Which DVB-T card /or not?

mitch1

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Have been running my HTPC for about 2 years..

I only ever installed one DVB-S2 Hauppauge Nova S2 HD because the rented place I was in only had a sat feed.

It has never really bothered me (occasionally i'd have to catchup with iplayer if 2 things were on at the same time) but now that i'm in my own place I though i may as well add a DVB-T tuner or 2 into the mix.

I think freeview HD is in London now but as per the Rant posted recently these seem to be expensive at the moment.

So which DVB-T tuners should i be looking at (I think i have pci / and express slots free)?

i started looking at the hauppauge ones so that i'd have the best chance of them playing nicely together but they seem to be fairly expensive over compro etc.? I don't need or want any remotes / software but they all seem to come bundled. (using 7MC)

any reasons for this / problems i should be aware of?

Is it possible to have 2 tuners off one ariel connection for more flexibility?

I guess i'll replace fairly quickly once the price of T2 comes down

..or do i just bite the bullett and get a T2 now or cope for a while. :S
 
I used one of these a few years ago: USB 2.0 Digital DVB-T HDTV TV Tuner Recorder & Receiver | eBay

I went to sell it recently as it's been sat in a drawer, but after seeing the price of them, I decided not to bother :laugh:

It worked really well, and you can plug it into a fixed aerial socket rather than using the (crap) included aerial. Can't really knock it for under a fiver!

Weather or not you go for T2 depends on how much you really want the 4 Freeview HD channels (soon to be 5)
 
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I have a Compro dual DVB-T alongside my S2 - was about £50. Nice to avoid clashes although with HD on the increase and a lot of my viewing BBC/C4 I am debating whether to move to DVB-T2 but, like you, can't really justify the cost right now. I have non-HD channels prioritised on the T tuners and HD prioritised on S2.

I like the look of the Blackgold 3630 with T2 and S2 on board - was thinking of replacing the S2 card with this to give me another HD tuner and an extra in total. Could be a solution for you as you could sell on your S2.

Dual T/T2 tuners are fine off one aerial connection - indeed they often split internally.
 
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Thanks for all the replies guys. The Peak one seems interesting although i'm sure i've seen reports that returning from sleep can cause issues with these?

For £90 the blackgold 3630 doesn't seem such a bad proposition - although i've seen a few complaints around poor support etc.

the WAF is key here... :laugh:
 
I've got a system here with a Peak tuner under W7WMC and it has behaved flawlessly.
 
Thanks Spyder appreciate the feedback - think i'll chance it for 25 quid:thumbsup:
 
Don't be put off by the price of the Peak one - it's excellent, at any price. Mine works hard in my HTPC, permanently in and out of standby, regularly recording on both tuners at once. It's equally as good as the Hauppauge Nova-T-500 that sits next to it.

I've never read of any standby issues with it. In fact I've read of issues with seemingly every other tuner and standby.

The only issue I know of for the Peak is that you can't run two of them (4 tuners) in one computer. But it will happily co-exist with any other tuner. Basically, the Peak driver can't run as two instances at the same time - I've tried it and you get all sorts of mess in Device Manager.

If you feel you need one that's "reassuringly expensive" I'll sell you my Peak one for £50 :D

You'll save more than the price of the Peak one by waiting a year - hopefully the T2 tuner prices will have fallen down to planet earth by then. But you could probably flog it on ebay for £15 anyway.
 

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