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Free Satellite TV on PC

Comments

  • #2
    bazzer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 362 ✭✭bazzer


    That product is NOT for satellite TV, it's for analogue cable/terrestrial services only. If you were to use it on NTL Dublin, for example you would receive only the 17 channels currently available on analogue.

    Search for a product related to satellite only, I'm sure some other posters here with experience of these can point you in the right direction.


  • #3
    watty
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 32,417 ✭✭✭✭watty


    Any USB TV adaptor is rubbish anyway...

    This will only give the four Irish channels from a TV aerial.

    Look for PCI DVB-s cards. New ones for HD are called DVB-S2. Older ones will give hundreds of free satellite channels.

    You need a dish and LNB too.

    Skystar2 is popular, but won't do the new DVB-S2 needed for new HDTV services. It is 70 Euro.


  • #4
    JHMEG
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,686 ✭✭✭JHMEG


    I have a Twinhan DVB-S PCI card, which I would recommend. In terms of compatibility with PVR software it's one of the best (google BDA drivers, you'll see why), which is why I bought it.

    My understanding of HDTV on satellite, certainly in the case of the Sky platform, is that they use MPEG4. The Twinhan card, and other ones like it at the lower end of the market, use software decoding (not as bad as it sounds, as it's the encoding that required serious muscle), so it should only require a software update to allow it to do HDTV.

    The card is here:
    http://www.twinhan.com/product_satellite_5.asp
    (It says "Support HDTV receiving")


  • #5
    watty
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 32,417 ✭✭✭✭watty


    Not quite correct.
    1) All MPEG4 except the BBC HD (which will change within the year) is broadcast on DVB-S2 format. This requires new tuner hardware. The Twinhan (Which is good) and Skystar1 or 2 or Nexus or Nova will not do DVB-S2 even with SW.

    2) MPEG4 at 1920 x 1080i (The normal) or the 720p use about the same data rate, about 2 to 4 times SDTV. Also MPEG4 is computationally more severe. So either a card with built in DSP for MPEG4, or a Graphic card that supports the specific kkind of MPEG4 on Satellite, or better than 3GHz AMD/Pentium (not celeron) is needed.

    Software decoding for MPEG4 *IS* as bad as it sounds. The cards Like Twinhan and Skystar only worked for early MPEG2 trials of HDTV or temporary service like BBC HD (which no-one has reported troble free reception on ordinary sat card). BBC HD will change to DVB-S2 soon and thus shortly there will be NO HDTV that can be received on Twinhan and Skystar.


  • #6
    JHMEG
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,686 ✭✭✭JHMEG


    Ok, I'll take your word for it re DVB-S2. I see Twinhan have released a DVB-S2 card now aswell. Fortunately not an issue as I don't have a HD TV set. Will have to wait till the young lad is a bit older... an LCD/plasma wouln't put up with the physical abuse he gives the old CRT!


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