DVB-S2, Graphics Cards, a 360 and networking - What to buy?!

gunark

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Hello,

I'm about to bump Sky HD off and I'm looking into DVB-S2 cards. I've previously used XPMC with DVB-S (horrid) and VMC with DVB-T (better but inconsistent) so I've served my time at the coalface of MS's media solutions - spare me no truths! Basically, I want to receive Freesat HD on my Win 7 box and pump that out to my TV. In addition I want to put a 360 in the bedroom as an extender for said 7MC so I can view tuner channels (HD & SD) and the recorded video. I don't wish to use it for blu-ray and all my HD MKVs I watch thru a WDTV or PS3 Media Centre'd to my PS3 (which the same box does too). So my questions are:

1) I have an Athlon 64 X2 3800+ chip with a Gigabyte board sporting Radeon HD2100 graphics. Do I need to up the CPU and / or install a dedicated card to handle HD transport streams? A faster CPU would be nice for transcoding I guess but it's fine for that for now. The board can take Phenoms up to AM3.

2) What is the best / cheapest 1 tuner card and 2 tuner card? DVB-T not needed.

3) If I want to stream the HD channels to the 360, will N or even G wireless cope or do I have to go the 200mbps Homeplug route?

4) Has this got any easier than the XP days of hacked drivers, flakey cards and general stress?!

5) Would the 7MC experience be as good as Sky HD (new EPG)? Pause / series linking / recording, etc and most importantly - does it pass the WIFE test?

Thanks in advance!
 
  1. PC looks OK
  2. Lots of threads here on DVB-S/S2 cards. I use a Hauppauge Nova-HD-S2
  3. I can stream BBC HD over wireless 801.11n, but a wired solution is better
  4. It works out the box now, but not always flawlessly - of course!
  5. The interface on Windows 7 Media Center and the Xbox 360 is much better than the Sky EPG in my opinion
 
1. Don't know much about AMD systems
2. If you want the SkyHD experience then you'll need a dual tuner DVB-S card
3. BBC HD works fine on my 360 Arcade over a wired connection - use homeplugs if in doubt
4. W7MC + Haali media splitter = Much happy feelings ;-)
5. 7MC is great and works really well. EPG IMO is better in most respects than the new Sky EPG but I don't think series linking is quite as good but def. works.

FreesatHD doesn't use DVB-S2 like Sky does so a Pinnacle 7010ix (check out ebay.de for cheap prices on this card - don't buy from the UK) will do the job for about £55 delivered. If you really want a DVB-S2 card (and want to play around with getting Sky working on it) then get the new BlackGold card in May.

W7MC + Mediabrowser offers a much better solution than any of the little media players and the PS3 IMO (and I have a PS3 and had a PCH in the past so I know what I am talking about). This solution also works well if you have an Xbox 360 as it gives you the same front end on that too.

W7MC EPG is very good. It is very fast compared to a SkyHD box and looks good. I personally don't think the series link feature is quite as good as the SkyHD EPG one but it def. works. There are some other nice features though like being able to search for programs and movies easily and if they aren't on in the next 14 days you can flag them to record anyway if they do come up anytime in the future.

The best thing I ever did was bin off SkyHD and all my little media players and go down this route. I only did it though because of the quality of W7 as an OS generally though.

HTH
 
FreesatHD doesn't use DVB-S2 like Sky does

Ok so this is true for both BBC HD and ITV HD? Could I expect further HD channels (4, E4 and eventually 5) to also conform to this or jump ship to S2, possibly with the others too?

Thanks all - I'm looking at a tuner card, 2x ebuyer N access points (for cheap N to the xbox) and a bunch of remotes then. Maybe even a dead drive 360 for another room too!
 
I don't know if the FreesatHD receivers use DVB-S2 chipsets or not (DVB-S2 is backwards compatible with DVB-S). As BBC-HD and ITV1-HD are in DVB-S I would guess if and when CH4, E4 and 5 go HD on the FreesatHD platform they will also be in DVB-S too - remember that these aren't going to be same channels that the SkyHD boxes receive)
 
Freesat HD receivers have DVB-S2, so there is nothing preventing HD channels being launched on a DVB-S2 transponder.

What should never happen is SD channels moving to DVB-S2, since regular Freesat receivers are just DVB-S.
 
Freesat HD receivers have DVB-S2, so there is nothing preventing HD channels being launched on a DVB-S2 transponder.
This is the key. AIUI each transponder can only be DVB-S or DVB-S2. If Freesat wanted to move to DVB-S2 they would need to fill a transponder with HD channels. Perhaps when 4HD, FiveHD and possibly e4HD hit Freesat we could see it then.
 
Freesat HD receivers have DVB-S2, so there is nothing preventing HD channels being launched on a DVB-S2 transponder.

What should never happen is SD channels moving to DVB-S2, since regular Freesat receivers are just DVB-S.

Ah well there you go, learn something new every day - thanks for the info.
 
This is the key. AIUI each transponder can only be DVB-S or DVB-S2. If Freesat wanted to move to DVB-S2 they would need to fill a transponder with HD channels. Perhaps when 4HD, FiveHD and possibly e4HD hit Freesat we could see it then.

So an S not S2 card could work but may end up being a temp solution.

Incidentally, could I, with a DVB-T & S card, combine or cherry-pick from all the available channels from both terrestrial and sat in one uniform EPG? Basically adding Fiver/Five USA/Virgin from a DVB-T source to the other DVB-S sourced channels?
 
So an S not S2 card could work but may end up being a temp solution.

Incidentally, could I, with a DVB-T & S card, combine or cherry-pick from all the available channels from both terrestrial and sat in one uniform EPG? Basically adding Fiver/Five USA/Virgin from a DVB-T source to the other DVB-S sourced channels?
Yes, and yes.

No freesat channels currently use S2.

My area doesn't get Freeview HD until next year (plus there's no DVB-T2 PC cards available) so I've got DVB-S2 and DVB-T tuners for 'the best of both worlds'. Windows 7 Media Center integrates it all nicely. Freeview channels are numbered from 1 upwards, and satellite starts from 101 with BBC 1. I'm one of the lucky ones that even has ITV 1 HD working!
 

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