DVB-T recommendation

[RedDwarfer]

I am looking for a TV Tuner PCI card to do Tv capture. I require the following things:

1] DVB-T (single or dual tuner, dual would be nice but not if it means a loss in quality, I have read that the PVR500 [which does have dual tuners] has poorer video quality than the older cards and is supposed to be very similar to the PVR150 - a low quality card)

2] Very high quality picture.

3] Good signal lock and channel reception (no picture breakup), I have read that some have big problems receiving channels and being able to find them.

4] Subtitle capture is very important. I intend converting to avi Mpeg4 in XDiv format and need to be able to convert the subtitles to a format usable with media players (srt etc).

5] s-video & Composite video input with hardware Mpeg2 encoding.


Someone is selling the Hauppauge PVR350 on eBay, is this card worth considering? What is the video quality like? Are there any problems with this card and how does it compare to the PVR250?

I hope someone can help me with this as I am having big trouble deciding on a card to purchase and the more reading I do the more confused I become with conflicting articles. Someone on IRC recommended the PVR250 to me but they are very difficult to find now, the PVR350 seems to be the card which is easier to find but I do not know how it compares. :confused:

[sub]

PVR250/350 cards are analog only, so dont do DVB-T.

Given you want DVB-T and composite/svideo with hardware MPEG2 encoder, a Hauppauge HVR-1300 would be a good choice.

[RedDwarfer]

I don't know what made me think they did DVB-T. I have read so much I don't think my brain is taking it all in. lol

I might not need the hardware Mpeg2 encoder. It is probably irrelevant to me as I do not have any real use for it and it was only as a "might use" sort of thing. DVB-T quality is paramount with good subtitle support.

Is the Nova-T 500 any good for channel tuning and picture quality as that has dual DVB-T tuners?

Could you please edit the topic title, I did try changing it but it is not showing a change in the thread title.

[sub]

"Good subtitle support" might be a bit strong for GB-PVR. "There is some subtitle support, that works okay-ish" might be more accurate. (just setting realistic expectations)

Is the Nova-T 500 any good for channel tuning and picture quality as that has dual DVB-T tuners?

The Nova-T and Nova-T 500 seem to be pretty popular devices from what I can tell. I'm not in a DVB-T country, so can personally vouch for them.

[RedDwarfer]

I needed to be able to get the subtitles out of the video and convert to srt format. It is probably more a different applications territory.

I have just noticed that the Nova-T 500 does not have any video input at all. I might have to look at a different make. Dual tuners would be nice, but having some video input would be nice to have, just in case I want to convert any old VHS videos to DVD. I don't think hardware Mpeg2 would be that necessary, providing it has some video input and dual tuners.
If it does not have hardware Mpeg2 would that mean that the DVB-T would not be supported or would it only mean that your software would not support video input from the capture hardware?

[martint123]

DVB-T is digital in it's own right, so no need for mpeg2 encoders. The picture quality generally depends on the broadcaster as the tuner does nothing really other than just dump raw data.

Analogue, with video inputs is a different beast and the board does control quality. Here is where the mpeg2 chip is required for GBPVR. I use a nova-t-500 as a pair of twin DVB-T tuners and a PVR150 for analogue RF and Video from a Sky box.

Sorry, but I have no experience of subtitles. I have occasional glitches on DVB-T on channel5, but this is right at the top of the spectrum, my aerial isn't high enough and I am out of the service area.

Martin

[RedDwarfer]

Do you receive DVB-T with your normal TV? Does that have similar problems with Channel 5 or is it only the Nova T 500 that cannot tune it. I have read lots of stories of cards being unable to pick up channels. Usually far worse than regular Freeview receivers.

You make a good point about the picture quality regarding DVB-T. One card should be as good as another providing it's tuner is okay and it can lock the signal.

[martint123]

My TV's are analogue only, so I can't make comparisons with that.
When I use the 'scanchannelsbda' tool it shows channel 5 as the ony program I view on the highest mux at 850MHz. I can see the signal strength drop a bit at the top end of the band.
My RF path is far from perfect:- Aerial on roof, down to ground floor into Sky box, out of sky box and up to shack on upper floor, through an IR remote digieye, into splitter and out to pvr150 and nova-t-500. One of these days I may add a bit of amplification at the RF out of the sky box. I run it this way so that I can tune RF digital and analogue along with the RF out of the Sky box and control the sky box remotely.
The ch5 glitches are not bad enough to notice, I've just watched a 90 minute film from ch5 and only noticed one set of frozen frames for a quarter of a second.
Don't forget, the postcode checker says I'm out of the coverage area, so when they bump up the power, or I raise my aerial more, "things can only get better" - Although I'm very happy with the image quality with what I'm getting now.

Martin

[Clanky]

I'm using 2 Nova-T pci cards & have no complaints. The picture quality compares very well to my Panasonic TV which has integrated dvb.

The only problem I get is due to trees between me & the transmitter causing the signal to drop out on the rare occasion. I would say the cards are about the same as the tv regarding reception, if not better.

I would say that signal strength is the most importatnt factor when considering dvb - any signal dropouts cause audio sync problems which then have to be fixed (Videoredo works fine).

I pickup all channels ok, channel 5 is perfect. I've lost Film4+1 on the Nova's & on the TV though, used to get it before Xmas...

I've never tried subtitles so I can't comment

[sub]

I needed to be able to get the subtitles out of the video and convert to srt format. It is probably more a different applications territory.

GB-PVR will only do this on DVB systems using Teletext Subtitles, but that is not the case in the UK. Instead freeview uses DVB Subtitles.

GB-PVR has some simplistic support for viewing these during live tv, but not ability to record them - it used to work for recording (and will probably be fixed in the future), but this was not to srt format, since DVB Subtitles are based on pictures rather than text so no easy way to do this.

I might have to look at a different make. Dual tuners would be nice, but having some video input would be nice to have, just in case I want to convert any old VHS videos to DVD. I don't think hardware Mpeg2 would be that necessary, providing it has some video input and dual tuners.

Keep in mind that the analog side of the device will only work with GB-PVR if it has the hardware MPEG2 encoder. Most of the older style hybrid cards did not have this encoder, so the analog side is useless.