[jon_c0]

It'll be interesting to hear how you get on... I approached Mediaportal with a lot of hope a few years ago...soon dashed by the reality, however, of bugs, crashes and missing functionality. My last encounter with it was with an HVR4000 a year or so a go, but that was a lost cause even after going through the grief of the TV Server setup. I know things have moved on more recently though, and I see the latest builds will soon be using a combined installer for both the main program and the TV Server, at last!

[deekarma]

So far so good.

Quite a hassle getting the tv guide to update, but worked out how to combine MP with Radio Times xml feed and the detail of program reviews is magnificent. Movies are fully critiqued, and if they are trash - that is the review.

eg - "This trite melodrama was one of the last films to be directed by veteran Allan Dwan and, along with a clutch of similar movies, it contributed to the decline of RKO. Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Ryan - so good together in the same studio's Clash by Night - are wasted here, playing lovers in the jungle whose tryst is disturbed by David Farrar when he attempts to arrest Ryan for murder. There's a last-minute twist, but you'll be numb with boredom before then, despite the glossy Technicolor and the professional - perhaps dutiful would be a more appropriate - performances of the three leads. This is for 1950s period enthusiasts and die-hard fans of the stars only." Escape to Burma

Recording quality is excellent and using coreavc have very good BBC HD integration - both playback and recording.

All recordings have been reliable so far, but have not tried from sleep. Off to work just now so have set a recording for Escape to Burma (despite the review). We'll see how it handles coming out of sleep.

Overal I am delighted with Mediaportal's functionality and reliability.

It is not such an easy out of the box solution, but with a bit more effort and tweaking I reckon you end up with a PVR that actually competes with Sky Plus on reliability and user interface and beats Sky in terms of TV Guide info.

Early days yet though, lets see how it handles sleep.

[deekarma]

Escape to Burma recorded perfect.

Some more rigorous testing tonight.

[Dillz]

Originally Posted by deekarma

Thanks Jon


I am actually delighted by the sound and picture quality, but have had to downgrade my machine from 4 GB ram to 2 GB for stability. Their driver ending 26 led to an awful picture so I rolled back to driver ending 25.

This appears to the same problem I am having. I have Vista Ultimate 64 bit, just upgraded from 2gb to 4gb ram and now have a really poor picture.(fine lines all down it and frequently jerky). I emailed black gold on Sunday but so far no reply. I am going to see how it goes but may also have to take out some of the memory roll back drivers. - What a ridiculous situation!!!!

[Jaseb1]

I keep seeing in peoples posts that they have emailed blackgold about the problems they have, but blackgold never seem to reply.

Has anyone had a response from blackgold and more importantly a resolution to there problems.

Also does anyone know a contact number for blackgold as i think we need to find out some info about what is happening with the faults with this card.

Jase

[deekarma]

Jaseb1 - you can phone through to Black Gold/GDI and speak with someone on the number that came with the compliments slip with the card.

01865 338008

[deekarma]

Originally Posted by Dillz

This appears to the same problem I am having. I have Vista Ultimate 64 bit, just upgraded from 2gb to 4gb ram and now have a really poor picture.(fine lines all down it and frequently jerky). I emailed black gold on Sunday but so far no reply. I am going to see how it goes but may also have to take out some of the memory roll back drivers. - What a ridiculous situation!!!!

I know!

[deekarma]

None of recordings scheduled for last night worked

As I am still at the early stages with Media Portal, I'm not wanting to assume this is the card's fault - it could well be my setup of MP TV Server.

I'll try again today.

[LostCause]

There is no reason using MediaPortal or any other frontend application should be anymore or less reliable than Media Centre if you are employing sleep. The problem for the card lies in its readiness when restoring from sleep, not its ability to record. It is more reliable with S4 since hibernation performs a Post, equivalent to turning the PC off, then on. S3 restoring is faster and consequently the card is less reliable. That the drivers were only tested on older systems and it seems no Intel Core2 duos is the reason we have the problems. That it is taking as long as it is to fix the problem suggest an extensive rewrite of the drivers and the necessary testing that frankly should have occured in the first place.

[deekarma]

Originally Posted by LostCause

There is no reason using MediaPortal or any other frontend application should be anymore or less reliable than Media Centre if you are employing sleep. The problem for the card lies in its readiness when restoring from sleep, not its ability to record. It is more reliable with S4 since hibernation performs a Post, equivalent to turning the PC off, then on. S3 restoring is faster and consequently the card is less reliable. That the drivers were only tested on older systems and it seems no Intel Core2 duos is the reason we have the problems. That it is taking as long as it is to fix the problem suggest an extensive rewrite of the drivers and the necessary testing that frankly should have occured in the first place.

Totally agree - feel like a total mug having paid 120 quid to be a beta tester - or should I say alpha??

Mine is going back to GDI. It promised a lot but just doesn't deliver.

I've persevered for weeks & weeks with the correct 6.0.0.26 driver (I have 8Gb RAM) for straightforward DVB-T use in a new build Vista 64 Media Centre - so not exactly pushing its' alleged capabilities - and it just isn't usuable. When I power up from standby, I might get lucky & be able to watch TV but it's more likely I'm greeted with a seemingly random range of issues including frozen picture or no image at all, stuttering sound, "no tuner found", "no signal" messages, only one tuner operating and unreliable recording.

I didn't have a lot of success at getting support from the treasury either: "honey, I spent a ton of money on a new all-singing computer that'll let you record TV without the hassle of the video recorder....if it feels like it. Which it mostly doesn't".

If GDI live up to their marketing & get the card working properly with Vista 64 & 4Gb+ RAM I might think again but for now I bought a 'vanilla' twin tuner DVB-T card (Hauppauge Nova 500) and will run with that until HD DVB-S / DVB-T is a reality & there is a PC card that will enable me to get it effectively...

[daew11]

See my previous post. All tests performed with a P4 3Ghz so I dont think its the core duo. Spoke to Blackgold last week. They admitted to driver problems and said that they were fixing them. Chap said he was going to the East for 10 days so I am hoping he may come back with good news. Keep up the pressure. Like everyone else I dont relish having paid 240 quid for two cards to be a beta tester. The phone number is 1865 338 008, chaps name is Tony Nedd
Cheers to all Jim

[mattatav]

Got a reply from BG, at least they're accepting the prob. Looks like totally new drivers too.

---------------------------------
Mat,

Thanks for your feedback and sorry for the delay in responding to your mail.

As you are aware we have found some issues with the 3540 coming out of the S3\S54 power states. After an extensive investigation of this issue, helped in a big way by your and other users feedback we have been able to identify the cause of this issue.

After many unsatisfactory attempts to patch the existing driver code we have decided to bit the bullet and go back to the drawing board - the drivers are being re-architected and large portions being re-written. We are extremely confident that the next driver release should put an end to the problems you and other 3540 users have been experiencing.

The downside is that this extensive re-coding takes time, and even more time to properly test. Due to the nature of quality testing drivers it is difficult to give you a time scale when we will be able to make this next release - our target is 8-12 weeks, though if everything goes well it could be substantially sooner. Given the large number of issues users have experienced with our current drivers and the knock this has given the BlackGold reputation we are determined to remedy this with the next release. To this end we have also completely revised our in-house testing procedures to ensure that we never again release sub-standard drivers.

I appreciate your frustration and sincerely thank you for your patience and co-operation so far with this issue.

Regards
BlackGold Product Support
---------------------------------

[jon_c0]

That's the same response that I got.

Slightly torn on this...

On the one hand the BGT3540 really has no peers "hardware-wise" from my perspective. I have an HTPC case that only takes a mATX motherboard and low-profile cards - the four tuners of the BGT3540 are exactly what I need, and there really is no other alternative that provides so much. I'm also reasonably confident that BlackGold will get the issues sorted.

Then again...I'll be in a more difficult position in 12+ weeks time if the drivers aren't fit for purpose and I want a refund. I'm also slightly surprised that they're still selling the card without any sort of health warning, seeing as these issues are confirmed and pretty serious.

[jimbot54]

Finally a (long overdue) response from BlackGold!

I have mixed feelings now; on one hand I am pleased they have identified the problem and a solution, they have posted their forecast to the community (this goes a long way in my book). I also think it is good (for us) that they are a small company with only a few products. This means they must focus on getting the few products they sell rock solid, or risk going under.

On the other hand, I keep asking how could this have happened. On their website it states bold and confidently:

"Unparalleled picture and sound quality, rock solid reliability, and innovative technology"

but forget to mention that they have only tested it on AMD Processors.

I strongly feel they should remove this quote, or even withdraw the product until they have a new tested driver. There is not even a mention of the problem on their knowledge base! This is wrong!

Which leads me onto my next point. I'm a little nervous about this complete rewrite they talk of! I don't doubt they will fix S3 wake problem for us but we may end up with a whole bunch of new bugs, it will be an immature driver!

A weekly status from BlackGold would also be good. This would help to span the 3 Month (5 Months in all) wait and provide encouragement that they are nearing a solution....

[nigelbb]

If you are returning your BlackGold card for a refund you might like to consider buying the new Pinnacle 7010ix 6-in-1 tuner card. I am not claiming that it will be less trouble than the BlackGold & it is full height but on the other hand it is less than half the price. With the current strength of the Euro vs. the pound I have just ordered one for under 60 Euros delivered. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-Pinnacle-7...742.m153.l1262

[jon_c0]

Interesting...no good for me, due to my case, but price and spec-wise. More details here.

Does it support DVB-S2 (assuming a FTA C4HD and the new ITV-HD will go down this route)? Looking at the above it mentions "Zarlink ZL10037" in the satellite specs but the datasheet (available here) just mentions "DVB-S Free-to-Air Satellite receiver systems". Hardly conclusive though.

Added Later

This suggests it does support DVB-S2.

[LostCause]

£60 from amazon now, £35 from play soon. Quite a price difference. Certainly doesn't look as slick as the Blackgold, of course it full height so limits it market a bit and requires 2 DVB-T ariels. Could do a proper review or more details to see if it works inside Vista with the DVB-S. Of course there is no guarantee that this card doesn't come with its own set of problems.

Anyone thinking of giving it a whirl?

[Ronski]

Hi All, just got back from holiday, nice to see that BlackGold have replied to peoples emails, I was hoping for a quicker fix, but Trident had said that it needed a complete rewrite of the drivers, which I mentioned previously, but I had no idea of time scale. But like someone said they are only a small company. I'm also surprised that they have not mentioned the driver problems on there website, I'm sure they did last time, which took about 6 months to fix, although a lot of that time was tracing the problem.

[jimbot54]

This Pinnacle 7010i sound really interesting. I have two spare full height PCI slots available in my Artisan case but would need to get some PCI Express X1 flexible extenders. Does anyone know where I could get these from?

Looks like a really good cheep solution...

Even cheeper here (£31.76) and available too.

Here is the link to the datasheet for this card. This also suggests with some clever "Automatic Antenna Signal Matrix" you don't need to connect two DVB-T feeds. I like it already!

[Ronski]

Originally Posted by jimbot54

This Pinnacle 7010i sound really interesting. I have two spare full height PCI slots available in my Artisan case but would need to get some PCI Express X1 flexible extenders. Does anyone know where I could get these from?

Looks like a really good cheep solution...

Even cheeper here (£31.76) and available too.

Here is the link to the datasheet for this card

LinITX.com is where I got my flexi riser from. I take it you have two PCIe sockets? Most motherboards have 1 + graphics card slot - which will take X1 extender.

[jimbot54]

Originally Posted by Ron-ski

LinITX.com is where I got my flexi riser from. I take it you have two PCIe sockets? Most motherboards have 1 + graphics card slot - which will take X1 extender.

Yes I have the Intel DG33TL Mediaseries, this has 2x PCI Express X1.

The 7cm flexible cable seems a little short, I'm not sure, will need to measure. I am away from my Artisan MCE for the next few weeks but I would like to order the bits to try this for when I get back, Has anyone had any problems with Extenders??? Thanks.

[Ronski]

Originally Posted by jimbot54

Yes I have the Intel DG33TL Mediaseries, this has 2x PCI Express X1.

The 7cm flexible cable seems a little short, I'm not sure, will need to measure. I am away from my Artisan MCE for the next few weeks but I would like to order the bits to try this for when I get back, Has anyone had any problems with Extenders??? Thanks.

I've used the 11cm 16x version to add a full height graphics card to my Artisan, I also needed a riser card to comfortably reach over my tuner. I think you should be fine with the 7cm flexi risers. I'm only aware of one person reporting a problem with a riser on an HD 2xxx graphics card.

Have you seen the Artisan thread on Ebuyer Forums?

Could you PM me and let me know if you had any problems fitting the board and I'll add it to my motherboard post on the Ebuyer forum, thanks.

[Lakeuk]

Originally Posted by LostCause

£60 from amazon now, £35 from play soon. Quite a price difference. Certainly doesn't look as slick as the Blackgold, of course it full height so limits it market a bit and requires 2 DVB-T ariels. Could do a proper review or more details to see if it works inside Vista with the DVB-S. Of course there is no guarantee that this card doesn't come with its own set of problems.

Anyone thinking of giving it a whirl?

I'm going to order one to try out in my XP / dvbviewer setup, at £35 it's certainly worth a punt considering the blackgold is over £100.

Also looking at the specs you don't need 2 DVB-T ariels, apparently if you only connect one aerial then the circuit knows this are routes the signals to both tuners

[cdldt]

Originally Posted by Lakeuk

Also looking at the specs you don't need 2 DVB-T ariels, apparently if you only connect one aerial then the circuit knows this are routes the signals to both tuners

If it's anything like the 3010iX you'll still need to connect to both inputs because it frequently "forgets" to route the signal to both tuners.

[LostCause]

Play have them in stock now, so I'm going to give it a try too under Vista and media centre and see what happens.

[speedyrazor]

Hi I too am intersted in the Pinnacle 7010i, but need confirmation on if it is DVB-S2 and is it DiseQC 1.2 compatible? I can not find this information anywhere. Can anybody help please?

Regards,
Kev.

[LostCause]

Nothing I've seen suggests that its Dvb-S2. Maybe able to confirm for definite by the end of the week, however its based on a phillips chip from 2006 and drivers are around a year old.

[jon_c0]

Originally Posted by LostCause

Nothing I've seen suggests that its Dvb-S2. Maybe able to confirm for definite by the end of the week, however its based on a phillips chip from 2006 and drivers are around a year old.

mmm...now I thought that the original news item for the ZL10037 from Zarlink's web-site that I used above did mention DVB-S2. That link is no longer valid, but I've just found this and it actually states (my emphasis):

"The ZL10037 device is a strong solution for both low-cost standard definition PayTV boxes, and the emerging market for 8-PSK HD broadcast satellite equipment," said Bob Ferreira, DTV front-end product line director, Zarlink Semiconductor. "We now offer tuners optimized for the three key satellite segments - the ZL10037 chip for QPSK and 8PSK PayTV, the ZL10038 device for full DVB-S2 compliant systems, and the ZL10039 tuner for Free-to-Air equipment."

Again, not really conclusive, but it does suggest that it's the ZL10038 for DVB-S2, and not the ZL10037.

Incidentally...looking at the datasheet, what are those "for auto wake-up" headers for (cables look to be included)? They seem reminiscent of the old headers that used to go to from standalone NICs to the motherboard to power the card for wake on LAN purposes...

Oh...and do you think a new thread might be in order for this card, maybe over here this time ?

[jon_c0]

I'm trying to get some clarity from BlackGold over two things:

(1) The DVB-S tuners seem to go AWOL in the same way as the DVB-T tuners when using S3, and I'd like to know that the driver re-write will actually attempt to address these issues. This info we have on this here (thanks Ron-ski) doesn't seem conclusive, and I don't want to be in a position in 2 months time trying out a new driver where the DVB-S issues weren't even looked at.

(2) If the drivers, when delivered, don't address both DVB-T and DVB-S issues, then I'm still in a clear and straightforward position to return for a refund. I know that legally I may well be, but I'd like the company to acknowledge that I'm not returning this card now on the basis that they will get a good way towards sorting out both DVB-S and DVB-T issues with the new drivers.

If the answer to one or more these is "no", then I'm going to return the card and move on. I'll confess that I'm slightly bewildered that they make no mention of the current issues on the web-site, which does make me wonder...

Still awaiting a response on both of the above, and I'm on my second mail to support.