The New Dialog TV Decoder

Today is Chrsitmas, and I celebrated it with my friends. I also got the opportunity to use the new Decoder built by Technosat (UAE) for Dialog Satellite Television. The New Decoder is a major improvement over the Coship CDVB5110D Decoder originally chosen by CBNsat.

The New Decoder, as I assume, is specifically designed for Dialog TV by the U.A.E.-base company Technosat. I assume so because the Technosat Website does not show or mention the Dialog TV Decoder.

The New Decoder follows in the footsteps of major DTH services such as Sky (UK), Dish TV (India) and DirecTV (USA). The interface is mostly made up of blue colour, and is more simpler than before (debatable).

Physical Aspects
The Decoder is physically shaped like a regular slim DVD player, only less wider. It is silver/gray in colour. It also has the Dialog Satellite TV label pasted on it.

Connections
The connections in the Old Decoder and the New Decoder are the same, except for the Digital Coaxial Output. I've listed out the connections I can remember:

1 x Satellite In
1 x Loop Out
1 x RF In
1 x RF Out

1 x Composite Out
1 x S-Video Out
2 x Audio L+R Out
1 x S/PDIF Optical Out (TOSLINK or Digital Optical Audio Cable)
1 x S/PDIF Coaxial Out (Digital Coaxial Audio Cable)

1 x RS-232 (COM)

The Blue Information Dashboard
The blue dashboard that appears when you change the channel or press the "i" (Info) button displays the usual information. But only the current programme is listed, not the next programme. And also the current time is included in the dashboard, not in a seperate window on top of the screen.

By pressing the "i" button a second time, it is possible to get information on the current Satellite, Signal Quality, etc.

Electronic Programme Guide
The Electronic Programming Guide now has its own full screen window. The current channel is displayed in a small window on the top-left side of the screen. The current time and date are displayed below that. On the right side is the list of channels and the current programme. By selecting a channel with the "OK" button, and then pressing the Red button, it is possible to see its weekly EPG.

By pressing the "OK" button while watching a channel, you can access the usual list of channels. But in the New Decoder this is a full screen window, with the current channel displayed on the top-left side and the list of channels on the right side, similar to the EPG.

Pressing the "i" button when selecting a certain programme on a channel will allow you to view its description. The description can cover many page (the most I saw were 4 pages). This explains why we sometimes see only the last few words of the description on the Old Decoders. When there is no description the Decoder politely displays "No Extended Information", without showing a plain black box.

It is also possible to set a Reminder for a programme on any channel. I could not experiment with this, though.

Snapshots
There is also an attractive feature which allows a user to view snapshots of 9 channels at a time. The name of each channel is displayed on the lower part of each snapshot.

Zoom
The Zoom feature allows you to magnify the current video up to 4x, just as in most of today's DVD players.

Menus
The menu system of the New Decoder consists of colourful graphics to denote each submenu. Unfortunately I did not have time to look around there.

Satellite Chooser
By pressing the "Sat" button you can select the satellite you want to use. Of course, in Dialog TV there is only one satellite: IntelSat 12.

The Logo
And I nearly forgot: almost every full screen page has the Dialog Satellite TV logo on the top together with the Title of the page.

Bugs
The Decoder can sometimes be a bit buggy. I once surfed through the channels and pressed the "Zoom" button, only to get an odd picture on the screen. The pictures was replaced by the normal television video after changing to another channel.

Purchasing the New Decoder
I do not know about any exchange programme for the New Decoders and Old Decoders. If you do want the New Decoder, it may be possible to purchase one for money (although you will still lose the Old Decoder). If you want to keep both the Old and New Decoders then you will have to pay for two connections.

Dialog will probably not open an exchange programme for these this decoder. If you know anything on this subject, please inform me.

Final Thoughts
Overall, I'm impressed with the New Decoder. Dialog designing and manufacturing their own Decoder together with a popular foreign company is a great thing. And the Decoder itself is almost on par with the ordinary Decoders of other DTH services, although not offering DVR capabilities.

But it is not worth exchanging the Decoder unless it is given free-of-charge or for a very low price.

Eventually I believe that Dialog TV will introduce another new Decoder, especially if they upgrade to MPEG-4 compression. And possibly Digital Video Recording capabilities too will be introduced.

As I do not have the New Decoder at home, I may be wrong at some points. Most of this was written by memory. I you do have the New Decoder, please correct me and provide more information.