laptop TV options...

[jezd]

Hi,

Looking for advise on the best supported laptop TV card with the following :-

USB2 or CARDBUS
DVB-T (Digital TV)
Hardware Encoder (does this apply to only analogue as I cant see any digital devices with hardware encoding? or have I missed something on this)
Remote Control

I already have a MSI MegaSky 580 device but the performance is choppy due to the CPU load on encoding - or for that matter even watching live TV.

Cheers

Jez

[stustunz]

Hi,


USB2 or CARDBUS
DVB-T (Digital TV)
Hardware Encoder (does this apply to only analogue as I cant see any digital devices with hardware encoding? or have I missed something on this)

hardware encoding is only for analog tv signal/cards
the card has to use BDA drivers

the mux can make a big difference how choppy it is so you might want to try changing that if you are using a dvb-t tuner already

[stefan]

The hauppauge nova-t-usb2 works fine for me. Don't know if it's the best, though, since I don't have anything to compare it to...

[jezd]

hardware encoding is only for analog tv signal/cards
the card has to use BDA drivers

the mux can make a big difference how choppy it is so you might want to try changing that if you are using a dvb-t tuner already

Thanks, so just for me (simple guy), why no encoding for digital signals?

[jezd]

The hauppauge nova-t-usb2 works fine for me. Don't know if it's the best, though, since I don't have anything to compare it to...

Thanks, what spec laptop do you have?

[stefan]

Thanks, so just for me (simple guy), why no encoding for digital signals?

Encoding is converting into MPEG. Digital signals are broadcast in MPEG natively, so no need to convert them

[stefan]

Thanks, what spec laptop do you have?

Sorry, I don't use a laptop, but I don't think that would make any difference... By the way... do you want to be able to move your card around with you to different locations along with your laptop? In such case I'm sure there are better ones than the nova-t-usb2. It's kind of a big and clunky device.

[jezd]

Encoding is converting into MPEG. Digital signals are broadcast in MPEG natively, so no need to convert them

Interesting, ok thanks, so back to the MUX changing - how do I check what it is set too and can it be changed?

[stefan]

GBPVR comes with a utility called MUXChecker (or something similar) which can see which muxes are installed on your computer. In the gbpvr config app you can choose which one you want to use with gbpvr (on one of the tabs... holler if you can't find it and I'll have a look).

You may also want to look through this thread:
http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?t=25630

[jezd]

GBPVR comes with a utility called MUXChecker (or something similar) which can see which muxes are installed on your computer. In the gbpvr config app you can choose which one you want to use with gbpvr (on one of the tabs... holler if you can't find it and I'll have a look).

You may also want to look through this thread:
http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?t=25630

thanks, I am off to try now......