BlackGold BGT3540 :: 6 in 1

[Crew]

Has anyone got this running with tvserver? Interested in buying but want to know how simple it is to setup.

BlackGold (GDI) :: TV Tuner Products :: BGT3540 :: 6 in 1 :: Dual digital satellite, Dual digital terrestrial, Dual analogue terrestrial :: PCI express card

Andy

[NephilimDM]

Search button is helpfull sometime...

Look here.

Bye,
Nephilim

[Paranoid Delusion]

The proble with the above card is if you want HD channels you need S2. which this was originally adverised as, then they changed it to just dvb-s.

Still not bad, but i think i would rather a dual DVB-t + a DVB-S2 card as seperates for a similar price, especially for the uk.

Regards

[Crew]

Sorry NephilimDM I did a search after I posted and couldnt delete this post!

Are there any DVB S2 cards out that are PCI-E ? Cant seem to find any.

[cheezey]

I have been running one of these cards for months now with TV server. I can report it's been rock solid, I have had one issue since I got it where it seemed to disappear but powering off the PC for 30mis resolved that.

I use this to watch DVB-T & DVB-S including BBC HD & ITV HD using a standard sky minidish left over from a previous sky installation.

Channel changing is quick, the facility to watch/record multiple channels simultaneously is fantastic in a multi seat setup and all on one PCI-E board.

2 hours of HD recording equals approx 20Gb so get a big disk

I'd give it 10/10.

[c128]

Originally Posted by cheezey

I have been running one of these cards for months now with TV server. I can report it's been rock solid, I have had one issue since I got it where it seemed to disappear but powering off the PC for 30mis resolved that.
....
I'd give it 10/10.

Ummm...you may want to check out the status of your tuner 4 with regard to the channels it's picking up - see here.

There's currently an issue with "missing" channels on the DVB-S tuner 4 that BlackGold have acknowledged, replicated but not yet fixed. They claim it's a driver issue, but that still remains to be seen in my opinion. I've yet to see anyone that doesn't suffer from it when they actually check, so it would be interesting to see how you fair with your setup...

With regard to the comments above about DVB-S2. There are currently no FTA channels broadcasting using DVB-S2 from the Astra/Eurobird 28.* cluster, so if you're a UK-based FTA viewer you need to weigh up what you think the likelihood is of FTA HD expanding enough for a non-Sky leased transponder to go DVB-S2 (at the moment, I think that's unlikely to happen anytime soon, but I suppose you never know).

[cheezey]

Originally Posted by c128

Ummm...you may want to check out the status of your tuner 4 with regard to the channels it's picking up - see here.

I have only one LNB so don't use tuner 4 at the mo - I'll bear it in mind for the future tho - thanks.

[c128]

Originally Posted by cheezey

I have only one LNB so don't use tuner 4 at the mo - I'll bear it in mind for the future tho - thanks.

If you switch your single LNB input to the other input (the one nearest the bottom of the card) then I expect you'll see the problem... If you do see it after doing this, I'd then register the issue with BlackGold so that they at least have your details. Although they've already claimed it's a driver issue, I'm suspecting that this is their standard response in order to avoid returns i.e. it could well be a hardware issue.

To be honest, I'm losing some patience with the company... The S3 issues were resolved for me with a hardware replacement - again, they claimed there would be fix in the driver for those experiencing it if they could wait (sound familiar?), but such a driver never actually appeared (at least, I'm not aware of anyone who had the problems for whom it was actually solved by the new driver - all had to get a new card). Then there was the dropping of DVB-S2 support - this happened quietly on their web-site description without any flagging to current owners, many that had bought partly on the basis of "future proofing" themselves. I've also heard rumours about issues with DiSEqC - I think this may have been flagged in the original product descrption too, although you won't find it there now.

A shame, as this card shows promise, but I'd certainly advise anyone against considering it until at least the current tuner 4 issue is resolved.

[milanp]

I intend to order two BGT3540.
I will use them in a dedicated TV Server.
In the country where I live,we have only DVB-S and analog.
Does the analog part of the tuners work ok with MP Server ?