Would Freeview and MediaPortal run on old hardware?

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GamerOC

438 posts

Ultimate Geek

Topic # 87128 20-Jul-2011 15:39

Hi there my cuss saw my freeview sat setup and I told him im setting up my terrestrial HD setup and he was impressed with my setup that I could surf web, skype and rec/watchtv so he asked me if his old pc could run Freeview.

specs according to my cuss

Pentium 4 3ghz
1GB ddr 400 ram
nvidia Ti4200
LifeView FlyVideo 2000
200GB hard drive
WindowsXP sp3

I reckon he should be able to but what you guys reckon,

Andy

mm1352000

1080 posts

Uber Geek
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Reply # 495822 20-Jul-2011 16:22

Hi GamerOC

It *might* run MP, but I don't think that TV card would be supported, reason being that it looks like it requires a connection to the soundcard for audio to work. Those kinds of cards aren't supported because we can't enable timeshifting or recording with them without commandeering the soundcard. That is stated in our wiki here. Even if it is supported, it doesn't look like it has a hardware encoder so setup would be a little tricky and the results may ultimately be unreliable.

The other potential problem is the video card. Requirements state that DirectX9c is required. It looks like that card may meet the spec, however I think it would be working pretty hard even just running the UI. Having said that, my radar could be completely off - you could at least try it and see. Reducing the output resolution and doing the video decoding and deinterlacing (with a simple bob algorithm) on the CPU may help. Obviously there is no hardware accelerated h.264 decode and I think the CPU would be borderline for handling that smoothly.

So overall, pretty borderline, leaning towards no. You could only really be certain by trying...

mrbig

61 posts

Master Geek
Inactive user

Reply # 495828 20-Jul-2011 16:30

hd channels will not work

dvb-s will works fine

GamerOC

438 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 495847 20-Jul-2011 17:13

Thank you so much for your replies guys. I will have to tell him that he maybe better off buying a mobo with onboard graphx and a newer tunner oh I guess that is a whole new computer cpu, mobo, ram , gpu, tunner etc.
thanks again,

Andy

dale77

291 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 497020 23-Jul-2011 09:23

I watch freeview hd in mediaportal, streamed over the network from the main htpc on this hardware:

Single core Athlon64 2GHz
2G RAM
Win XP SP3
HIS ATI 4670 AGP edition <--- key enabler

Works well.

HTPC: Antec Fusion 430, Gigabyte GA-MA78GPM-UD2H F7, AMD X2 4850e, Sapphire 4670 1GB, Corsair 4x1Gb, Adata 128Gb SSD, WD10EARS Green, LG GGC-H20L Blu-ray, Hauppauge NOVA TD-500, Logitech z-5500, Logitech Harmony 525, Samsung LA40B530 1080p, Vista Premium-32 SP2, Catalyst 10.12(Facelift preview), Mediaportal 1.2.3+OneButtonMusic, AC3Filter, Cyberlink Powercinema 6 codec, BLU-RAY: Samsung BD-F7500

GamerOC

438 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 497038 23-Jul-2011 10:26

how good is the image SD or HD? and no lag?

cheers,

Andy

mrbig

61 posts

Master Geek
Inactive user

Reply # 497060 23-Jul-2011 11:53

GamerOC: how good is the image SD or HD? and no lag?

cheers,

Andy

sd should have no lag should be fine

dale77

291 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 497098 23-Jul-2011 14:17

GamerOC: how good is the image SD or HD? and no lag?

cheers,

Andy

Input is TV1orTV3 1080i Freeview HD, running at 22" monitor resolution 1680x1050. Haven't tried driving a full hd monitor, 1920x1080 or 1200 vertical will be a bit tougher for the hardware.

At 1650x1080, no lag - perfect. See my sig for software setup, hardware & OS is for the main HTPC, but application software is common between the HTPC and the old desktop.

Dale

mm1352000

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Reply # 497142 23-Jul-2011 17:14

Thanks for commenting dale77!
I agree that the video card is key to enabling such a setup. I have a 4670 myself and it does a perfect job with my 24" 1920x1200 screen [note: the card is PCIe]. The comments about the TV card still stand though. It is analog, and will not be supported.

@GamerOC: Buy a cheap but reasonable video card, add a TV card that is capable of receiving Freeview HD, and you'll be away laughing...

mm

GamerOC

438 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 497345 24-Jul-2011 14:05

how about I get my mate a HD3870 512mb radeon card would it run HD in his 32 Inch HDTV? or is it a waste of rawpower as is a gaming card but I reckong is HD capable. What reasoble PCI tuner capable of receiving Freeview |HD you guys recommend me?

thanks again,

Andy

I nearly forgot to ask would he get same channels I get in sat through his terrestrial setup?

dale77

291 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 497668 25-Jul-2011 16:00

Dunno about the 3870. If yours is a pcie graphics system you might want to consider the Sapphire Xtendtv card, which combines an ATI 5570 with a DVB-T tuner.

http://www.ascent.co.nz/productspecification.aspx?ItemID=394708

The hauppage WinTV Nova T 500 tuner works well for me on PCI. (Not sure if the sapphire has dual tuners like the nova).

Freeview HD terrestrial and Freeview Satellite do have some different channels, not sure exactly what channels are missing from Terrestrial. The good news is that quality is better for terrestrial, that HD bit.

GamerOC

438 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 497697 25-Jul-2011 17:24

Really I thought HD 3870 512mb with DDR4 was a HD capable card?
If this card could do the job why buy newone?
but I will have to google the hardware you recommended,

cheers,

Andy

dale77

291 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 497703 25-Jul-2011 17:56

GamerOC: Really I thought HD 3870 512mb with DDR4 was a HD capable card?
If this card could do the job why buy newone?
but I will have to google the hardware you recommended,

cheers,

Andy

I said i don't know about the 3870, perhaps it will do the trick, I really don't know. I suggested the 5570 with tuner on the off chance you could use a pcie card (which probably you can't) so that instead of buying a graphic card and tuner you could just shell for the combined card.

For Freeview HD you need 1) graphic hardware that can accelerate h264 decode 2) tuner(s)... If you can get both in one that might make it more worthwhile.

GamerOC

438 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 498298 26-Jul-2011 23:50

Dale77 thanks for that info I understand now and yeah you are right about that,

thanks,

Andy