[Oniro]

Hello all,

I got my 5402HD a couple of days ago, and have found it a complex machine compared to my old Humax I had for 8 years. Right now I have issues with the picture color. I am tuned to Hotbird and Astra, and though I have a good Full HD tv set the color generated by the satellite receiver falls short of my expectations when considered so much sophistication with the 5402 HD general operation.

Any idea on how to improve the color without considering adjusting my tv set, something I have already done without too much gain.

Thanks for your input,

Oniro

[logiciel]

Hi and welcome to the forum.
I wouldn't call the 5402 particularly complex or sophisticated compared to other satellite machines, but it certainly should give you all the picture quality for each channel that the broadcaster provides, and as yours doesn't do that you could consider returning it to the supplier for refund or replacement.

[ant_thomas]

What output are you using to connect it to your TV?

[Oniro]

Well compared to the old Humax box this TECHNOMATE 5402HD is is a real leap into the future. Of course there are more complex and advanced boxes but again, keeping in mind the simplicity involved in operating a machine I bought in 2003, this is gigantic step forward, involving a lot of technological developments I was not aware of. Still thank you logiciel for your advise, I would expect a little bit more views on the color issue. I have not fully explored all the controls and adjustments yet. The manual for me is also a jungle of acronyms I am not familiar with, and before returning the machine, I would like to exhaust the possibilities described in the manual.

[Oniro]

Thanks for stopping here ant_thomas. By the time I found your answer I had managed to connect the box to my tv set. I have around 4 inlets for HDMI. It just happened that I did not configurate the tv to take the signal through HDMI and not as "satellite" as I was intending to do. Now I get the signal, I disconnected the SCART and the quality of the picture improved notably. But still the color makes me dissapointed when compared with the HDMI demo clip provided by the tv maker.

[pedro2000uk]

We've fitted lots of TM5402HDs & it's considered one of the easiest satellite receivers to use & one of the most powerful, especially for motorised & installed them to lots of different TV brands & models & AV setups & I'm 'very' PQ critical & everyone I've seen & everyone who've seen/ used them thinks it has an excellent picture quality on HDMI & on the 3 composite outputs & even it's RF output is one if the best (for an RF modulator), there is a picture adjustment function [colour button on remote .. 3rd row from the bottom] you can create your own colour preferences & brightness/ contrast.

What TV is it & what Humax receiver was it?

[Oniro]

Hola Pedro. Thanks for your view. I spent more than one month reading reviews on satellite receivers and honestly I firmly believe I made the best choise. I am quite sure what you say about the 5402 is true coming from your own experience. And there will be a way to fix the right colour. Is just that still I have to go through getting aquainted with the existing technical capabilities on the 5402. So far I tried to correct the "pastel" like colours in the pictures from the box, by adjusting my tv. It should not be that way, or at least should have to be minimal the tv effect on the picture quality output. I made some trials with the colour buttom in the remote control, but the result still is not that satisfactory. The HDMI cable is brand new. The tv set is also new.

My tv is a PHILIPS 37'PFL5405H FHD and the Humax was a F1-fox from 2003.

Thank you again.

[logiciel]

Originally Posted by Oniro

I have not fully explored all the controls and adjustments yet. The manual for me is also a jungle of acronyms I am not familiar with

I tried a 5402 recently and found that it worked perfectly out of the box.
You have Pedro's experience of excellent picture quality in general, and the tuner is particularly efficient.
As it is a HD machine I took it for granted that you had connected yours to the TV by HDMI.
Changing from Scart would naturally produce a much better result, as you've found.
Mine did not need controls and adjustments, and there is very little in the manual that needs to be applied.
Try again with that "colour button" and with any luck you won't need to have the machine replaced with another make, or with one of the other Technos.

[Oniro]

It is kind of difficult for me to replace the machine right away, because as I said before I have to go through different trials at the A/V controls and also at the colour control remote buttom which seems to imply a very delicate balance to get the final tune. Many chanels in Hotbird have some color tone and contrast differences meaning tuning channels where there are such differences. Second I am in Finland so I have to exhaust all the possibilities before sending back the box. Personally I feel is lack of familiarity with this receiver the source of my problems. It is only a couple of days I am in touch with the 5402HD. Thanks logiciel for your insight.

[logiciel]

That's OK, and in view of your experience I think it's worth noting that the picture quality varies enormously from one channel to another, and there are an enormous number of channels on the three Hotbirds at 13 East, so there's never going to be one setting that is good for them all!
My experience of the 5402 was that HD channels looked fine without any settings being changed, and you can't get better quality than they have, so if I'd been keeping the machine I would have left the default settings unchanged.
It is a good machine, and one advantage is that it does not need many settings, or working through the manual.
You'll soon get used to yours and I'm sure there won't be any need at all to have it replaced.

[StaticMan]

I have the 5402HD and have no issues at all with colour settings on this receiver, as you've found out the scart connection is not the ideal method to connect to your TV.
Maybe it is the settings on your TV?, have you had a play around with the picture modes, each HDMI input would normally be set to its default settings for each individual device connected!

[Oniro]

Thanks to StaticMan. In my TV I select one color pattern among 10 different, like "photo", "natural", "vivid", "movie", etc an that makes a standard for everything coming through HDMI. Now I am watching the olympics in "Das Erste"and still the picture is quite pastel like colour.

Still I have a problem when filling my 'favorite' list. There is a point when I have no yet reached lets say the 10% of the whole 1.200 entries in Hotbird and then the red little hearts stop to appear after sellecting one item. I am trying to do a whole list without categories by sports, movies or so. What am I doing wrong ?

[logiciel]

Which of those settings are you currently using for the TV?
On my Techno 6900 the picture quality of the "games" through Das Erste HD is as good as on any other HD channel that's carrying them.
If I recall correctly the 5402 has 16 Favourite Channel lists, the same as the 6900, and I'm not aware of any limit to the number of channels that each can include.
Having a large number in any one of the 16 lists would rather defeat the object though.

[Oniro]

Now I have the tv in VIVID because is the only setting providing some contrast and color.....other wise the picture tend to be pale....I am very selective with the channel content and think that between radio and tv I don't have more than 150 favorite to choose.

[kevkbuk]

No TV should be used in vivid

[logiciel]

Regular posters will be horrified to hear about that "vivid" setting.
When they thought mine was on "dynamic" which is something similar they were down on me like a ton of bricks.
I think the 6900 has 16 additional Favourites lists for radio - doesn't the 5402 do it that way?
150 channels spread over the lists, whether there are 16 or 32, ought not to be at all excessive.

[Oniro]

I might have to start by working out my selections through renaming the 16 lists or cathegories. And that would split fairly the favorites witout a "hearts shortage" as is happening now.

The colour issue. This is a brand new tv. The VIVID alternative is the less attractive to me.I do photographic work with aesthetical criteria and the vivid colours are at the extreme of the colour spectrum and also horrorizes me. I am not the exception. Usually I keep my tv on PHOTO or NATURAL setting.But in this particular situation I am in trying to caliber the colour setting in my 5402 this was the only setting with enough 'balance" so to speak to see the games. Unfortunately I live deep in the woods in Finland, and there was a huge electrical thunder storm that melt my TV antenna on the roof, so I can't tune the local TV broadcastings of the Finnish National TV Service.Now I am depending totally of the Hotbird and Astra bradcastings.

[kevkbuk]

Originally Posted by Oniro

The colour issue. This is a brand new tv. The VIVID alternative is the less attractive to me.I do photographic work with aesthetical criteria and the vivid colours are at the extreme of the colour spectrum and also horrorizes me. I am not the exception.

Put a photograph you know well onto a USB drive and display it on the 5402 and use that to calibrate with.

[Oniro]

That is a pretty good contribution. I have some recent shots with good quality colour in one memory stick good enough to make a trial. Thanks a lot.

[logiciel]

Is it Das Erste's HD channel that you're having to adjust for?
If that can't be made to look right I don't think anything could!

Some of my Favourites lists have a lot of channels so I don't think there's a limit on the numbers.
There is also a separate set of 16 for radio channels.

[Oniro]

No, I don't have access to the DAS ERSTE HD channel....I get tuned to the standard DAS ERSTE. Today I am following the games through 2ZFHD with the expected quality from my box. I am starting to think that the LNB I use for Hotbird might be part of the colour problem. I guess, I speculate because I don't know for sure how much the LNB can be a factor in the colour issue. Instead I have a new LNB for Astra.

About the Favorite list still I don't find an explanation why after I reach a certain number of channels selected the box stops marking my Favorite. Last time I had this problem what I did was to label a new list with a new name and this way I could continue marking my Favorite list.

[logiciel]

The LNBs won't have any effect at all on the picture quality.
Assuming that by Astra you are referring to the satellites at 19E try Das Erste's HD channel on 11494 H.
It's news to me that there's any limit on the number of Favourite Channels that you can have.
I suggest that you contact Technomate through their web site and ask them about it.

[winston2010]

Originally Posted by Oniro

About the Favorite list still I don't find an explanation why after I reach a certain number of channels selected the box stops marking my Favorite. Last time I had this problem what I did was to label a new list with a new name and this way I could continue marking my Favorite list.

OFF TOPIC.

Are you a Yank? I ask because over here it is "favourite" and "colour".

Can't stand the way Americans misspell.

[Oniro]

Sorry to disappoint you...I am a citizen of the world but not a "yank"....tomato or tomatoe ? I have to live with the differences...they bright this life....!!!

[logiciel]

On topic, I happened to be setting up a Favourites list on my Techno 6900 and found that there is a limit of 120 entries to each of the 16 headers.