Review by Nick Townsend

There is a lot of confusion surrounding free-to-air digital television and digital television signals, even though a digital signal has been broadcast for a number of years now. The digital network will eventually replace the analogue network, but most people currently still receive their free-to-air television via the analogue network.

In order to receive a digital free-to-air signal you need to purchase a digital set-top box. A digital set-top box allows you to view free-to-air channels (ie - Channels 2, 7, 9, 10 and SBS) in a digital format through your current TV. This box simply connects to your existing TV aerial, and then you connect the digital set-top box to a spare A/V input on the back of your TV or A/V receiver.

There are two different digital television standards - High Definition (HD) digital and Standard Definition (SD) digital. There has been a lot of hype surrounding HD but many don’t realise that the ‘lesser’ SD digital signal is actually equal to that of DVD in terms of picture quality. HD surpasses DVD for picture quality, but we won’t go into that in this article.

The Strong SRT5006 is one of many SD digital set-top boxes now available, but it has some handy features that makes it stand out from the crowd.

The SRT 5006 is a compact unit finished in two-tone silver/black. It’s a very compact, simple looking set-top box, dimensions being 280mm wide, 40mm high and 185mm deep. To put this in perspective it is about half the size of a typical DVD player. The LCD readout on the front of the unit is easy to read, and there are just three buttons on the front fascia – on/standby, channel up and channel down.

 

Connectivity options on the back of the unit include component video (rare on a SD set-top box), S-video and composite video outputs. Audio connections include 2 sets of stereo RCA outputs as well as coaxial digital out. The SRT 5006 comes with a funky looking little remote control that is well set out – the buttons are large, easy-to-read and colour coded according to function.

Setting up the SRT5006 is quick and easy, as when the unit is first turned on the on-screen display appears, and you simply select ‘scan all channels’. Tuning the channels takes about two minutes, which is the fastest tuning time I have seen on a digital set-top box, and the on-screen display shows the progress of the tuning. After the channels have been tuned, press the ‘OK’ button and a list of all the tuned channels appear on the screen. From here you can set up the SRT 5006 to match your TV type, delete unwanted channels etc, all of which is accessed via the on-screen display.

In addition to tuning in free-to-air digital TV channels the SRT 5006 may also tune in some digital radio channels. Of course the radio and TV channels that the unit locks onto depends on where you live. You can also access the Electronic Program Guide (EPG) of each TV channel when broadcast, simply by pressing the EPG button.

So what will the SRT 5006 do for you? It will improve the picture quality of your free-to-air channels in comparison to your analogue free-to-air reception. The signal quality issues that you may see with your current analogue reception, such as snowy and ghosting pictures, are not seen on digital broadcasts. Colours and picture sharpness will also improve.

 

As an example, when watching the cricket and the Australian Open recently I switched between analogue and digital TV broadcasts. Tennis and cricket balls were much easier to see and follow when watching the digital broadcast, and the green of the tennis courts and various cricket grounds was much more vivid and realistic.

The improvement you see with digital broadcasts will generally be more noticeable on plasma and LCD displays as they tend to look worse when displaying an analogue signal, compared to the older style CRT (or tube) televisions. This is why we recommend that people buy a digital set-top box when they purchase an LCD or plasma.

The SRT 5006 produces an image that is stable and very clear and it looks particularly impressive when connected to your TV/display via S-video or component video. If you are running your set-top box sound through an A/V receiver using the coaxial digital connection, you will notice a marked improvement in dynamics and clarity compared to the sound of analogue broadcasts. This is most noticeable when watching more recent movies or TV series such as Lost and CSI.

One annoying feature of many digital set-top boxes is their slow response time when changing channels. While it’s not uncommon to wait up to five seconds for the channel to change in many set-top boxes, the SRT 5006 changes channels in about 2 seconds. A small convenience maybe, but it makes surfing through the channels significantly quicker.

The Strong SRT 5006 is a great little SD digital set-top box that provides an affordable way to improve the picture and sound of free-to-air broadcasts. It is small in size, quick to set up and easy to use, and flexible when it comes to connectivity. Definitely worth a look.

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Product: Strong SRT 5006 Standard Definition Digital Set-top Box

Price: $199

Warranty: 12 months

Availability: now

Website: http://www.strong-technologies.com/frmProdDetails.aspx?id=115

Interconnects: Gecko and Dynalink