Suggestion for USB/PCI-E DVB-C tuner? (1 Viewer)

[johnzered]

Supported tuners with CI slots are listed in the wiki:
http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_MEDIAPORTAL_1/11_Preparing_Your_System/01_Supported_TV_Cards

Note the TerraTec H7 and TechniSat USB CI models probably will give trouble.

Can you explain in more detail why these two will give you trouble? I'm also in the market for a new tuner and I need one with a CI slot.

Okay so after scanning the forums for a few days I undestand the problems related to TerraTec H7 and TechniSat USB CI. What I didn't find out though was if *all* issues has been solved in TVE3.5? If a specific card works better or only in TVE3.5 I might do the switch to MP2 already. My current TV-card is a FloppyDTV and it has been working great for years. The problem now is that in order to watch encrypted HD channels I need to rent a special CAM from my TV provider and this CAM is not working very well with my FloppyDTV, once I get it to work though it works great until I turn of the computer.
Digital Devices is probably the best replacement but I find them a bit too expensive. That's why I currently considering one of these cards:
TBS6618
TBS6880
DVBSKY T980C
DVBSKy C2800E
Mystique CaBiX-Xpress DVB-C PCIe
TechnoTrend Budget CT2-4500 CI
Is the two TBS cards the only ones currently working with MP1? How about MP2 do all of them work there?
And how about Multichannel decoding, (I understand my CAM has to be able to decrypt multiple channels for this to work), which of the cards support that?
The TBS6880 is the only dual tuner, it also has two CI slots, if I insert my CAM in one of the slots will both tuners still be able to use it or do I need a CAM for each tuner?
Several of the above cards look extremly similar, like they were manufactured by the same company but sold under different names? So I guess it comes down to which company has the best support, drivers etc. It seems the Team has a good relationship with TBS so maybe one of TBS 6618 or TBS 6680 is my best choice?

 

[FreakyJ]

Hey,

I used only a Terratec, DD and TBS myself. So I can't comment very much on the other cards and their support.
The DD cards have some trouble with dynamic added audio tracks if you mapped the ci to more than one tuner. Also if a ci is mapped to multiple Tuners every tuner can only decrypt ONE channel as far as I know and the whole transponder. In short: Two tuners will give two decypted channels regardless if they are on the same transponder or nor.
In single ci mode (ci mapped only to one tuner) you always decrypt the whole transponder like it is with other manufacturers, too.

Regarding TBS:

Is the two TBS cards the only ones currently working with MP1? How about MP2 do all of them work there?

No, all cards are working in MP1 and MP2 using TVE 3.5. The featrureset is quite similar, for MP1 is a patch needed, TVE3.5 natively provides the plugin. Both tested and working.

I understand my CAM has to be able to decrypt multiple channels for this to work

correct.

which of the cards support that?

as far as I know all cards do that. Just keep the specials for DD in mind

The TBS6880 is the only dual tuner, it also has two CI slots, if I insert my CAM in one of the slots will both tuners still be able to use it or do I need a CAM for each tuner?

I don't think so, but I can't tell you for sure. You can write the TBS support I can contact TBS for you if you would like?! We have direct contact to them
I think it is like: Tuner A belongs to Cam slot A and Tuner B belongs to cam slot B, but as above, I'm not 100% sure.

Several of the above cards look extremly similar, like they were manufactured by the same company but sold under different names?

possible

It seems the Team has a good relationship with TBS so maybe one of TBS 6618 or TBS 6680 is my best choice?

We have good contact to several companies mm has contact to quite a lot of them as far as I know. I have only contact to DD and TBS.

TBS cards are cheep and good. But the USB ones seem to have some issues if you wake up from standby. The problem is known by TBS, but currently no fix...

Hope that helps

 

[johnzered]

Thank you for your reply

Is the two TBS cards the only ones currently working with MP1? How about MP2 do all of them work there?

No, all cards are working in MP1 and MP2 using TVE 3.5. The featrureset is quite similar, for MP1 is a patch needed, TVE3.5 natively provides the plugin. Both tested and working.

Is there really a patch for all these cards in MP1 and TVE3? (I've only found a patch for TBS)
DVBSKY T980C
DVBSKy C2800E
Mystique CaBiX-Xpress DVB-C PCIe
TechnoTrend Budget CT2-4500 CI
If not are they all supported in TVE3.5?

The TBS6880 is the only dual tuner, it also has two CI slots, if I insert my CAM in one of the slots will both tuners still be able to use it or do I need a CAM for each tuner?

I don't think so, but I can't tell you for sure. You can write the TBS support I can contact TBS for you if you would like?! We have direct contact to them
I think it is like: Tuner A belongs to Cam slot A and Tuner B belongs to cam slot B, but as above, I'm not 100% sure.

Think I will try to contact them myself first, that way I can get a feeling of their support.

TBS cards are cheep and good. But the USB ones seem to have some issues if you wake up from standby. The problem is known by TBS, but currently no fix...

Yes that's the reason I'm thinking of buying a TBS card, you get good quality for a reasonable price.

I will post my answer from TBS support here and if I don't receive any response I'll let you do the talking

 

[FreakyJ]

Is there really a patch for all these cards in MP1 and TVE3? (I've only found a patch for TBS)

I mean all TBS cards

If not are they all supported in TVE3.5?

puuuh, you need to check the plugin list in the git repo, I think they are, but no guarantee...

I will post my answer from TBS support here and if I don't receive any response I'll let you do the talking

Thank you

 

[mm1352000]

I think it is like: Tuner A belongs to Cam slot A and Tuner B belongs to cam slot B, but as above, I'm not 100% sure.

This is confirmed. The slots are tied to the tuners. No CAM sharing. Only DD can do that.

If not are they all supported in TVE3.5?

I make no guarantee. AFAIK the TT and Mystique are clones. They may not work straight away, but since the code for the main cards has been written it shouldn't be hard to add support.

 

[mm1352000]

Regarding multi-decrypt (ie. what the FloppyDTV can do - decrypting multiple channels from one transponder)...
Not all cards can do that. Support has been greatly improved in TVE 3.5. Now KNC, Twinhan, TerraTec and other cards that couldn't do it in TVE 3 can do it. Also, TBS, DVBSky and Mystique (clones) should support it too. TechnoTrend has always supported it.

As for DD...
FreakyJ is right to say that if a CI is linked to more than one tuner then it can't do multi-decrypt. It will "only" do the CAM sharing "MTD" mode.
If a CI is only linked to one tuner then it may be able to do multi-decrypt... but that is only supported in TVE 3.5, and not tested at all.

 

[FreakyJ]

There is a MP1 patch for DD. You created it a long time ago, but I ported it to current MP and people seem to be wuite happy Thanks for all the information!

 

[mm1352000]

There is a MP1 patch for DD. You created it a long time ago, but I ported it to current MP and people seem to be wuite happy

It doesn't support multi-channel decoding.

 

[FreakyJ]

It doesn't support multi-channel decoding.

Thanks, didn't know that

 

[johnzered]

I think it is like: Tuner A belongs to Cam slot A and Tuner B belongs to cam slot B, but as above, I'm not 100% sure.

This is confirmed. The slots are tied to the tuners. No CAM sharing. Only DD can do that.

Yes, I got this confirmed from TBS as well today (Quick support, I like that ).
The 6680 is basically 2 x 6618 on the same board and the CAM is not shared between the two CI slots, you also need to connect two antenna cables to the card one for each tuner.

I think my best option currently is the 6618 and if it works out great and I feel I have the need for more tuners I can either buy another 6618 or go for the 6680.

One thing left that still concerns me, in the TBS: CI/CAM support and other improvements thread I found this post from @FreakyJ
https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...other-improvements.103276/page-29#post-967754
Have all the 5 problems mentioned by @mm1352000 been fixed? (I must admit I haven't read the whole thread)