Multiple TV cards (1 Viewer)

[millamber]

Have built my HTPC and it is awesome.

Now I wish to add a second tv card to my system.

Do I need two cable inputs for this to work?

Or will media-portal allow the second card to work off the input of the first card?

TIA

Rodney

 

[argypak]

I have 4 TV Tuners in my box, each requires its own arial connection

 

[Cecile]

Multiple cards, but also multiple streams?

Hi Argypak,

I want to build a setup with 4 cards as well. The goal is to be able to record (2 channels) and watch (2 channels) simultaneously.

What interfaces (PCI/USB/FireWire) do your four TV Cards have? Can you use them all simultaneously?
Do the used interfaces pose a performance/bandwidth bottleneck?

Regards, Cecile

 

[millamber]

TV Card Setup

Hi Cecile,

I have two tv cards in my setup they are PCI cards but each is a dual tuner supporting the ability to record two stations or watch one and record one.

As I have two of these I can record four channels at once or record three and watch one.

As the cards are dual tuners I only need to split the arial cable once as each card needs only one arial cable.

Hope this helps

Regards


Millamber

 

[tompa]

As the cards are dual tuners I only need to split the arial cable once as each card needs only one arial cable.

keep in mind that each time u split the signal u add approx 3-4dB of noise (and -3dB signal level)! This can reduce performance of the TV-card. When splitting the signal to two cards there is often no problem, but if u need more cards u should add a amplifier close to the antenna/aerial to "mask" this noise addition.

/tompa

 

[Cecile]

Multiple cards, but also multiple streams!

Hi Millamber and Tompa,

Usefull tips.

From your replies I conclude that it will be possible to use 4 PCI tuner cards and proces 4 streams/beams/transponders simultaneously.
I need 4 tuners (in stead of 2 dual tuners) because my source is encoded DVB-S2. I have not found the combination of dual tuner, DVB-S2 and dual-stream CI in one TV card.

To get the satellite signals right I will use a diseq switch/amplifier with four outputs combined with 4 inputs and 4 LNB's. That way I can receive almost everything and all at the same time.

Should be enough to keep my girlfriend watching TV programs all the time and freeing up my time for other stuff ;-) Watching other programs at the same time, for example.

Thanx.

 

[tompa]

keep in mind that each time u split the signal u add approx 3-4dB of noise (and -3dB signal level)! This can reduce performance of the TV-card. When splitting the signal to two cards there is often no problem, but if u need more cards u should add a amplifier close to the antenna/aerial to "mask" this noise addition.

/tompa

What I wrote is not applicable for satellite cards (DVB-S), there u already have a very good amplifier in the dish head.

And combining is not that simple...

/tompa