Hardware help needed (1 Viewer)

[Cybex2]

Hi Guys,


I'm an Popcorn Hour user & VU+ Duo user. Recently I noticed MediaPortal and it's exactly what I am looking for, it combines both devices (Popcorn and VU+Duo) in one device. But I need help with the hardware, would you please help me out a bit?

My aim is to get a htpc that can do the following:
- Dual tuner (DVB-S2)
- Record TV
- Watch TV (obviously)
- Watch movies / DVD's, etc via NAS (SMB Share or NFS link)
- Use a smartcard so I can watch encrypted channels

I currently have the following hardware in mind:
Processor: AMD Fusion AMD A4-3400 Boxed
Cooling: Scythe Shuriken Rev. B
Motherboard: Asus F1A75-M
Memory: G.Skill F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ
Case: Silverstone SST-ML03B
Power: Antec Earthwatts EA-380D Green
Storage: 120GB SSD

The hardware above comes from a Best Buy Guide on a Dutch website: link

My questions:
1) What kind of DVB-S2 tuner would you recommend?
2) What kind of smartcard reader do I need for my system to watch encrypted channels?

Thanks for reading!

 

[mm1352000]

Hi and welcome Cybex2

Our policy in this forum is not really to allow talk about softcam solutions. The reasoning is -->here<--. About the tuner though: do you prefer a particular interface (PCI, USB etc.)?

mm

 

[Cybex2]

Hi, thank you for replying.

I was not reffering to softcam solutions, I'd rather have a smartcard reader in my htpc then a softcam solution.
I prefer an internal DVB-S2 solution, but I can't explain why to be honest. I assume that built in is faster / better, but I could be terribly wrong.

Kind regards, John

 

[mm1352000]

Hi again John

Softcam means smartcard + cardreader + cardreader software + card server. Basically any solution that does not use a physical CAM. That is what I thought you were referring to - I could be wrong of course.

Internal cards can be more reliable than USB options. TBS has a very comprehensive lineup - the TBS6981 is very popular at the moment, and very reasonably priced. There is also the TeVii S480 which is also popular. If you need a solution with CAM/CI support then a Digital Devices Cine S2 (or other Digital Devices solution - they're a little expensive, but very flexible) or TBS6992 would be good options too. There is also the KNC TV Station Twin and the Blackgold BGT6900. Plenty of options for PCIe there. I'm not aware of any dual DVB-S2 PCI cards out there.

mm

 

[Cybex2]

Thank you so much for helping me out, I really appriciate it!

I am interested in the Digital Devices Cine S2 you mentioned. You said something about CAM/CI, I assume that's exactly what I want because I have a card from CanalDigitaal (Dutch provider) and I need to insert it in a CAM, correct? When I look at the website of Digital Devices and I look at the picture of the PCI card, I see no place where I can insert the card. Am I missing something here?

Nevermind. Found it.

 

[ssenyer]

Hi,

I can suggest you TBS6981 tv card. I use it since 1 year without problem. Also they have very good customer service.

 

[Cybex2]

Quick question:

I'm looking for a Mini-ITX solution instead of what I wrote in my first post. There's only one problem, the mini-itx case can barely hold an PCI-E card let alone a CI module for my Canal Digitaal card. So I was wondering of there is an USB solution for the CI module? I heard about Smargo smartreader, is that what I need or am I looking in the wrong direction here?

 

[mm1352000]

Hi again

So I was wondering of there is an USB solution for the CI module? I heard about Smargo smartreader, is that what I need or am I looking in the wrong direction here?

The smartreader is going down the softcam direction - no comment.

There are a few DVB-S2 USB tuners with CI interfaces that I'm aware of:
TBS5980 CI
TechnoTrend Connect S2-3650 CI
Terratec S7 (possibly a clone of the TechnoTrend)

The support for the 5980 CI is very new (here). I have one and so far it has proved to be very reliable.

I've seen a few threads about problems with the TechnoTrend option, however some people say that using older drivers resolves everything.

No comment about the S7 - I haven't seen any threads about it.

mm

 

[Cybex2]

I ordered the following:

Case: SilverStone ML02 (link)
Moederbord / Processor / Grafische kaart: E35M1-I DELUXE (link)
Geheugen: Corsair XMS3 DDR3 2x4GB
Tuner: Digital Devices Cine S2 v6 (link)


Hopefully this is good hardware