Bbc Hd

pH

What's the best way for getting BBC HD for 'World Cup' HD goodness? It seems a test signal will be available from 15th May, so there's no immediate rush.

I have a media PC (AMD 64 3500) so will any of the standard PCI DVB-S cards work? And then just use software like DScaler? The PC handles divX 720p without too much stress so it should be able to handle the HD stream?

Are any of the Sat cards better or worse than others? Komplett only have 1 type in stock: TerraTec Cinergy 1200 DVB-S Digital Satellite card is this a reasonable option? it's €79.00.

I guess the other option is some sort of FTA box capable of doing the BBCs HD stream - what sort of money are these going to cost?

pH

Well after 30 mins googling it looks like all this new HD stuff(Sky & BBC) is in DVB-S2, and PCI cards seem to be very thin on the ground!

http://www.burnyourbonus.co.uk/HDTV/faq.html

So where does that leave me? I'm not sure at this stage whether Sky would actually install before the world cup, and that leaves me paying them extra, and I still can't get any info on whether BBCHD will be on the EPG for RoI subscribers.

givecredit

As far as im aware the BBC have stated that they will be testing in dvb-s1 and s2 in the early stages, switching to dvb-s2 later. I expect this is because of the shortage of fta dvb s2 boxes and pc cards. check out their website and see below

http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/showthread.php?t=361111

pH

So possibly the best strategy will be wait until the 15th and see what cards/software are working and then buy a DVB-S card.

watty

You need a DVB-S with its own MPEG4 decoder to be sure (150 .. 300Euro). Though a Skystar2 (60Euro) and 3GHz PC and SOME graphics cards might do.

Google what the Germans are using as Pro Sieben is I think running DVBs-2 / MPEG4 now

Zaphod

Technotrend have a DVB-S2 card due out shortly for about €130.

Technotrend S2-3200
Low-Cost PCI card for Free-TV and data application (PayTV with optional Budget-CI available!)
DVB Satellite according to EN 302307
Plug & Play Installation
Video and Audio decoding via software decoder
Recording and Playback with Timeshift, Teletext, EPG etc support
Multicast managament support by NDIS driver
MPEG2 /MPEG4 (AVC/H.264) support (normal and HDTV satellite receiption)
Frequency: 950-2150 MHz
QPSK accordingly to EN 302 307
RF inputlevel -65 up to -25dBm
Input connector: IEC F-type female
Input termination on DVBcard: 75 OHM
LNB control: 14/18Volt, 22KHz, ToneBurst, DiseqC 1.0, max. 400mA powerconsumption

FOR DVB-S (standard satellite)
SCPC/MCPC support up to 45 Msymbols/s.
QPSK supported rates: 1/2, 2/3, 3/4, 5/6, 6/7, 7/8
Viterbi softdecoder rate 1/2

For DVB-S S2 (HDTV)
SCPC/MCPC support up to 30 Msymbols/s.
QPSK and 8PSK supported rates
1/2, 1/3, 2/5, 1/2, 3/5, 2/3, 3/4, 4/5, 5/6, 8/9, 9/10
LDPC and BCH decoder as per DVB-S2 requirements
Digital Nyquist root filter with 0.20, 0.25 and 0.35 roll-off factors
Up to 90 Mbps channel bitrate


General overview:
HDTV Support with AC3 5.1 Software decoder
TV, Radio and data services on notebooks or PC via PCI Interface
Representation, Record (incl. Timer), Playback of TV and Radioservices
Supported O/S: WindowsXP
TimeShift and Record Timer
Extended EPG functionality with integrated scheduled timerfunctions
Teletext support
Automatic channel setup using IP multicast group address
IP-Unicast Transport using dynamic IP address to MAC address mapping
Supports MAC address filtering
Use of up to 255 PID filters
Download MPEG2-PES speed up to 90 MBit/s.

Technical requirements
Pentium III 733 MHz (for HDTV: 3.8GHz P4/P IV)
Supported O/S: Windows 98SE, Windows ME, Windows2000 and WindowsXP
DirectX 8 or higher
Soundcard
Graphiccard 800x600 with 16Bit or better (recommended)
CD-ROM (for driver and softwareinstallation)

Accessoires
DVB-card (120 x 106 x 18 mm)
optional available: Budget PCI-CI extension with flat ribbon cable (dimension of CI: 120 x 106 x 18 mm)
Master CD-ROM with driver and software application
Licence for MPEG2 and MPEG4 (AVC/H.264) software decoder

ro2

Here's the list of nvidia cards that are compatible with their mpeg4 hardware acceleration:

http://www.nvidia.com/page/purevideo_support.html

Between the dvb-s2 card, a graphics card and the software you'd probably spend more than a receiver would cost you:

http://cgi.ebay.ie/Humax-PR-HD-1000_W0QQitemZ9709828298QQcategoryZ26040QQssPageNameZWD2VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

watty

Though if you have a dvb-s2 card the graphics card type does not matter, as it only uses the overlay, the card has its own MPEG4 decoder, otherwise it isn't really a DVB-s2 card

ro2

Are there any DVB-S2 cards out yet that have their own mpeg4 decoders? This is the only DVB-S2 card I've come across and it uses a software decoder.

http://www.dvbshop.net/product_info.php/info/p145_Technotrend-S2-3200-HDTV-S2.html

pH

Had a quick read about H.264 decoding on nvidia cards and now I'm totally confused. It seems it's not to be a codec (like ffdshow etc), so only specific apps can use it, and you have to buy purevideo.

PureVideo’s H.264 (also known as MPEG-4 Part 10 or AVC) decode acceleration and post processing effects are available through a special application programming interface (API). The following partners have announced support of PureVideo’s H.264 decode acceleration in their applications:

* CyberLink PowerDVD™ with H.264 (AVC) and AAC Pack
* InterVideo® WinDVD®
* Nero® ShowTime

http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_purevideo_requirements.html

So will one of those apps actually tune the staion on the Sat card decode the video?

watty

ro2 wrote:

Are there any DVB-S2 cards out yet that have their own mpeg4 decoders? This is the only DVB-S2 card I've come across and it uses a software decoder.

http://www.dvbshop.net/product_info.php/info/p145_Technotrend-S2-3200-HDTV-S2.html

It's not really a S2 card then, as existing sat cards can do it in SW, though a very high spec PC needed.

watty

H.264 isn't the Satellite MPEG4 ... Just to confuse you more. It more related to the Microsoft WMA version of MPEG4 than the DVB-S2.

Almost no graphics cards have actual HW codecs. They have facilities to do the onerous parts of SW Codec on PC so that a much slower PC works. A Nividia 6800 card played HD video Divx some flavour MPEG4 perfectly. A similar speed PC with no MPEG Graphic card support was like a slide show. 1920 x 1080.

Lennoxschips

will they be showing the world cup in 16:9 or true 4:3?

please don't tell me they'll be showing it 4:3 inside a 16:9 transmission again like they did in 2002. that was ridiculous.

Sparky

I dont think they would be stupid enough to wreak a HD transmission with 4:3

Any proper HD transmission is in 16:9

Lennoxschips

sorry, i was referring to the standard d-sat transmissions. i should have mentioned that

watty

There is no 4:3 mode on HD, 4:3 material is "window boxed" or "Curtained" like BBC do with 4:3 inserts on Sports 16:9 programs.

With 1440 x 720 or 1920 x 1080 ws pixels, this is not a huge problem!

Mossy Monk

Lennoxschips wrote:

sorry, i was referring to the standard d-sat transmissions. i should have mentioned that

16:9 for SD the BBC said a few months back, ITV said aswell so i presume RTÉ will be 16:9 also

pH

Ok finally it's all up and running - 50% cpu and smooth as you like.

DVBviewer/Skstar2/AMD 4800 X2/nVidia 7800GTX

The new Cyberlink(29/05/2006) h/w accel h264 codecs make a massive difference on this 7800 nvidia. They're included in the 30 day trial of powerdvd 7 that's available for dowload
http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/download/trials_1_ENU.html

The Ritz

pH,


Nice stuff, although a 4800 + 7800GTX is a pretty fierce combo..... I've a complete pain in my esra waiting for the Technotrend DVB-s2 card to be released, it was supposed to be tomorrow, now been set back another week - I think I'll be picking up a DVB-S card and doing some messing about at da weekend........ wondering if a P4 3.0 (with about another 0.4 OC overhead available...) + a 9800XT will be able for it.

What mem have you running in that rig ?

Thx,

Ritz.

Headshot

bbc hd on the humax hdcl 2000 is brilliant

Aquos76

{(-_-)}HeadShoT** wrote:

bbc hd on the humax hdcl 2000 is brilliant

Would have to agree on this. Are you using this along side your DELL 2600?

Headshot

Aquos76 wrote:

Would have to agree on this. Are you using this along side your DELL 2600?

ya im using it with my dell w2600 by hdmi to dvi cable
very impressed

i was hoping that the england friendly would have been on BBC HD today but i wasnt

byte

I'm not sure what STB this is supposed to be, just spotted the article in today's Sunday Times (Business supplement)

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,2769-2209671,00.html

€440 for what seems to be a HD FTA box.

watty

It's no news.

It will be like pace and Humax (probabily IS one of those) and only get FTA SD and FTA HD.

Unless you have a 48" to 60" true HD screen already, spending 400 quid on one channel does not make sense. Especially also that most "HD Ready" screens are not that good and can be beaten for overall quality by a good 28" to 36" WS CRT. The 1024 x 768 to 1384 x 768 are both poor compromise native pixels for ordinary TV or HDTV. Espescially all the cheap stretched XGA 1024 x 768 plasmas and LCDs

Headshot

Aquos76 wrote:

Would have to agree on this. Are you using this along side your DELL 2600?

Aquos76
do you have trouble with the epg


im having trouble seeing whats next on any channel
if i go into the channel and press i then the right side button to see whats on next and then when i go to the epg is shows then but only 2 programs show up
whats wrong ?