freeview in NZ

[skippy_nz]

Hey guys - anyone know anything about that new freeview cable NZ are getting - how will this affect the standard tv tuner cards we have here in NZ ? ie pvr 150's etc

[sub]

It'll be based on two european standards: DVB-T (terrestial, like Freeview namesake in UK) and DVB-S (from satellite, for those outside main centers). GB-PVR is already compatible with it through BDA compliant DVB-S and DVB-T capture devices. This will mean NZ users will start to use cards like Hauppauge Nova-T, Twinhan Nova-S etc rather than analog cards like PVR150.

[QQQ]

It's also surely going to help the price of these cards. They seem a bit expensive when you consider what they do. Would these work ? http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing....d=59514616

[sub]

I dont know if that specific card will work or not. The auction doesnt clearly identify what make and model of card it is. If it's got BDA drivers it should work.

I personally use a Twinhan DVB-S card on the TVNZ trial services.

When the services officially launch in six months or so, retailers will start bringing these devices into New Zealand. They'll probably be in the NZ$100 - $200 price range.

[skippy_nz]

do you plan on keeping the pvr 150's alive in gbpvr until the 6 year turn off time ??

[sub]

I'm not planning on dropping PVR150 support.

[lchiu7]

Since Freeview actually provides a different set of channels over and above what we get via Sky or cable, I suspect we are going to need to install a DVB-T card in addition to the Hauppauge cards if we want to be able to record both lots of signal. While I suspect the STB's for Freeview will have at least composite out, if we are using the Hauppauge card composite input for capturing output from the Sky or TCL cable box, then it would not be possible to capture the composite output from the Freeview STB without using a switch.

And I am guessing that the DVD-T cards will capture the signal in a format that will need transcoding before being able to be authored to DVD - a step that the MPEG2 capture in the Hauppauge cards avoids.

So maybe two Hauppauge cards?

[sub]

The DVB cards we'd end up using, Nova-T etc, just capture regular .MPG files with GB-PVR. No STBs required.

[lchiu7]

That's good to know. Alas my Shuttle XPC only has one PCI slot which currently holds the PVR 250 so looks like I am going to have to do some rethinking about configuration

[sub]

If its got USB2 ports, then there is plenty of external options.