Anyone set up a DVB-S/S2 Tuner Card in their HTPC?

Nelbert · 04-10-2009 02:03PM #1

Hi all,
A friend of mine installs for sky and says he can get me a dish for nothing and install it for me(not to recieve sky but for Freesat) so my question is has anyone done this and have the likes of BBC HD and ITV HD working for them through a DVB-S/S2 tuner card?
And if so how was the install process and please recommend a DVB-S2 card for me to use, I'm on Windows 7 using Windows Media Center and would love to keep using it. The Hauppage HVR 4000 (I think it's that one anyway) or maybe 2 of them look like a good purchase if this can be done relatively easily.
Any and all advice is welcome.

meob · 04-10-2009 02:51PM

i have a:

Hauppauge WinTV-NOVA-HD-S2 229 High Definition TV Tuner

in the post, will be using a spare LNB connection (sky dish) for the same purpose you describe

also using W7MC & already have Sky HD (in HD) piped into the media center.

I was looking for some concrete examples of someone getting freesat this way, and just decided tyo take the dive myself & see hwo it goes.

i'll post up when I have the card installed.

Ghost Train · 04-10-2009 03:05PM

I have a hauppauge hvr 3000. While its not a dvb-s2 card, I can get bbc hd as well as any other freeview channels using altdvb (under xp, did have problems with vista I think). Do need codecs for hd playback.

hvr 4000 should work fine with the software supplied with it

Did buy a second tuner card with two dvb-s tuners and two dvb-t tuners, seems to work but haven't done much with it, would have to install aeriels for it... can't even remember the brand
can't remember if I got it to do HD

edit: I think this is the card http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/5437587/Pinnacle-7010i-PCIe-Dual-DVB-T-DVB-S-Analogue-TV-FM-Radio-Tuner/Product.html

Nelbert · 04-10-2009 10:56PM

I've read some very positive things about that card and as far as I can tell it's a better option for me than the Hauppauge one. Unfortunately they are not available to be bought anywhere anymore. If your not using it would you be willing to part with it for a fair price. Would really help me out. Don't be afraid to say no I'd just be kicking myself if I didn't at least ask seen as that is the actual card I've been searching for and settled on the other one when I couldn't find it.

mcgovern · 05-10-2009 11:17AM

I'm interested in doing this too, if anyone has any more to add.

kdobey · 05-10-2009 12:03PM

I've got a Technotrend s2-3200 card. The support from tt is very bad. The card does not work with vista +tv pack and I don't think it works with Windows 7 either - will confirm this soon.

It works with the shipped tt-viewer software on vista - sometimes (need to reboot before it works usually).

Avoid this card. It's the worst purchase I ever made.

Wheeker · 05-10-2009 01:05PM

Interested too!

Are there any Dual DVB-S2/DVB-T TV Tuner cards that could be used for both Freesat & Irish DTT (If it ever launched)? Will all DVB-T cards work with the proposed Irish DTT i.e. MPEG4 spec?

Thanks for any info...

54kroc · 05-10-2009 01:29PM

I'm using the HVR 4000 with windows 7 and it works pretty well but to be honest if it's just sat your after you might as well get the WIN TV Nova-S Plus and save yourself some money as you can get HD sat with it.

To get iTV HD to work in windows 7 you will need to do a couple of things, Change a value in the regisrty,download a codec pack and remember as iTV HD shows up as a radio channel it is named 10510,To get it to work you will have to toggle between BBC HD and iTV HD quickly.

Registry edit:
Click on the start button bottom right of windows 7 and select "RUN",
type in the "RUN" dialog box "regedit" without the quotation marks.
then search in the registery for
'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Cur rentVersion\Media Centre\Settings\TVConfig\fAllowDvbsMHEG' to a value from 0. to 1.

Codec pack:
shark007

Nelbert · 05-10-2009 05:19PM

cork45 wrote: »

I'm using the HVR 4000 with windows 7 and it works pretty well but to be honest if it's just sat your after you might as well get the WIN TV Nova-S Plus

Thats the thing the HVR 4000 supports DVB-T aswell so that was why I was thinking of that one but could you confirm you can only use one of it's inputs at a time. As in with one HVR 4000 you can record on one tuner but can't watch anything else on that tuner or switch to another one of it's tuners. For example can you record RTE through DVB-T and watch a satellite channel at the same time. My understanding is that you can't but I would love to be wrong.

Talisman · 07-10-2009 01:22AM

I'm waiting on the release of the BlackGold Technology BGT3595 it should be available in the next month or so before building a new system. The previous DVB-S model (BGT3540) was able to use the 4 digital connections simultaneously, so you could watch 1 while recording 3 other channels.

Ghost Train · 07-10-2009 08:50PM

Nelbert wrote: »

Thats the thing the HVR 4000 supports DVB-T aswell so that was why I was thinking of that one but could you confirm you can only use one of it's inputs at a time. As in with one HVR 4000 you can record on one tuner but can't watch anything else on that tuner or switch to another one of it's tuners. For example can you record RTE through DVB-T and watch a satellite channel at the same time. My understanding is that you can't but I would love to be wrong.

What I have found with the hvr-3000, is that you can only use one tuner at a time the dvb-t or dvb-s. I'm not saying it can't be done, but haven't been able to or seen any info saying you can.

One thing I've found that I can do (with altdvb) is when you have a few channels on the same transponder eg.rte1,network2,tv3 etc you can record a few of the streams at the same time or watch one or two and record another

BBCHD has bbc1 are on the same transponder so you can watch one channel and record the other

Have found the hauppauge support very good over the years and they keep developing their software, drivers etc. Saying that did have lots of problems with the dvb-s tuning astra2 for the first few months, was a software/driver issue, card was almost unusable

Gyck · 01-11-2009 01:12AM

I've got a machine with a TeVii S460 DVB-S2 card working with Ubuntu/MythTV and Windows 7 (dual boot). The card works works well with both Ubuntu and Win 7, but I have to say that Windows 7 shines. Channel changes are pretty much instant and it decodes hi def without any problems.

meob · 01-11-2009 10:53PM

meob wrote: »

i have a:

Hauppauge WinTV-NOVA-HD-S2 229 High Definition TV Tuner

in the post, will be using a spare LNB connection (sky dish) for the same purpose you describe

also using W7MC & already have Sky HD (in HD) piped into the media center.

I was looking for some concrete examples of someone getting freesat this way, and just decided tyo take the dive myself & see hwo it goes.

i'll post up when I have the card installed.

well, up & running for about a week now.

setup was simple. I am using this card on a secondary system and archiving all content - watching then on main system with sky HD in media center.

i'll eventually put this card into main htpc, just wanted to test it out first!

quality is excellent and 2 hd channels as well.

(just setting up itv hd now, bbd hd works fine)

riccol1966 · 09-11-2009 11:33AM

Hi, perhaps you could explain what you mean by "...W7MC & already have Sky HD (in HD)..."

Do you mean you have a SKY HD box connected and running into 7MC. As far as I know this was not possible as the SKY HD box only has a HDMI output for HD. Can you elaborate please?

Thanks

meob · 09-11-2009 12:35PM

riccol1966 wrote: »

Hi, perhaps you could explain what you mean by "...W7MC & already have Sky HD (in HD)..."

Do you mean you have a SKY HD box connected and running into 7MC. As far as I know this was not possible as the SKY HD box only has a HDMI output for HD. Can you elaborate please?

Thanks

sure & its very possible ;-)

the Thompson boxes have component & hdmi -video signal output over both as same time. then combine this with hauppauge hdpvr & dvblink

full hd in media center!

look here:

http://mediacenterhd.blogspot.com/

happy to answer any questions you have on it.

riccol1966 · 09-11-2009 12:45PM

aahh, yes, you've got component out on that Thompson box, that explains it!

I've used MCE since way back in 2004, and I've got SKY SD linked into this for a long time, and now in Win7. So my question is, if I were to use the upcoming blackgold S/S2 satellite card, and a Thompson SKY HD box, could I hook up the box direct, and use my existing remote to change channels as I do now (in essense no changes, no external boxes except the new PCI card and the new Sky HD box. Secondly, Can I ask SKY to specifically install this box when I subscribe to SKY HD ?

meob · 09-11-2009 01:06PM

you'll need the hd-pvr to get this going unfortunately, no other way to do it.
there are no pci cards out there that will take a component hd signal,& pipe it into media center (supported - afiak)

you existing setup is piping a SD signal into media center over a analogue connections i assume? scrart / svideo?

cant say I am familiar with blackgold S/S2 satellite card, but if they are anyting nliek the WinTV-NOVA-HD-S2 229 - this will give you freesat only, there is no way to decrypt the sky channels, especially hd.

there was a way before with the floppy card readers, sky are now changing the encryption keys on new cards we all got recenely so that rules out the floppy option, that does nto work with hd either.

the way you are changing channels now should remain the same. i would imagine a sky hd installer would not touch this setup with a barge pole ;-)

meob · 09-11-2009 01:15PM

the hauppauge hdpvr is well worth the investment, the quality is excellent, and having the ability to rip & keep hd movies from sky is worth every penny

riccol1966 · 09-11-2009 01:32PM

Probably me being silly, but if I have a SKY HD subscription and valid viewing card in the appropriate thomson SKY HD box and I take the component output from here and into something like a BGT3595 card (http://shop.blackgold.tv/epages/BT3159.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/BT3159/Products/BGT3595)

then I could bypass the need for the separate Hauppauge PVR?

As long as the type of signal on the component cable is recognised by the PCI card then everything should work, or am I mising something. Apologies if I'm being dumb!

eddiem74 · 09-11-2009 03:03PM

riccol1966 wrote: »

Probably me being silly, but if I have a SKY HD subscription and valid viewing card in the appropriate thomson SKY HD box and I take the component output from here and into something like a BGT3595 card (http://shop.blackgold.tv/epages/BT3159.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/BT3159/Products/BGT3595)

then I could bypass the need for the separate Hauppauge PVR?

As long as the type of signal on the component cable is recognised by the PCI card then everything should work, or am I mising something. Apologies if I'm being dumb!

I believe so, I had a Sky HD Thompson box feeding a Hauppage MCE 150 card via S-Video and it showed all channels, although I've never done more than test the set-up. I am not sure the PQ was HD though, even though I could watch HD channels.

eddiem74 · 09-11-2009 03:08PM

meob wrote: »

well, up & running for about a week now.

setup was simple. I am using this card on a secondary system and archiving all content - watching then on main system with sky HD in media center.

i'll eventually put this card into main htpc, just wanted to test it out first!

quality is excellent and 2 hd channels as well.

(just setting up itv hd now, bbd hd works fine)

meob, can you let me know exactly what you can watch/record in media center?

So you have:

- Sky HD via HD PVR (record/watch same channel, right?)
- HD S2 card (record/watch same channel, right?)

So you are limited here if you want to record two channels from Sky at the same time like a Sky box can, right?

riccol1966 · 09-11-2009 03:10PM

Thats the card I currently have, and it wont be HD because a) you connect via s-video (SD only) and b) the MCE150 card only handles resolutions at SD.

I've seen someone mention that the component output of the SKY HD box could be throlled back (by SKY) to SD, but have not seen any confimation anywhere ?

eddiem74 · 09-11-2009 03:16PM

riccol1966 wrote: »

Thats the card I currently have, and it wont be HD because a) you connect via s-video (SD only) and b) the MCE150 card only handles resolutions at SD.

I've seen someone mention that the component output of the SKY HD box could be throlled back (by SKY) to SD, but have not seen any confimation anywhere ?

Yeah, thought that.

Heard the same on the component, not sure they'll ever bother though.

meob · 09-11-2009 04:04PM

riccol1966 wrote: »

Probably me being silly, but if I have a SKY HD subscription and valid viewing card in the appropriate thomson SKY HD box and I take the component output from here and into something like a BGT3595 card (http://shop.blackgold.tv/epages/BT3159.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/BT3159/Products/BGT3595)

then I could bypass the need for the separate Hauppauge PVR?

As long as the type of signal on the component cable is recognised by the PCI card then everything should work, or am I mising something. Apologies if I'm being dumb!

that i don’t know. along with the HD PVR, you need DVBlink - which installs virtual DVB-S tuners. this then pulls the signal from the HDPVR & pipes it into media centre. i don’t think DVBlink will work with the BGT3595 - but best ask over at the DVBlink forums

meob · 09-11-2009 04:06PM

eddiem74 wrote: »

meob, can you let me know exactly what you can watch/record in media center?

So you have:

- Sky HD via HD PVR (record/watch same channel, right?)
- HD S2 card (record/watch same channel, right?)

So you are limited here if you want to record two channels from Sky at the same time like a Sky box can, right?

yip, you can only watch & record 1 channel at a item with my setup( sky HD), however I can record another with the other dvb-s tuner i have , same item as watching / recording sky

i use the 2nd tuner in the sky hd box to archive hd movies then I rip them off the HD when I have spare time, so at least its not gone to waste...

meob · 09-11-2009 04:07PM

eddiem74 wrote: »

I believe so, I had a Sky HD Thompson box feeding a Hauppage MCE 150 card via S-Video and it showed all channels, although I've never done more than test the set-up. I am not sure the PQ was HD though, even though I could watch HD channels.

thats SD quality only, you may see the HD channels, but that are not piped in at 1080p over a analogue connection...

meob · 09-11-2009 04:09PM

riccol1966 wrote: »

Thats the card I currently have, and it wont be HD because a) you connect via s-video (SD only) and b) the MCE150 card only handles resolutions at SD.

I've seen someone mention that the component output of the SKY HD box could be throlled back (by SKY) to SD, but have not seen any confimation anywhere ?

why would you want to do that?

if you want SD output from your box, use the scart connection, sounds like waste of a HD signal to me ?

meob · 09-11-2009 04:12PM

VIDEO = component output from SKY HD -> HDPVR -> DVBlink -> media center

AUDIO = optical out from SKY HD -> HDPVR -> DVBlink -> media center -> AMP

all recording are full 1080 & 5.1 Dolby sound

eddiem74 · 09-11-2009 06:42PM

meob, Sky only outputs in 720p or 1080i, right, so do you scale that to 1080p or just leave?

meob · 09-11-2009 06:44PM

eddiem74 wrote: »

meob, Sky only outputs in 720p or 1080i, right, so do you scale that to 1080p or just leave?

upscale

the max bit rate is 13.5mbps, so pretty hefty recordings.

Nelbert · 09-11-2009 07:51PM

The Blackgold BGT3500 provides component in (no mention of sound so I assume you would pass that through your sound card) which means that assuming it's compatible with DVBLink it could also be used in a similar way that meob uses the HD PVR.
Would be best to check if your sound card supports optical in aswell (many only support optical out).

The Blackgold products support hardware encoding which is a major plus as it means your pc doesn't have to be new and shiny or anything.
I e-mailed them last month and as of then there plan was to release the 3595 to O.E.M before or around christmas and to general release soon after that.

I have the HVR 4000 as a stop gap until then.
The blackgold will add dual satellite tuners and a component in (if I ever give in to Sky and their evil roundabout way of embracing media center, I don't want Sky player in media center! I want full feature watch one channel record at least 1 other Sky in media center with HD! Is that too much to ask?)

Anyone set up a DVB-S/S2 Tuner Card in their HTPC?

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