Technomate TM-Nano-3T Quick Review
TM-Nano-3T
Details
After having the Nano-SE for a while i decided to have a look at the Ultimate Behemoth that is Technomate's TM-Nano-3T
Twin DVB-S2 tuner and a single DVB-C/T/T2 tuner on board, So far so good especially with the added addition of the 3rd tuner
Again Packaging is very colourful so makes it stand it from the crowd especially if placed between the more sedate packaging of rival receivers
Everything again is in the Box you need including HDMI Lead etc...
The receiver also comes with 3 x USB (2 rear 1 on the front) 1 x Gigabit Lan, Rear Power toggle switch etc...
I like the addition of the Front USB makes it very easy to flash new images so no more fiddling around the rear of the receiver to find the USB slot.
The Receiver is nice and compact around the same size as its rivals the Solo2 and the Gigablue Quad Plus also sports the usual external PSU to keep internal heat down.
DVB-S2 Tuner Test
Time for the Test and there is no point going for the usual high powered Sat figures any old receiver can pull those TP's in no problem, It's straight to the 4.0° west and 7.3° west weaker TP's that the Closed source TM receivers are renowned for pulling in.
Well you wont be disappointed tested against its little brother the Nano-SE the 3T managed Lock on some transponders like the Nordic BSS TP's that the SE could not, More than likely due to its different Broadcom chipset and how the tuner is utilised in software from the drivers. Same for 7.3° west had Zero problems pulling in the Bein Sports channels through the day apart from No's 11-14 which came in at around 11pm in the evening.
DVB-C/T/T2 Tuner Test
Finally Technomate's trump card and its a winner yes thats right the inclusion of what many an owner has wanted for some time a DVB-C/T/T2 tuner on board,
This comes in the form of a Panasonic SP9680PVB tuner and its a cracker, Maybe a bit of a downfall for some who may use it for Terrestrial as it is the Screw type (IF Input).
No problem for Cable though so no need to go hunting around for an RF coax adaptor just plug in and away you go, I cannot praise enough how good this tuner is sensitivity wise, I Tested the tuner with both a 3db,6db & 9db attenuators to see if it had a breaking point anywhere and it passed admirably pulled in all available channels with ease and no breakup. That to me spells out how good this tuner is. Obviously added to the main board at a later date as it reads as an external tuner but blends in really well and compliments the DVB-S2 side.
Day to Day Usage & Recording
No problems here either i installed a 500gb drive for testing and using the available images OpenVix,OpenPLI(4D) and OpenATV they all performed as they should without a hitch, Heat wise from the receiver is minimal as it is also fitted with a Fan on the top cover which is customisable for speeds via the main menu in any image.
Boot speed is fast again similar to the Nano-SE but actually faster than my Gigablue Quad+, to test i loaded the same image bare bones with nothing installed and from a cold boot to picture on screen the 3T took around 40 seconds the Quad+ took just over 80 seconds, very fast especially for a Triple tuner receiver.
Channel Zapping and normal day to day functions are quick no doubt about it and installing your usual plugins TSmedia,Kodi direct etc.. is a breeze also. Pretty Much the same as all other E2 receivers with the same BCM chipset
Good Points
Well Built and a nice compact size again utilising the 'Brick' type external PSU, The Remote is identical to the Nano-SE so carries over all the plus points.
Rear On/Off toggle switch to aid with Image Flashing as well as front USB. Scrolling front dot matrix display which can be configured to your liking and gives detailed info when needed.
Bad Points
I wish there weren't any but there is again lack of image support we only have 3 teams maybe more in the future who knows, No Blindscan even though the other 2 nearest rivals to the 3T who share the same chipset BCM7346 have a Blindscan feature Also no Transcoding Feature, This could be sorted with new drivers as the other problem is driver related although no considerable heat emits from the 3T at times the onboard temp reads around 72° C, A driver/kernel update could solve these problems.
Conclusion
Ok it may have 2 or 3 bad points but they can be overlooked especially when you consider what is included in this receiver and that is the DVB-C/T/T2 tuner, if you added this to its nearest rivals you would be paying in excess of around £60 -£100 difference dependant on model, That basically says to me that i can overlook the blindscan and image support problem as i get a Triple tuner receiver a lot cheaper. And the last time i looked the market is crying out for receivers equipped with DVB-C/T/T2 tuners and Technomate have answered.
