NEW PVR build, what TV card to use?

[nchamp]

I've been running GBPVR for about 3 years now, on a Shuttle based machine with a Hauppauge 350 card. This card gets its feed from a SKY box (I'm in the UK), and I use and IR blaster so that the PVR can tell the Sky box which channel to use

I'm about to embark on building a new machine, in a nicer case, with more up to date components, etc, and I'm wondering about the feasibility of getting a DVB-S card which will do away with the Sky box - i.e. I can plug the feed from the dish straight into the card. Will the Hauppauge WinTV Nova-S Plus (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/100017) do this OK? Will it also enable me to get HD broadcasts? And, will it work with Freeview in the UK if I switch to that?

Thanks in advance

Neal

[JonnyCam]

I am guessing you mean to only receive the free to air channels from the sat dish (& freeview) - the sky signals will be encrypted, so you won't be able to capture them in gbpvr (unless there is software decoding somehow..)

[martint123]

Freeview in the UK is terrestrial, so the nova-s will not work for that.
If you meant Freesat, then yes, it should work.
I'm using a different tuner and it works for BBC and ITV HD, but ISTR ch4 uses a different transmission format. Not all "normal" channels are available yet as they are still encoded by Sky. Check out the subtle differences between "free to air" and "free to view".

Channels like "Dave" which are available on Freeview are still not freely available on Satellite. - it can be a minefield.

[nchamp]

Yes, you're right, I meant Freesat of course, not Freeview.

This does sound like a bit of a minefield, so I might stick to using an analogue TV card taking the output from the Sky box for now.

I've read on the net that you can get a thing called a CAM which connects to the TV card and accepts the Sky viewing card. KustomPCs sell these (http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_4349.html) and they also have a guide on how to set it all up, but it looks rather involved to me : http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/skym...ation.html

Not sure how many people might be reading this thread, but has anyone here attempted such a thing?

[Elmo Putney]

I've read on the net that you can get a thing called a CAM which connects to the TV card and accepts the Sky viewing card. KustomPCs sell these (http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_4349.html) and they also have a guide on how to set it all up, but it looks rather involved to me :

You actually attach a common interface (CI) slot to the tv card (or via USB), the CAM then plugs into the common interface, and the viewing card into the CAM.....

but unfortunatly GBPVR doesnt support common interface, and I think sky cards are paired to the box or the CAM so you cant use them in anything other than the sky box they are registered.
I am sure someones done it but its probably quite involved, I am not sure what is possible with software CAMS google DVBN and have a look on their forum for more info.

Generally difficult/impossible with gbpvr and not reccomended if you want to stay sane.

I personally have no experience with freesat my dvbs card points at AB3 for french TV, I had a relativley smooth time setting that up, I have seen some freesat related problems posted but I dont think many of them are "show stoppers"

[nchamp]

Generally difficult/impossible with gbpvr and not reccomended if you want to stay sane.

OK, you've talked me out of it

So, I want to be able to recieve the output from my Sky box, and DVB-T from my co-ax. What's the current TV card or cards that would be recommended? I find that the blurb on Hauppauge's web site is terrible - it's really hard to differentiate their products.

[martint123]

I use a PVR150 to get the stuff form a Sky box. It's connected to RF2 and I have a DigiEye to shift the IR control back to the Sky box (sky box downstairs in lounge and PC up two flights in the shack). In the shack the coax comes in, goes, through digieye into a four way amplified splitter. (1) goes to the PVR150 for the Sky and analogue RF channels (2) goes to a Novat-t-500 dual freeview tuner. (3) goes to a second nova-t-500 in a client machine for testing/overflow. (4) is free for the moment.

I might change this around a little, with the aerial coming into the shack and then the splitter sending it to the tuners and the TV downstairs. The existing long path down and back up via the Sky box seems to be weakening the signal on the highest frequency mux at 850MHz.

Ive also got a Compro S350 satellite tuner in the server, but it is a bit of a pain. It works, but currently gbpvr can't scan channels properly with it. It works, but I'm just using it for HD testing at the moment.

[nchamp]

So, I want to be able to recieve the output from my Sky box, and DVB-T from my co-ax. What's the current TV card or cards that would be recommended?

OK, now I'm even more confused - none of the cards on the Hauppauge site seem to be dual tuner - what happened to the PVR 500?

[gEd]

keep your 350 for capturing from sky and get a nova-t 500 which has 2 x dvb-t tuners for receiving freeview.

[Elmo Putney]

^what he said