Compatible Freeview TV Tuner Cards Vista MCE

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calaisxtyo

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#25639 27-Aug-2008 19:41

Hi I've tried to search but cant seem to find the answer, I'm soo Noob at this.

Can someone point me to a list of Vista MCE compatible TV Tuner cards, I'm looking at purchasing and know that you can get the HVR 3000 or 4000 and do tricks with the registry etc but I'm looking at a card that you can plug in and your away. I dont want to use Powercinema, I want to use Vista MCE. I want to have Freeview/HD which I understand is DVB-T using the UHF aerial. Dual tuner or Single is not a problem.

Thanks in advance

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#160253 27-Aug-2008 19:52

Reading some more you would have found thta MCE doesn't work with freeview HD no matter which card you have.

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calaisxtyo

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#160255 27-Aug-2008 19:59

Ok just to clarify that part then, Freeview and/or Freeview/HD.

More to my story: I have 2 xbox 360's and want to stream Freeview and/or Freeview/HD to them using MCE, I also have sky which I want to input aswell. I have a Blaster to change channel's.

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#160261 27-Aug-2008 20:22

I've heard the Hauppuage Nova S card works good, and so does the SkyStar2. Obviously these are standard Freeview (satellite) cards.

sbiddle

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#160263 27-Aug-2008 20:25

If you want to use MCE and want to stream content then you can't use Freeview|HD, you will need to use Freeview which requires a satellite dish. This in itself doesn't work particularly well either.

There have been a few posts on here with people using the new TV Pack update which has a lot better support for DVB-S but unfortunately this is not publically available and appears to still have plenty of issues and setup is certainly not for the faint hearted.

The vast majority of people who want to use a PC as a PVR/HTPC for TV have given up on XP MCE or Vista MCE due to the numerous issues and limitations and moved to 3rd party applications such as GB-PVR, Media Portal or DVBViewer.

calaisxtyo

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#160277 27-Aug-2008 21:05

sbiddle: If you want to use MCE and want to stream content then you can't use Freeview|HD, you will need to use Freeview which requires a satellite dish. This in itself doesn't work particularly well either.

There have been a few posts on here with people using the new TV Pack update which has a lot better support for DVB-S but unfortunately this is not publically available and appears to still have plenty of issues and setup is certainly not for the faint hearted.

The vast majority of people who want to use a PC as a PVR/HTPC for TV have given up on XP MCE or Vista MCE due to the numerous issues and limitations and moved to 3rd party applications such as GB-PVR, Media Portal or DVBViewer.

Heya sbiddle,
Thanx for your informative reply, just so I understand you correctly, if I want to stream content which is normal freeview not freeview/HD to my 360's I can as long as the card is vista mce compatible and has a DVB-S input? Kewl I'm down with that, what cards would let me do that?

I've read post's about the TV Pack update, will keep an eye out on that.

As an idea: I buy a HVR 3000 or 4000. (Would you suggest a just as good alternative)
I split my Dish to the sky and run it to the HVR card aswell.
I run my UHF aerial directly to the HVR card aswell, so I have both Dish and UHF inputting to the HVR card.
I can run my sky to the HVR card aswell with composite or s-video.
I can then use GB-PVR or Powercinema to watch Freeview/HD on my LCD in the lounge using DVB-T.
I can then use MCE to stream Freeview DVB-S and sky to my 360's.

Does that all make sense? Will it work?

eXDee

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#160298 27-Aug-2008 22:34

Yes it will providing you don't want to use more than one tuner at once. If you do, you'd be better getting say a Nova S card and a Nova T/HVR-2200.
The HVR-3000/4000 is a hybrid card, meaning it can either tune into DVB-T, DVB-S or Analogue(svideo).

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#160321 28-Aug-2008 03:29

sbiddle: If you want to use MCE and want to stream content then you can't use Freeview|HD, you will need to use Freeview which requires a satellite dish. This in itself doesn't work particularly well either.

in what way does MCE and freeview satellite not work particularly well? i've been using a pair of Nova-S cards in my MCE HTPC for well over a year with no stability issues, missed recordings or any problems. Sure I had to use the hauppauge dvbt_as_dvbs hack to get it going initially but that was no big deal - in reality, not much more effort that filling in pages of configs in some of the other apps...

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rhysb

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#160386 28-Aug-2008 10:24

I agree with Regs, I've been using VMC with dual HVR-4000's and it works perfectly. The interface is far supperior to anything else around and the xbox as an extender works very well. Sure you can't get Freeview HD, but that's not a big issue for me, I'd rather have the stability and polish of VMC any day.

Quidam

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#160397 28-Aug-2008 10:47

Well each to their own, and a debate on whether the interface; capabilities; stability etc are more important is very subjective to the needs and wants of the user.

In my view (for what it is worth) if your objective is to get Hi Definition TV, forget about MCE.

If you own a Hi Defintion TV then I can't understand why you wouldn't want to get Hi Def broadcasts given they are now available (for free).

Having spent the time setting up and learning MediaPortal, I personally don't think the interface is very far behind MCE at all. In some ways, I actually like it better. And in terms of feature-set, it is light-years ahead. The price of course, is setup is a lot more work. Also, in terms of stability, I've found the latest release RC2, to be rock solid.

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calaisxtyo

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#160440 28-Aug-2008 13:23

Hi Guys,
I appreciate all your answer's and take them all on board in making my decision. I have read about the dvbt_as_dvbs hack, can you clarify for me. If I say thought about getting the Nova-T 500HD from Promax which says it is Dual Tuner has anyone used the hack for that?
I'm probly gonna have to bite the bullet really and maybe get the HVR3000 and not worry about the dual tuners by the looks of things.
Could someone also just clarify for me, if I used GB-PVR, can I still stream to the xbox? I wasn't aware that any other program's streamed to the 360, I only had the impression that MCE did, I do like the MCE interface but man, I'm sure any other interface will definately grow on me.

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Snowflake

#160466 28-Aug-2008 14:47

calaisxtyo: Hi Guys,
I appreciate all your answer's and take them all on board in making my decision. I have read about the dvbt_as_dvbs hack, can you clarify for me. If I say thought about getting the Nova-T 500HD from Promax which says it is Dual Tuner has anyone used the hack for that?
I'm probly gonna have to bite the bullet really and maybe get the HVR3000 and not worry about the dual tuners by the looks of things.
Could someone also just clarify for me, if I used GB-PVR, can I still stream to the xbox? I wasn't aware that any other program's streamed to the 360, I only had the impression that MCE did, I do like the MCE interface but man, I'm sure any other interface will definately grow on me.

the Nova-t-500 is a DVB-T tuner and therefore you wont be able to use it for freeview in NZ inside of MCE as our dvbt is broadcast as h.264. They can be used however in australia where the DVBT does not use h.264.

The DVBS_AS_DVBT hack was for making satellite cards such as the Nova-S-Plus appear to MCE as a DVBT card. Because freeview satellite is mpeg2 it works in MCE with this hack. I have 2 x Nova-S-Plus cards working in my MCE machine with the non-HD freeview from the satellite.

cant help you with the xbox extender question though

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#160468 28-Aug-2008 14:50

MCE extenders such as the xbox 360 or external extenders such as the Linkys and so on will only work with MCE. They don't work with software such as GB-PVR or Media Portal.

calaisxtyo

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#160585 28-Aug-2008 22:53

Thanks everyone for you useful reply's.

I'm gonna go with the HVR3000 as its a cheaper card than the 4000 and the only difference I saw was the DVB-s2 for HD satalite which by what I've read on the Freeview website is not looking into the near future of having HD on satalite anyway.

I'll try what I said earlier, run sky satalite to card and sky decoder, run uhf to card and run sky decoder to the card, Ill use GB-PVR to watch Freeview/HD in my lounge and i'm happy to stream freeview and sky to my 360 when I want too.

If anyone does see a floor in my plan, please let me know. I will then think about getting another HVR3000 later on to have the dual tuner set up.

Thanks again, its been very helpfull

Oh by the way does anyone know how useful the the pinnicle 6 in 1 Blackgold card is? My mates in the UK and he said that he saw this over there so I did think about finding out about it and maybe ask him to send one back.

calaisxtyo

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#160814 29-Aug-2008 22:04

rhysb: I agree with Regs, I've been using VMC with dual HVR-4000's and it works perfectly. The interface is far supperior to anything else around and the xbox as an extender works very well. Sure you can't get Freeview HD, but that's not a big issue for me, I'd rather have the stability and polish of VMC any day.

Hi rhysb,
I bit into a HVR3000 today can you please point me to some clear instructions on getting Freeview working in VMC please. I've got the Freeview/HD working in Powercinema that was quick and easy, I have sky running to the svideo now all I need is Freeview in MCE then hopefully I can stream it down to my 360.

RustyWaveAce

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#162890 7-Sep-2008 17:55

Hi all

I'm a noob and have read all this with much interest.

I am interested in putting a Freeview Terrestrial HD Tuner card in my old PC (in the rumpus) - but must:
- Be able to view / record / slipstream in HD (Via my Xbox-360 to my lovely Sony 60inch 1080p TV)
- But also be able to view and Control it all from the lounge via My Xbox 360 - using it as an extender.

If I read all the above comments correctly it seems that I can Not do what I want?
As:
- I would need to use Windows MediaCentre on my PC to get control from my Xbox 360 (using the Xbox as a extender)
- But WMC doesnt support HD on a Freeview Terrestrial card.
(per sbiddle's comment in 160263 above)

And

- if I use another software solution such as GB-PVR or MediPortal - I wont be able to Control it from the Lounge via the Xbox 360? (see sbiddle's comment in 160468 above)

i.e. dammned if I do (WMC - no HD) , damned if I dont (No WMC = No Control from the Xbox in the lounge)

However: I did a search on the MediaPortal site for Xbox and found a couple of plugins that may (???) do the trick:
- MCETvServerClient:
http://www.team-mediaportal.com/component/option,com_remository/Itemid,35/func,fileinfo/id,508/
and
- Xbox Media Center - MediaPortal Integration:
http://www.team-mediaportal.com/component/option,com_remository/Itemid,35/func,fileinfo/id,65/

Qns:
1) Does anyone have any experience with these plugins. or have any other suggestions on how to do PVR HD and control it via an Xbox?

2) Also - before I race out and buy a TV Tuner card - will my old PC (Celerion 2.4gh, with 1 Gb Ram, lots of disk space) cut the mustard with say a Hauppage Nova T 500HD, or HVR-3000, or HVR-4000 card? - and give me a stutter-free Hi Def picture (when played thru the Xbox) ?
(NB: I can stream movies including HD MP4 and WMV's ok on my PC+Xbox at present - its more a qn about the TV Tuner card)

Call me cheap - but basically I want a Freeview version of MySky HD (I wished someone had a good FreeView HD PVR set top box with integreted EPG - in which case I would probably just go and buy one)

Thanks. Cheers Rusty

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