TM-6900 Super review *** WARNING Picture Heavy ***

[BitStream]

This morning I took delivery of my new TM-6900 HD COMBO Super High Definition Satellite & High-Definition Terrestrial Receiver. I already own a standard TM-6900 COMBO but it lacks the features the website claimed it had when I purchased it and I have always felt a little cheated. I really wanted blind scan and RF through and the Super version has both of these amongst other small changes and improvements.

Interestingly the manual is for both the TM-6900 Super and TM-6800 Super although the latter is not currently mentioned on Technomate's website nor is is for sale anywhere as far as I know. Something to keep an eye out for if you don't want or need Freeview.

As I have a TM-6900 I thought I'd take some pictures of both of them together.

The fronts.

And the rears.

The layout has changed on the Super variant to accommodate 2 extra RF sockets, Ethernet and eSata sockets. Nothing else has changed externally.

The remotes are identical apart from the Super one is now black to match the case colour.

I hooked up the 6900 Super and hit the power button. Up came BBC1 already tuned in so it appears there are plenty of channels available for it straight out of the box.

I did a firmware upgrade using a USB pen then saved the current channel list and restored one taken from my 6900 Standard (for want of a better word). No problems at all. Both machines use the same database structure so my 6900 Super was now set up identical to my previous model.

 

[BitStream]

Let's hit the menu button and see what has changed.

The first thing I noticed was blind search on the right. Ooh good, I'm going to have fun with this. Let's have a look at some of the other menu items first though.

The AV Output Setting menu now has everything you need to set the RF channel for distribution via coaxial cable around the house. A quick sprint upstairs and hey presto, I was presented with a crisp clear picture from the 6900 Super. Excellent. Let's have a look at the IP menu.

I hooked the 6900 Super up to my router and selected the IP menu it allocated an IP address to the receiver instantly.

I blanked out the mac address but everything else it is as it appears. There is an option to perform a "Firmware Update" but I have no idea yet how this is supposed to work. The manual as one might expect tells us nothing about how this is to be implemented. The important thing is it works for whenever details emerge and could be very useful.

Next I looked at the Blind Scan menu.

 

[BitStream]

I selected Eutelsat W1 at 10E and did a fast scan. It took around 7 minutes to complete and it did find a lot of new frequencies and some new channels so that's a good a start.

In all fairness I need to spend more time with Blind Scan to see how good it is.

Now for some hard disk tests.

I have been using a WD 120GB 2.5 inch drive in an external enclosure without any problems so I connected this up and the 6900 Super found it instantly. Previously recorded very interesting documentaries played back faultlessly and I was able to record and playback without any glitches. But what about this eSata connector I hear you say! Well I hooked up a 300GB Sata drive in an eSata box I had assembled a couple of days ago. I powered down the 6900 Super and connected it to the socket at the back. Next I turned the drive on and let it spin up before turning the 6900 Super on and it found the drive upon boot up but I couldn't access it. I then remembered I had formatted it in NTFS when assembling and testing the drive so I went into the management menu and formatted the drive. Hey presto, it worked.

I was able to record and playback channels using the external eSata drive.

Is it worth the extra money? Well sadly some of the features like blind scan and RF through really out to have been included in the first incarnation as Technomate's specifications claimed. eSata will be useful for newer faster and larger drives, especially when recording HD content. We'll have to wait and see what the Ethernet port is going to be used for.

All in all the best has just got better. It feels complete now and there is nothing on the market to touch it. If you want to delve into HD content then this is the box you should most certainly consider. It is an absolute winner in my view.

 

[BitStream]

I've performed some extensive test using blind scan. I chose Eutelsat W1 at 10E again for the test. Before each test I deleted all the channels, chose fast scan and all polarisations (V and H).

The Fast scan started at 10.700v and ended at 12.750h and was incremented in .004 mhz steps. It started at 15.33 and ended at 15.53. A total of 20 minutes

The Detailed scan also started at 10.700v and ended at 12.750hhtz and was incremented in .002 mhz steps. It started at 15.54 and ended at 16.53. A total of 60 minutes

It is not possible to select Tv/Radio/Data etc so it always finds TV and Radio stations whether you want them or not. I never use mine for radio so I tend to not scan for radio stations to keep memory usage down to the minimum. Here we have no choice.

Also the start and and frequencies cannot be altered, nor the symbol rate etc and this is not shown on screen whilst scanning takes place so we have no idea what is going on under the bonnet sadly.

 

[digidude]

a wicked write up m8 cheers for this

could you try something for me please as ive not yet got one of these receivers.

ALL other technomates, except the 6800 and 6900 standard models, as they have no modulators, will modulate the VCR scart input and send it out of the RF socket, on the 68/900 as there was no need for modulation this wouldnt work for sending signals from the VCR socket down the HDMI port either

if you could connect a DVD player to the VCR socket, and then press the TV/SAT button youll see the display on the front change, first to TV then to VCR, when its in VCR mode youll notice the scart signal on the VCR socket is now modulated to an RF signal and sent out of the RF socket, this is partly how i have my home CCTV setup, could you check if this same modulated signal is also now available via the HDMI output as well

cheers m8y

dd

 

[mojo247]

seen a exact thread on alshut.

nice to see it here too.

 

[BitStream]

seen a exact thread on alshut.

nice to see it here too.

Yes I'm Bazza on the afore mention forum, and I posted it over there

 

[BitStream]

a wicked write up m8
if you could connect a DVD player to the VCR socket

Sorry my DVD player is a home theatre PC and HDMI only

 

[digidude]

do you have anything at all you could connect to the VCR scart, like an old video player, cctv camera, games console?

 

[BitStream]

Sorry no vcr and my PS3 and 360 are both HDMI. I'll see if my next door neighbour has anything.

 

[witchy]

Nice review mate.

 

[daddymac]

Yip-

thats just convinced me to upgrade!!!
I was hoping for ethernet connection from TM, result

Cheers for the pics
cheers
whats the price of the new box

 

[BitStream]

£278.99 if you shop around.

 

[crinkly]

I'm somewhat of a newbie so please excuse what may be elementary queries.

I have ordered the 6900 super and expect delivery Monday next. It will replace the TM5500 on my motorised system and I would like to know if I need to set my dish to a specific satellite when I first hook up my new receiver. Also, will I need to upgrade the firmware and is it possible to install a list of channels?

 

[treestump]

Hi on the tm-6900 super whats the lan used for thanks.

 

[waka]

Thanks for the review - all the pics were cool too :Clap:

Now I need to work out why/if I would want to spend a shed load more on a Dreambox 800/8000.

W.

 

[BitStream]

Hi on the tm-6900 super whats the lan used for thanks.

At the moment nothing but who knows what Technomate have in mind for it in the future.

 

[fazzioo]

hmmm i couldnt help it i just ordered a black super over the weekend + diablo cam.... it should arrive tomorrow... the wifey isnt to impressed as i just got the tm6900 standard a few months back!

 

[treestump]

hmmm i couldnt help it i just ordered a black super over the weekend + diablo cam.... it should arrive tomorrow... the wifey isnt to impressed as i just got the tm6900 standard a few months back!

worth getting the diablo for the hd.

 

[pinkhelmets]

The diablo is used instead of the tm patch to get digitalb and canaldigital. However, it can only clear the SD channels in these packages -it isnt able to clear the HD ones even if using a hd receiver.