Sub - Best DVB-S Card Option in NZ?

[sub]

So from what I have read here, I will (at this stage) only be able to get the TVNZ feeds (& regional) using my existing Sky dish. Correct?
(are the new channels, 3,C4 etc going to be Vertical?)

Do you have a Sky decoder as well? Thats when the issue from above kicks in. If its just an ex-Sky dish being used with your sat card then you'll be fine.

Currently you'll get TV1, TV2, a few test channels, and some test patterns for TV3, C4. All one TVNZ horizontal transponder on Optus D1. I wish they'd also got Prime on there, but that looks like a no go.

The regional versions of TV1 and TV2 were dropped a few weeks ago. (good - more bandwidth available for better quality picture/sound, and potentially other services)

When would DVB-T be available? I thought the government were looking more down the sat path?

Freeview DVB-S launch is April this year. Freeview DVB-T launch is beginning of next year, starting with main centers, and is sounding like it is going to use MPEG-4, and potentially also carry HDTV at a later date. I'm not sure what they'll do with respect to sat and HDTV channels.

Or does this not affect me as I am not using my Sky dish for SKy at all?

ah, ex-Sky should equal no problem with polarisation.

[sub]

Exciting times for little NZ...

[JonnyCam]

Thanks for your help.

Mruane, I'll let you know how the DVB-S card works out.

[mruane]

Jonny - my understanding is the same as Sub's, if you have a Sky disk but no Sky decoder then your fine. Your sat card can provide the voltages needed to switch to whichever polarisation is needed. So no problems. I will look forward to hearing how you get on with the DVB-S card.

Sub, you can imagine what was said at Orbitel after D1 went up "you make dozens of satellites without any problems - and then one little biddy mistake and they crucify you..." :eek:

As you said - exciting times ahead.

Cheers Mike

[JonnyCam]

So,

The card took about 4 attempts to get it to show the add new hardware dialog, and the drivers on the CD are an EXE so you cant just let windows find them.

Apart from the issues I have had getting this setup in GBPVR (my LNB setup related), the card seems to function well, but it did take me a while to get it working (and a while for it to be installed properly - this may have been a IRQ conflict with the other tuner card I have.

but for $150, I guess it's not bad - has S-vid, composite & L/R RCA inputs - plus a decent remote. I dont know about the software, didn't use it too much as it didnt seem to give me a picture (although it picked up the channels, and showed the EPG info)

Thanks

[mruane]

Hi JonnyCam

Sounds like you had more than a few issues, which might possibly have been there regardless of the card purchased. Glad you were able to sort out the issues and get a result. I will need to deal with the same issues myself soon.

Thanks for the feedback - appreciate it.

Cheers Mike

[sbiddle]

Just going back to the original post - how does the DVB-S Pro card work? I'm looking to add a DVB-S card to my setup as well for Freeview.

What spec CPU are you running? I've noticed it lists a P2 2.8GHz hyper threading as the spec for MPEG-2 recording. I'm currently only running a Sempron 2600+ at present but looking to upgrade because it just doesn't handle VMR9 well either.

[sub]

I dont know. I've only ever used Hauppauge and Twinhan satellite cards.

[JonnyCam]

The DVB-S Pro card works fine - but I could ony get it working in ProgDVB because I could never figure the LNB settings out.

I was thinking about uing the external recorder when I want to use the sat card - but does seem like an annoyance!

The card picks up the channels, displays them perfectly, but I don't lke the EPG, or recording of ProgDVB. (it works, but not as I want)
If anyone on here is an expert on LNB settings I would appreciate some help.

I am running a 3.06 ghz celeron D, but when recording using progrDVB it was using 20%, but taking the video preview off reduced it to about 3%.

Thanks

[sub]

The card picks up the channels, displays them perfectly, but I don't lke the EPG, or recording of ProgDVB. (it works, but not as I want) If anyone on here is an expert on LNB settings I would appreciate some help.

Sorry, probably not the easiest solution, but... if you want to, you can come around to my place and borrow a (11300/11300/11300) LNB for a while to make sure you can get it working with GB-PVR. I've got a few extras kicking around.