GS Group Extends the Coverage of TV Viewing in HD

St. Petersburg, Russia, December 04, 2014 --(PR.com)-- GS Group investment and industry holding company released an upgraded digital set-top box, the GS B211 that is based on a new microprocessor of in-house production. The new subscriber equipment is designed for the trade-in program as well as the B210, the previous model of this range. The joint program by the holding company and the leading Russian digital TV operator Tricolor TV is geared at replacing old equipment stock with the new set-top boxes supporting HD technology and, thus, enabling the shift to TV viewing in HD format.

The GS B211 digital set-top box is powered by a new high power tuner, which provides a better signal reception even during bad weather conditions like rain or snow. In addition, this compact device can be located in any place convenient for the user, if it is not possible to install it next to the TV set. By having the external IR sensor on the receiver, it can be controlled via remote control even upon conditions that the equipment is out of sight. The GS B211 boasts an increased amount of internal storage to enable a wide range of operator services and function of sorting the channels according to specified characteristics and, besides, it supports external USB flash drives. Beyond that, the receiver can be connected to TVs of older models by using the SCART adapter and a RCA cable that are included in the equipment set, which expands the scope of the device application. The new STB is powered by a multi-chip microprocessor, the GS Nanotech SiP Amber S2 that was developed and released by the GS Group in-house R&D department. By using this microchip, it allows for an increased speed of data processing and data security.

The new GS B211 set-top box is designed for the equipment replacement program (trade-in), which embraces the exchange of older models that don’t support HD TV viewing for modern receivers at a reduced price. Before release of the GS B211 powered by a new microprocessor, the previous generation GS B210 was used as a replacement for the devices. The trade-in program is available to all subscribers who live in the satellites Eutelsat 36A and Eutelsat 36B broadcasting area and use General Satellite equipment receiving the signal from the MPEG-2 standard.

The exchange of set-top boxes allows for an increased number of available channels by more than one-third up to 160 or more, while the user’s current subscriptions are transferred to the new device. Consumers are also able to take advantage of all the operator’s additional services. Replacements for the new GS B210 digital receiver have been carried out since May 2014 and altogether over 600,000 subscriber devices were replaced during this period. The GS B211 will become available for trade-in program beneficiaries starting at the beginning of December 2014. GS Group intends to exchange around 150,000 receivers or more until the end of the year. The new digital set-top boxes supporting high-definition television should replace about 1,500,000 outdated devices next year.