[russ_e]

Hi,

I have been reading with interest the threads regarding the BlackGold and Pinnacle 7010i dual DVB-S PCIe cards.

Whilst searching for the 7010i (nobody seems to have any stock left) I came across this

http://www.planetmicro.co.uk/product...ckcode=M006897

The Pinnacle PCTV Dual DVB-S Card.

I really want a dual card so the Hauppauge card is out and it seems the BlackGold card is a little unstable.

So, has anyone used this card?

Doing a search on this forum it seems to have been around for a while but there are no reviews.

Does anyone know if you can receive BBC HD?

Thanks in advance

Russ

[Scotty]

Originally Posted by russ_e

Hi,

I have been reading with interest the threads regarding the BlackGold and Pinnacle 7010i dual DVB-S PCIe cards.

Whilst searching for the 7010i (nobody seems to have any stock left) I came across this

http://www.planetmicro.co.uk/product...ckcode=M006897

The Pinnacle PCTV Dual DVB-S Card.

I really want a dual card so the Hauppauge card is out and it seems the BlackGold card is a little unstable.

So, has anyone used this card?

Doing a search on this forum it seems to have been around for a while but there are no reviews.

Does anyone know if you can receive BBC HD?

Thanks in advance

Russ

A friend on mine has this card, he couldn’t find the Pinnacle 7010i dual DVB-S anywhere.

Currently it’s available from scan as an OEM for £32.

Uses DVBviewer and yes it receives BBC and ITV HD

[russ_e]

Many Thanks, I was going to buy this for £80 yesterday!

I don't mind taking a punt to see if it works for £32.

[martint123]

Originally Posted by russ_e

Many Thanks, I was going to buy this for £80 yesterday!

I don't mind taking a punt to see if it works for £32.

Yes, it works with DVBDream, but GBPVR can't get any data out of it. (grrrrrrrr)

Originally Posted by Scotty

A friend on mine has this card, he couldn’t find the Pinnacle 7010i dual DVB-S anywhere.

Currently it’s available from scan as an OEM for £32.

Uses DVBviewer and yes it receives BBC and ITV HD

Hi

On scan's website it says its not HDTV compatible, but you say you can get BBC & ITV HD. Have scan got their tech spec wrong?

[Scotty]

Originally Posted by bunnyhutch

Hi

On scan's website it says its not HDTV compatible, but you say you can get BBC & ITV HD. Have scan got their tech spec wrong?

Yes.

You can defo get BBC HD and ITV HD through DVBviewer but not through MCE as it doesn't supprt H264

[simonf7]

Originally Posted by bunnyhutch

Hi

On scan's website it says its not HDTV compatible, but you say you can get BBC & ITV HD. Have scan got their tech spec wrong?

Probably more they've confused the fact that its DVB-S only and not DVB-S2 with being HD compatible?

Si

[russ_e]

I can confirm that BBC HD and ITV HD work, but as it's OEM you do not get any software or drivers (as expected)

So you will need to purchase DVBViewer. Plus the latest driver from Pinnacle doesn't work with DVBViewer. From memory you need to get v1.4.

[liversedge]

Hi Russ,

I've just ordered one from scan since it is such a steal. Have you tried it with VMC TV Pack?

Where did you get the 1.4 drivers from?

EDIT: I got the vista drivers from here (waiting for card to arrive tomorrow)

[liversedge]

Well the Pinnacle 4000i Dual DVB-S tuner arrived this morning. Put it in my HTPC and booted up. Vista located drivers (via download from windows update) and installed them, Media Center then spotted a new tuner and re-scanned etc.

I now have 903 channels (Sat + Freeview), including channel 4, E4, More 4 etc. Once Five goes FTA I can dump the DVB-T USB stick, woohoo. (And we only really watch the Gadget show on Five). After a few hours of playing I can say it seems pretty stable. No more waiting for the Humax freesat PVR.

Just need a while to re-organise the guide to my liking.

TV Pack rocks. Hopefully HD with H.264 support will be down the line sooner or later. Although I wonder wether the ommission is more to do with DRM / legal issues than technical ones???

[martint123]

Originally Posted by russ_e

I can confirm that BBC HD and ITV HD work, but as it's OEM you do not get any software or drivers (as expected)

So you will need to purchase DVBViewer. Plus the latest driver from Pinnacle doesn't work with DVBViewer. From memory you need to get v1.4.

I'm running driver 3.1.3.0 and earlier one fails dismally for me.
Very little info or support on the pinnacle site.

[evil Homer]

Originally Posted by martint123

I'm running driver 3.1.3.0 and earlier one fails dismally for me.
Very little info or support on the pinnacle site.

Yeah tell me about it.

Got it working in VMC (With TV Pack update), and DVBViewer.

However using it in Media Portal in a no go so far, and I believe down to the drivers that Vista has installed for me.

The ones I managed to find from Pinnacles website won't install properly.

[Tumble]

Anyone tried this one with Vista 64 running more than 4GB RAM?

[russ_e]

Im running xp here, so only use DVB Viewer.

I have a Vista License so will upgrade once HD is supported.

[evil Homer]

Originally Posted by Tumble

Anyone tried this one with Vista 64 running more than 4GB RAM?

I've got it in Vista 64 with 4Gb or ram.

The drivers from Pinnacles website are "beta" dated March 2006. If you install them, Vista says it can't load the driver correctly, thus disabling the card.

I let Vista install its own drivers after scanning online and the drivers are now dated Dec 2006 and do work, however I'm having limited success in getting applications recognising it (Plus another issue with getting both tuners working at the same time with my dish - but thats another story).

So far, with the Fiji TV Pack I've got Freesat channels but no HD (The timebomb dll file to get h264 support doesn't work for me), and I've got all the channels in DVBViewer Pro, but varying image quality (Need to tweak FFDSHOW a bit).

The other app I've tried to use is Media Portal with its built in TV Server, but so far it has failed to pick up the card.

Having been out of the main PC game for a number of years and sticking to laptops, I thought I'd miss all this conflicting hardware/driver crap, but I realise I haven't... ARRRGGGHHHH

[t_i_g_e_rr]

I know this is a bit late, but anyone who finds this thread might like to know about the S3 standby issues with this card. I have Vista 64, and I can't seem to fix it with devcon, like the people here: Error

If you are having trouble too, please lend your support to the thread on Pinnacle, and maybe something will get done.

Of course, if anyone has any ideas, I would be very grateful to hear.

[evil Homer]

I've now switched to Vista Ultimate 32bit so I could get VMC working properly.

However now that I've started to use the tv card a lot more, I too am noticing a bit of unreliability when it goes into S3.

I'd say a good 50% of the time the card doesn't restart from S3, leading Vista to say the card is missing or the drivers are broken. Reboot and its fine.

I've been experimenting a little and found if I wake the htpc up with the remote control, much of the time the Pinnacle doesn't wake up, but if I turn the htpc back on with the power button at the front, it "can" wake the Pinnacle up... but sometimes it doesn't. It could be completely random to be honest.

I'm using an app called MST to put Media Centre to sleep if it has been idle for more than 30 mins and there has been no user input (remote/keyboard/mouse etc). This seems to be working better than Vista's own power management, and it does give you the option of setting S3/S4 as well. I had to resort to this as VMC would keep waking up the htpc to download a new tv guide every 12 hours, and then leave the htpc on afterwards.

[t_i_g_e_rr]

If, when I have finished watching TV, I press Stop, and then put the PC to sleep, it seems to wake up and work OK.

However, if the PC wakes up to do something, e.g. record, it then goes back to sleep automatically (I'm using MST too), and seemingly doesn't 'press stop' as I would do, so it then fails when it resumes.

My computer needs to be 100% idiot proof, and it's not!

Hi... does this support x264. some people say yes and some say no.

[Scotty]

Originally Posted by simonellis

Hi... does this support x264. some people say yes and some say no.

Yes, both BBC HD and ITV HD are supported

[martint123]

Originally Posted by simonellis

Hi... does this support x264. some people say yes and some say no.

Confirming YES. BBC HD, Luxe HD and ITV HD all work fine for me.
Ch4 encrypted and uses dvb-s2 so no for that one.

[Ernie Peters]

Can someone help me out please!
I am new to this, but after reading a few posts of succesful people I decided to have a go.
I have a Pinnacle 4000i Sat Card and am trying to set it up.
I have installed the card OK windows found drivers 3.1.3.0.
I want to use DVB Viewer and have purchased the Pro version but when I search for channels (on Astra 28.2E) I don't get any. I am running Windows XP Pro (with latest Service pack)
Am I missing something?

The satellite dish and Quad LNB are working fine on the Sky boxes that I have attached to it, yet no channels when searching on DVB Viewer.