Support for PCTV devices (1 Viewer)

[PoBear]

Hi

I am currently running a PCTV 74e DVB-T stick to record UK Freeview. I am thinking of adding a PCTV DVB-S2 Stick (460e) to record the UK Free to Air Satellite channels.

I am currently running the 74e using the PCTV software but I am not sure that it can handle two devices simultaneously on the same machine so am thinking of switching to MP.

I have searched the forum and the only posts for the 460e are in German and suggest that there is a support problem.

Can anybody confirm that MP 1.4 on Windows XP can support both of these devices at the same time and if there are any problems or limitations I need to be aware of.

Also, I am constrained by cost, but would anybody recommend another USB stick in preference to the 460e.
Many thanks

 

[mm1352000]

Hello PoBear

I have searched the forum and the only posts for the 460e are in German and suggest that there is a support problem.

I'm not aware of any problem.
Can you point to the threads?

Can anybody confirm that MP 1.4 on Windows XP can support both of these devices at the same time and if there are any problems or limitations I need to be aware of.

I can't 100% confirm either way, but I'd be very surprised if you couldn't do as you're planning.

Regards,
mm

 

[PoBear]

I did an "all forums" search for "PVTC 460e".

 

[mm1352000]

I did an "all forums" search for "PVTC 460e".

I already did that before I even responded to you, but I don't see any reason why the tuner shouldn't work. That is exactly why I asked you to point to a specific thread.

Now, if you look at this thread:
https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/threads/diseqc-support-für-pctv-karten.116685/#post-967458

...the guy says the tuners work fine but that DiSEqC switching does not work... but most people don't need that.

So again, please point to a specific thread so I can check comments and logs and try to confirm whether there is really a problem that you need to care about.

 

[PoBear]

I'm not saying there is definitely a problem, I don't speak German and Google translate produces a very literal translation and not a technical one, I noticed the issue with DiSEqC, I don't need this, so if this is the only problem then that is fine.

The Card Support page does not specifically list PCTV as supported. I have been caught out before by being told (not on MP), that something "it is not, not supported" or "it'll be OK", only to find that that it was not actually supported, if that makes sense, so I am looking for a positive statement.

 

[mm1352000]

...and I have been caught out before by being told (not on MP), that something "it is not, not supported" only to find that that it was not actually supported, if that makes sense, so I am looking for a positive statement.

Yep that makes perfect sense.
If you want the short answer: I can't answer your question with a confirmation that the tuner will work with MP.

The longer answer goes something like this...
We get a lot of people like yourself asking about support for specific tuners. I own a lot of tuners (I won't tell you how many because it is embarrassing) but in 90% of cases I'm not able to give the positive statement that people are looking for because I don't own the tuner in question. I might own a tuner from the same manufacturer/reseller that you're asking about in which case I can be relatively confident that it will work. In other situations all I can do is resort to my memory of problems that have been reported over my time working on this project (which is now about 3 years) and check the forum history for comments I might have missed.

In the first place the chances of a [modern] tuner not being compatible are relatively low because there are standard hardware designs and Windows frameworks for tuner support; a tuner manufacturer would be crazy to not follow those standards. In the second place, when tuners have problems there are usually more threads about them then there are about tuners that just work. In the third place it would be very unusual for me to not know about a tuner that is fundamentally incompatible. Finally, I really love the challenge of fixing problems with tuners that are not compatible.

Summary:

• the chances of this PCTV tuner not working are very low to start with
• the translation of the DiSEqC thread suggests the tuner works but that DiSEqC is not supported (but you don't need DiSEqC support)
• there are few threads mentioning the tuner on our forums (to be clear, that is a positive thing)
  
• I have not heard any reports about issues with this tuner in all my time working on MediaPortal
• I own a couple of older PCTV/Pinnacle 7010ix tuners which work fine
  
• on the off chance that the tuner is not compatible, I would work with you to try to make it compatible
• if the tuner proves to be incompatible it may be possible to return it for a refund (depending on where you buy it from)

In other words, the odds are heavily stacked in your favour and I'm recommending that you buy the tuner. At the end of the day the choice is yours as to what you do. I'm here to help whatever choice you make.

 

[doskabouter]

I have a PCTV 74e in my server and it is working ok here (note: I only use the unencrypted channels).

Perhaps an option in the forum search for users with specific hardware (based on the system specs they provide) could help with questions about the ins and outs of that hardware

 

[PoBear]

Thanks for the answers, I am a long term user of PC's so I understand that you cannot test everything, my concern was that there so little reference to PCTV hardware in the documentation that it did not bode well, in fact I have struggled to find hardware reviews for any of the devices I have looked at, despite searching manufacturers websites, forums and fan sites.

I am coming from a HTPC system that was running successfully for over 10 years before a hardware failure took it out, so whilst I have kept up to speed with changes in the market place, it is not quite the same as having to start again.

So thanks, I have the answer I need.