Best Dual DVB-T tuners

[lisag]

Any views on which work best within MCE - anyone managed 100% reliability, no buggy drivers, no BSOD and S3 into and resume from work correctly?

I am about to upgrade case, mobo and cpu - could go the whole hog have a big ebay sale and upgrade the tuners too. Maybe even achieve MCE nirvana for Xmas

lisa

[evolution400]

I reccomend this case it has 300w PSU included in the price and looks nice.
http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=311813&cks=PRL

[richjthorpe]

Originally Posted by lisag

I am about to upgrade case, mobo and cpu - could go the whole hog have a big ebay sale and upgrade the tuners too. Maybe even achieve MCE nirvana for Xmas

You and me both ! I'm asking Santa for ebuyer vouchers for Christmas in order to get my HTPC up and running. My wife asked last night if Freeview will run on the Media PC (She's getting the terminology right now ) and I said it would.......but I want to make sure it does and is 100% correct. OK, maybe 99%.

I'm very interested in the Terratec DVB-T when they finally release their dual tuner board. Fingers crossed it will work properly !

Richie.

[lisag]

Yes, that cooler master is nice, unfortunately it is too deep to fit on my hif-fi rack. I am going for the Antec Aria and the new Asus HTPC mobo with onboard Nvidia 6150 graphics and a Athlon 64 3500+ Venice. I also have the memory, hard drives, sound card from my current set-up to use (and mouse, keyboard etc).

I have two USB2 cards, Hauppauge Nova-T and Avermedia A800, they both have separate problems if used individually, and don't work at all together, wondering what the best route is to get dual tuners. One USB and one PCI - or two PCI, or a dual PCI? Sheesh!

[evolution400]

Originally Posted by lisag

Yes, that cooler master is nice, unfortunately it is too deep to fit on my hif-fi rack. I am going for the Antec Aria and the new Asus HTPC mobo with onboard Nvidia 6150 graphics and a Athlon 64 3500+ Venice. I also have the memory, hard drives, sound card from my current set-up to use (and mouse, keyboard etc).

I have two USB2 cards, Hauppauge Nova-T and Avermedia A800, they both have separate problems if used individually, and don't work at all together, wondering what the best route is to get dual tuners. One USB and one PCI - or two PCI, or a dual PCI? Sheesh!

Oh theres a shame.
My nova-ts work fine no problems at all.
If your going to get a new system I would go dual core lisa so you future proof your MCE because the mpeg4 HD will need a dual core CPU to process I know there may not be a PC based solution for HD in the UK as of yet but blue ray will be using mpeg2 and mpeg4 and I am sure HD-DVD will also.
If your not bothered by HD at all then go for the single core.
also what PSU is in the antec ?
If you get a mimimum 380w PSU the 64 overclocks very nicely I got my 3000+ running at 4000+ stable on my office PC.

[meansizzler]

I seconds two Nova-T PCI 's. they work great together...

[springtide]

I have one Hauppauge HVR1100 (basically Nova-T + Analogue + FM) and a Sweetspot MCE (same as Black Gold) working together without any issues.

Sweetspot appears to change channel faster than the HVR1100 but I would say I had to swap PCI slots to get the Sweetspot working - on it's own.

Other than that, they worked first time. Note than I have not installed the analogue or FM drivers for the HVR1100 as I didn't see any point! If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

Resumes from S3, records a couple of simutanious programmes and then goes back to sleep. Have a dual tuner Terratec card on order - will replace the two I have to cut down on PCI slots and heat (give my passive GPU some room to breath) once I'm, happy that there are no issues.

[lisag]

evo400 - the dual core's start at £280! That seems excessive, I am sure the price will drop soon - the single core 3500+ is just £130, which sounds much more realistic. I guess I will have to get a dual core eventually for Hi Def and maybe Windows Vista fancy features - but not at that price. The Aria comes with a 300watt PSU.

springtide - the black gold / sweetspot MCE have a very good reputation that is one option to get a pair of them.

meansizzler - thanks, that is also an option or maybe keep the usb and run it with a PCI, but I have been put off by the buggy drivers, blue screens and the number of people on their forums that complain about the same problem.

[springtide]

Yes they are. The Black Gold / Sweetspot MCE are very good. I'd buy another tomorrow. They turn up with no fancy packaging, just the card and an address where to get the drivers. Download and install the drivers and away to go.
The only problem I have had is with one PCI slot on my MB in my HTPC. One driver on the card didn't seem to work correctly in this slot. Moved the card and it worked first time. Both Tranqil and Hush use the Black Gold cards. (although Hush are supposed to start using the dual tuner Terratec cards when available)

[evolution400]

Originally Posted by lisag

evo400 - the dual core's start at £280! That seems excessive, I am sure the price will drop soon - the single core 3500+ is just £130, which sounds much more realistic. I guess I will have to get a dual core eventually for Hi Def and maybe Windows Vista fancy features - but not at that price. The Aria comes with a 300watt PSU.

problem.

Where are you getting your prices from ?
£235 for the 3800+ retail dual core a bit pricey I suppose you can always sell your single core to put towards the price ofa new dual when the time is right
I would go for more than a 300w PSU if your getting a new system lisa you could then get the 3000+ and overclock it to 4000+ with cool n quiet my cpu temp is about 40%

[lisag]

Originally Posted by evolution400

I would go for more than a 300w PSU if your getting a new system lisa you could then get the 3000+ and overclock it to 4000+ with cool n quiet my cpu temp is about 40%

I can't - the psu comes with the case and I think it is a non standard size so can't be changed (Antec Aria).

Will definitely look into the 2 x Black Gold PCI cards - wonder if pluggedin.tv will do me a deal?

[Embarker]

anyone know who's got a Aria in stock?

[Embarker]

i've answered my own question - kustompc seems to have them

[lisag]

Actually, if this terratec dual tuner on one PCI-e card does all it promises to do, I think that will be the tidiest option. It is very cheap, so I could sell both my usb cards to cover the cost, and then it is one slot occupied, and one set of drivers.

[HiZ]

Originally Posted by lisag

Actually, if this terratec dual tuner on one PCI-e card does all it promises to do, I think that will be the tidiest option. It is very cheap, so I could sell both my usb cards to cover the cost, and then it is one slot occupied, and one set of drivers.

Remember its PCI Express x1 but i still think they plug into a full size x16 slot. Well... I hope they do!