Digital tuner for PC (Saorview).

Chuck Stone

Hi folks.

A few questions.

1. Can anyone recommend a digital tuner for a PC that will pick up Saorview DTT?

2. What is the minimum spec a PC should have?

3. Has anyone used one of these devices and if so was it positive?


Cheers.

John mac

http://www.techtir.ie/reviews/mobidtv-dual-usb-dtt

I have 2 and are working well.

one on a pc and one on a laptop.

what spec is your pc,?

Chuck Stone

Win XP
Dell 5150
Pentium D 3.4 ghz
1gig RAM (I can upgrade this if needs be - been meaning to do it for ages)

ATI Radeon X600 256mb (graphics card I think?)

thanks for the reply

irishnewb

Anyone with a good pci or pci-e Dvb-t card on the market that supports all the features of saorview like MHEG5... don't want to buy something that I'll have to replace. Would look at a usb one too. Getting well confused here looking. Help Alan

Mr McBoatface

irishnewb wrote: »

Anyone with a good pci or pci-e Dvb-t card on the market that supports all the features of saorview like MHEG5... don't want to buy something that I'll have to replace. Would look at a usb one too. Getting well confused here looking. Help Alan

ANY PC DVB-T tuner should work with Saorview (providing it has BDA drivers) that work on Windows7. The Video and Audio are decoded by software (codecs). MHEG5 is just a part of the data stream, Windows7 and DVBViewer can decode the MHEG5 stream. I think the MHEG5 plugin for DVBViewer is still in testing, Watty seem to have done some testing on it so he should know more.

fat-tony

The card is pretty well irrelevant for things like MHEG or MPEG for that matter - it does the basic tuning in order to extract the digital streams contained in the mux. You could look for a card that supports DVB-T2 modulation if you live in an area which could receive UK Freeview HD transmissions, otherwise DVB-T support will handle Saorview. Generally the software in the PC does the decoding or handles the MHEG support. Windows Media Center(sic) on Windows 7 certainly supports MHEG.

irishnewb

fat-tony wrote: »

The card is pretty well irrelevant for things like MHEG or MPEG for that matter - it does the basic tuning in order to extract the digital streams contained in the mux. You could look for a card that supports DVB-T2 modulation if you live in an area which could receive UK Freeview HD transmissions, otherwise DVB-T support will handle Saorview. Generally the software in the PC does the decoding or handles the MHEG support. Windows Media Center(sic) on Windows 7 certainly supports MHEG.

I have a Hauppauge WinTV 88x dvbt-t hybrid tuner from reading on line this is a mpeg 2 tuner?? are you saying that i could get saorview with this card?? sorry I'm a total newb to all this. I have freeview through a dvb-s tuner on the same card running through my htpc. Thanks for fast reply, Al

fat-tony

I'm having difficulty finding a HW spec with that name, even on the Hauppage site in the UK. Normally it's the drivers on the PC that support MPEG-2 or MPEG-4. Once your PC is a high enough spec. you should be able to run H.264 (MPEG-4) decoding in software. For full HD, you need a dual core PC for smooth playback. There were some early DVB cards with on-board MPEG-2 decoding, but this is pretty unusual. Can you post the exact model number on your card? The hauppage site is looking for a 5/6 digit model number.

ps - you have free-to-air satellite on that card, Freeview is the UK terrestrial system.

scorn

I'm using the Pinnacle 7010ix dual card which is working well for me. I have a satellite dish for FreeSat and the digital aerial for local RTE etc. into the card (twin cables for each so you can record one while watching another or record 2 etc.). Windows Media Player on an HTPC, getting full EPG.

Look on ebay.de (German) for that card - the one that I bought was refurbished but as I said, no problems so far (been nearly a year now)

fat-tony

I have exactly the same card and it works well for DVB-T and DVB-S. I use a Technisat SKYSTAR S2 for DVB-S/S2 now. Irishnewb seems to already have a suitable DVB-T/S card, just a matter of pinning down the exact model. If he/she is in a good signal strength area for Saorview it will be just a matter of connecting a simple aerial and checking for reception of the channels.

scorn

fat-tony wrote: »

I have exactly the same card and it works well for DVB-T and DVB-S. I use a Technisat SKYSTAR S2 for DVB-S/S2 now

Quick question - why'd you use that instead of the Pinnacle for DVB-S? Is there a difference? (I'm no expert by the way - just curious, and to see if there's an advantage that I'm unaware of)

irishnewb

fat-tony wrote: »

I'm having difficulty finding a HW spec with that name, even on the Hauppage site in the UK. Normally it's the drivers on the PC that support MPEG-2 or MPEG-4. Once your PC is a high enough spec. you should be able to run H.264 (MPEG-4) decoding in software. For full HD, you need a dual core PC for smooth playback. There were some early DVB cards with on-board MPEG-2 decoding, but this is pretty unusual. Can you post the exact model number on your card? The hauppage site is looking for a 5/6 digit model number.

ps - you have free-to-air satellite on that card, Freeview is the UK terrestrial system.

Hi thanks for all the help. My card is the hrv-4000, my pc is well above the spec's. quad 3.4, 4 gb of ram etc. is their a software meter that I can get to check signal? thanks again, Alan

fat-tony

The Pinnacle doesn't support DVB-S2 (HD), but the Technisat does both - simples;)

fat-tony

irishnewb wrote: »

Hi thanks for all the help. My card is the hrv-4000, my pc is well above the spec's. quad 3.4, 4 gb of ram etc. is their a software meter that I can get to check signal? thanks again, Alan

Do you mean HVR-4000? Loads of software/drivers on the Hauppage website.

Whereabouts are you located? Plug a UHF aerial in and scan;)

vetstu

I have one of these and it does the job with the included aerial. Works better upstairs obviously. You can get the wee coax adapters too to plug it into the wall. The Blaze software included lets you record stuff and pause live telly and resume it.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130478819415&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

And for £5 from our chinese cousins you can't go wrong. :-)

irishnewb

fat-tony wrote: »

Do you mean HVR-4000? Loads of software/drivers on the Hauppage website.

Whereabouts are you located? Plug a UHF aerial in and scan;)

Hey Tony, I'm on valentia island, co kerry. have run scans can't get a thing. Maybe its my aerial. Just would like a meter to test. Thanks again, Alan

fat-tony

That card is supposed to support analogue TV also - could try that. Where do your neighbours get their TV from currently - Mullaghanish or a local relay? If Mulla, then you will certainly get Saorview.

DeepBlue

irishnewb wrote: »

Hey Tony, I'm on valentia island, co kerry. have run scans can't get a thing. Maybe its my aerial. Just would like a meter to test. Thanks again, Alan

I'm near enough to you. I got a USB DTT dongle a few days ago.
I scanned in the channels and all was working fine.
Since yesterday morning I can't get a signal though. I assume the signal is down and that might be causing your problems.

Boo_hoo

What is the best card to get for Freesat HD and Saorview HD.

Am I right in thinking it needs DVB-T/T2 and DVB-S/S2?

What other spec does it need?

irishnewb

DeepBlue wrote: »

I'm near enough to you. I got a USB DTT dongle a few days ago.
I scanned in the channels and all was working fine.
Since yesterday morning I can't get a signal though. I assume the signal is down and that might be causing your problems.

Hiya Deepblue, any signal yet? I'm still having hassle getting any. Getting a high gain aerial today form my brother in law.. so fingers crossed.

DeepBlue

irishnewb wrote: »

Hiya Deepblue, any signal yet? I'm still having hassle getting any. Getting a high gain aerial today form my brother in law.. so fingers crossed.

It's been down for me for the last few days. As far as I know it was only set up a couple of weeks ago so I imagine they are still testing it and probably have it switched off. I doubt it will be back up before the end of the weekend although I haven't checked it yet today.

Edit: Just checked it there now and still no signal.

To make matters worse the normal analogue service has dis-improved significantly. It would seem our SKY-fed 16:9 transmission has been replaced by a 14:9 transmission with the quality dropping significantly. I'm guessing that they are making some changes at the Kilkeaveragh relay.

Chuck Stone

I have ordered the Mobi one and am awaiting its delivery. Thanks for the advice folks.

irishnewb

DeepBlue wrote: »

It's been down for me for the last few days. As far as I know it was only set up a couple of weeks ago so I imagine they are still testing it and probably have it switched off. I doubt it will be back up before the end of the weekend although I haven't checked it yet today.

Edit: Just checked it there now and still no signal.

To make matters worse the normal analogue service has dis-improved significantly. It would seem our SKY-fed 16:9 transmission has been replaced by a 14:9 transmission with the quality dropping significantly. I'm guessing that they are making some changes at the Kilkeaveragh relay.

Thanks deepblue, hopefully they will switch on Kilkeaveragh I'm looking out my window at it. Did a scan with new hi gain aerial not getting a blip. Could you post when you have signal. So I can have another play. Alan

DeepBlue

irishnewb wrote: »

Could you post when you have signal. So I can have another play. Alan

Will do.

Chuck Stone

Received MobiDVT Dual tuner this morning. I'll post a pic of it working (abw) on my dual screen PC set up this evening so people can have a gander.

Chuck Stone

ScruffyDub

help guys please,
I just bought a HP Pavilion Elite HPE-495uk which has TV(DVB-T) tuner card MPEG 4 which I assumed would pick up the Irish fta channels and read also had an analogue tuner (hmmm)
I used media centre to tune using a small rabbits ears and nada, media centre did download software it said was for my region (Dublin).
Are HP just selling me a pup or should I persist.
thanks in advance.