Best tuner solution for XP MCE?

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gslapp

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#15042 1-Aug-2007 09:38

Hi Folks...!

I'm going to be moving from the UK to NZ soon and have shipped my XP Windows MCE box across. I had hoped that the Hauppauge Nova-T 500 Dual tuner DVB-T card I used in the UK would work, but the more I look into things I've realised that this is now not going to work.

My partner is already in NZ (New Plymouth) and we have Sky.

What would be the best option for a tuner card. I only have 1 PCI slot free in the case (slimline) but would like the ability to watch and record different channels, either dual tuner or single tuner with capture from the Sky box.

As the TV standards and available technology is quite different from what I'm used to, I'm looking for some advice please!

If I get a DVB-S card, can I only watch Free-To-Air channels?
What's the best card for DVB-S and Windows MCE?
Is it worth waiting for DVB-T to be rolled out? (In the UK we have around 40 FTA Freeview channels, is NZ going to have as many?)
How well does Sky work with a capture card and a remote "eye" to change the Sky reciever? Worthwhile?

I'm really sorry for all the questions! I'm sure there's plenty expertise out there, and much of the NZ Television technology is new to me!

Thanks everyone!

Graeme

Rollux

362 posts

Ultimate Geek

#80707 1-Aug-2007 10:31

gslapp: Hi Folks...!

If I get a DVB-S card, can I only watch Free-To-Air channels?
What's the best card for DVB-S and Windows MCE?
Is it worth waiting for DVB-T to be rolled out? (In the UK we have around 40 FTA Freeview channels, is NZ going to have as many?)

Yes, only FTA with a DVB-S card (and that means 6 channels at the mo)
Hauppauge NOVA S Plus is what I'm running, and it's great. Has inputs via a composite channel. Can also get a dual version (HVR5000??) Any DVB-S card will require a registry hack to work in MCE
DVBT will be launched mid to late 2008 in the main cities. NZ is SUPPOSED to get 18 channels in total by 2015, but from the looks of it they will mainly be crap with a lot of old repeats.

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gslapp

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#80833 2-Aug-2007 03:19

Rollux:

Yes, only FTA with a DVB-S card (and that means 6 channels at the mo)
Hauppauge NOVA S Plus is what I'm running, and it's great. Has inputs via a composite channel. Can also get a dual version (HVR5000??) Any DVB-S card will require a registry hack to work in MCE
DVBT will be launched mid to late 2008 in the main cities. NZ is SUPPOSED to get 18 channels in total by 2015, but from the looks of it they will mainly be crap with a lot of old repeats.

Yeah, thanks for that... Pretty much as I though!

What's the general verdict? DVB-S or plain old UHF (not Sky UHF)?

DVB-S will obviously have better picture quality, but UHF is cheaper....

What are folks using out there, and how well does it work for you?

Thanks again, folks! Your help and advice is much appreciated!

Graeme

tonyhughes

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#80837 2-Aug-2007 07:47

With a Sky box, you can only get one channel out of it at a time. Its $25 a month extra to get a second STB to run two tuners.

I run my Sky into an Avermedia analogue card, but if you were building this from scratch you would likely use a PVR150 instead.

MCE with the 'eye' ("IR Blaster") can indeed change the channel on my Sky box - no magic tricks required.

I am ditching this setup and going for 2 x Nova DVB-S cards to get dual tuner Freeview. Not many channels yet, dunno whn DVB-T is due either.

Keeping sky, but at this stage due to MCE limitations around multiple sources, I guess Sky will just be a standalone feed into the back of my TV.

PromNZ

154 posts

Master Geek

#80849 2-Aug-2007 11:10

Yeah the quality of NZTV is questionable. While the desire is to eventually have a lot of Freeview - Triangle TV is shifting to FV soon - it would be a bit unrealistic to expect too many channels on it, due to the small size of NZ.

Expect DVB-T by the end of the year or early 2008.

tonyhughes: I am ditching this setup and going for 2 x Nova DVB-S cards to get dual tuner Freeview.

Sorry for the thread hijack but Tony any chance of a thread once you've got it up and running ? It's exactly what I'm after (and I'm also ditching Sky digital and my Hauppage 500 card for dual DVB-S cards for Freeview).

sbiddle

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#80853 2-Aug-2007 11:19

The Hauppauge 4000's are worth looking at if you don't mind paying a bit more - both DVB-S and DVB-T on the same card so you'll be ready for DVB-T once it launches in Feb next year and they also support the MPEG4 DVB-T although XP MCE or Vista MCE won't handle this so you would need another application to record and watch the DVB-T service.

lchiu7

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#80887 2-Aug-2007 15:48

I was thinking of the Hauppauge 3000 but if the 4000 can do HD as MPEG4 over DVB-T then that might be a good solution. I wonder if gbpvr supports DVB-T HD? It would be hard for sub to test given that there are few DVB-T HD broadcasts around the world.

Larry

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sbiddle

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#80895 2-Aug-2007 16:52

lchiu7: I was thinking of the Hauppauge 3000 but if the 4000 can do HD as MPEG4 over DVB-T then that might be a good solution. I wonder if gbpvr supports DVB-T HD? It would be hard for sub to test given that there are few DVB-T HD broadcasts around the world.

Larry

GB-PVR 1.0.8 supports DVB-T H264

As for required hardware from the numerous posts I've read about the UK trials it appears that the majority of existing DVB-T cards and USB tuners will work with the MPEG4 transmissions. It's simply a matter of having tv software that allows the use of 3rd party codecs such as coreavc to decode the transmissions. Decoding HD transmissions seems to also be very CPU intensive with a dual core being minimum spec for software decoding.

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lchiu7

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#81504 7-Aug-2007 21:14

Since the HVR-4000 only support HD over satellite and Sky signals would be encrypted anyway, seems like the better choice would be the HVR-3000 would be the better choice since it supports DVD-S and DVB-T and as if you say, if the majority of DVB-T cards work with MPEG4 with suitable codecs, then that would be all you need

Larry

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Regs

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Snowflake

#81516 7-Aug-2007 23:38

tonyhughes: I am ditching this setup and going for 2 x Nova DVB-S cards to get dual tuner Freeview.

PromNZ: Sorry for the thread hijack but Tony any chance of a thread once you've got it up and running ? It's exactly what I'm after (and I'm also ditching Sky digital and my Hauppage 500 card for dual DVB-S cards for Freeview).

I have dual Nova-S's running in both XP and Vista MCE. There are no tricks different from getting a single Nova-S running.

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