Building a HTPC, Wintv HVR 3000 yes or no?

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Building a HTPC, Wintv HVR 3000 yes or no?

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29 posts

Geek

#226538 19-Jun-2009 07:49

I have a HIS HD3850 AGP card, had no issues, works fine with HD-T, download my screen shots and have alook

http://rapidshare.com/files/246026780/Presentation1.pptx

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silver565

170 posts

Master Geek

#226547 19-Jun-2009 08:18

when you say "with hacks". What did you have to do to get the card to work under windows xp? or was it just media center that had to be altered?

Cheers

silver565

170 posts

Master Geek

#226549 19-Jun-2009 08:25

Cheers Wally.

I guess it's one of those things that either work or doesn't at all. I probably go for the Hvr 3000 as it's only $50 more

How much does Dvb Viewer cost?

walt12

324 posts

Ultimate Geek

#226594 19-Jun-2009 10:19

wally5 - when you says works, is the H.264 decode being offloaded to the GPU or being done by the CPU? Check CPU performance in the Task Manager. If CPU load is greater than 15-20% during playback, then the CPU is doing the decode, in which case the 3850 AGP is not "working".

I stand to be corrected though - its just that all previous AGP cards would absolutely not do the decode as the drivers would not support it.

walt12

324 posts

Ultimate Geek

#226597 19-Jun-2009 10:22

Simple decision really ... if you ever plan on doing DVB-T, then get the HVR3000.

silver565

170 posts

Master Geek

#226601 19-Jun-2009 10:39

Yea good point. I guess i'll decide when i get there.

I know the sattelite is working fine so i'm going to use that anyway. as i'm not sure how "good" the aerial on my roof is anymore lol

mcraenz

1140 posts

Uber Geek

#226603 19-Jun-2009 10:45

The other thing to be aware of is that the hvr3k's analog side does not have a hardware encoder which IMHO makes it pretty much useless. The hvr2200 on the other hand has dual dvb-t/analog hw encoder. So if you are building a Freeview HD htpc it really is the ultimate card. What about 2 nova-s cards, what will that cost compared to the hvr3k. Anyone know well windows 7 handels software encoding?

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davidcole

6011 posts

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Trusted

#226609 19-Jun-2009 10:58

mcraenz: The other thing to be aware of is that the hvr3k's analog side does not have a hardware encoder which IMHO makes it pretty much useless. The hvr2200 on the other hand has dual dvb-t/analog hw encoder. So if you are building a Freeview HD htpc it really is the ultimate card. What about 2 nova-s cards, what will that cost compared to the hvr3k. Anyone know well windows 7 handels software encoding?

The other advantage with a hybrid card over a staight DVB-T or dvb-t/analogue card, is that the DVB-S can be used to obtain the EPG for freeview channels and prime (and sky if you really want to).

Yes the lack of hardware decoder can be an issue. But there has been some success with GBPVR using the software encoding on an HVR3000

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walt12

324 posts

Ultimate Geek

#226616 19-Jun-2009 11:15

Is the lack of analog hardware encoding really an issue? The only channel on analog FTA that is not in either digital format is Prime. If you can do without that, then its a non-issue.

And if not, then perhaps better to get a separate PVR-150 to capture directly from a SKY STB and go the whole hog, as it were ...

silver565

170 posts

Master Geek

#226650 19-Jun-2009 12:22

i was just leaning towards the HVR 3000 because it was newer(possibly better??). However everyone here seems to have good things to say about the nova-s plus.

EPG?

Electronic program guide? is that available with the nova-s?

I will only be using dvb-s at this stage, i'm not worried about HD etc. As long as i can get freeview satellite i'm happy.
Dvb-t will be something i will look into a lot later. Quite possibly when i build the new computer later this year.

silver565

170 posts

Master Geek

#226656 19-Jun-2009 12:30

As far as software goes, what should i use?

I've come across media portal which looks nice enough. Are there any free packages i should be looking at too?

Or is the software that comes with the hauppauge cards fine fine?

davidcole

6011 posts

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#226665 19-Jun-2009 12:53

silver565: As far as software goes, what should i use?

I've come across media portal which looks nice enough. Are there any free packages i should be looking at too?

Or is the software that comes with the hauppauge cards fine fine?

For dvb-s only wintv will work. Not sure if it gets program guide etc. Other free software (apart from media portal) is GBPVR. Or depending on your version of windows Media Center.

For linux there's mythtv etc. They all have pros and cons, and fanboys and haters. So it comes down to a personal decision.

silver565

170 posts

Master Geek

#226675 19-Jun-2009 13:11

Thanks davidcole

I'll be using wintv then. I guess now i just have to get the card and split the Sky dish connection. I'll be using windows Xp Pro. However i can always put vista home premium on it if need be (the computer has a licence for that too).

I've played with linux before. I don't really want to go there with the htpc. The terminal server was hard enough lol.

I won't be using it heavily. Just watching tv.

I'll be picking up the bits on saturday and hopefully assembling that day as well(providing the cables turn up).

Regs

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Snowflake

#226825 19-Jun-2009 19:24

silver565: when you say "with hacks". What did you have to do to get the card to work under windows xp? or was it just media center that had to be altered?

you need to load a reg file with the appropriate settings for the DVBS frequencies along with a reg setting DVBS_AS_DVBT which makes the driver think that the DVBS (unsupported) is DVBT (supported). this is required for both XP MCE and Vista MCE. Vista MCE with TV PAck and Win7 MCE work ok with DVBS without the hack.

there are some threads on this and the corresponding settings on GZ, do a search if you need them, or PM me for settings - if you PM, let me know what freq LNB - 10750 or 11300 MHz.

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Regs

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Snowflake

#226832 19-Jun-2009 19:47

i thought wintv was crap. try out media portal (free), gbpvr (free) or windows media center (free with some windows SKUs).

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