Inpax

TEST REPORT HDTV Linux Receiver
该独家报道由技术专家所作

Inpax X-9100
Linux PVR

16 TELE-satellite — Global Digital TV Magazine — 06-07/201 — www.TELE-satellite.com
1

• impossible not to like this little box
• very fast boot time thanks to a smaller Linux
version
• runs very stable - we were not able to crash it
• includes large on-screen satellite meter
• sophisticated blindscan

www.TELE-satellite.com — 06-07/201 —
1 TELE-satellite — Global Digital TV Magazine 17

TEST REPORT HDTV Linux Receiver

Turkish Delight
A high-definition Linux-based
PVR promising a number of
interesting features, all housed in
a tiny case. Can it be possible?
Hailing from Istanbul, Tur- display displays the cur- channels except those that Scart or composite video,
key, the X-9100 PVR from rent channel number, or the are tied to an individual whilst there are stereo au-
INPAX is quite a surprise. clock in standby. receiver. This was quite a dio outputs plus S/PDIF. For
The little black box meas- surprise. The card slot is connection to the outside
ures just 26cm across, A flap on the right-hand the only conditional access world there’s an Ethernet
19cm deep and 4cm high side conceals a USB port option: there is nowhere to LAN port and an RS232 port.
and comes in a stylish shiny and a single smart card slot add a CAM.
black case with a minimalist which seems to be able to A cold start of the re-
appearance. There are just read a variety of cards – it At the back, the anten- ceiver doesn’t take as long
three buttons on the front even accepted my Sky Digi- na input and loop-through as might be expected from
panel: Standby, channel up tal card and allowed me to serve the single tuner. Video a Linux-based receiver, tak-
and channel down. An LED view all my subscription options are limited to HDMI, ing around 45 seconds from

0.52

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flicking the switch for a pic- the planet are pre-pro- display everything. The red to toggle between RGB and
ture to appear on screen. grammed into the receiver button can be used to filter CVBS.
This is one of the surprises and these can be edited and the list further by limiting
that come from the X-9100 deleted as required. New the satellites shown in the There is one special fea-
utilising a much smaller, satellites can be added as list. An A-Z function is also ture in the menus where
embedded version of Linux required by simply specify- available, which filters the Inpax must however be con-
than the more complex ver- ing the orbital position. If list by the first letter of the gratulated. An option exists
sions we’ve seen in the past. you are setting your own channel name, but doesn’t to store the sound volume
dish up, you’ll be pleased to sort it further than this – so setting for each channel in-
Those who might be see the inclusion of a large Azerbaijan TV would still ap- dividually. This is the perfect
daunted at the prospect of on-screen signal meter pear ahead of Aastha TV if answer to that all-too-com-
setting up a Linux receiver function to help you find a this was their order in the mon situation of changing
need not worry too much. good signal. default list – this I found just channel from an overly quiet
The options and menu sys- a little confusing. Dedicated one to one of those that has
tem are no more complicat- Scanning satellites is fast page up and down buttons the sound cranked up so loud
ed than those of a standard compared to some other on the remote help to speed that your neighbours will be
receiver. USALS is support- Linux-based receivers. For navigation of this and other banging on the wall within
ed to enable easy setup of viewers of Canal Digitaal, TV lists around the menus. no time. Of course, if only
a DiSEqC motor, with the Vlaanderen or UPC Direct on audio levels could be regu-
added bonus of some ma- ASTRA 1, a special fast scan The remote itself is a lated to avoid this situation,
jor cities already being pro- function is available. For standard, generic feeling such a function wouldn’t be
grammed into the receiver’s the rest of us, a standard model, not helped by the needed. But that is unlikely
memory. scan zips across the satel- occasional occurrence of the to happen anytime soon and
lite spectrum in good time. pressed button repeating very likely never, so in the
A wide range of LNB set- A scan across Astra 2 took your previous action rather meantime: thank you Inpax
tings are included, and four minutes to scan the 90 than the one you were ex- for thinking of this.
as the receiver is of Turk- stored frequencies. pecting. Another rather
ish origin, special settings strange quirk is that the or- The channel editing func-
for DIGITURK are even in- A very welcome addition is der of the coloured function tions are limited to deletion,
cluded. If none of them suit a blind scan option, so that buttons is different from the moving, and renaming. The
your system the LNB’s fre- any frequencies not already normal red-green-yellow- sometimes important abil-
quencies can also be held in the transponder list blue sequence. I didn’t even ity to edit PIDs is missing,
specified manu- can be found. This works a know that this order has for example. There are eight
ally. DiSEqC is little differently than others been burned into my brain preset favourites lists. Their
supported from we’ve seen in the past. First, from the use and testing names are quite strange,
version 1.0 to the entire frequency spec- of so many receivers over with the first few letters
1.3 to ensure trum is scanned, adding any the years, but I proved that missing. But it’s easy to cor-
that just about newly-found frequencies to it is by pressing blue when rect this by simply adding
any motor or the stored transponder list. I thought I was pressing a new favorite and giving it
switching setup After this, the regular scan green several times. whatever name you want.
will be support- kicks in, scanning the new The yellow button in the FAV
ed. frequencies alongside those The remote is kept simple, menue will create a new fa-
previously stored. This adds and there are no buttons vorite list.
71 satellites some time to the scanning for selecting the correct as-
from around process, 2,5 minutes were pect ratio, or screen reso- There is no room inside the
taken to find and add an lution, but these options tiny case for a hard drive,
extra eight transponders to can be found inside the re- recordings have to be made
the list, then another 4:15 ceiver’s settings menus. onto a USB device plugged
to scan them all. The blind Most important options are into the front socket. Record-
scan isn’t ideal for feed- found here, including to se- ings can be started directly
hunting however, as there is lect between RGB or CVBS from the remote’s record
no ability to scan a portion from the Scart port. To ac- button or from a timer event
of the frequency band. cess the latter option select that can be set manually or
HDMI mode 5761 and push from the EPG. The 9100’s
Channels are accessed volume buttons up or down EPG is quite usable, and
from a channel list similar to
those on most other receiv-
ers. The left and right but-
06-07/201
1 tons are used to filter the list
Inpax X-9100 Linux PVR between FTA-only, HD and
A competent good-looking black box with
full range of functions encrypted channels, plus of
course there is the option to


1 6

2 7

3 8

4 can be switched between a channel at the desired time,
one and seven-day version. and there’s also a choice
It’s a bit strange though in to switch off after the re-
that the grid display only fills cording has finished. While
a quarter of the screen, so a recording is in progress,
it’s not the easiest to quickly the channel list is restrict-
see what is scheduled more ed only to channels on the
than an hour or two into the transponder being received
future. so there’s no chance of lost
The event timer is also of recordings or receiver melt-
a standard type, with some down.
repeating options including
Monday to Friday and week- It’s worth noting at this
5
ends only. The receiver can point that the manual warns
be set to either record or that while the theoretical
just switch to the selected hard drive size limit is four
partitions totalling 2 tera-
1. Blind scan bytes (which I think even I
2. Channel list may have trouble filling up),
3. EPG it is not recommended to
4. Favourites editing use partitions greater than
5. File browser
120 gigabytes.
6. FTP client
7. Multi picture-in-picture
Recording and playback
8. Recorded programme
playback works very well, with no

1

problems noted – even 9
when recording HD channels
to a USB stick. My experi-
ence with Linux receivers
has been mixed in the past.
I remember too well some
important timer recordings
that never even started
because the receiver had
crashed hours earlier, still
displaying its equivalent of
the Windows hourglass and
a frozen picture of the last- 10
received channel. Despite
my best efforts to confuse
and confound the little box,
I wasn’t able to crash it at
all, even when recording.

As recordings are stored
on a USB device, it’s easy to
access them on a PC. Anoth-
er “well done” goes to Inpax
here – the settings menu
gives a choice of recording 9. The embedded Linux’s web
format between .MPG and interface 11
.TS files, a welcome extra 10. Satellite scan
choice that could be very 11. Signal meter
12. Telnet into the receiver
useful to those who wish to
edit or archive their record- Also included is an inter-
ings onto DVD or convert net radio player. When it
them into other formats. works, it is really quite good
and kept a connection from
Despite the ease of con- my location in England to an
nection to the outside world Australian channel overnight
via Ethernet, it isn’t possi- without any problems. I did
ble to access recordings by get several “server busy”
FTP, so disconnecting the messages, but when I did
12
USB device and walking it to get through I received some
a computer is the only way good quality audio, with
to access them. There is an some stations accompanied
FTP client available, but this by artist names and song
works in one direction only titles. Scrolling through the
to copy media to the USB huge station lists is a real
for playback. It is also pos- pain though as each page of
sible to connect to an SMB the list is retrieved from the
(Samba) share in the same internet when requested.
one-way manner.
After a long time in the
The variety of file for- alphabetical list I gave up
mats that can be replayed while still on the letter A,
is impressive, and most but at least there’s a favour- were being overheard on a player. This also works very
of the sample files I tried ites list here too. This will satellite receiver across the well, and where the video
played without any trouble. be invaluable when I want world via the internet? And quality is good enough, is
The list includes AVI, MPG, to return to the esoteric will I ever get to the end of perfectly watchable on a TV.
VOB, FLV, MP4, MKB, 3GP mix of stations I have al- the list, to find out if New A number of presets give
and ASF which covers most ready found, from 247 Polka York’s Z100 is available? access to the most popu-
bases. It’s nice to see that Heaven (“The World’s Polka lar videos of the moment
channel lists saved in the Network”) to Amateur Re- Dragging myself away plus comedy, music, news,
SatcoDX .SDX format may peater W6NUT. I wonder if from the hypnotic rhythm of sports and so on. A search
also be imported from the even the radio hams in Cali- the polka to the next menu is also available which opens
file menu. fornia would imagine they entry brings us a Youtube up the entire weird and wild

1

world of Youtube onto your There’s not really anything appealing to those who want liability. My fear of losing
TV. It is a nice addition to of use there either, but Linux to watch TV with less has- recordings from previous
have and the video plays fans could find the informa- sle or the threat of things Linux receiver experiences
back a lot smoother than tion interesting. Whether not working as smoothly as is almost gone. Whilst test-
it does on my ageing over- or not it may be possible to they could. Connecting to ing the receiver for this re-
loaded PC. add to the software inside the internet is as easy as view it has not let me down
the machine to enable more plugging in an Ethernet ca- at all, and that is what most
The final menu entry in functionality is not clear and ble if you have DHCP avail- people want and need: a re-
the set of internet applica- there are no clues from the able on your router, and the ceiver that does all it says
tions is not mentioned in the receiver or its manual. bonus additions of the You- it will, and doesn’t crash
manual: “Extra Movies”. I’m tube and internet radio play- at the most important mo-
sure most of us would say The X-9100 is a different ers are genuinely useful. If ments. There are a few
“yes please” to some extra Linux-based receiver than the internet radio interface small quirks and criticisms
movies, but this menu is most we’ve seen in the past. could be made a little bet- as I have mentioned al-
password protected; here For some, this could be a ter it would on its own be a ready, most of which may
we explain to all of you how disappointment as it feels perfect, easy way to access be addressed in future soft-
to access it: more like a conventional thousands of stations in ware updates. It’s impos-
receiver in use than those good quality. sible not to like this little
Enter IP settings in setup running larger Linux distri- black box and be impressed
menue, press green button butions such as Enigma2. What is most pleasing by the full range of func-
which closes DHCP and in- This however makes it more though is the receiver’s re- tions it contains. Overall
stead asks for DNS1. Enter
208.67.222.222 and save by
pushing red button. Then
DNS2 pops up, enter same
IP 208.67.222.222 again and
save with red button. Now
the receiver needs to be re-
started by switching power
off and on. Go again to “Ex-
tra Movies” and now type in
9-8-7-6 for password. Voila,
it works.

It’s possible to use tel-
net to get into the receiver,
and this reveals a command
prompt from the BusyBox
system, as utilised by the
Amazon Kindle and many
other devices. BusyBox gives
access to some basic Linux
commands, which on their
own are probably of little or
no use to the everyday user
but we can at least be nosy
and see what is contained on
the internal memory. Simi-
larly, connecting with a web
browser gives an interface
to the embedded Linux op-
erating system with plenty
of debugging information.

1

Expert Opinion TECHNICAL
DATA
+ Distributor İNPA ELEKTRONİK SAN. VE TİC.LTD.ŞTİ.
Audio settings can be stored for each channel
Kemeraltı Str. Şefkat Business No: 1-3 Floor:4
individuall.y Karaköy, Istanbul, Turkey
Accepts very large harddrives via USB.
Tel. +90 212 293 63 12 | +90 212 293 63 13
Software runs extremely stable.
PVR allows storing in .TS format. Fax +90 212 293 63 18
Andy Middleton
Impressive list of file formats for playback. TELE-satellite Website http://www.inpax.com
Test Center
UK Email info@inpax.com.tr / inpax@inpax.com.tr
- Model X-9100 Linux HD PVR
Alphabetical channel listing only sorts by first letter.
Function HDTV Satellite Receiver with PVR
Color coding of remote not to standard.
SCPC compatible Yes

USALS Yes
this is a competent, good- mals on Youtube, listen to
DiSEqC 1.0/1.1/1.2/1.3
looking little machine that some more polka, and, oh!
Scart connectors 1
does its job very well. I almost forgot that I could
Symbol rates QPSK – 2000 to 45000
even find some time away
QPSK – 2000 to 45000
Now, you must excuse from these distractions to 8PSK – 2000 to 45000
me – it is time to wrap up watch some good old-fash- MPEG modes MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264, MP@ML
this report so that I can ioned HD TV on my new lit-
Audio outputs 2 (left & right)
watch some more funny ani- tle friend too!
Video outputs Composite, HDMI

Resolutions 480p, 480i, 576p, 576i. 720p, 1080i at 50Hz,
720p &1080i at 60Hz, 1080p at 30Hz

UHF output No

0/12 volt output No

Digital audio output S/PDIF

EPG Yes

C/Ku-band compatible Yes

Power supply 100-240V AC, 50/60Hz

Common interface 2 None

Card slots 1 universal

ENERGY
DIAGRAM

Apparent Power

Active Power

Mode Apparent Active Factor
Active 19 W 10 W 0.52
StandBy 14 W 7 W 0.5


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