DVB-T2 PC TV Tuners?

Nightglow · 16 Sep 2011 at 07:31

Been looking for a DVB-T2 PCI-E card for my htpc build, been ferreting around & found this TBS offering.
Someone on this forum was wanting one, can't remember who it was.

TBS Dual DVB-T2 PCI-E Digital TV Tuner Card for around £119.

http://www.buydvb.net/tbs6280-pcie-d...-card_p38.html

It is available, but I can't paste uk links(will incur wrath of the mods again)
so, given a usa link.

And also found they do a TBS 6984 PCI-E DVB-S2 Quad Tuner

http://www.tbsdtv.com/english/product/6984.html

Had already posted this, wrong place, so here it, in the right place.

ash_scotland88 · 16 Sep 2011 at 18:37

What;s the one you guys have got?

Just realised the BG now also have the 3630 listed on their website.

Gunslinger · 17 Sep 2011 at 12:26

MrBlobby said:
Yeah I know the company went bust. Although it should work with media centre (drivers are free) Never used the media centre I'm a bit reticent as I've a feeling it may stop the card working without messing about with the computer for ages.

What software are/were you using, and what was the costly upgrade ???

@andy_mk3 - thanks for the pics

As for the T2 vs S2 discussions, it would not surprise me, if the T2 broadcasts were of a **** poor bandwidth to allow them to cram more paying stuff in there like stupid bingo or casino channels designed solely to suck the sole from a community, along with all it's money !! - S2 on the other hand may be slightly more performance orientated, possibly because it has to be, coming late to the party so to speak..

wonder how long it will before the SD digital signal is degraded to "encourage" HD take up, when digital was broadcast and quoted as the best thing since sliced bread, i could get a better analogue picture, no pixelation, no block freezes, no jagged edges on white lines or edges of race tracks,and smooth motion in fast events, and i'd still argue now, that if they hadn't started degrading and reducing power on the analogue systems, a cleaner picture could be obtained in SD format, digital was no improvement as i see it (edit: other than additional volume) we should have gone straight to HD, all digital did was allow them to deliver lower quality in larger quantity for increased profits

Katoom · 17 Sep 2011 at 16:03

ash_scotland88 said:
What;s the one you guys have got?

Just realised the BG now also have the 3630 listed on their website.

Andy_mk3 has the BGT 3620 which is a dual T2 tuner.
The BGT 3630 is also a dual tuner but one is T2 and the other is S2.
I have the BGT 3600 which has dual T2 and Dual S2.

Really happy with it, handy for when the wife is watching and recording some crap, i can use the Xbox to watch and record some crap of my own.

darkwildchild79 · 26 Sep 2011 at 08:26

So am i met to believe that BGT are the Leaders in the Market for T2 tuners?? I wouldnt say i am a Hauppuage fan, but they do cheaper tuners only down full they are okay T1 and not T2, anymore words for other makers, since £119 is a lot for a tuner right now in my eyes.

Vampyre · 26 Sep 2011 at 13:52

1LANCS said:
All the HD channels are on the same mux, some software recorders allow you to record from multiple channels assuming they are on the same mux.

I didn't think that was possible under Windows, I know my MythTV box can do it though.

P.D · 24 Oct 2011 at 18:33

Try using Mediaportal, their tvserver records using .ts format and can record all channels at once on a single transponder, also one of the advanced FREE plugin's ForTheRecord also has a TVservice called "Argus" that also can record all channels, both can then be accessed by the Mediaportal GUI.

EPG can be grabbed OTA or I use xmltvGUI to download info for 14 days from radiotimes website.

Also comskip is supported, so if that way inclined, no more tv adverts.

Regards

Ray\PD

Beans on toast Dave · 17 Nov 2011 at 21:24

are there any new cards on the horizon yet?
intrested in the blackgold and pcie converter card option, the only thing it quite expensive

andy_mk3 · 17 Nov 2011 at 22:31

The BG is expensive but worth it, it just... works

Very pleased with mine and I will buy another if I need to, would recommend one to anyone

DragonQ · 22 Nov 2011 at 11:22

I'm building my first HTPC this weekend but it looks like it won't have a TV tuner for a while since the BGT3600 is out of stock everywhere. I spoke to a certain UK distributor (the only big name that has sold these in the past) and they said they've had multiple delivery date estimates from BlackGold for more stock but they've all been and gone.

Hopefully it'll be back in stock eventually and I'll have 4 tuners working in MediaPortal, meaning that I can basically record as much as I want (unless I happen to want to watch 5+ channels that all happen to be on separate multiplexes).

Katoom said:
Yeah, the quality on the footy (Sat and FV) looked the pretty much the same to me, not done any comprehensive testing though, both were much better than SD.

One would expect Freesat to have a higher bitrate but you never know. I've definitely heard before that Freesat HD doesn't have anywhere near the bitrate it should have - there's a lot of wasted space on the DVB-S(2) spectra, with many channels appearing multiple times. Shame really. Freeview HD is one multiplex with 36 Mbps split between 4 channels with statistical multiplexing, so 9 Mbps on average. A fifth will be added to that same multiplex in 2012, almost certainly Five HD.

Another tip is that ITV1 HD Granada apparently has a higher resolution on Freesat than ITV1 HD London does (1920x1080i vs 1440x1080i). So, unless you're bothered about watching local ITV news, it's worth setting up your tuner to get that version of the channel instead. You might have to change your regional location to Manchester, depending on your media centre software.

Fanatic · 22 Nov 2011 at 12:10

2nd result of Google Shopping "BlackGold BGT3620" says in stock for £110. Never used them before though. Tis a great card

DragonQ · 22 Nov 2011 at 12:23

True but I want a BGT3600, which has 2 DVB-S2 tuners, 2 DVB-T2 tuners and a DVB-C tuner. There's no other similar product as far as I can tell - I'd like the option of Freesat HD and Freeview HD now but if I later move into a place without a satellite, I don't want to be stuck with a single DVB-T2 tuner.

Gunslinger · 8 Dec 2011 at 18:20

The BGT3600 is pretty much the holy grail, covering all formats and 2 of everything ! however that 3630 looks a very capable second, if you dont need to record and watch at the same time, and it's what, £50 cheaper (and in stock)

Question for those with the 3600....in the paperwork, does it tell you anywhere if it needs a v1.x or v2.0 x1 PCIe slot ??

DragonQ · 8 Dec 2011 at 18:26

I only have the 3630 but I can't imagine it needing PCI-E 2.0. The most it would need is about 200 Mbps = 25 MB/s (for 2 DVB-S2 transponders and 2 DVB-T2 multiplexes), which PCI-E 1.0 1x can easily handle.

Gunslinger · 8 Dec 2011 at 18:51

thank you, appreciate the info

413x · 30 Dec 2011 at 18:20

Just found out i have freeview hd here now, probably going to go with the bgt card, just bought a 46gt30 plasma so now seems a good time of its good.