Freeview HD (DVB-T2) (1 Viewer)

[Mike Graham]

Hi all,

Going to be building a HTPC next year, and wanting DVB-T2 for obvious reasons, question is the following:

Wanting ability to record and watch at the same time different channels, i.e. Record ITV and watch BBC1 at the same time.

Now before I had a look on this site, I assumed I would need a Dual Tuner Card, but now I'm not so sure, as it seems to hint that you can do this without 2 tuners, but surely not?? ....

 

[hafblade]

If you have channels which are on the same transponder and if you have a device which supports it than you are able to watch / record more than one channel at the same time.

Example:

Program A on transponder 1
Program B on transponder 1
Program C on transponder 2
Program D on transponder 2
Program E on transponder 2
Program F on transponder 3

If you watch A you may also watch B at the same time.
If you watch C you may also watch D and E at the same time.
If you watch F you may only watch this and nothing else.

Hope I could help.

 

[Caesium]

Full service Freeview transmitters map | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice is a good site to check which channels are on which transponder - find your local transmitter and they're part way down the page.

 

[Mike Graham]

Ahh right, understand, never knew that. So the best option is to get a dual tuner card, which would give a possibility to record up to 4 channels, provided they are on 2 seperate transponders??

 

[porky996t]

I would say that it is always better to go for a dual tuner. The cost of a dual tuner against a single tuner is not that much greater, and it gives more flexibility.

Just by way of information, you can get a quad tuner, I know that TBS do one - but that particular model is for DVB-S/S2 only. I use DVB-S/S2 for receiving the HD channels, and a couple of dual tuner cards for standard DVB-T channels.

 

[Caesium]

Ahh right, understand, never knew that. So the best option is to get a dual tuner card, which would give a possibility to record up to 4 channels, provided they are on 2 seperate transponders??

You can record as many channels as are spread over the two transponders you're tuned to. This can be many more than 4.

 

[noncom]

Right, so if you're using UK Freeview where all the HD channels are on a single Mux, is there any point to having more than one DVB-T2 tuner?

A dual DVB-T tuner for the SD stuff and a single DVB-T2 tuner would be able to record everything all at once (providing it wasn't split over more than 3 muxes)?

 

[Owlsroost]

Right, so if you're using UK Freeview where all the HD channels are on a single Mux, is there any point to having more than one DVB-T2 tuner?

A dual DVB-T tuner for the SD stuff and a single DVB-T2 tuner would be able to record everything all at once (providing it wasn't split over more than 3 muxes)?

Correct

(I have exactly that setup myself)

Tony

 

[noncom]

OK, interesting.

Is there ever an issue with tuner scheduling ie the one tuner in the system which can record the HD mux has been grabbed by an earlier SD recording and is therefore unavailable when you need it?

I think (given how the system may grow over time) I'd probably go for a bit of redundancy, with maybe one dual T2 tuner and one dual T tuner.

Thanks

 

[porky996t]

Hi Noncom,

I think you are taking the correct view with redundancy of equipment.

You can prioritise tuners in the TV Server setup. If you do go go a DVB-T tuner as well, I would prioritise this above the HD tuners, so any SD channels go to the DVB-T card first, and when the call for a HD channel is received, the DVB-T2 kicks in. I have 2 x dual DVB-T tuners and one dual DVB-S/S2 tuner. Both the DVB-S/S2 tuners have the lowest priority, so that the DVB-T tuners are used first and then any satellite/HD channels are grabbed last. I don't think I have had a problem with the HD output being 'used up' by other processes.

If you do go for a dual DVB-T tuner I can recommend this >>> here <<< It is reasonably priced and has been rock solid since day one. It is also fast too. Several others on this forum also use it and have had great results.

For dual tuners you have the BGT3620 @ £89 or the TBS6280 @ £103+shipping. I really don't which is better. TBS are building a good reputation, I have a TBS Satellite card, and this has been rock solid and no problems with install etc and several others have them too. There is a forum member called Raintree_County whom I think works for TBS, he has posted a number of times about their cards. Also, TBS have a forum where you can post messages to the TBS devs about any problems you encounter - now that is useful. I have no experience of BlackGold, so I can't add any personal comment.

With the T2 cards you can read about other users experiences with both, BGT3620 here and TBS6280 here (see post 24 onwards).

I hope this helps somewhat. It is difficult choosing cards sometimes as you don't know if you'll encounter any problems and you do feel like it is a leap in the dark.

Good luck!



M.