PCI Card or Wait for New Generation of FTA Receivers???

[pro96]

Last night I played with my Twinhan 102G for a while, messing around with the settings and all. Tried the supplied software, and did not like it very much.

Downloaded and liked MyTheatre 3.27 much better, although it's a demo for now. I noticed some channels on G10R had the volume go up/down suddently. What can be causing this?

 

[timmy1376]

1 Step at a time.

Just picked up a Nexus-S card locally here in Miami, at FutureVision Satellites. Next step to decide upon a video card to run alongside the Nexus-S. I noticed that beeb just commented about not being able to run some HDTV unless one has a dedicated video card that can play the highest bitrate 1080p WMV9 and MPEG4.

Any suggestions for just such a dedicated video card?

Would like to shortly set up a dedicated pc for satellite tuning.

greyskies

How often are you actually gonna want to run 1080P WMV files? I for one wouldn't buy a video card just to do that.

 

[greyskies]

I guess that would depend upon me understanding what is available with a satcard. I do not understand what 1080p means.

Maybe someone who has been testing satcards for awhile might post as a sticky some sort of newbie guide to satcard operations, with split-offs for each card or software, which would be written by knowledgeable users of those cards or programs. Just a thought.

When I had started this thread, I was just considering jumping into this portion of the hobby to see what I can see (like you with the KC Royals, me with the Red Sox, Patriots, Bruins and Celtics). Now I have commited to it by buying a card (the Nexus-S from Hauappauge) and am looking to making the next step -- buying a video card to tag along with the satcard for installation into my pc.

Would appreciate your recommendation as to a video card to be used in tandem with my Nexus-S so that I can view HD broadcast feeds from NESN, etc.

greyskies in sunny South Florida (luckily having been spared from the wrath of Katrina and N.O.'s levies).

P.S. - I hope that Tron and others from N.O. got out of there in time and are safe and well.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

To my knowledge, 4:2:2 has nothing to do with HDTV, and the 4:2:2 NBC feed on 103 degrees for sure is not HDTV.

Are you sure? I was watching Las Vegas the other night and it was 16 x 9 and looked like HD to me.

I also assumed it was HD as it was listed as being HD on a number of lists.

If its not their HD feed then where is their HD feed?

 

[timmy1376]

I guess that would depend upon me understanding what is available with a satcard. I do not understand what 1080p means.

Maybe someone who has been testing satcards for awhile might post as a sticky some sort of newbie guide to satcard operations, with split-offs for each card or software, which would be written by knowledgeable users of those cards or programs. Just a thought.

When I had started this thread, I was just considering jumping into this portion of the hobby to see what I can see (like you with the KC Royals, me with the Red Sox, Patriots, Bruins and Celtics). Now I have commited to it by buying a card (the Nexus-S from Hauappauge) and am looking to making the next step -- buying a video card to tag along with the satcard for installation into my pc.

Would appreciate your recommendation as to a video card to be used in tandem with my Nexus-S so that I can view HD broadcast feeds from NESN, etc.

greyskies in sunny South Florida (luckily having been spared from the wrath of Katrina and N.O.'s levies).

P.S. - I hope that Tron and others from N.O. got out of there in time and are safe and well.

The Nexus-S is a hardware card, so it would do the MPEG2 decoding, taking that off the video card and processor. It will not, however, help with HD. It is all software decoding of HD.

1080P is a type of HDTV format. Most use either 720P or 1080I, standing for progressive and interlaced. WMV video, or Microsoft Windows Media video is about the only thing I know of right now that is out there in the 1080P format. The WMV in my opinion has not really caught on yet, maybe it will, maybe not. I am just saying, I personally, would not buy a video card yet. I would get my Nexus card, try HD, see if it works. If it does, great. If it doesn't, then I would consider something in addition.

 

[pro96]

I almost forgot, which exact 4:2:2 decoder from Elecard is the actual one?

Im gonna try to work on that tonight..

 

[W_Tracy_Parnell]

I'd like to know that too. I installed 3 diffeent packages from them and I had "graphs off" during MyTheatre install so nothing worked in. I switched "graphs on" and everything was ok but still don't know which one was the one I needed.

 

[Wayn23]

Sorry to to be a downer (although I love it ), but this machine will still not be able to play the highest bitrate 1080p WMV9 and MPEG4. Unless you buy a dedicated video card that does that, but then you wouldn't need that powerful machine. There's always a new challenge around the corner...
For FTA HDTV (PBS-HD) you only need half the power you've purchased. It plays no problem even on my Athlon 1800+.
Nevermind, though, it never hurts to have a faster machine. I am very satisfied with my P4 3.0@3.6 Ghz. Mainly beacause it allows me to do something else in the background while watching and recording TV. That memory you have will actually be the most useful part of your HTPC.

I believe the next generation of ATI cards are supposed to have hardware
accelleration of mpeg 4 h.264 and wmv, last I heard the release was just around the corner. I also heard a company is going to come out with a hardware decoder card that decodes HD mpeg4 and wmv soon based on Sigma Designs EM8622L http://www.allwell.tv/index.html has a card listed but it shows a EM8621 and I hear they are going to use EM8622L now.
http://www.sigmadesigns.com/products/em8620Lseries.htm

 

[pro96]

I almost forgot, which exact 4:2:2 decoder from Elecard is the actual one?

Im gonna try to work on that tonight..

Working good so far, me like this card

 

[beeb]

Are you sure? I was watching Las Vegas the other night and it was 16 x 9 and looked like HD to me.
I also assumed it was HD as it was listed as being HD on a number of lists.
If its not their HD feed then where is their HD feed?

We may be talking about different things. I have in mind whatever is on tp 11840 and 11880. I was able to pick one of them once (very weak signal here) and it definitely was 720x480 SD, not HD. If you are talking about some wild feed on other transponders on the same sat, then I don't know. But Lyngsat lists all wild feeds as having 4232 symbol rate, which is only enough for one standard channel, not HDTV.

 

[greyskies]

Suggestions on Clean System for Nexus-S PCI Card

I was told by the better half that I can buy a cheap pc to play with PCI-DVB cards. The reason being is that the home pc is off limits as it is for the kids' usage, NOT mine. After a brief discussion, which you know that I had lost, my wife did agree to let me spend a small amount of money to buy a 2nd computer to play with my satellite and the new PCI-DVB card.

Rather than paying approx. $1000 plus for a box from Office Depot or CompUSA, I had decided to have a little fun and build my own computer. Consequently, I have just ordered from ZipZoomFly.com the following components in order to build me an ultimate HTPC system:

1. Thermaltake Tenor Home Theater Mini Tower Chasis
(Black w/480 watt silent PSU)
2. Abit AW8-MAS 955X P4 Motherboard
3. Intel Pentium 4, 630 Prescott 3.0Ghz CPU
4. Corsair 2GB RAM
5. WD Caviar Special Edition 250Gb ATA 100 7200RPM Hard Drive
6. Pioneer DVR-110D 16X Dual Layer DVD+/-RW Drive (Black) and
7. Microsucks Windoze XP MCE 2005 (Full Version)
8. ATI Radeon X800 Pro PCI Express 256Mb Video Card (directly from ATI)

Once I receive delivery on these parts early next week, I will try to find some time to quickly assemble the box, wire all of the parts together, put the case back on, plug it in, turn it on, sit back, and yell, "IT'S ALIVE"!!!

I am not clear on what is needed for the PCI-DVB card to work well, but want to keep the software on this unit to a minimum. At first, this will strictly be an HTPC. As time goes on, I will hopefully learn how all this fun works, and be comfortable with installing regular (read, non-satellite) applications so that it can be used for multiple tasks.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to whether I should install XP MCE 2005 or just another copy of XP Pro that I have laying around in my office?

greyskies in sunny (getting sunnier by the day) South Florida

 

[beeb]

Keep in mind that the Nexus-S only makes sense if the HTPC will be connected to a TV set just for watching TV (no HTPC use), you need to have a monitor next to TV to use it that way. And you don't plan on doing HDTV or 4:2:2.
Overall, the Nexus-S is quite old card and not much value. I'd recommend Twinhan and SS2 over it any day.
Windows XP Pro is the best OS for HTPC, unless you are right wing religious Linux-er who hates anything copyrighted But since you say you want to keep the software to a minimum, you may want to look at Linux - they have only one application to watch TV with DVB card

 

[Cascade]

Overall, the Nexus-S is quite old card and not much value.

You make it sound like the same revision has been used for years.
The SkyStar1/Nexus has been around for a long time and has undergone many improvements to bring it up to date.

I've used practically every PCI/USB card out there and nothing can touch the Nexus.

 

[beeb]

I've used practically every PCI/USB card out there and nothing can touch the Nexus.

What exactly "can't be touched"?

 

[pro96]

What exactly "can't be touched"?

That makes 2 of us. I used to own the Nexus-S earlier this year and sold it to one of my employees.

Now that I have the TwinHan 102G, Can't tell any difference from the Nexus

 

[jerryt]

But can your Nexus do Blind Scans?

 

[pro96]

But can your Nexus do Blind Scans?

No biggies for me, and why pay the extra $$$$$$$$$ for Blind Scan. I just simply do the BS with either my 4000Pro or 3500s, then copy the transp/sr info into my 102G.. and BAMMMM !!!!!!!!

 

[Cascade]

Build quality.
Stability.
MPEG2 decoder.
CAM interface.
Range of software support.
TV-Out.

I'm not getting into a pissing contest with you guys, suffice to say I'm not some newbie who just got into FTA.

Jerryt - no, it doesn't have blindscan and neither does any DVB card.

 

[pro96]

Build quality.
Stability.
MPEG2 decoder.
CAM interface.
Range of software support.
TV-Out.

I'm not getting into a pissing contest with you guys, suffice to say I'm not some newbie who just got into FTA.

Jerryt - no, it doesn't have blindscan and neither does any DVB card.

Nothing to get upset about it Cascade.. everyone has their own honest opinion about it. I know that the Nexus is the Cadillac of DVB cards, but even with a Ford Focus card.. We can do as much as the Cadillac card when it comes to FTA channels.

 

[Cascade]

I'm not upset about anything, it's just tiring reading the same arguments over and over without sufficient information to back their statement up.

If I was upset about it I'd have closed the thread and banned you all.