jaytc2003

iTrader: (1)

Gonna build a media pc with bits that I have lying round, and as I no longer have sky I want to utilise the dish by means of the above mentioned card to take advantage of freesat and freesat hd (and any other channels I can get)

The cards I have seen only have the one input, but I want to be able to record one channel whilst watching another like sky +. Can the cards record one channel whilst watching another via the one input or would I need a card with twin input, or 2 x 1 input cards?

Anyone any recommendations of a card? I am toying with trying a compro videomate S350 (there is free software to turn it into a pvr) but from what I have read I cannot tell if it will enable me to do what I need to do with the one card, or if it can actually be used with another card

Compro VideoMate S350 PCI Digital Satellite TV Tuner Card Supports DiSEqC SDTV And 1080i HDTV ( Where Applicale ) With Remote Control - S350 - www.microdirect.co.uk


Cheers

scoobynewbie72

iTrader: (1)

Cant u pick a 2nd hand sky + box up an use that ?

jaytc2003

iTrader: (1)

I already have a sky + box, but I cancelled my subscription so I no longer have the sky + service.

I am building a media pc as you can get a combined bluray / hd dvd / dvd for about £50 so it means I can get rid of my existing sky + box, and also a dvd player thus having one funky unit that does it all (internet tv as well)

joey_turbo

iTrader: (26)

Can't advise on the DVB carb unfortunatley.
But keep us posted on your media centre project, I've always wanted to do one.

jaytc2003

iTrader: (1)

will do, was gonna go for a humax freesat hd pvr but at £299 I thought I may as well utilise things I already have to get a superior product

joey_turbo

iTrader: (26)

Its much better doing it yourself.
Have a look at the ad on this page.
Link:
CyberEstore.com | Bringing the world to your TV, HDTV Antennas, DISH Network, DIRECTV, Free to Air, HDTV Tuner cards, satellite equipment ,supplies & accessories - HDTV PC TV Tuners

Butty

iTrader: (2)

The combo cards I've come across only allow one input at a time, so useless for watching and recording simultaneously.
2 PCI input cards may be the only way, unless something new is on the market since I last searched (4 months ago), but at £23 each for the linked item, its not a big cost.
The other issue with watching Freesat on a non Freesat system is the lack of EPG, but this might be cracked now.

nick

Dr.No

2 x Hauppauge WinTV-Nova-HD-S2

I couldn't find ANY twin input DVB-S2 cards, so went for two of the above. Future-proofing by going with DVB-S2 rather than DVB-S makes sense, and the Hauppauge's are about £60 each, so not too expensive.

jaytc2003

iTrader: (1)

You can get the epg now with certain cards like the hauppauge and it is supposedly quite good. There are also other progs that will do it as well so well covered.
Thats the only way I have seen by getting 2 cards, I know some can be used that way (gonna be using mce 2005) but the mobo from my desktop that I was going to use only has 1 pci slot so that sort of rules that out unless I get a new mobo and processor etc. I would keep my mobo as it is quite good if I could upgrade to quad core, but although it is the same socket it doesnt support it even with the latest bios (suppose I could look for a hacked bios)

I do have an old athlon system from my father in law, but I dont think it would be cut out for the hd stuff

just seen this so gonna look into it, its a quad tuner dvb s, dvb s2, dvb t, and fm

Hauppauge WinTV HVR4000 - PCI Quad Tuner Card - Aria Technology

chrisowe

You can use Vista and get hold of the TV pack which gives support for DVB-S/S2 cards. Then use a hacked dll to get BBC HD. This is the system I use complete with a single Hauppauge card as mentioned above.

jaytc2003

iTrader: (1)

you dont need to hack anything for the hd, itv is available as well but I think you do need to do something on that as it is a red button service

chrisowe

You do as the h264 codec is not supported in Vista media center with the TV pack. Microsoft took the support out in the final release of the TV pack. Some cunning person has hacked the dll that supported h264 in the beta so you have to use that. BBC and ITV are broadcast in h264.

jaytc2003

iTrader: (1)

bit of crossed wires I think as looking at my first post it looks as though I am using media centre 2005 to run the show, thats not the case thats just going to be the op system as I have an unused licence to use.
you are right in saying it doesnt work on media centre out of the box there is a bit of freeware software that will do the trick straight out of the box without hacking anything (dreamdvb is one piece of software I am looking at)

jaytc2003

iTrader: (1)

hmmmm just seen a case :drool:

After Hours Computers - Thermaltake Bach VB8001BNS HTPC Case with MCE Remote and LCD Display Black

jaytc2003

iTrader: (1)

what software are you using to run the 2 cards? I actually got the compro card yesterday for a test but I am struggling getting bbc hd (can see the channel but it is a weak signal but my cabling isnt the greatest in this particular area)

Its looking like I will go the new mobo route so I can get one with enough pci slots to run the 2 cards so that I can watch one and record another.

I bought a prog called dvb viewer and downloaded some freeware progs called progdvb and also dreamdvb

Dr.No

Vista Ultimate Media Centre, with TV Pack and hacked H.264 DLL...

Not tried anything else other than Media Centre to be honest so can't really comment on what you could use. As MC is so good I'd tend to go with it (plus TV Pack and hacked DLL) if possible.

DN

jaytc2003

iTrader: (1)

cheers, I picked up a compro the other day and tried it in my existing desktop, it isnt recognised by mce 2005 so I have to use 3rd party software for that. I did a scan and I have bbc hd and luxe hd and I manually tuned in itv hd (although that wasnt broadcasting)

Decided on a spec for it

Case (choice of 5) either
Silverstone Grandia GD01b-MXR
Thermaltake DH101 VF7001BNS
Thermaltake Mozart SXVC7001SNS
Antec Fusion Mediacente Microatx
Arianet Synergy HTPC

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
Gigabyte GA73PVM-S2H
2gb Patriot DDR2 8500
320gb Samsung HD322 F1 Sata HD
LG GGC H20L Blu Ray / HD / DVD player

just need to decide on which case

dunx

iTrader: (3)

I got the VB8001BNS !

Excellent build quality, but get a decent PSU as my cheap 500W unit is a bit noisy with an 8800 graphics card....

Added itunes and it displays details on the LCD

Fancy going HD as the next step, but I'm sorting Scooby first

dunx

P.S. Using Vista - from work......

jaytc2003

iTrader: (1)

you stalking me

60 quid for an internal blu ray player that also plays hd films (4.99 apparently from hmv) and normal dvds, as well as burning dvds and cds

how do you rate the case?

chrisowe

If your going for a new build it seems a shame to sell yourself short on the operating system. I strongly recommend you use Vista the media centre is so much better than MCE2005.

jaytc2003

iTrader: (1)

I can always use vista as I upgraded a laptop to vista from mce 2005 hence I have a spare licence, so I can put mce back on the laptop and vista on the media centre.

Today I am going to go out shopping for parts

still dont know my spec though as I keep getting different suggestions