Italy
I purchased my first TV card over 6 years ago and I have never been able to see TV. I started With All-In-Wonder Pro, then All-In-Wonder 128 then Empire Board, then Pinnacle PCTV 300i.
There seems to be a lot of strandars and trycks: you have to know about codecs, OS Fixes, upgrades, Drivers, hardware conflicts, board software version, remote software, remote standard and so on. It is really a mess !
Only the pinnacle PCTV 300i gave me some satisfaction and recently I purchased an Hauppauge NOVA-S only because I have read that it is compatible with MediaPortal.
A lot of other board exists out there and the new hybrid ones seems interesting but I still don't see and unique mature and bugfixed software/driver standard a software like mediaportal could use. Everything seems to have still its own standard. Time will pass and I am sure everything will converge torward and unique one.
I hope one day to read on every TV BOARD "Conpatible with standard XYZ" and I'll be sure that if software like mediaportal supports this standard it will support my board. We are still far from there. Setting up a Media PC is a work for skilled people with a lot of experience and a good support of luck.
Personally I have spent hundred of hours going back and forth from stores, reading forums, installing and reinstalling software, searching for drivers, fighting with support that never answered or answered like childs at their first attemp with personal computers. More often a new board has been put on the market and mine has been discontinued.
Now it is the first time I have reached a decent setup and a decend software. I have still problem with the analog part of PCTV 300i and I am sure this board is too old and I will have to spend some other bucks in a new card which does not use line in as audio input but I have fear, I fear the new board will arise new problems and incompatibilities.
I would like to join a lot of people and write an open letter to the hardware and software developers around there to join the unique standard I dream of. Until then, each time I think about adding another TV device I will read tons of forum message for compatibility issues and even after then I will pray. Yes, TV boards are line PNP standard 10 years ago: you Plug And then Pray !
Oh.. I forgot. Once reached a stable system then will be the time of CAM and CI. I would like to see encrypted channels with a paid card but I am sure that this sector is like TV Cards when I starded: a big and large black hole and you have to a scientist to have it working and under your control but it will be another story.
OK, it is the end of my message. Please excuse me but it is over 7 years I fight with TV cards and this evening for the first time I was with a remote in my hand and in a chair moving up and down in MediaPortal. 4 o 5 times I had to stand up go to the PC to use the mouse but this is a small price to pay. Someday I will do everything using the remote and I'll forget the mouse.
Giuseppe Chillemi
There seems to be a lot of strandars and trycks: you have to know about codecs, OS Fixes, upgrades, Drivers, hardware conflicts, board software version, remote software, remote standard and so on. It is really a mess !
Only the pinnacle PCTV 300i gave me some satisfaction and recently I purchased an Hauppauge NOVA-S only because I have read that it is compatible with MediaPortal.
A lot of other board exists out there and the new hybrid ones seems interesting but I still don't see and unique mature and bugfixed software/driver standard a software like mediaportal could use. Everything seems to have still its own standard. Time will pass and I am sure everything will converge torward and unique one.
I hope one day to read on every TV BOARD "Conpatible with standard XYZ" and I'll be sure that if software like mediaportal supports this standard it will support my board. We are still far from there. Setting up a Media PC is a work for skilled people with a lot of experience and a good support of luck.
Personally I have spent hundred of hours going back and forth from stores, reading forums, installing and reinstalling software, searching for drivers, fighting with support that never answered or answered like childs at their first attemp with personal computers. More often a new board has been put on the market and mine has been discontinued.
Now it is the first time I have reached a decent setup and a decend software. I have still problem with the analog part of PCTV 300i and I am sure this board is too old and I will have to spend some other bucks in a new card which does not use line in as audio input but I have fear, I fear the new board will arise new problems and incompatibilities.
I would like to join a lot of people and write an open letter to the hardware and software developers around there to join the unique standard I dream of. Until then, each time I think about adding another TV device I will read tons of forum message for compatibility issues and even after then I will pray. Yes, TV boards are line PNP standard 10 years ago: you Plug And then Pray !
Oh.. I forgot. Once reached a stable system then will be the time of CAM and CI. I would like to see encrypted channels with a paid card but I am sure that this sector is like TV Cards when I starded: a big and large black hole and you have to a scientist to have it working and under your control but it will be another story.
OK, it is the end of my message. Please excuse me but it is over 7 years I fight with TV cards and this evening for the first time I was with a remote in my hand and in a chair moving up and down in MediaPortal. 4 o 5 times I had to stand up go to the PC to use the mouse but this is a small price to pay. Someday I will do everything using the remote and I'll forget the mouse.
Giuseppe Chillemi
