Best FTA + Irish DTT Combo Box

Glenagoolie

Hi,
Any advice on what's the best combo box with Sat FTA and Irish DTT with 7 day epg for both and USB recording?

Tried several Azbox's but had various problems with them. Any suggestions, just want something that will plug and play?!

Thanks
R

gtg60

Glenagoolie wrote: »

Any suggestions, just want something that will plug and play?!

There is nothing out there at the moment that will do that. Any options that are capable are far from 'plug n play'.

OneWayBet

Indeed it appears there is no such box on the market at the moment.
I recently picked up an MVision 300HD, like other FTA boxes it only has Now/Next EPG on the Sat side but has 7 day EPG for DTT.

For the price it works pretty well, the only thing that disappointed me is that you cannot watch DTT and record Sat (or vice versa).

Glenagoolie

Thanks for the feedback. I'll give the WMC another go I think.
I've heard decent things on the MVision 300.

OneWayBet

I take back what I said about the MVision HD-300, recording is unusuable due to intermittent audio pauses for a couple of seconds every 1-5 minutes. Happens when I record or timeshift. I also found that timeshifting sometimes stops for no reason (even just a few minutes into the timeshift), this is also intermittent. I am using the latest firmware and a new 7200 extenral self-powered USB HDD.

In sort I wouldn't recommend it and I'm sending mine back, probably switching for an Edision combo.

Glenagoolie

Thanks for the feedback OneWayBet.
Ended up getting the WMC working with Free-To-Air and Irish DTT so all sorted.
Just waiting for UPC to turn off the switch!

budgi3

Could you explain how you setup Windows Media Center to handle this? I have an Acer Revo R36100 with Windows 7 and would like it to handle DTT and 7DAY EPG Satellite.

Do I need to buy some a USB tuner or something like that?

Glenagoolie

I installed a PCIe card in my machine. It cost me €66 including postage from ebay.de (germany).
Card details. http://www.saortv.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=415
You can have 2 satellite feed and 2 Irish DTT feeds so no problem switching channels even if you have something recording.

I presume you can't fit extra cards inside the PC you have?? I'm not aware of similar USB external cards you could use unfortunately.
Search for DVB-S2 DVB-T USB tuner.

slegs

budgi3 wrote: »

Could you explain how you setup Windows Media Center to handle this? I have an Acer Revo R36100 with Windows 7 and would like it to handle DTT and 7DAY EPG Satellite.

Do I need to buy some a USB tuner or something like that?

Yes you need a USB TV tuner for DTT and another for satellite. (no room for an internal card in your system - though that is probably the better setup)

Something like this for satellite is ideal as it is DVB-S2 future proofed and isnt in stick format so it can be located near the PC box but not hang out of it

http://www.terratec.net/en/products/TerraTec_S7_83208.html?premium=1

There are loads of DVB-T/DTT stick tuners out there...here is one

http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/4031009/art/hauppauge/pctv-picostick-74e-dvb-t.html

just install both devices fire up Media centre and follow the instructions on setting up TV Signal and away you go.

There is some tweeking need for the EPG but this can all be done from the menus in Media Centre per channel.

musicmonky

id would like to do the same as budgi3 but with a different box

http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=46384&tid=frooct

is it possible?
would the EPG have DTT and SAT be integrated with XBMC or Boxxee or MediaPortal

budgi3

slegs wrote: »

Something like this for satellite is ideal as it is DVB-S2 future proofed
http://www.terratec.net/en/products/TerraTec_S7_83208.html?premium=1

If I go for a DVB-S tuner what do I miss out on? For example, this one for €25 on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.ie/USB-2-0-DVB-S-Digital-Satellite-HDTV-TV-Receiver-Tuner-/260593902215?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Computing_Computer_Components_Graphics_Video_TV_Cards_TW&hash=item3cac9b6287#ht_2602wt_1166

slegs

budgi3 wrote: »

If I go for a DVB-S tuner what do I miss out on? For example, this one for €25 on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.ie/USB-2-0-DVB-S-Digital-Satellite-HDTV-TV-Receiver-Tuner-/260593902215?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Computing_Computer_Components_Graphics_Video_TV_Cards_TW&hash=item3cac9b6287#ht_2602wt_1166

It depends, both BBC HD and ITV HD are currently broadcast in DVB-S. If you wanted to receive some of the subscription HD channels (legally through a card) then they will be in DVB-S2. But if you are only after the FTA stuff then DVB-S will be sufficient for the near future anyway. BBC/ITV have give no indication that they will move to DVB-S2 for their HD channels but it could happen (all freesat HD boxes and SKy HD boxes are DVB-S2 compliant).

Mr McBoatface

budgi3 wrote: »

If I go for a DVB-S tuner what do I miss out on? For example, this one for €25 on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.ie/USB-2-0-DVB-S-Digital-Satellite-HDTV-TV-Receiver-Tuner-/260593902215?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Computing_Computer_Components_Graphics_Video_TV_Cards_TW&hash=item3cac9b6287#ht_2602wt_1166

Slegs has pretty much answered your question , I'll add to it by advising you get a tuner with BDA drivers. BDA drivers allow tuner cards to be used with third party software like mediaportal, dvbviewer etc , these 3rd party softwares are usually better than those supplied with these types of tuner bought of ebay. If you plan to use windows 7 ask if the tuner is supported, the seller should also be able to advise you if the drivers are BDA.

MayoForSam

budgi3 wrote: »

If I go for a DVB-S tuner what do I miss out on? For example, this one for €25 on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.ie/USB-2-0-DVB-S-Digital-Satellite-HDTV-TV-Receiver-Tuner-/260593902215?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Computing_Computer_Components_Graphics_Video_TV_Cards_TW&hash=item3cac9b6287#ht_2602wt_1166

I bought a similar cheap DVB-S tuner on Ebay from China (QQ Box) and I had trouble getting it working on an Acer Revo 3610. The drivers worked OK with the provided software (Blaze DTV) but the HD channels (BBC and ITV) kept stuttering and breaking up (may have been a codecs issue).

But I couldn't get it working at all with WMC on Windows 7, I did some searching and the drivers apparently do not support WMC. Pity as the box itself looks like a decent bit of kit, the software is letting it down.

mossym

MayoForSam wrote: »

I bought a similar cheap DVB-S tuner on Ebay from China (QQ Box) and I had trouble getting it working on an Acer Revo 3610. The drivers worked OK with the provided software (Blaze DTV) but the HD channels (BBC and ITV) kept stuttering and breaking up (may have been a codecs issue).

But I couldn't get it working at all with WMC on Windows 7, I did some searching and the drivers apparently do not support WMC. Pity as the box itself looks like a decent bit of kit, the software is letting it down.

if buying cheapon ebay, make sure and buy one with BDA certified drivers. This will allow other software to use the card as well. It's a generic windows driver for capture cards

i bought a cheap one on ebay and it specified BDA drvers, it has worked with third party apps like Mediaportal no problem

MayoForSam

mossym wrote: »

if buying cheapon ebay, make sure and buy one with BDA certified drivers. This will allow other software to use the card as well. It's a generic windows driver for capture cards

i bought a cheap one on ebay and it specified BDA drvers, it has worked with third party apps like Mediaportal no problem

Did you get the HD channels working OK, what type of HTPC are you using?

mossym

card i bought was a dvb-t, but the BDA driver stuff applies to both types. For DVB-S i have a Hauppauge DVB_S2 Card, i get bbc hd and itv hd perfectly. IT's my own custom built htpc. it's a AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5000+ on an asus M2A-VM motherboard, with an Sapphire ATI 2600XT Ultra for video.

If the drivers aren't BDA compatible, you need individual drivers for each application

MayoForSam

mossym wrote: »

card i bought was a dvb-t, but the BDA driver stuff applies to both types. For DVB-S i have a Hauppauge DVB_S2 Card, i get bbc hd and itv hd perfectly. IT's my own custom built htpc. it's a AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5000+ on an asus M2A-VM motherboard, with an Sapphire ATI 2600XT Ultra for video.

If the drivers aren't BDA compatible, you need individual drivers for each application

Yeah, the USB-based tuners are not supported as well the the PCI-e based tuners. Limited to USB by the Acer Revo format.

OneWayBet

OneWayBet wrote: »

I take back what I said about the MVision HD-300, recording is unusuable due to intermittent audio pauses for a couple of seconds every 1-5 minutes. Happens when I record or timeshift. I also found that timeshifting sometimes stops for no reason (even just a few minutes into the timeshift), this is also intermittent. I am using the latest firmware and a new 7200 extenral self-powered USB HDD.

In short I wouldn't recommend it and I'm sending mine back, probably switching for an Edision combo.

Just getting back to the Edison IP combo, been using it for a couple of weeks and the recording/timeshift features work very well, just a slight picture/sound breakup only occasionally but never for long enough to cause much of a problem (e.g. part of the picture might break up for a few hundred milliseconds).

All in all very happy with it, and top marks to SaorTV for taking back my HD-300 in exchange.