Key to detailed test reports

Here are explanations for the technical terms in the set top box and digital TV recorder summaries and some additional information.

SCART and UHF cable supplied These are the cables for connecting the set top box or digital TV recorder to your TV. If they are not supplied, you can buy them at an electrical accessories shop. Most TVs have a SCART socket. If yours doesn’t, you will need a digital box with a built-in modulator (it will have a Yes in the UHF feedthrough line under AV connections in the summaries). The UHF cable also carries the 5 analogue channels through the TV – but this is not really needed and will be redundant at digital switchover.

Size We give dimensions. In fact almost all the boxes ranged from the size of a paperback book to that of the average DVD player. The smaller ones could sit on top of a regular TV – though not on a modern flat panel screen, of course – and the larger ones need a shelf to themselves.

Front panel display This is not essential, as most information will be displayed on the TV screen – unless you keep losing the remote. It can also be useful if you have the digital box connected to your HiFi – because you can have the TV off and still see which radio station you are tuned to.

Remote control for TV functions A useful feature that means one remote control can be used for both the digital box and the TV. You need first to set up the new remote to recognise your particular brand of TV. The user instructions should explain the process. Supplying a universal remote control is likely to raise the price and few boxes come with one.

Radio/TV button Quickly switches the digital box between TV and radio stations. Without this you have to scroll all the way through the TV channel list to get to the radio channels.

STB/TV button This switches between watching digital TV to any other device connected to the TV. Mostly not essential because the TV does the selection automatically, but sometimes it is useful – like when you’re watching a DVD and want to check what’s on TV.

Channel list This is a simple on-screen list of all the stations. You scroll down to select the TV or radio station you want. Simpler than using the on-screen TV guide or the numeric buttons, where you have to remember the channel or station number.

Can delete unwanted channels Useful for removing TV channels you will never want.

PIP of current channel displayed in on-screen TV guide Picture in picture gives a small picture in one corner of the guide screen showing the currently tuned channel
– so you can carry on watching while browsing what’s on.

UK languages for subtitles On many boxes you can choose a language for subtitles. This will work only when the broadcaster is actually transmitting these languages.

Audio description When available this feature can decode extra spoken descriptions of what is happening on the screen – when these are broadcast. It is intended for people with visual impairment. See audio description [in our existing general report] for how to get it on the different platforms.

Timer recording For digital TV recorders, timer recording is taken care of thanks to the on-screen TV guide and hard disc drive. With basic set top boxes, a similar process is possible. If you have a VCR or DVD recorder connected to the box (see connecting up) then it may be possible to get this combination to work like a digital TV recorder. Two things need to be in place and they depend on the products you have. The set top box has to be able to send a special signal via the SCART lead when a selected programme starts and stops, and the recorder has to be able to respond to this signal. Many recent VCRs have this facility and most DVD recorders do. Unfortunately there are two types of signalling - link and video - so check when you buy that your box and recorder are compatible. The system can work well but is clearly less convenient and flexible than a dedicated digital TV recorder.

AV connections Check here for the types of video signal available from the SCART sockets. There are three alternatives. RGB signal gives the best quality on your TV. For connecting to a DVD recorder, RGB or S-Video signals are best. The basic level video connection, available in all SCARTs, is usually just called ‘video’ or sometimes, ‘composite’ or CVBS. It is the normal signal used for a video recorder (VCR).

Digital Audio output Look for this if you want to connect certain audio systems. In particular, it provides surround sound to home cinema systems, for some programmes.

5-Volt DC option on aerial input This can be used with a few brands of amplified aerial (typically indoor aerials) instead of connection to a separate mains supply. See our indoor aerial test reports for models that can be powered this way.

Modem connection output means that the box may offer an internet connection so you can view internet pages and emails on your TV screen. You connect the box to your telephone line and it will work if the set top box supplier supports this service. On Sky boxes it provides access to Sky’s extra interactive features and email.

SCART status signals One of the advantages of using a SCART lead is that it can send special signals to control the TV. We have checked that each digital box can send two important signals. RGB status tells the TV that it should use the better quality RGB signal being sent. The other is to tell the widescreen TVs if the picture should be displayed in widescreen mode or in standard 4:3 mode. Lack of these signals probably means you will need to switch the TV to the correct operating mode.

Updates Thanks to manufacturers for most of this information on how their box will cope with future improvements and developments. Some boxes only allow manual updates – much less convenient because, to find out if one is scheduled, you would need to visit www.dtg.org.uk/retailer/download_schedule.pl and search for your brand of box.

MHEG5 v.1.06 is an updated industry standard. Some digital TV boxes already meet it in part or in full and others will need firmware updates – we tell you which in the more information summaries.

Freeview plan to launch improvements later this year. Some digital terrestrial boxes will take advantage of these changes through a firmware update. The manufacturers of other terrestrial boxes will instead launch new models to operate with them. See the detailed test reports for what they told us of their plans.

Multiplex changes. A digital TV multiplex is a group of digital TV stations bundled together so that they all fit into one broadcast channel. At digital switchover some multiplexes will change, so digital terrestrial boxes will have to be re-tuned – some automatically and some manually. Check which in the detailed test reports.

DTG Testing. The industry body Digital Television Group carries out testing of digital TV products, including for the Digital Tick. You can be confident that a DTG tested set top box or digital TV recorder will carry on working through digital switchover.

PVR Features

Repeat recording. With some digital TV recorders you can repeat recordings at the same time every week or every day. Useful for some programmes so long as they are broadcast at regular times. Currently Freeview uses this system.

Series recording feature. When you have selected a programme to record via the on-screen TV guide, this feature will automatically record all future episodes of a programme even if the episodes are not broadcast at regular times.

Saves programme from before record button pressed. Some digital TV recorders will record some of the programme from before you pressed the record button. This is useful if you want to watch something again after the programme has started. Usually the amount of time captured will depend on how long you have been tuned to that channel and how large the recorders pause live TV memory is.

TV guide recording buffer facility. If you have used the on-screen TV guide to book recordings but the programme starts early or late, or overruns, the recorder could miss part of it. To solve this problem most automatically add a few minutes buffer time before and after the scheduled times. On some recorders the user can select the size of this buffer. In future more intelligent systems may be able to track the programme rather than it’s scheduled time and so even cope with re-scheduled programmes. Currently only Sky+ operates a system that comes close to this.

Recorded programme list shows/ Records programme synopsis. When you access your library of recordings on the hard drive, it is useful if the recordings are labelled with the programme’s name and date. It can also be useful if the programme synopsis (‘i’ button) information has been recorded. Most digital boxes do this.

Able to edit a recorded programme. Some recorders allow you to carry out some basic editing on the recorded programmes. Typically they allow you to ‘crop’ the programme so you can remove unwanted sections at the beginning and end of the recording or by using ‘split’ and ‘delete’ enable you to remove sections of the recording from the middle.

Sequence or schedule archiving. With all digital TV recorders/PVRs you can copy recordings on to an external VCR or DVD recorder (so long as the programme in not copy protected, such as a pay per view film). Some PVRs go a bit further and allow you to sequence several programmes to be recorded one after another. Some allow you to schedule this sequence to occur at a time when you are not using the PVR.

Pause live TV buffer. Some digital TV recorders have a fixed amount of hard drive space reserved for the Pause Live TV memory. The more space reserved for the buffer, the longer you can leave it in pause without losing any part of the programme or the longer you can rewind the programme. But it also means less space is available for your recordings. Some recorders allow you to set how much space should be reserved for this feature.

Noise levels. Digital TV recorders have built-in computer style hard drives and may also have cooling fans. These inevitably make a noise and so we have measured it for both operating and in standby modes. Values of less that 20dB(A) will be inaudible in most rooms. Values between 20 and 30dB(A) may be audible in quiet rooms and values above 30dB(A) will be audible - you could find these annoying.

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