Medion PC with DVB-S

matty2003

I see Aldi are offering a bells and whistles PC from Medion which among others has 2 DVB-S tuners. I wonder if there is an EPG or similar. Presume also that it would operate as an FTA box? Does anyone have any experience of these?

L1011

I doubt it'll have any commercial EPG system, although it may allow a manually set up xmltv based one (leeches radio times data off the web). The tuners will only be usable for FTA unless they have CI slots, in which case you can get CAMs for subscribing to certain pay-TV services.

watty

Only EPG from German channels. Sky platform channels only now and next.

Yes it will work for FTA. Record BBC /ITV direct to disk.

Assuming it *IS* DVB-s and not DVB-t (Terrestrial).

What make are the Sat receivers? Some have such poor 3rd party support you are better binning tham and buying Skystar2 compatible for 60 Euro each.


I use digiguide from Gypsy media as my program guide / EPG on PC.

matty2003

It actually has twin DVB-S, twin DVB-T and twin analogue tuners. I'm not sure but I think it has some proprietary software working as an EPG.

watty

That sounds more intgeresting. Can't find it on Aldi website. When is it in?

matty2003

try this http://www.medion.co.uk/flash/md8800/index.html

It available from Thursday 30th

mjsmyth

I just looked at the Aldi site. all I can see mentioned is dual analogue tuners, did I miss something somewhere?

I know that the Medion site gives another spec for the same model, but........ well I dunno, seems like they would want to highlight the 6 tuners.

MJ

matty2003

Yeah, the Aldi site isn't great for specs. The Medion site does say that's it available in Aldi from 30th March. There's more specs. in the Aldi flyer which comes with the latest RTE Guide - that does mention the 6 tuners. I think though that the analogue tuners and DVB-T tuners are actually hybrid analogue/digital cards, so you get 6 tuners on 4 cards.

watty

I think this may only be in the UK, not Ireland.

From Medion site:

3 x dual TV tuners installed

Watch TV and record another programme at the same time


In all common standards: three twin tuners (!) mean you can receive
digital satellite TV2, the digital "everywhere TV" DVB-T3 and analogue/cable TV 4

• 2x DVB-S
• 2x DVB-T
• 2x analogue TV/ cable TV

2) Only functions with the appropriate aerial, not supplied.
3) Requires a DVB-T or other digital service in your area.
4) Integrated tuner card with analogue stereo TV. Stereo TV reception via the normal house and room aerial, or existing cable connection.

matty2003

The price is in Euros. They also say "2 x DVB-T tuners included for when this service becomes available in Ireland". Anyway, I was wondering what people think about this set up. How do PC-based satellite tuners (or any TV tuner card) compare to the normal satellite box, which obviously doesn't have MS Windows running?

watty

The free ProgDVB sw is good. You don't need MS Media centre edition.

Analog TV recordinjg is poor and painfull on resource compared with non-PC solutions, but Digital TV reception/recording works perfectly. You can use an EPG sw of your own choice like digiguide.

Only FTA TV from satellite.

I'ts not a bad price, but not very cheap. The devil in the details. Depends how good the cards and SW is.

You can get a 200G disk for about 99 Euro. Worth adding as dedicated recording drive.

pbirney

According to the flyer available in the store and on their web page (http://www.aldi.ie/special_buys/productnl_131.html) there are two analgoue TV tuners. No mention of DVB-S or DVB-T.

matty2003

If I get this machine, what's the best way to connect a satellite feed to it. I currently have the standard sky installation. Do I need another lnb ? If so does that mean more cabling from dish to receiver?