Question Picture distortion with satellite card

DB999

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A few years ago I bought a TeVii S480 DVB-S2 card.

Prior to using a media PC setup I was getting my satellite programs from a Sky box here in the UK, and all worked just fine.

However, with the S480 in a media PC I often have a problem with one of the inputs when recording high definition programming - there is a lot of distortion on the picture along with flickering, as though the signal it's not strong enough.

Sometimes green areas appear on the screen, especially a green band towards the bottom of the screen.

(It may be an entirely separate issue but the system is also prone to BSODs when using Windows Media Center.)

I assumed that the signal gain or something was lower with a media PC with a TeVii S480 card fitted inside (compared with a Sky box), and that I would need my satellite dish realigned, new cabling from the dish or a larger satellite dish.

In the end I've had my satellite dish and cabling checked, and they're fine - the engineers said that from their readings something is wrong with my satellite device (they didn't know that I have a media PC). They tested a Freesat box and all worked perfectly.

Therefore, there must be been an issue with the TeVii S480 card (or perhaps the motherboard).

Should I consider purchasing a new card, from a different manufacturer? Or could the problem lie elsewhere, e.g. motherboard?
 
I have a couple of viewing cards in my HTPC, and I get picture breakup with one of the cards when I watch multiple streams from the same mux, but not another.

That doesn't mean you have the same problem. However, it is probably much cheaper and quicker, to swap out the DVB card, than it is to swap an entire MB.

If you did that, and the problem was still there, then the worst case is that you have spent £40 on a new DVB card, and can now use two capture cards in your system (with a new MB - or whatever you eventually diagnose the problem as).
 
would maybe consider newer codecs/software as a first stop try media portal with it's SAF pack.
Also take a look at the hdd, gpu and cpu temps see if there's any issues there
 
DVB-S2 cards seem to have a reputation for being a money pit! If you search forums you will find numerous people on their 2nd or 3rd card many only lasting around two years. The early ones used a lot of power so got very hot which was not good for reliability.

This put me off buying a card for a couple of years but bought one from DVBSky a few months ago and nothing on it gets more than slightly warm to the touch. However I have recently seen more complaints of the poor reliability of S2 cards.
 

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