UK Freesat

[Poko]

Yes, but the point it is, it was free-to-view, with a skybox and an old card (or a new SKY freesat card for a fee) with no free HD channels. It is now free-to-air and doesn't need a crappy sky box! And one USB dvbs unit (like the Technotrend one) will do multiple channels on multiple clients (using TV server and multiple MP clients, of course) without buying more sky boxes.

[gamejester]

Of course, I was merly responding to the comment

It's not working with freesat per se

to clear up the fact that it IS freesat, or more to the point there really is no difference between BBC on Freesat and BBC on sky; exact same channel coming from the same ASTRA 2D sat.

Agree the HD thing is good news and I am getting a card soon myself for this reason + Freeview reception in my new place is poor so is forcing me down the sat route anyway.

[allanp81]

I've asked in the tv server development sub forum to see if mp can be made to pick up the itv hd channel and stop it being picked up as radio rather than tv.

[gamejester]

Can anyone advise me what is the best card to get?

If I install a twin LNB in my dish, or more to the point I am pretty sure it already has one as there is a sat distribution system in my building, then I can pick up ALL the channels at the same time without shifting.

So what card, with MP, can me used to supply multiple streams, and what is the most streams? I have a Haupaugge NOVA DVB-T twin at the moment that can do 4 streams of Freeview.

[shwan]

I just bought a pinnacle 7010i - it's a dual DVB-S, and dual DVB-T - I recommend it, it picked up everything even BBC HD - and it was only £35 from play.com
Some people say that the blackgold card is good too...

[mossym]

Originally Posted by shwan

I just bought a pinnacle 7010i - it's a dual DVB-S, and dual DVB-T - I recommend it, it picked up everything even BBC HD - and it was only £35 from play.com
Some people say that the blackgold card is good too...

looking at this card, any problems getting it working in mediaportal?

[khemical]

Originally Posted by mossym

looking at this card, any problems getting it working in mediaportal?

Figured I'd step in here since I have two 7010i cards running perfectly in MP. No problems get them going, they just worked! Mine are actually using the Blackgold BGT3540 drivers not the Pinnacle drivers (see BlackGold 6in1 for reason why) but others seem to be using the Pinnacle drivers without a problem. Since the cards are working so well on the Blackgold drivers I'm not in any rush to switch over to the Pinnacle ones.

If you're considering the 7010i I suggest you buy soon as they appear to be discontinuing them and they are getting harder to get hold of as time goes on. Play.com no longer have stock and Scan.co.uk have put up the price slightly.

Pinnacle 7010i at Scan Computers UK

Just to make things clear, the 7010i supports DVB-S only, not DVB-S2 and it is a full height card. The Blackgold BGT3540 also only supports DVB-S but is half height. If you want a cheap multi-tuner card, have the space for a full height card and don't mind the lack of DVB-S2 support then I can highly recommend the Pinnacle 7010i. For the money it is unbeatable which is why I now have two!

[Psycho Reptile]

Anyone with a suggestion for a card capable of picking up Freesat and DVB-T hat is PCI and not PCIe? Multi-tuner card would be good

[funkstar]

Regular PCI is very limiter with regards to muliple tuners as fas as the BDA driver model is concerned.

From what I believe, BDA drivers can only address one tuner on each PCI device. With PCI-e this isn't a problem as you have havle multiple devices on the one card comunicating through the same interface. Thus getting round this stupid limitation.

The PCI limitation was the reason the Hauppauge Nova-T 500 used two USB tuners and a USB controller on a PCI card. So by extension, you would need to put a usb DVB-T tuner, a USB DVB-S tuner and a USB controller on a regular PCI card to get it working.

I can't see there being a big enough market for this to be viable. Happy to be proved wrong though

[Paranoid Delusion]

Pinnacle dual DVB-T was PCI, and fully compliant with that standard, not sure whether it was full bda driver compatible though, as just never seen anyone who has used this card with mediaportal\TVServer (go on prove me wrong again LOL)