DVB-T card that will be happy with my HVR3000 (1 Viewer)

[RobNorthcott]

I'm afraid it's another "what card should I buy" thread, but I couldn't find quite what I want to know from existing threads, so here goes...

At the moment I'm using a Hauppauge HVR-3000 hybrid card, only using its DVB-S tuner. Sometimes a second tuner would be nice for resolving recording conflicts, but I don't want to run a second cable to the satellite dish (it would involve taking half the house apart). We've got a basic DVB-T service here now, so it would be useful to have a DVB-T card to act as a secondary tuner (when there's a conflict one of the channels is usually BBC or Ch4, so available on DVB-T even here).

So, what I need from the card is:
- DVB-T tuner (only really need one but dual will be OK if it's not too expensive).
- Prefer PCI for neatness (and to avoid sleep/resume problems with XP if they still exist).
- Needs to live happily with my HVR-3000 without driver or hardware conflicts (would it be good or bad to get another Hauppauge, like a HVR1100 or Nova500?).
- Preferably not too expensive, as it will only be a secondary tuner (but having said that I don't want rubbish).

Another couple of questions:
- Most cards don't have a passthrough for the aerial - would I just need a splitter to connect it to the telly as well, or would it need an amp?
- Is MP happy combining channels between DVB-S and DVB-T, so the T would be used as a secondary if the S was in use? (I'm pretty sure it'll be happy doing that, but just checking it'll work with the two different signal types).
- Will MP/TVServer just detect the new tuner or will I have to reinstall?

My case takes full-height cards and has one PCI slot free. There's also a couple of USB ports free if people think USB is the best way to go.

Thanks,

Rob

 

[pilehave]

The Nova 500 is essentially two USB tuners on an PCI-Express PCB. Would stay away from that...

 

[RobNorthcott]

The Nova 500 is essentially two USB tuners on an PCI-Express PCB. Would stay away from that...

Yes, I'd heard that - but I'd also heard people saying it wasn't a problem any more with MP. I'd still prefer a "proper" PCI card if possible though.

It needs to be normal PCI as well (not PCIe) - is the Nova really PCIe?

Rob

 

[RobNorthcott]

What about the Nova T PCI (not 500)? That looks to have a passthrough for the aerial, and is quite cheap. Anybody know if that's a USB-on-a-card thing like the 500?

Rob

 

[Owlsroost]

The picture on the Hauppage UK site doesn't show the aerial passthrough, so the hardware has probably changed over time....
It doesn't look like it's USB tuners either.

Tony

 

[RobNorthcott]

The picture on the Hauppage UK site doesn't show the aerial passthrough, so the hardware has probably changed over time....
It doesn't look like it's USB tuners either.

Tony

Hmmm... you're right - some pictures only show one aerial socket. The one I saw was here. Perhaps that's a picture of a dual-tuner one.

How can you tell if it's USB-on-a-card or not? The Nova T 500 looks physically very similar to the Nova T to me.

I don't necessarily want to stick with Hauppauge if somebody recommends something else, BTW. As long as it works well with MP in XP and doesn't argue with the existing HVR3000 I don't care what it is. (and I'd rather not pay for a remote I'll not use!)

Rob

 

[Owlsroost]

The Linux MythTV site is handy for finding out what's inside the cards - Video capture card - MythTV

Tony

 

[RobNorthcott]

The Linux MythTV site is handy for finding out what's inside the cards - Video capture card - MythTV

Tony

Thanks for that link - I'll have a look through some of them. Just had a quick look at the Nova-T and it looks like they used to have an aerial passthrough but not any more. Presumably I could just use a splitter though - I'll probably almost never want to use the tuner in the telly at the same time as the PC DVB-T tuner anyway, but it would be nice if they were both connected up.

Rob

EDIT: What are the KWorld tuners like? I see you're using one of their USB models. At least one of the PCI models has passthrough and they're pretty cheap as well. Presumably as long as they have BDA drivers they'll work with MP.

 

[elliottmc]

The Nova 500 is essentially two USB tuners on an PCI-Express PCB. Would stay away from that...

Hi,

Had one of these cards for several years now, and it works great. Good signal strength and no problems at all.

Mark

 

[RobNorthcott]

The Nova 500 is essentially two USB tuners on an PCI-Express PCB. Would stay away from that...

Hi,

Had one of these cards for several years now, and it works great. Good signal strength and no problems at all.

Mark

So are all the hibernate/resume problems with XP and USB tuners gone now? Still, they're relatively expensive when I don't really need dual tuners or the remote.

Anybody know about the KWorld DVB-T 210? They're less than £25, with no stuff I don't need - if they work that'd do me. I use the DVB-S most of the time anyway.

Rob