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PostPosted: Sat May 24, 2008 12:23 pm 
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Joined: Tue Sep 13, 2005 10:48 am
Posts: 852
Location: London, UK
Hi,
I'm looking into getting onboard with the UK's FreeSat service, as I'm just about to buy an HDTV. Can anyone recommend me a good pci card for this? Thanks!

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Version:R8
Intel C2D 7400, Nvidia 5600 via HDMI to Samsung B37B650TW (PAL), Asus P5QL-E mobo, 4Gb PC6400 DDR2 ram, Samsung Spinpoint 500 Gb & 1Tb drive, Nova-HD-S2 (x2)


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sun May 25, 2008 6:51 am 
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Joined: Sat Nov 05, 2005 4:37 am
Posts: 191
Location: Cornwall - uk
See my sig :-)

I have 3 'Technisat skystar 2' cards, very good.

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stinga

as of 17-May-2018
R8.2 - sort of working.
MB: gigabyte GA-P43-ES3G | RAM: 2GB
VGA: PNY Nvidia GT240 1GB
4 x Technisat skystar 2 dvb | 1 x TBS6981 dvb-s2
pata: 1x300Gb | sata: 2x1Tb 2x2Tb
Problems:
TBS6981 Does not work.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sun May 25, 2008 10:05 am 
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Joined: Tue Sep 13, 2005 10:48 am
Posts: 852
Location: London, UK
Thanks Stinga. Will look into purchasing such a card. (You'll be the one I contact when I can't get it to work. :lol: )

Regards Chris

_________________
Version:R8
Intel C2D 7400, Nvidia 5600 via HDMI to Samsung B37B650TW (PAL), Asus P5QL-E mobo, 4Gb PC6400 DDR2 ram, Samsung Spinpoint 500 Gb & 1Tb drive, Nova-HD-S2 (x2)


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon May 26, 2008 2:28 am 
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Joined: Tue Feb 03, 2004 3:23 am
Posts: 159
Location: Friesland, The Netherlands
Make sure you double check the hardware revision of these Skystar 2 cards. The latest revisions may not work yet with Linux. It's being worked on, but YMMV. The Wiki on http://www.linuxtv.org and it's mailing archives should be of help here.

I don't have these cards myself, but when I considered purchasing one I stumbled on this gotcha.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon May 26, 2008 6:43 am 
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Joined: Mon Jun 21, 2004 5:28 am
Posts: 700
Location: Germany
I got caught with this. Only 2.6 and below is supported. I ordered a card on ebay around Christmas and a 2.8 was what I got. I would stay away from Technisat skystar 2 unless you can check the version (it is printed on the board).

I ended up with a Technotrend Budget S-1500. I'm not 100% happy with it. It seems to crash on HDTV. I don't know if it is my setup or a card problem.

You might want to take a look at http://linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/DVB-S_PCI_Cards

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ASUS AT3N7A-I (Atom 330)
TBS 8922 PCI (DVB-S2)


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon May 26, 2008 3:18 pm 
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Joined: Sat Nov 05, 2005 4:37 am
Posts: 191
Location: Cornwall - uk
That is a very good point.
I took the risk when I brought mine and I got a 2.6c version, phew!
I notice that there are drivers for 2.7 but not for 2.8 yet. So be careful.
Looking at the image, cardmania might have 2.6's in stock, probably best to ask though.

_________________
--
stinga

as of 17-May-2018
R8.2 - sort of working.
MB: gigabyte GA-P43-ES3G | RAM: 2GB
VGA: PNY Nvidia GT240 1GB
4 x Technisat skystar 2 dvb | 1 x TBS6981 dvb-s2
pata: 1x300Gb | sata: 2x1Tb 2x2Tb
Problems:
TBS6981 Does not work.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue May 27, 2008 9:47 am 
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Joined: Tue Sep 13, 2005 10:48 am
Posts: 852
Location: London, UK
Jeepers!
I didn't realise there would be so much to contend with in getting a freesat card.
I will have to research further. Much much further. Thanks for the heads-up.

...

Actually, I'm currently using DVB-T cards from Hauppage and very happy with their performance, anyone using the Nova-S card, and can comment on how 'good' they are?

_________________
Version:R8
Intel C2D 7400, Nvidia 5600 via HDMI to Samsung B37B650TW (PAL), Asus P5QL-E mobo, 4Gb PC6400 DDR2 ram, Samsung Spinpoint 500 Gb & 1Tb drive, Nova-HD-S2 (x2)


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 Post subject: Freesat
PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 5:32 am 
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Joined: Wed Jul 14, 2004 3:32 pm
Posts: 142
Hi there

I am looking at doing the same soon, and also wondered which card to be getting. I am also confused as to which type of card to get (dvb-s or dvb-s2). I have seen a few different entries that state opposite recommendations.

Please help !!!!

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Thanks in advance
Matt Shaw
matt@shagshaw.com

AMD Sempron 2400+ on Via Motherboard,
512MB Ram, 160GB IDE HDD,
Nvidia Geforce FX5500 128MB TV-Out,
2 x Twinhan DVB-T BT878 (Freeview UK)
KnoppMYTH R5F27


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 1:08 pm 
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Joined: Sat Nov 05, 2005 4:37 am
Posts: 191
Location: Cornwall - uk
G'day,

At the moment I would go with a dvb-s version. I have not checked recently on the driver status of dvb-s2, but dvb-s2 was not to well supported a while ago.

I can get all the free sat channels plus BBC HD (Can't play HD yet but that is a processor issue, I can record it fine)

I am not using the freesat epg, I have not managed to get the to work as yet, I am using radiotimes website.

It all works very well, I can record 3 sat feeds and watch another all at the same time (does not happen often)

_________________
--
stinga

as of 17-May-2018
R8.2 - sort of working.
MB: gigabyte GA-P43-ES3G | RAM: 2GB
VGA: PNY Nvidia GT240 1GB
4 x Technisat skystar 2 dvb | 1 x TBS6981 dvb-s2
pata: 1x300Gb | sata: 2x1Tb 2x2Tb
Problems:
TBS6981 Does not work.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 5:51 am 
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Joined: Wed Jul 14, 2004 3:32 pm
Posts: 142
Stinga

You say that you are using a dvb-s card at the moment, and get BBC HD. Do you also get the other Freesat HD channels ?? And what is the quality like ???? What kind of input to your TV, and what type of TV do you use ??

_________________
Thanks in advance
Matt Shaw
matt@shagshaw.com

AMD Sempron 2400+ on Via Motherboard,
512MB Ram, 160GB IDE HDD,
Nvidia Geforce FX5500 128MB TV-Out,
2 x Twinhan DVB-T BT878 (Freeview UK)
KnoppMYTH R5F27


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sun May 03, 2009 6:48 am 
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Joined: Sat Nov 05, 2005 4:37 am
Posts: 191
Location: Cornwall - uk
G'day Matt,

Yes I am getting BBC-HD (can't play it on mythtv, not enough horse power, I need to upgrade my HW!).

The other freesat HD are are bit more complicated and I do not bother with those.
(The bit rate on a normal trasmission is so high anyway, my eyes would probably not notice the difference!)

Quality is much better than my pvr350 off the air (as you would expect).
I am using dvi to hdmi (Is that correct) and I have a sony 40" lcd telly.

Wide screen works properly and I get stereo sound.

All in all a great product!

_________________
--
stinga

as of 17-May-2018
R8.2 - sort of working.
MB: gigabyte GA-P43-ES3G | RAM: 2GB
VGA: PNY Nvidia GT240 1GB
4 x Technisat skystar 2 dvb | 1 x TBS6981 dvb-s2
pata: 1x300Gb | sata: 2x1Tb 2x2Tb
Problems:
TBS6981 Does not work.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon May 04, 2009 2:15 am 
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Joined: Tue Feb 03, 2004 3:23 am
Posts: 159
Location: Friesland, The Netherlands
A couple of weeks ago I added the transponder and frequency information for BBC-HD and it looks really great (and has AC3 audio). Thanks to VDPAU I can play back these recordings. The recordings are made using a Hauppauge Nova-S adapter (not the Plus variety). This adapter works great on other Freesat channels as well (BBC, Channel 4 and ITV). Interestingly a KNC1 DVB-S adapter that worked really well on Linux, and seems to use the same chipset and frontend as the Nova-S adapters, cannot cope with the bitrate of the Freesat channels and shows artifacts. The Nova-S copes just fine.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon May 04, 2009 3:46 am 
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Joined: Tue Sep 13, 2005 10:48 am
Posts: 852
Location: London, UK
Hey willem,

Thanks for resurrecting this thread. After my initial enthusiasm, due to a number of factors I never got around to getting a satcard. However, I've just upgraded my motherboard, so I've now got a spare pci slot. As I intend to upgrade the TV in the near future (though I've been saying this for months now), the nova-S would be a good addition to my current DVB-T cards.

Cheers for the update.

Chris.

_________________
Version:R8
Intel C2D 7400, Nvidia 5600 via HDMI to Samsung B37B650TW (PAL), Asus P5QL-E mobo, 4Gb PC6400 DDR2 ram, Samsung Spinpoint 500 Gb & 1Tb drive, Nova-HD-S2 (x2)


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue May 05, 2009 2:34 am 
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Joined: Tue Feb 03, 2004 3:23 am
Posts: 159
Location: Friesland, The Netherlands
You're welcome Tophee. With the Nova-S cards being around for quite some time now, you can get them for decent prices. I got two brandnew ones of these for 10 euros each! Someone had bought a surplus stock of these still fully wrapped. Worth looking out for such deals.


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