Advise on selecting a second tuner needed (1 Viewer)

[Buzzard]

Hi i want to get a second tuner for my htpc

Im in Australia

sempron 2400+ @1.77, 512, mx 440, striped sata hd's, ide boot hd, nforce 2 chipset, optical sound output
vrm9, intervideo codec, xp pro

I use MP 0.2.0.0 with good results at the moment and would love the functionality of a second tuner. my current tuner is a divico fusion dvb-t.

Im interested in these tuners.

1. COMPRO VideoMate DVB-T300 PCI
Seems to be good value, however other threads say that it will loose the analog function in MP (S/W decoding).

2. COMPRO VideoMate DVB-T200A
allthough in the supported list searching in the forums didnt reveal anything. would this be a better purchase than the 300 as the tuner seems to be the same, it just does not have the analog tuner?

3. Hauppauge PVR-150 MCE
Seems popular although a lot of threads point out some difficulties setting them up. The H/W decoder? does this only make a difference if you use the composite input? doesnt seem to be in the supported tuner list although im sure it works fine.

4. DVico FusionHDTV Plus
little bit more pricey but the passthrough is a nice feature and some reviews say it gets the best reception. Im worried about the drivers . It took a lot of downloads to get a set of drivers to work with my current card, will the plus card effect this, will i have to upgrade my driver or will a seperate driver have to be installed for this card? sorry i lack a bit of understanding here.

I think that my performance will remain ok, however im worried about a situation where im recording on 2 SD channels, my hard drive speed is pretty good with the raid0 setup, but if anyone has any opinion about cpu issues would love to hear about it. (i probably would not use it to record in H/Def as for the space a recording takes and a lack of programs broadcast in real H/Def in Australia).

Thanks everyone for your time!

 

[Callifo]

To be honest, for compatiblity your better off with stick with all one brand of dvb tuners if possible.

 

[Taipan]

Hi i want to get a second tuner for my htpc

Do you want a second DVB-T tuner or an analogue tuner - or one that does both?

I think that the Hauppauge PVR-150 MCE is analogue only, but the others are DVB-T.

I have two different DVB-T tuners and they work happily together. I think that the Dvico tuners are over-priced, so I would seriously consider the Compros - especially if they have Antenna pass-through....

 

[Buzzard]

Thanks for the replies,

On compatibility im pleased with the performance of the Dvico card apart from getting the driver right, and if the second card worked as well i would be very happy. Im just a little unaware how the driver situation will pan out as ive had my existing card for a year now with the 3.0 rc1 driver. Just looking back at this site they seem now to roll everything back into one download for all cards, but im sure when you set up you have to pick the card you wish to install drivers for.

Does anyone think it will be just a matter of switching off, installing hardware and both cards will work with the existing driver or will it need a driver update that will work with both cards or will it need 2 different Dvico drivers on my system? I dont mind doing this though so long as the card works well, just lacking the experience that is abundant here.

Yeah i was after DVB-T, I live where we get 2 different regions broadcast so instead of getting just 5 channels i would normally get with analog, im getting 43 digital channels, Although much of it is the same, it is always good if they are not showing the Cricket on the city broadcast but show it on the regional channel, and same for the rugby. Thanks for pointing that out about the PVR-150 I cant beleive i missed that. And I agree the Dvico are a bit expensive, but the reseller here isnt too bad, and i would pay the extra for less hassles and the passthrough.

Neither of those compro cards have passthrough. I do have a splitter and an ordinary booster but i think passthrough seems cleaner and may work a little better.

 

[Taipan]

Does anyone think it will be just a matter of switching off, installing hardware and both cards will work with the existing driver or will it need a driver update that will work with both cards or will it need 2 different Dvico drivers on my system?

Since your current Dvico card is no longer available, you will need to install different drivers for the additional Dvico card that you get. So you will need 2 different Dvico drivers on your system.

That should not be an issue though...just install the new card, install the new drivers, assign the channels to the new card in MP Configuration, and away you go...

Also, make sure you have the multi-DVB tuners patch installed, since you are on XP Pro.

 

[Buzzard]

Thanks heaps,

Yeah i made sure i grabbed that patch a while ago, I think it is still up somewhere anyhow.

The "go with what you know" is making me lean towards the Dvico, and you get a "MCE remote" but the only images of it seem to look like the one i've allready got, doesnt look all that spiffy.

 

[Marcusb]

I'm a Compro fan. I have two in my main PC and they are great. They also have onboard leds that show when you have a signal lock, which is good for troubleshooting.

They are so much cheaper than the dvicos and you also get analog. Dman has built the Compro analog functions into MP now, but I haven't been able to get them to work yet (haven't spent too much time on it though).

If you use HIP you can also make the remote work with MP, but the Euro MCE is a much nicer solution.

I have a DVico in my upstairs PC and I really don't like it much. It was much more expensive, has no external inputs and you have to install the entire dvico software to use it, not just the drivers.

I also get BSOD's with this card at occasional intervals which I haven't been able to resolve. I only bought it because in the early days there were issues getting multi DVB tuners working with MP and I tried two different cards with no luck.

 

[Buzzard]

yeah i bought mine cause it was the only brand of card they sold within a 50km radius,

I have an 4 year old compro analog card that never gave me to much grief,.

getting the extra tuner to work would be good incentive, I know you havent got it up and running, but would you be expecting to be able to record 2 DVB channels and whatch the analog, can these card's individually run the 2 tuners at once, like record on both at the same time.

 

[Buzzard]

Hi everybody

Thanks for everybodies help i decided to go for the Compro DVBt300

Just got it up and running and it works really well, with my other card it records 2 channels flawlessly and although their is no pass through, the signal is still good using a splitter.

Pitty the analog is a bit useless as you cannot use both the tuners on the card at once but this may come in handy if i move and cannot get the Digital reception, so there is an upside to everything.

Great card and at the end of the day the price point they sell this card is why I bought it instead of the Dvico, hopefully as more competition comes in they will drop their prices a little, the one i allready have is good and im sure the new ones are better but they really are a bit over priced.