedule to start recording at a particular time and record for a certain length of time
• EPG recording - recording of programs chosen from the guide

Files recorded on an external data storage device are recognized by PCs as *. ts files. To play them back, the user should employ VideoLan Player (VLC) - free application that can be downloaded from the software developer site.

Signal HD-527 is also a fully-featured media player. The user can play pictures, audio and video files.

Supported file formats:

• Audio: MP3, WMA
• Pictures: JPEG, BMP, PNG
• Videos: MKV, AVI, VOB, MOV, DivX

An interesting feature is the possibility of playing files compliant with open standard Matroska (MKV). This format allows compression and recording of High Definition channels. It is characterized by good video quality and comparatively low memory consumption.

• Full compatibility with MPEG4, MPEG2, DVB-T
• Support for SD and HD channels
• Separate lists of favorite TV and radio channels
• Automatic or manual search of available TV and radio channels
• Automatic conversion PAL-NTSC-SECAM
• Support for logical channel number (LCN)
• Support for teletext and subtitles
• Electronic Program Guide (EPG)
• PVR Ready
• Multimedia player

• Antenna socket (RF IN)
• RF loop (RF OUT)
• SCART x2
• HDMI
• SPDIF
• USB 2.0