New to Freeview - looking at DVB-T cards

Forums › Freeview (DVB-T/DVB-S) › New to Freeview - looking at DVB-T cards

AmooMan

307 posts

Ultimate Geek
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Topic # 31518 20-Mar-2009 14:20

Hi all

Im keen to get a DVB-T for my PC to watch freeview.
I have done a fair bit of research around Geekzone forums & others.. but still confused.. :/
What cards do you guys recommend ?

and should i go PCI or PCI-E card ?

My PC's Specs are:

AMD 9550 2.2GHz (quad core)
4GB DD2 Ram
9800GTX 512mb
2 x 1TB Segate HD
Logitech Z-5500 - with Dolby® digital , DTS , THX
Vista Prem 64bit
2 x PCI-E free
2 x PCI-X Free

Also would like to know what software I should use / Windows Media Center? mythtv ?

Also :) My wife is also keen to watch freeview .. but Im not keen on her using my PC all the time to watch (shortland st , home & away... ect ) Her Laptop is an Acer running Vista Prem 32bit - 2gb ram.. its mid to low spec laptop now days....

so i was thinkn

Would i be best to get a USB DVB-T stick or should i get a Network DVB-T to use on both PC? I guess there is such a thing..

Mattv

241 posts

Master Geek
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Reply # 202378 20-Mar-2009 16:47

So many possibilities and questions.

As far as a card goes I would probably go with the PCI-E Hauppauge HVR-2200. This is dual tuner and has the option of doing analogue (for prime etc) which I don't think the PCI Nova-T-500 does. The down side is that it does not come with a remote. Other options such as the HVR-3000 or HVR-4000 will let you get DVB-S as well if you need/want it but generally I would go with a Hauppauge card.

Software wise I personally would go with Windows 7 beta (don't go with build 7057 - people seem to be having a few problems with it). Vista MCE will not do DVB-T. If you want to stick with Vista you will need something like GB-PVR or Mediaportal - neither is as good as W7MC in my experience unless you have lots of time to tinker with the setup.

The big question with your wifes laptop is the graphics ability. It doesn't sound as if the processor alone will be up to it but if it has a dedicated video card, Nvidia 8500M or better you should be fine. In this case a T stick would work fine but she will obviously need some sort of aerial and have the right software setup too. To do the network thing you would need to go with GB-PVR or Mediaportal again and the laptop would need the graphic ability still.
Another option may be to get an XBOX360 and hook it up to your PC and to your main TV (assuming that is an option) To do this though you will definitely need to go with Windows 7 on your PC.

my 2c worth anyway

AmooMan

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Ultimate Geek
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Reply # 202397 20-Mar-2009 18:13

Ok so my wifes laptop specs are:
AMD Athlon X2 Dual 1.8ghz
and its gota Geforce 7000M

So might be abit underpowered for a USB DVB-T stick?

What is the Xbox360 option you were talking about? how does that work?

I have a PS3 but im sick of waiting for PlayTV to come out in NZ :(

Ill have a look at the PCI-E Hauppauge HVR-2200..
Sounds like just the trick..

has anyone else got any recommendations on DVB-T cards?

Mattv

241 posts

Master Geek
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Reply # 202409 20-Mar-2009 19:40

Yes I think you would be pushing it with your wifes laptop. The big problem is decoding the H.264 stream the freeview DVB-T is broadcast in. Computers with 8500 (or equivilant) or later video cards can offload the processing to the video card. I'm not sure how the main processor would go but I have a feeling it would be struggling.

The 360 option invlolves connecting the 360 to the PC (preferably wired but you can get a wireless adapter) and using it as mediacenter "extender" plugged into your TV. This basically replicates the mediacenter interface using the tuners and harddrive storage of your main PC. You can watch live or recorded TV, music, videos etc - basically 95% of what you can do in mediacenter itself. It doesn't put much load on the PC though as it does it's own video processing. The caveat is that the PC must be running Windows 7 to do DVB-T and although it is very stable it is still a beta (with the RC out in a month or two)

Personally I think it works well, even if it is not perfect...

Mattv

241 posts

Master Geek
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Reply # 202412 20-Mar-2009 19:52

I should probably add the biggest problem with XBOX360's is noise. I think the newest "jasper" ones are quieter but still not brilliant (although I've never heard one). You can also get extenders from D-Link and others but at this stage they do not have the updated firmware/software to work properly with Windows 7 and H.264.

sonicpro

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

Reply # 202458 20-Mar-2009 23:07

Your wifes laptop will be able to handle freeview fine.

My laptop is a turion x2 1.6ghz geforce go 6150.
Mediaportal and GBPVR dont run very well in my experience but dvbviewer works excellently.
Coreavc and powerdvd 8 work fine without hardware accelleration , at worst uses 80% of cpu when tv3 is on which is fine, no stuttering.

For laptops Mongramm aac is the way to go for audio as it can increase the volume by 10db as the sound from the laptops can be quiet.

USB dvb-t tuners work fine, I would reccomend getting one that has a regular anntena socket on it rather than one that uses an adapter from a small socket to a regular one as they can be loose. Networking the tuners is perhaps more trouble than its worth.

DVBViewer is the way to go if you want things to just work.

Hope that helps

lchiu7

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Reply # 202566 22-Mar-2009 08:49

I went through 3 cards/devices before settling on the Nova T 500. The first was a HVR3000 since I thought I might record DVB-S also. I couldn't get the card to git in my PVR case so sold it.

Then got the 900H (meant to get the 900 but vendor sent the 900H). This worked intermittenly in GBPVR but the device would lose itself some of the time and GBPVR could not record.

So gave that to my brother and purchased the Nova T 500. THis works fine and I like the fact that you can record off two transponders at the same time and possibly 2 channels off one transponder. I have no nead for analogue since that is taken care of by my PVR250 and TCL cable TV

System One: Popcorn Hour A200, PS3 SuperSlim, NPVR and Plex Server running on Gigabyte Brix (Windows 10 Pro), Sony BDP-S390 BD player, Pioneer AVR, Raspberry Pi running Kodi and Plex, Panasonic 60" 3D plasma, Google Chromecast

System Two: Popcorn Hour A200 , Oppo BDP-80 BluRay Player with hardware mode to be region free, Vivitek HD1080P 1080P DLP projector with 100" screen. Harman Kardon HK AVR 254 7.1 receiver, Samsung 4K player, Google Chromecast

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AmooMan

307 posts

Ultimate Geek
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Reply # 203624 26-Mar-2009 21:57

Thanks to Mattv , sonicpro and lchiu7

Some very handy hints there and has helpped me alot.

I think at this stage... Ill just hold fire.. for a few reasons..

1# TiVo launch in NZ soon.. maybe that might be good idea/product...
2# Windows 7 RC1 is out April/May (I was to slow to get a Beta Key)
3# Bank account has taken a hit lately so best to save up..

Will be keeping a close eye on the Geekzone Forums for any updates or new products.

Thanks again guys

1gkar

722 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 204229 30-Mar-2009 16:13

Just to quantify a question you asked in your first post (in case you change your mind in the near future): if you want to go DVB-T for FreeviewHD viewing, you need PCI-E. PCI (AGP) architecture is not compatible.

As for a poster stating Mediaportal doesn't run FreeviewHD very well: sorry, if configured right it goes brilliantly. As another poster stated, if you have the time for configuring & like custom tweaking, like skins & upscaled DVDs, then it can't be beaten IMHO. Better than boring default MCE blue.

But, whatever way you go: there is a significant amount of time to get a working HTPC. Whichever way you do go: FreeviewHD is brilliant: hi-res & 5.1, at times. hopefully will be better supported by the networks in future.

Silverstone LC14 HTPC Case/Intel E4600 CPU/GA-EP35-DS3 MOBO/Asus EN9500GT graphics/2GB RAM/total 2TB HDD space/HVR-2200 & 2X 150MCE tuner cards/LG GGC-H20L BD Drive/MCE2005/Mediaportal/TVServer 1.1.0Final/LG 55"3D LED-TV/Denon AVR-1803 receiver/X1 projector

Deev8

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Reply # 204264 30-Mar-2009 18:01

AmooMan: TiVo launch in NZ soon..

TVNZ are planning a launch in time for Christmas, so it won't be available too soon. Hopefully there will be other Freeview|HD dual tuner recorders on the market some tiime before then.

lchiu7

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Reply # 204265 30-Mar-2009 18:17

1gkar: Just to quantify a question you asked in your first post (in case you change your mind in the near future): if you want to go DVB-T for FreeviewHD viewing, you need PCI-E. PCI (AGP) architecture is not compatible.

This is unclear to me. You don't need PCI-E for the DVB-T card. PCI or even USB would be okay. If you are talking about AGP then you mean video. Then the likelihood of success with HW acceleration is much greater with PCI-E video cards than AGP but AGP can be made to work (I have it working okay)

But, whatever way you go: there is a significant amount of time to get a working HTPC. Whichever way you do go: FreeviewHD is brilliant: hi-res & 5.1, at times. hopefully will be better supported by the networks in future.

Can't disagree with that. Just need more content

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1gkar

722 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 204287 30-Mar-2009 19:49

lchiu7:
1gkar: Just to quantify a question you asked in your first post (in case you change your mind in the near future): if you want to go DVB-T for FreeviewHD viewing, you need PCI-E. PCI (AGP) architecture is not compatible.

This is unclear to me. You don't need PCI-E for the DVB-T card. PCI or even USB would be okay. If you are talking about AGP then you mean video. Then the likelihood of success with HW acceleration is much greater with PCI-E video cards than AGP but AGP can be made to work (I have it working ok)

Sorry. Teach me to do more than three things. To clarify: I was referring to the playback of the DVB-T recording with an average CPU: not one capable of running 100% DVB-T soft decoding. What AGP card/mobo/CPU are you using for DVB-T playback? I was under the distinct impression, to minimise playback issues, you needed at least an 8*** Nvidia card, or its ATI equivalent. And for that you needed PCI-E motherboard architecture.

lchiu7

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Reply # 204295 30-Mar-2009 20:33

1gkar:

Sorry. Teach me to do more than three things. To clarify: I was referring to the playback of the DVB-T recording with an average CPU: not one capable of running 100% DVB-T soft decoding. What AGP card/mobo/CPU are you using for DVB-T playback? I was under the distinct impression, to minimise playback issues, you needed at least an 8*** Nvidia card, or its ATI equivalent. And for that you needed PCI-E motherboard architecture.

For architectural reasons (my PVR has a Sempron 2600 with an AGP slotfor video) and because I am cheap(!) I picked up a Sapphire HD 2600 XT (ATI Radeon based) APG video card for the machine.

From my understanding the ATO 2600 series cards really are designed for PCI-E architecture but Sapphire has found a way to make it work in an AGP slot and written their own drivers for the card.

The CPU is pretty modest as you see (single core, 64 bit) but in GBPVR or with PowerDVD8 I can playback TV3 HD content (which is the hardest) with about 15% CPU usage. Without HW acceleration enabled the video is pretty much unwatchable

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1gkar

722 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 204311 30-Mar-2009 21:36

lchiu7:
1gkar:

Sorry. Teach me to do more than three things. To clarify: I was referring to the playback of the DVB-T recording with an average CPU: not one capable of running 100% DVB-T soft decoding. What AGP card/mobo/CPU are you using for DVB-T playback? I was under the distinct impression, to minimise playback issues, you needed at least an 8*** Nvidia card, or its ATI equivalent. And for that you needed PCI-E motherboard architecture.

For architectural reasons (my PVR has a Sempron 2600 with an AGP slotfor video) and because I am cheap(!) I picked up a Sapphire HD 2600 XT (ATI Radeon based) APG video card for the machine.

From my understanding the ATO 2600 series cards really are designed for PCI-E architecture but Sapphire has found a way to make it work in an AGP slot and written their own drivers for the card.

The CPU is pretty modest as you see (single core, 64 bit) but in GBPVR or with PowerDVD8 I can playback TV3 HD content (which is the hardest) with about 15% CPU usage. Without HW acceleration enabled the video is pretty much unwatchable

OK. I've learned something today. Cheers.

sbiddle

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Reply # 204314 30-Mar-2009 21:44

After playing with a HDHomeRun for a few hours I can certainly recommend them as a serious option for DVB-T. Price is a bit on the steep side but they are a very nice unit and have obvious advantages if you've got multiple PC's.

lchiu7

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Reply # 204319 30-Mar-2009 22:15

1gkar:
lchiu7:
1gkar:

Sorry. Teach me to do more than three things. To clarify: I was referring to the playback of the DVB-T recording with an average CPU: not one capable of running 100% DVB-T soft decoding. What AGP card/mobo/CPU are you using for DVB-T playback? I was under the distinct impression, to minimise playback issues, you needed at least an 8*** Nvidia card, or its ATI equivalent. And for that you needed PCI-E motherboard architecture.

For architectural reasons (my PVR has a Sempron 2600 with an AGP slotfor video) and because I am cheap(!) I picked up a Sapphire HD 2600 XT (ATI Radeon based) APG video card for the machine.

From my understanding the ATO 2600 series cards really are designed for PCI-E architecture but Sapphire has found a way to make it work in an AGP slot and written their own drivers for the card.

The CPU is pretty modest as you see (single core, 64 bit) but in GBPVR or with PowerDVD8 I can playback TV3 HD content (which is the hardest) with about 15% CPU usage. Without HW acceleration enabled the video is pretty much unwatchable
OK. I've learned something today. Cheers.

Well I think it's more luck than skill getting it to work. I think sbiddle thinks the ATI Radeon 2600 are a POS (he used to have one and ditched it) but I had no choice but to go with one and luckily it worked.

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