FreeSat Hd Card recommendations Please :-) (1 Viewer)

[pcnut_uk]

Need help on choosing a card for FreeSat HD.

I have read snippets of info around the forums and the help documentation for a few months now and just looking for advice and info as to my choices from the cards available on the market now or in the near future. I would like to avoid problems with slow channel changes and sleep mode issues where possible.

My system case is an OrigenAE S14v case with an Irtrans remote receiver built in.
I am using a MCE remote to navigate MP.
My OS is win7 64bit. I have slots for both PCI-PCIE
I have a couple of questions below.


1) Will My remote work with any TV card in MP ?

2) Do i need to use a card that's supports BDA drivers ?

 

[miroslav22]

Hi,

Yes your remote controls MP, not the TV card directly so it will work if MP supports it currently.

I believe MP only supports TV tuners with BDA drivers, so yes the card will need these available (I think most do these days)

Im unsure whether you will need a DVB-S2 tuner or not. I think BBC and ITV1 HD still use DVB-S so any satellite tuner should be ok for these, but this may change in the future. Most of the pay HD channels (Sky) use DVB-S2. Other FTV channels such as FIVE HD, Channel 4 HD im not sure about.

I use 2x Hauppauge Nova HD-S2 PCI cards and they work very well.

 

[pcnut_uk]

Many thanks miroslav22.

 

[Mew]

Hi

I can second that. I have used a pair of Hauppauge HVR-4000s since building my HTPC in April 2007 using MediaPortal. I would assume, as they are also DVB-S/S2 (as well as analogue and DVB-T), that they use similar components to the Nova HD-S2s. I have used the HVR-4000s for Free To Air UK satellite (pre Freesat) Freeview, satellite and Freeview, and at the moment, just satellite.

The cards have always worked absolutely fine in MediaPortal TV Server, first in Windows XP, then Windows Vista x86 and now Windows 7 x64. Freesat itself is just the EPG and retrieval of this can be enabled in MediaPortal rather than the standrd now and next EPG.

If you just need DVB-S/S2 then I would think the Nova HD-S2 should be fine. As shown above through the different versions of Windows, Hauppauge seem to support their products fairly well, probably because they don't change models very often.

I also use a Hauppauge version of an MCE remote. This needed a driver fiddle for XP (as it was designed for XP MCE) but since Vista this has not been necessary. I set it as MCE remote in MediaPortal and it works exactly as expected.

I hope this helps

Mew

 

[pcnut_uk]

Thanks Maw, its good that a few people are using very similar setups it gives confidence in an unkown area for me at least.

 

[funkstar]

You do not need a DVB-S2 card for Freesat, it's only Sky in the UK that uses DVB-S2 at the moment, and I can't see Freesat moving to S2 making all the current hardware obsolite in one fell swoop.

 

[Mew]

Hi funkstar

I thought that the Freesat HD boxes and TVs have DVB-S2 tuners in preparation for when the FTA HD channels use this, as it is an aim to move to DVB-S2 (as it is more space efficient). As encrypted HD channels that can be viewed on Sky (such as Channel 4 HD) already use DVB-S2 I am not sure that any satellite hardware that was designed for HD will become obsolete (as the BSKYB HD boxes must be using DVB-S2).

I think the reason that BBC HD and ITV1 HD are currently using DVB-S rather than DVB-S2 is because they are not encrypted and therefore have to use the narrow beam focused on the UK of the Astra 2D satellite (due to rights issues). There is not much free space on this satellite and not enough HD channels to warrent converting a transponder from DVB-S to DVB-S2 at the moment.

BBC1 HD is due to launch in the autumn and it would only take a reshuffle, which happens perioically, or more HD channels to launch (probably unlikely to be FTA at the moment) for Astra (who run the satellites) to be able to convert a transponder.

Remember that Freesat is just the EPG and hardware certification. The channel data received by Freesat receivers is exactly the same (with a few exceptions such s regions for ITV and Channel4) as is received by BSKYB and FTA receivers. Freesat will have no control over if a channel uses DVB-S2, that would be down to the channel and Astra.

If you want to receive HD and know that you will be able to for the foreseeable future then in my opinion it would be better to go for DVB-S2.

Mew

 

[pcnut_uk]

Thanks for all the feedback i think i will opt for the S2 route just to rule out obselecents.

 

[miroslav22]

Yes it would be a good idea in my opinion (even though the cost is higher). Its likely that any new channels making their way onto freesat will start to use S2 in the near future. Theres not a great deal of capacity left at 28.2 until astra launch a new satellite in a year or 2. Eventually im sure the BBC will have simulcasts of every region in HD (probably a few years away though), and its likely S2 will be used as it is up to 30% more efficient.