Help with my PC.

[Etacovda]

Matey, I'm using dvb-t with a Radeon 9600 Pro via AGP on a PC of similar spec to yours and don't have any performance issues, although I only have one tuner onboard. I can still watch an xVid or DVD at the same time without screwing up the recordings though

Might be worth scouring ebay for a similar card? Or an ATI x1600 or something. Not sure how it translates currencywise, but you can get an x1650 for about forty quid in the UK, which translates to a reasonable night out on the beers

For info I am using dvr-ms with the Nvidia decoder and AC3Filter for sound.

dvb-t in nz basically requires a new series card, not sure if its the same as the uk.

OP - that looks fine. However, you do realise that there are Dvb-s PVR's available for around the 300-350$ mark, right, if thats all you're going to be using it for?

[shrek]

dvb-t in nz basically requires a new series card, not sure if its the same as the uk.

OP - that looks fine. However, you do realise that there are Dvb-s PVR's available for around the 300-350$ mark, right, if thats all you're going to be using it for?

Yes mate dvb-x aside, I was just pointing out that I get good decoding results with a 9600 Pro AGP card, if that's where the bottleneck lies on the OP's machine. Would be a bit cheaper than buying a new PC! Haven't tried pushing the video out via both VGA and S-Video at the same time though.

[wodger]

dvb-t in nz basically requires a new series card, not sure if its the same as the uk.

OP - that looks fine. However, you do realise that there are Dvb-s PVR's available for around the 300-350$ mark, right, if thats all you're going to be using it for?

I thought the ones in the shops were all analogue (haven't looked for a while), and that DVB-S ones were alot dearer. I kinda like the idea of it being LAN connectable and having a large HDD. Can you recommend any? Do you know if their performance is any good? eg. playing and recording at the same time etc.

Yes mate dvb-x aside, I was just pointing out that I get good decoding results with a 9600 Pro AGP card, if that's where the bottleneck lies on the OP's machine. Would be a bit cheaper than buying a new PC! Haven't tried pushing the video out via both VGA and S-Video at the same time though.

Hmm. I dont' want to spend too much, that's true, but I don't want to go on the cheap and regret it every day. A new PC is an option if it is the only thing that will do the job properly. I kinda like the idea of getting components and putting it all together and having that feeling that I'm beating the system. It would also reduce contention between the wife and I for PC use in the evenings!

[boarsblood]

i found the cyberlink audio decoder caused things to stop after a few minutes what are you using for that

there is no way i wpould even atempt to run 2 monitors off that card and expect the video to be ok
sorry it just wont do it

Rot! I'm running the NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440 with TV out, playback is dualview, with full screen on the TV and windowed on the AL1914 next to me, using video overlay. Using the card this way isn't using any more power than just using the overlay on one monitor, it doesn't produce two overlays, just mirrors the overlay. It's easily fast enough to do that and play flash movies rendered on the monitor at the same time.

I'm using a dvb-t card not s and can't confirm differences but the graphics card with new drivers should be up to the job.

However you do need a good codec for playback. There used to be an updated one on the Hauppauge site for the old Nova cards. I've used teh nvidia codecs in the past but at the moment I'm playing stuff with the "InterVideo NonCSS Video Decoder" some other codecs cause choppy playback and slow response to fast forward / rewind jumps.

[boarsblood]

that video card is your problem if you ask me its old and just doesnt have the grunt
overlay is about the only way you will get that going

Yep, Overlay is the only way to use this card. Otherwise you won't get the picture windowed on a monitor and full-screen on your TV. There's nothing wrong with overlay.

OP, you are using video overlay aren't you?

Try
GB-PVR Configuration >> Playback >> Video Renderer = Overlay Manager (set both of them that way lest you forget later).
And now use GBPVR.exe not PVRX2.exe there'll be less strain on the graphics card.
Any better?

[boarsblood]

Hi,
The main problem with jitter and jumping playback (and/or recording) seems to be when the PC is BOTH playing AND recording something at the same time.

Your problem could also be exacerbated by slow hard drive access. Have you tried recording programs to one drive any playing back from another drive at the same time? Have you got 5 hard drives connected?!? or 2 drives and 5 partitions??

I can record from both chips of a nova-t 500 and from my old nova-t (so 3 channels simultaneously) and playback pre-recorded stuff all at the same time.

AMD Athlon XP2600+
Foxconn WinFast K7S741MG Motherboard
512MB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440 with TV out
Nova-t 500
Nova-t

So my setup isn't any better of faster than your's.

The only configuration on my setup that might be different is that I've turned off nearly all of the pointless visual effects in XP - Control Panel >> System >> Advanced >> Performance [Settings] >> Visual Effects >>
selected custom and unchecked everything but "use drop shadows for icon labels" and "use visual styles on windows"
I just prefer things to snap into place rather than scroll up, wasting my valuable time, but it's also less processor intensive.


By BIOS memory speed is underclocked because this strip of 512 is a bit flakey. I have noticed that browsing while playing back movies does cause problems with processor temperature on flash heavy websites, but that's irrelevant.

[stustunz]

buying a seperate pc is the best option and worth the money
heres the reasons
1 you can add more tuners (i have 4) cant do that with a pvrHD
2 the computer is there for recording tv nothing else (less chance of crashing or just been screwed up)
3 smoother play back and better picture than you will get from what you have(not that there is really anything wrong with your pc apart from the card but the price of a new video card and your a third of the way to better faster more reliable machine)
4 use the second machine as client (watch seperate programs)
5 you will be able to record dvb-t HD (hvr2200 tuner does both analog and dvb-t and is cheap)


as for recomendations on new machine i really have no idea but im sure the cheapest of any dual core is going to be fine
one thing to look out for is try and get the most pci slots you can afford they still dont seem to have to many pcie tuner cards and alot of motherboards are lacking the extra pci or even pcie slots for that matter

[drugstore_cowboy]

I just priced up a machine ...

I just have to step in and say that if you are looking to price out a new machine you have to look at a mobo that has the 780G chipset. This is a pretty inexpensive board with some amazing features... HDMI connection, 8 channel audio, ATI Radeon HD 3200.

Here are a couple of links for a 780G board: Asus version & Gigabyte version.

there is also an ECS & Biostar version - best to do a google and find out which one you like the best. All the boards are under $100.00 CDN.

[Captcol]

I can record from both chips of a nova-t 500 and from my old nova-t (so 3 channels simultaneously) and playback pre-recorded stuff all at the same time.

sorry does that mean you can record 2 x digital terrestrial at the same time on the one card?

[stustunz]

yes you can with the nova-t 500(PCI)
another card that is new that can do that aswell is the hvr2200 (pcie)