Review of the Standard TM1500CI+

Today 20 October 2004 I received the New Technomate TM-1500 CI+

Heres my personal opinion of this 5000 channel receiver:
The first thing I was struck by was it's size, or rather lack of it, I'm used to full size receivers this came as a suprise, it is only 10" wide by 9" deep & just over 2" high, but it still suports with ease, the following connections:


1 .. RF Out UHF 21-69 selectable                      
1 .. TV Antenna Input                                           
1 .. Audio Input RCA (Left)                                  
1 .. Audio Input RCA (Right)                               
1 .. Video (Composite Output)                          
1 .. S/PDIF (Digital Audio Output)                      
1 .. TV Scart Scart/CVBS RGB & Audio Out   
1 .. VCR/AUX Scart/CVBS RGB & Audio Out  
1 .. RS-232 DB9 Low Speed Serial Port          
1 .. LNB Input                                                         
1 .. LNB Loop Through                                         


Which will be sufficiant for the average user,okay theres no s/video,usb or optical outputs, but how many of you realy use these connections anyway.
Once I connected the LNB & Scarts and then plugged it in, the receiver powered up and you are then confronted with the Menu, first select your prefered Language,then click the Menu button on the remote to display the following catagories:

1 .. Installation
sub menu: Satellite Setup
Motorized Settings
Auto Search
Blind Search
Advanced Search
PID Search

2 .. System Settings
sub menu: Time Settings
A/V Output Settings
OSD Settings
Password Settings (Default is 0 0 0 0)
Factory Reset
Data Transfer

3 .. Edit Channels
sub menu: Set Favorites
Rename Channels / Edit Pids
Move Channels
Lock Channels
Skip Channels
Delete Channels

4 .. Games
sub menu: Tetris
Sokoban
Snake
Ms.Pac-Man
Frogger
Block

5 .. System Information
Click okay for the following info:
Model : TM1500CI+
S/W Version : 1.00 (Oct 07 2004)
H/W Version : 1.00
Boot Version : 1.00
CH Version : F002
Cas Menu (Patched Receivers Only)

6 .. Common Interface
Displays what Cam if any is inserted

7 .. CA
Slot #1

Setting up the receiver was as easy if not easier than most, nothing complicated, and if you do get a little lost, you can always refer to the manual, which is easily understood, and it even has simple to follow pictures, so even a novice should be able to do the setup in no time at all.

Here's a littlte tip you may find usefull for manually locating satalitte locations:
If you give either the West or East button a quick click the dish will move approx 0.4 of a degree so 5 quick clicks = 2 degrees approx.

I used the USALS Option, and with the exception of Arabsat it located all satellites that are accessible to my location, without any problem, even though it could not find Arabsat a simple manual tweek of the motor found it, just click the POS button to manually move the dish east or west.

You do have to set each and every satellite manually,which can be a bit of a pain, but it will get you used to controls of the remote & receiver, and that must be a plus for many users
Once you set the stop limits and set the long/latatude for USALS, you can then start selecting the satellites you wish to view, just go into Satellite Setup select a satellite from the list, then click the Red button (Search) a graphic will appear on screen letting you know the dish is moving to the desired possition, once there it will start to search, this is a predefined search which takes approx 2.5mins on Astra 19.2 east, according to the users manual,a Fast Blind Search can take over 2 hours and a Detailed Blind Search can take over 7 hours,depending upon which satellite you are scanning, but in fact it takes just a fraction of the time stated by the user manual, I found it takes between 10-35 mins per Blind Search, again depending upon the activity of which satellite you are scanning, and wheather or not you do a detailed of fast blind search, so it seems as though a little patience is required for Blind Searching.

Once the standard search has been compleated you can now view the channels, click the ok key for a list, the colours were vivid and the audio was faultless, with a good punchy bass to it, great for watching TMF or VH1 or listening to the numerous radio channels that are freely available.

The Firmware Patch,and how to use it.
Please Note: Some providers keys wil require updating.
Upload the firmware as normal to your TM 1500CI+ download available below.
Once uploaded click menu then select System Information then click the ok button and enter in 2-0-0-4 you will then get access to the CAS Menu, there are 150 options for different encryptions providers keys, scroll through untill you find the correct provider you wish to update and using the numeric 0-9 keys and the Info button for keys A-F you can manually update the correct keys easily, once you are satisfied the keys you entered are correct click the exit button then okay button to save, then if all the keys ar correct you should get full access to the provider in question.

As the Patch (emu) allows you full access to most channels without the use of cards or cams, you can still if you wish use either cards or cams as well to gain access, I tried a cam to view scrambled channels, the cam I tried was a MR and it performed as it should, gave me access to certain scrambled channels without any problem.

If using a card of any description, always remember to insert the card with the chips facing down.


Another point most of you will notice is the sensativity of the reciever itself, its extreamly sensative and has given me far better results on certain satellites, than my Humax 5400 ever has.

As I have only had the receiver for a matter of hours this is a somewhat short review, but on the whole for it's price tag of approx £119.99 it could well be a strong contender for a xmass best seller, if I have any complaints at all it would be with the Remote Control Unit, which has the feel of a toy, and the ok button has stuck on more than one occasion, and also the Games that it comes with, Im sure there are far more usefull options to include, as you may have guessed Im not a game lover at all, but then again thats no reflection on the ability of this great little receiver itself, which Im looking forward to pushing to its limits, whatever they may be.

I can thoroughly rcommend this receiver as a main STB, it can cope with almost everything you throw at it, okay it has a Blind Search problem, but hopefully this will be addressed shortly.
I'm so impressed or maybe just a little infatuated, with this little receiver, that I have not used either my Dreambox or Humax for the past week, well why should I when this is coping with everything so well, at least for the time being anyway.

The Blind Search
Having just tried out the 'Blind Search' on Turksat, I was rather disapointed to find it located less channels than the standard search, and this was using the full detailed blind search, dont think I shall be wasting my time with this feature any more, but saying that, it could be just a software problem, we shall have to wait and see if the problem is addressed in the next release.

Thor 1west was even more disapointing after a Detailed Blind Search it failed to locate a single channel, I did notice that the s/r remained static at 2.000 during the search, I have since forwarded my findings to Technomate, and I am now awaiting their responce.

Hispasat 30w, Sirius 5e and Eutelsat W3A at 7e on the other hand produced some good Blind Search results, but then again locating a single channel, would be in my book classed as a good result after doing a search on Thor.

I don't believe that it is in fact a true Blind Search, a true Blind Search in my opinion would be, searching every frequency within the user's defined parameters and with a defined step, also scanning all FEC's & SR's, but alas it don't, all it seems to do is follow a pre-defined frequency order, and there are no user defined set up options of any type whatsoever, the only options are, All, H, V, Fast, Detailed and Search.


I have now updated my TM-1500 CI+ with the lateat official firmware released on 01 November 2004, and it do function 100% better, you can download this new official firmware release from http://laurals.com -> Menu3 -> TM & other but remember this is not a patched firmware update so you will not get access to any encrypted channels without the aid of a Cam & or Card.
Also available is the latest patched firmware that includes the new Conax Key

The ultimate firmware has now released  for the TM 1500CI+ it includes the option of entering the Conax Keys via the Cas Menu, this will now enable users to include any Conax Key that they have access to, and with an aditional 50 Provider positions included this will be by far more than enough to cover all Providers, if you do not already own a TM 1500CI+ I would strongly recommend you purchase one, as this receiver is all you will ever need for channel access, it even covers the newly updated TPS/Multivision encryption.