Abstract: A portable tester includes a housing sized to be handheld and adapted to enclose a processor and a non-volatile memory, a communication port adapted to couple a link with a set-top box and a communications port adapted to couple a link with an external computer, and an input/output (I/O) device, non-volatile memory comprising a test initiation application that sends test initiation commands through the communication port over the link to a testing application residing in the multimedia device, non-volatile memory receiving data generated by execution of the testing application and storing the data in non-volatile memory, non-volatile memory further comprising a data download application that sends the stored data through the communication port over the link to the external computer.