From DVB-C to DVB-S(2) (1 Viewer)

4Fred

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  • December 8, 2005
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    First off, I love my MePo!
    I use it mostly for Live TV but also Moving Pictures TV-Series Online Videos and some Rockstar for Spotify, it all works so good!
    I have rapid channel changes on Live TV, recordings are never missed and my EPG is full of correct info and there are beautiful channel logos to go with it.
    If I'm at my GFs place and want to watch something from home I just use MPextended trough the web or Ampdroid on my phone.
    For me MePo is pure sunshine :)

    Now to the "problem"
    I need to switch DVB from DVB-C to DVB-S(2).
    Today my tv tuner is network based, this greatly simplifies many things. Placement of tv-server and the possibility to run a virtual machine as a tv server, running different version of tv-server on different machine for testing and less cabling and so on and so on, this is something I really do not want to live without.
    Using my cable provider I get all channels from one source, so with dual tuners I can record one channel and watch another at the same time without limitation.

    Going with DVB-S I will have to have two satellite dishes and this requirement comes from the fact that I will have to have the flat version of dish, Selfsat (or equivalent) and the reason is that I will have to get programing from two different satellites.
    I need to be able to record one program and watch another at the same time without limitation, thus I need two heads on each dish making it a total of four cables connected to my Sat>IP (or whatever I need) from two different sources - will this be a problem?

    So... what do I need and have I understood everything correctly?
    I know there are tons of other solutions out there and I guess they all work fine but I really love MePo and would love to stick with it.
    Please help!
     

    HTPCSourcer

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  • May 16, 2008
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    Hi,

    There is no principal difference in using DVB-C or DVB-S.

    Your two satellites will require that you put a multiswitch in place. This multiswitch will be distributing the incoming lines - at least 4 - two the outgoing lines. Theoretically it would be suficient to have a 4 tuner setup, e.g. with two Digital Devices DVB-S cards. The input side will be dependend on the kind of LNB you are using. Usually each dish comes with a quad-LNB, i.e. four lines, hence two dishes would give you 8 input signals that you need to distribute to your house network. Multiswitches exist in different versions, obivously prices increase with the number of inpout/output lines.

    Once you have deceided on your SAT dishes, think about what you want to have in your house. How many signal lines to the PC, how many additonal signal lines distributed in the house. This will then define the multiswitch that you need.
     

    4Fred

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    I've been thinking about two of these. (sorry for specs being in Swedish).
    One of the pointing to 0.8W Thor = Canal Digital, the other pointing to 4.8E Sirius = Viasat.
    Both then hooked up to some form of networked based tv-tuner.. network based seems to be the problem though :(
    Watching or recording two channels simultaneous is the requirement.
     

    HTPCSourcer

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    You need to be clear about a major difference between cable and SAT. The former has a bus-character, which means that you can draw one cable linearly from point to point and connect a TV anywhere in between. SAT requires a star-like connection: every receiver requires his own cable, drawn to a central distribution point. WHy is this? Well, every receiver switches the LNB between horizontal and vertical polarization plus changes the switching frequency between 22 and 27 kHz --> this gives you four states per receiver. There cannot be different states at the same time one the same cable (well, except for Unicable installations, but that 's a different story,which requires additonal hardware), and that's the reason why a standard SAT installation has four cables.

    Now what do you mean by "network-based tv-tuner"? A MediaPortal TV-Server? If you want to watch TV with MePo clients only, all you would need is a MePo TV-Server PC, which houses the DVB-C cards. The dishes that you selected do only have Twin-LNB's - that means that for each channel you will be able to watch ONE channel and record ONE other channel only. If you had a Quad-LNB there would be no limitation (other than your PC tuner hardware limits).

    If your two Twin-LNBs will be connected to your MediaPortal server only, you will require two dual tuner DVB-C cards (or four single ones) to which you can directly connect the cables from the dishes. If, however, you would like to use the dish signals in parallel to MediaPortal, you will aditionally need the above-mentioned multiswitch to further distribute the signals.

    Clear as mud?
     

    4Fred

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    Okay.. today I can watch one channel and record another, that for me is good enough!

    My tv-tuner is not a pci or usb physical thing directly connected to the tv-server. On the tv-server i install hdhomerun software and this communicates with the tv-tuner over the network - thus I can place the tv-tuner next to the wall outlet and the tv-server talks to it over the network so I don't have to have more cabling than just the network, this is what I want!
    Now, hdhomerun for dvb-c or dvb-t is fantastic and I want a simular device for dvb-s. What to get?

    So, this is what I get to make sure I'm "clear as mud".
    From each dish I get two cables, this makes is a total of four cables.
    Each of these cables goes directly in to my DVB-S tuner.
    My dvb-s tuner must be quad, if I have to go with an internal card I could get this one.

    Clear as a cat?

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    mm1352000

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    Now, hdhomerun for dvb-c or dvb-t is fantastic and I want a simular device for dvb-s. What to get?
    There are no networked DVB-S tuners that are supported by MP1's TV Server. With TVE 3.5 you will be able to use a SAT>IP tuner.
     

    4Fred

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    Thanks for the reply guys, and thanks for taking the time to explain :) actually starting to understand this stuff now (kind of).
    I've seen that TVE 3.5 under development and some say it's rock solid and some say still pretty unstable... what is your take on stability and do either of you use SAT>IP and what is you take on how that is running?

    I'm now left with the option to move the tv-server to where the cabling will come trough the wall (or close to it) and get an internal card or take my chances with TVE 3.5 and a SAT>IP.
    If that was your choice, what path would you take?
     

    mm1352000

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    I have a SAT>IP tuner for development and testing. Some things work well; some things don't.
    If you need a stable and reliable system without too many bugs then there's no question that you should stay with TVE 3 (current TV Server).
     

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