The menu in the TM 5000CI is served up in 7 languages, targeting the main European countries and most of the minorities groups in the UK, including the Arabic and Turkish communities. The on screen display, with five adjustable steps of transparency, is kept in a pastel, non aggressive, colouring with a choice of 7 more or less psychedelic background themes.
Sticking to the default, neutral navy, I proceeded to the main setup options.

The options menu is the most feature-rich out of all three. Parents concerned about their kids can lock the receiver’s administrative options and adult channels with a password. Foreigners can adjust the receiver to match their TV systems - Pal, NTSC, and even Secam TV sets. The UHF modulator can be tuned to B, G, D.K, I or M, N standards and a choice of four different 4:3 conversions of widescreen pictures won’t disappoint either. We can also setup locale, such as time shifting the received time to match our own time zone or change the background to something more appalling (see the first paragraph of this chapter) via a faux double capitalised menu enigmatically titled Still Picture Control.

Right above background swapping trickery comes first feature to raise the eyebrow. In the Color Control menu I found four, fully customisable, colour settings for the video picture. Ever thought watching AjaraTV or Arirang was too much like viewing analogue cable through a Thames Water tinted glass experience? Ever reckoned FOX feeds look like washed out Wrangler jeans and could do with wee bit more contrast? Now is your chance. There is a corresponding button on the remote to pull up this menu and change colour settings with one touch any time you feel necessary. Clever.

As well as the standard DiSEqC 1.0 the TM 5000CI also supports version 1.2 of the protocol and Stab’s USALS. Surprisingly, activation of DiSEqC or motorized options can be found, in the satellite search menu, instead of where the positions are activated. The surprise turns into disappointment once you realise that what you’re looking at is possibly the most weirdly designed DiSEqC 1.2 menu made to date. While the motorized menu of the TM 5000CI sports advanced functions; like defining the nudge size for the movement, fine tuning, setting limits, and (thank god!) a signal level monitor, it's lacking the most basic features. It forces the user to go through possibly the most excruciating experience of setting each and every position by hand and storing them, one after another, to the motor’s memory.

Why there isn’t an option to call up the pre-stored positions every DiSEqC 1.2 motor comes with is simply beyond me and, to be honest, I wouldn’t want to be the one setting and fine tuning their first motor using only this receiver as a reference. I can only try to imagine that the software developer who wrote the OS for this box simply had nothing more than a Stab DiSEqC manual as a reference. Luckily for most modern motorized setups there is the USALS software to do the calculations. Unfortunately any attempts to fine tune satellite positions, previously set by USALS, are completely disregarded and immediately purged from the receiver's memory. So if your motor develops a slight drift over time, or your setup is prone to invasive weather conditions you might need to adjust your longitude in the USALS menu to make up for changes (SIGH). If your motor doesn’t support GotoX /USALS functions or you use a multiple LNB ergonomic motorized setup (Astra/Hotbird one position A/B, Sirius/Thor one position A/B etc) I can only solemnly sympathise.