Recommended TV Cards (3 Viewers)

[globaldonkey]

The DNTV PCIe S3 card mentioned in this post is a dual tuner hybrid card that works well with MP. I haven't tried using the analogue part though. It's a PCIe x1 card.

I am not aware of any cards that have a HDMI capture input as yet. The DNTV card has component inputs, so you should be able to get a SCART adaptor to get component video, but I have not worked on trying to get a capture device working in MP. Come to think of it, I don't know how you would configure TV Server to do that, as it only lists the tuner devices, not the capture device.

My advice would be to steer clear of cards which use a PCIe / USB bridge (ie cheap cards that take the USB stick version of their product and mount it on a PCI / PCIe card with a bridge). I used one of those from DVICO and it was nothing but trouble.

 

[Lucky_JL]

Many Thanks!


You make me see that my setup will never work, since i receive my tv signal on tvbox from cable company, then foward him to tv card, i will have video input on card, not tv tunner.... so all tv tunner suport, encode, decode will be useless ...


The reason why i cannot connect my tvcard directly is because my tv operator uses a card system on their box , if i don't have that card i cannot see some channels


Can i buy some tvcard that reads tv company cards ? or i need to go to sattellite ? or i don't have any options ?

 

[globaldonkey]

I think it can be done the way you originally suggested with the SCART connection from your STB, I'm just not sure how you tune to it in TV Server. The other part you need is an IR blaster, so that when you change channels in MP, it blasts the IR signal to the STB to change the channel. I have seen plenty of posts in here on how to do the 2nd part (IR blasting), I just don't know how you tune a capture device in TV Server.

 

[Lucky_JL]

humm


Ok, i will searh deeper and teste the configuration
But if we stop and think for a moment, it really doesn't make me sense to use a tv card and don't user the tunners ...


In my case i think it will be simple to remove the STB box from equation, since the only reason i subscribed was to watch TV Series from Fox Channel, but after i setup my HTPC i will watch my shows mainly from HDTV rips so i can dispose the channel, the STB box and resolve this problema ( and don't need IRBlaster )


So now the question is, do you recommend some good TV-Card to use with MediaPortal ?
I had read some posts, faqs wiki but didn't found nothing that respond to my requirements
- dual tunner
- encode/decode by hardware ( mpeg2, mpeg4 would be nice )
- radio
- PCIe bus


I see a lot of good cards at "recommend hardware" but all of them are regular PCI ...


Thanks again for you support

 

[globaldonkey]

As I said, the DNTV Dual Tuner PCIe fits your requirements (except for the mpeg 4 I think). DigitalNow

You can do what you want with the STB. You've tweaked my curiosity, so I thought I would find out how to do it. See this post. I'm trying it out now, but have run into a bit of a problem.... I just noticed the disclaimer on the analogue part of this card. maybe that's what I've hit.

https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/get-support-90/how-setup-tv-server-record-stb-46246/

 

[Lucky_JL]

As I said, the DNTV Dual Tuner PCIe fits your requirements (except for the mpeg 4 I think). DigitalNow

You can do what you want with the STB. You've tweaked my curiosity, so I thought I would find out how to do it. See this post. I'm trying it out now, but have run into a bit of a problem.... I just noticed the disclaimer on the analogue part of this card. maybe that's what I've hit.

https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/get-support-90/how-setup-tv-server-record-stb-46246/

loll


I will watch that thread, for me is always a option,


About the TV Card DNTV looks cool, but i am under contract of a cable company, so i need something DVB-C, like this the Hauppauge Nova-C
Supported_TVCards/DVBc - MediaPortal Wiki Documentation

I like Hauppauge Nova-C, and since i live in Europe its easy from me to adquire them, but i know that the most important requirement on a tv card is to be 100% supported by Media Portal

 

[globaldonkey]

The TV Server Wiki says:

In general the tvserver supports

1. any DVB/ATSC card which has BDA drivers
2. any analog card with h/w encoding onboard
3. some analog cards which use s/w encoding
4. the SkyStar-2/Airstar-2/!?CableStar-2 cards

I think the compatibility lists were intended for TVE2, which relied on a card definitions xml file to configure the card. TV Server (TVE 3) can detect anything that is Microsoft BDA compatible. Certainly the DNTV card is not on the list, and (at least the DVB part) works flawlessly with TV Server. I fixed the analogue part too last night, but I think I still have some issues to resolve on that.

A solution for your Pay TV requirement (rather than the analogue path) is to use a card that has CI/CAM capability. From the TV Server Wiki:

The CI/CAM slot allows you to insert a smartcard and watch paytv channels. Without a CI/CAM slot and smartcard it is not possible to watch encrypted (paytv) channels. Note that in many countries the 'normal' local tv channels are also encrypted and can only be watched if you have a smartcard and a card with a CI/CAM slot.

You'd need to find a card that has a CI/CAM that is compatible with your Pay TV providor, I imagine.

 

[Lucky_JL]

Yes i agree with you, my only option is to go with CI/CAM strategy



Since at the moment all this CI/CAM is about 1 channel, my option is to let the channel go down and free myself from CI/CAM hands, in the future we will see how it runs ( i am from Portugal and we are starting to have some HD channels throw DVB-C and DVB-S/S2, and in 5years all TV will be DVD-T )


So after all this talking and since the board i want only have PCIe i decided to go with Hauppauge HVR-2200 ( some quick read throw this forums tell me that at the moment the analogue tunners are full supported by MP )

ref board Albatron KI780G Mini-ITX
VR-Zone : Technology Beats -Albatron Released 780G Mini-ITX Board


Do you have some tips where to buy this tv card ? I had search troup Hauppauge sites, Hauppange sellers all over Europe and nothing

I have no problem and buy from the other side of the world ( USA, HongKong, etc )
Another options is to follow your recommendation and buy DNTV Dual Tuner PCIe since they have the same features and type of support in MP

 

[tafkar]

Sadly the DNTV PCI-E S3 won't detect for me. I have a KWorld DVB-T220 that worked fine... go figure. I had high expectations for the DNTV but alas... maybe a later build will fix it, but for now I have an expensive bit of PCB.

 

[globaldonkey]

Are you using TVE-2 or TVE-3 (TV Server). There are probably no capture card definitions for this card in TVE-2. And what version of MP?