Cheap DVB-S/DVB-T Quad TV Cards - Delivery Price is a Killer !!

Mr McBoatface

Hi folks,

For anybody who is interested I've come across some quad(Dual DVB-S and Dual DVB-T) pci-e and pci tuners on ebay.de available to Ireland.

The first card is the well know Pinnacle 7010IX :- http://cgi.ebay.ie/TV-Tuner-Pinnacle-PC-TV-7010iX-DVB-T-DVB-S-Analog-TV_W0QQitemZ190386961742QQcmdZViewItemQQptZDE_Technik_Computerzubeh%C3%B6r_Multimedia?hash=item2c53f27d4e . It's sell for 39 Euro which isn't bad but delivery is 30 Euro !

The 2nd card is the Creatix CTX944 , this is a PCI card so will work on older PC's :- http://cgi.ebay.ie/Creatix-CTX944-V-2-TV-Tuner-DVB-T-DVB-S-Analog-TV_W0QQitemZ190385354031QQcmdZViewItemQQptZDE_Technik_Computerzubeh%C3%B6r_Multimedia?hash=item2c53d9f52f. This is an OEM brand mainly used by Medion and similar PC manufacturers. Seems to be good quality card base on the Philips SAA713* chip and it's very cheap at 17.90 Euro but delivery is again 30 Euro. Looking at the manufacturers website seems compatible with windows 7 http://www.creatix.com/support/typ.php?tid=111&gid=14

Overall while the delivery is outrageous the total prices seem OK , I've seen 2nd hand 7010ix sell for 90 euro on ebay excluding delivery. If buying a few cards at a time the delivery would remain the same at 30 euro. I've dealt with the sellers a few times and they are a good company to deal with.

peterprincess

just sold a spare 7010ix i had on ebay an hour ago. got 75 quid for it after a bidding war so those ones from germany aren't too bad in total though his delivery is pure extortion.

Oh and i asked about those Creatix ones before. they couldn't guarantee it'd work with Windows Media Centre which is what I use and couldn't find any other info on them on the web which made me wary!

Just checked there and found drivers for windows 7. maybe it wasn't the creatix card i looked at before....interesting. i have a spare pci slot but not spare pci-e, hence reason i sold my spare 7010ix...

Mr McBoatface

Yeh the overall price is not too bad, the 7010ix is much sought after . The CTX944 is interesting , the only quad pci card i know of.

The Creatix CTX944 Driver is BDA so is will be supported with the likes of mediaportal, dvbviewer. I'm tempted to get one to try it out on my 2nd HTPC. It would free up one PCI slot and PCI-e slot ....

peterprincess

i think it must have been a different pci card i was looking at. it was a few months ago, on sale in poland.

If you get one will you post up how you get on here? I just bought a single dvb-s card for my spare pci slot to give me 3 dvb-s and two dvb-t in total, but obviously i'd prefer to have four of each :-)

i messaged that guy in germany about his delivery price but no response so far :-(

p15574

I got one of those German ones a few weeks ago, not too bad a price even with the extortionate delivery. I was disappointed when it arrived, though, to see that it didn't have a remote. After checking his page again, though, it never mentioned one - I had just assumed. They *DO* normally come with one, don't they?

I've had mixed results with it so far, haven't been able to pick up analogue or DTT, and while it says there's no satellite signal it generally picks up the stations. However, I haven't spent much dedicated time configuring it yet, while I have connected the above three signals to it, I also have to sort out wiring to use all the inputs. Results so far are likely to be DEU problems (Dumb End User).

jackrussell007

anyone know whether the pinnacle will work ok for me in ubuntu9.1?
ta!

M00lers

Received my Creatix CTX944 V.2 card today.
Will bung it in tonite and see how it goes with Windows 7. I can only test the DVB-S tuner at the moment though.

BopperSnr

got my creatix a few days ago and put it into my win7 pc. it auto picked up the latest drivers online no problems so far but I was only able to test DVB-T and it worked a treat.

M00lers

Cheers bopper, good old Windows 7. Easy peasy.

M00lers

No joy last night. When I installed it into my PC last night I lost the use of all my pci cards. Everything worked fine again after I took the 944CTX out of the PC.
Does that sound like I need a more powerful power supply?
The PC is a old cheap ass dell with a dodgy 400w power supply.

peterprincess

bunging in an pci tuner card should make almsot no difference at all to power draw on a 400w supply. Now if its a bit dodgy anyway...

Shame, I'm really keen to know how these cards do. Wanna post it to me and I can test it for ya

peterprincess

Cheers Bopper. Are you gonna be able to test the dvb-s any time soon? And was it recognised in Windows Media Centre??
thanks

Mr McBoatface

moolers2000 wrote: »

No joy last night. When I installed it into my PC last night I lost the use of all my pci cards. Everything worked fine again after I took the 944CTX out of the PC.
Does that sound like I need a more powerful power supply?
The PC is a old cheap ass dell with a dodgy 400w power supply.

Did you try it in different pci slots? I'd recommend you try it in a pci slot that is already occupied that way you'll know that pci slot is working.

BopperSnr

I plan to install a dish this weekend , so hopefully can have the DVB-S tested by next week. I don't have any other PCI cards on my motherboard but I do have a PCI-E graphics card and this still works.

When I installed the creatix card, Win 7 found the drivers within seconds and I had no knock-on issues at all. I started media center and scanned for the DTT channels and it found them all. So as far as I can see, the card works great for DVB-T, hopefully will work for DVB-S too. I like the look and feel of media center so far and like the fact that you get a good EPG.

Hoping this will be a better solution than using a set top box type reciever for FTA TV.

My only issue so far is the noise from my PC fans (CPU, PSU and graphics card). may have to put the box in another room or something.

Just to add, my PSU is only 350 Watt, so doubt power is your issue. best to try other slots , even reseating them may help.

M00lers

I removed a wifi card and put the tv card in its place so the pci slot was working prior to putting the new card in.
Jo, I'll try putting it in on it own without any other cards installed to see if it will make any difference.

BopperSnr

you could try this:

- Uninstall the driver for the WiFi card while card still connected
- Shut down PC and remove the wifi card
- Boot up / shut down pc with no card in the slot at all
- Install new creatix card and boot up.

M00lers

BopperSnr wrote: »

you could try this:

- Uninstall the driver for the WiFi card while card still connected
- Shut down PC and remove the wifi card
- Boot up / shut down pc with no card in the slot at all
- Install new creatix card and boot up.

Thanks bopper,
I uninstalled the wifi driver first then removed it and put the creatix card in and then rebooted but all my pci slot were not working.
I lost video from my video card and my pci firewire card had also stopped working.
I had to connect to my tv with vga from motherboard.

As soon as the creatix card was removed everything kicked in again straight away.

I need to try it in another PC just to verify if it is the card is faulty or not.

drunk_monk

Moolers It says this on the ebay website:

Die Karte ist geeignet für Medion Mainboards z.B.
MD8800 mit einem grünen Steckplatz.

Wichtige Hinweise zur CTX 944

Es handelt sich bei dieser Karte um eine COMBO-Karte, die nur in einem speziellen Slot des Auslieferungsrechners (Medion Mainboard) funktioniert.
In einem normalen PCI-Slot funktioniert die Karte nicht.

Now my Germans rubbish but it seems to be saying it's for specific medion mainboards. Anyway the last sentence I do understand, it says this card does not work in a normal pci slot.

Need to get someone to translate it all

M00lers

Cheers, yeah I read all the pdf files on the Creatix support site and it's full of weird little instructions and warnings, not sure what to make of it all!!

Anyone successfully installed the CTX944?

M00lers

Bopper, what kind of PC did you install the creatix ctx944 into? I take it's not a Medion.

Mr McBoatface

@ moolers2000 : I've successfully installed the CT944 on 3 pc's I was upgrading this week, however 2 of which happened to be Aldi/lidl PC's I think Medion brands. The third was a friends custom built pc running vista. I replaced a lifeview trio card (dvb-s/dvb-t/analogue card) and the the CTX944 card was pick up using the original lifeview cards drivers.

I had a look at the drivers of the hardware identification part of the driver seems to be the same for both the lifeview and CTX cards. Might be worth trying them.

http://www.lifeview.com.tw/html/downloads/internal_tv/flydvb_trio.htm

M00lers

Thanks again Jo, Im going to get stuck into it again tonite and hopefully get to the root of the problem. Could just be a dud card though.

BopperSnr

mine is in fact a medion. MD8386.

M00lers

Ahh sh1t.....

drunk_monk

Would I be right in saying the Pinnacle 7010IX does not come with a remote. If not what are the options available?

jackrussell007

jackrussell007 wrote: »

anyone know whether the pinnacle will work ok for me in ubuntu9.1?
ta!

okay so i went and bought one anyway even though I could find anything on the interweb to confirm that it was supported,

predictably once it has arrived I found linuxTV listing all supported and unsupported cards. the pinnacle 7010x isnt supported

I'll be sticking it back on ebay if the seller wont swop for anything else. if anyone wants to make an offer pm me. thanks

M00lers

I'll be getting rid of the Creatix CTX944 soon, anyone with a Medion PC want it?

Mr McBoatface

In total I've now bought 11 CTX944 for upgrading PC for friends and family. 8 of the PC's where Medion (I got a bulk deal on them about 18 months ago) so there was no problems at all with these. The remaining 3 PC's where custom built and all worked fine with the CTX944 too.

However the custom built PC's where built using brown box MSI motherboards bought from the same ebay company as the CTX944. I've done a little bit more research and It would appear that MSI make the boards for MEDION branded PC's, The M/B I purchased may very well have been MEDION overstock.

BopperSnr

Set up my sat dish last night and tested it fine using a set top receiver. it picked up all the astra 2 channels fine. So plugged the cable into my medion 8386 PC CTX944 card and nothing. no signal at all using media portal or Win 7 media center. It does see the card but no sat signal. The DVB-T works fine.

I was running win7 64 bit, so I installed the win 7 32 bit version to check that the driver was not the issue but that didnt work either.

Any ideas why I may not be getting any signal from the sat?

It's either a dud DVB-S card or I have not installed the card right.

Any advice for me to check/do to get this working?

Mr McBoatface

Hi BopperSnr, In Germany the Medion 8386 are sold with the CTX925 (1 DVB-S, 1 DVB-T and 1 analogue tuner) and also with the CTX944 - http://cgi.ebay.ie/Medion-PC-Titanium-MD-8386-XL-3-2GHz-mit-Windows-XP-/140411700825?cmd=ViewItem&pt=DE_Technik_Computer_Peripherieger%C3%A4te_PC_Systeme&hash=item20b1308659.

I wonder if it's windows 7 issue with the DVB-S drivers, the pc's originally shipped with XP. You could try the lifeview drivers linked earlier or maybe try DVB-Dream to see if that's working. You could be right it could also be a dud card, the DVB-S work independently of the DVB-T. Also some tuners take a while to initialise when the PC starts up, in Media Portal's TVserver configuration menu under the general tab set the time delay to 30 seconds see if that helps.

Also can you confirm it's a direct feed from the dish , no splitters on the cable feeding your set top receiver then your PC?

BopperSnr

I forgot to plug in the power pin to feed the LNB from the card...
did that it it worked perfectly.

Now getting all the channels but they flicker/stutter a bit. could this be down to the graphics card (only the 128MB one) or the dish needs adjusting?

Mr McBoatface

Whats the signal level like ? What software are you using ?

BopperSnr

Signal is showing full bars running Win 7 Media Center

Mr McBoatface

BopperSnr wrote: »

Signal is showing full bars running Win 7 Media Center

Hi BopperSnr,

Sorry for the delay in replying , I've not used Windows 7 so can't advise you on it to be honest. It may be a codec issue, you might need to change the you mpeg codec from the Windows 7 default. Is RTE DTT ok ? , how is BBC-HD and ITV1-HD ?

Wheeker

Hi there, have been following this thread as I am interested in getting a Dual DVB-S PCI card, though a quad card would be even better!

It has to be PCI for me, so the Pinnacle 7010ix is out. Am I right in thinking that the Creatix CTX944 will not work with a normal PCI slot & only with certain Medion motherboards? My HTPC has an Intel 945 custom motherboard, so I presume it won't work for me.

The only alternative I have found is the PCTV System Dual Sat Pro 4000i:http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/2972369/art/pctv-system/dual-sat-pro-4000i-pci-tv.html

At €79 + postage it's not that cheap, but still cheaper than most single DVB-S cards! Also I am worried that it's DVB-S & not DVB-S2. My understanding is that you can still get HD Freesat on DVB-S but that they might change over to DVB-S2 in the future? Anyone know how soon/likely this would be?

I currently have two DVB-T tuners in my two PCI slots, so I would have to lose one to fit the above. Can't seem to find any Dual DVB-S USB tuners, anyone know of any?

slegs

Wheeker wrote: »

Hi there, have been following this thread as I am interested in getting a Dual DVB-S PCI card, though a quad card would be even better!

It has to be PCI for me, so the Pinnacle 7010ix is out. Am I right in thinking that the Creatix CTX944 will not work with a normal PCI slot & only with certain Medion motherboards? My HTPC has an Intel 945 custom motherboard, so I presume it won't work for me.

The only alternative I have found is the PCTV System Dual Sat Pro 4000i:http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/2972369/art/pctv-system/dual-sat-pro-4000i-pci-tv.html

At €79 + postage it's not that cheap, but still cheaper than most single DVB-S cards! Also I am worried that it's DVB-S & not DVB-S2. My understanding is that you can still get HD Freesat on DVB-S but that they might change over to DVB-S2 in the future? Anyone know how soon/likely this would be?

I currently have two DVB-T tuners in my two PCI slots, so I would have to lose one to fit the above. Can't seem to find any Dual DVB-S USB tuners, anyone know of any?

You could swap out your DVB-T card for this

http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/282511/art/terratec/freeview-card-tuner-ciner.html#tech-specs

which will give you dual DVB-T in one PCI slot also (one aerial feed)

I have this in my win7 MC and it works great

polyfusion

I was looking at the CTX944 after reading about it in a thread in the terrestrial forum, but have held back after reading here about their close association with MSI motherboards. (I was actually more interested in the CTX925 because of the FM tuner, and would have no real need for dual satellite and terrestrial tuners anyway, but I'd imagine the situation would be the same with both cards in non-MSI motherboards).

So, did anyone get the CTX944 working with any other computers besides Medions or MSI boards with the special PCI slot?

Ush1

polyfusion wrote: »

I was looking at the CTX944 after reading about it in a thread in the terrestrial forum, but have held back after reading here about their close association with MSI motherboards. (I was actually more interested in the CTX925 because of the FM tuner, and would have no real need for dual satellite and terrestrial tuners anyway, but I'd imagine the situation would be the same with both cards in non-MSI motherboards).

So, did anyone get the CTX944 working with any other computers besides Medions or MSI boards with the special PCI slot?

I'm interested in this aswell.

If not, whats the cheapest DVB-T and DVB-S card that works with Windows 7 Media Center?