PC TV Tuners

LucianH

Can anybody recommend a good Freeview HD TV Tuner for a (soon to be acquired) Windows 7 desktop? The basic requirements are for:

- Either internal PCI (or PCI Express 16x) or external USB 2/3

- Receive Freeview HD content

- Be able to record the SD/HD content to video files that can then be watched via Serviio DLNA server (I'm using a Panasonic Bluray DMP-BDT100 as the renderer). Ideally it should have the ability to record to different formats to reduce the risk of incompatible video files with the Panasonic

- Be dual DVB-T channel to allow concurrent recording and viewing of two different Freeview channels. Or, if it is single channel (and cheap enough!) be able to operate with two tuners fitted.

I've tried Expert Reviews but the latest Tuner reviews they appear to have were back in 2010 and did not include any HD tuners.

Assuming I can find both Internal PCI and External USB tuners that will do the job, what are the views as to which is best? I like the idea of an External USB tuner as it's more "portable" between systems (and will obviously work with a Laptop). However, I won't go with an external one if there's any compromise on performance/operation. For example, the dongle type of tuners look too good to be true in relation to size compared to PCI cards - so what, if anything, is being compromised?

Also, I assume that most Tuners will be using Windows Media Centre as the Tuner’s "Front End" as opposed to the Tuners having their own application. I assume this is preferable but does Windows Media Centre perform well as a TV/PVR front end?

And finally, I would appreciate if someone can clarify the situation with DVB-T2. From my quick wiki trawl I gather that DVB-T2 is the transmission that currently provides HD. So when TV cards state DVB-T and HD does this mean that it is the latest DVB-T2 standard?

Apologies for all the questions but I want to capture as much information on PC TV Tuners as possible in one go.

Edit:

It's just dawned on me that I may be being a bit thick in my post above. I mentioned that the Tuner is for a "soon to be acquired" Windows 7 Desktop. That's because I currently have an old XP machine on which I'm using Serviio as a DLNA server. With the new Windows 7 (Pro) PC, does Windows Media Centre act as a DLNA server or can I still use Serviio?

banger9365

have you looked at Black Gold ones,
and look at Compro VideoMate,
if i remember some off the Hauppauge one's had problems with 4GB ram in systems and x64 driver's but that was some time ago

fwor

I bought the Blackgold quad dvb-T2 tuner earlier this week, but couldn't get it to work with my setup (MythTV under Linux), so it's going back.

You may have better luck with WMC. They also sell a dual dvb-t2 tuner (BGT3620 IIRC) if 4 is too many (or £170 is too much!).

I believe that Win7 does support DLNA, and you shouldn't need to use Serviio.

LucianH

fwor wrote: »

I bought the Blackgold quad dvb-T2 tuner earlier this week, but couldn't get it to work with my setup (MythTV under Linux), so it's going back.

You may have better luck with WMC. They also sell a dual dvb-t2 tuner (BGT3620 IIRC) if 4 is too many (or £170 is too much!).

I believe that Win7 does support DLNA, and you shouldn't need to use Serviio.

Many thanks. I've also been doing a lot more looking around today and think I'm beginning to answer most of my questions.

The most alarming thing is that I can only find one dual PCI DVB-T2 card - the Blackgold BGT3620 you refer to. It was reviewed by PC Pro a year ago when it was "the first dual tuner freeview HD card to hit the market". A year on and it's worrying that it still appears to be the only card - does this imply that nobody's prepared to invest in this technology (perhaps favouring HD DVB-S for which there appears more choice). A company called TBS seemed to have produced a DVB-T2 card (TBS6280) but I can't find any evidence of it on their website where they only show DVB-S and DVB-C products - was there a lack of demand for it?

In relation to my query on DVB-T2, I now believe that there is no such thing as HD DVB-T. The reason I had asked this was in relation to the Compro VideoMate Vista T100 which stated in it's description "provides the reception of free-to-air HDTV quality digital terrestrial TV" but in the specification it only states only DVB-T and therefore will not be HD. So, unless anybody can prove me wrong, Compro have a seriously misleading description.

Any further views/help on a Freeview HD card would be welcome. Does anybody know of any new products in the pipeline? And if anybody has experience with the Blackgold BGT3620 on a 64bit Windows 7 Pro set up I'd really appreciate your views.

fwor

A quick update - I have actually been able to get the quad tuner BGT3650 working with MythTV, despite Blackgold's desperately inadequate support for Linux.

However, looking on their website they do seem to have put a lot more effort into Windows support (grudgingly I admit that it makes sense for them to concentrate on the biggest market share) and the installation instructions appear credible.

In your position I'd be tempted to buy one and put in plenty of effort in the few days after it arrives, knowing that it can go back under DSRs if you find it can't be made to work satisfactorily within 7 days.

[Edit: I should add that the BGT3650 is not as sensitive as the Hauppauge it's supposed to replace - probably not a problem after the switchover down here, but a bit of a pain ATM.]

A.Penny.Saved

LucianH wrote: »

Many thanks. I've also been doing a lot more looking around today and think I'm beginning to answer most of my questions.

The most alarming thing is that I can only find one dual PCI DVB-T2 card - the Blackgold BGT3620 you refer to. It was reviewed by PC Pro a year ago when it was "the first dual tuner freeview HD card to hit the market". A year on and it's worrying that it still appears to be the only card - does this imply that nobody's prepared to invest in this technology (perhaps favouring HD DVB-S for which there appears more choice). A company called TBS seemed to have produced a DVB-T2 card (TBS6280) but I can't find any evidence of it on their website where they only show DVB-S and DVB-C products - was there a lack of demand for it?

The BlackGold BGT3620 is a PCI-e card and not PCI. It's not the only Freeview HD card available.

The TBS6280/TBS6284 were on the TBS website the last time I looked but now they have gone. I wondered whether that was because it defaults to US region and DVB-T2 is not used there.

This site is the closest that I can find. For some reason the dual tuner cards are not currently widely available and the price for the ones that are, is much higher than it was some weeks back when I last looked at them. Amazon amongst others, sell the Quad tuner versions.

There must be some production problems such as getting a component or maybe a board revision. BlackGold had similar problems recently with their DVB-T2 cards. I wouldn't get their stuff after reading about the problems with them and due to past history of their products.

In relation to my query on DVB-T2, I now believe that there is no such thing as HD DVB-T. The reason I had asked this was in relation to the Compro VideoMate Vista T100 which stated in it's description "provides the reception of free-to-air HDTV quality digital terrestrial TV" but in the specification it only states only DVB-T and therefore will not be HD. So, unless anybody can prove me wrong, Compro have a seriously misleading description.

Any further views/help on a Freeview HD card would be welcome. Does anybody know of any new products in the pipeline? And if anybody has experience with the Blackgold BGT3620 on a 64bit Windows 7 Pro set up I'd really appreciate your views.

DVB-T can transmit HD but is only used for that in other countries. The bandwidth available for HD is less than with DVB-T so it's not ideal and would mean less channels per transponder. Only DVB-T2 is used for HD in the UK so you would need to get a DVB-T2 tuner if you wanted anything other than SD broadcasts.

LucianH

A.Penny.Saved wrote: »

There must be some production problems such as getting a component or maybe a board revision. BlackGold had similar problems recently with their DVB-T2 cards. I wouldn't get their stuff after reading about the problems with them and due to past history of their products.

Thanks A.Penny.Saved. I've have been reading a lot of related posts on other forums about Blackgold and my reading is that they have had a lot of issues but recently they have revolved around the quad DVB-T2 card - the Dual BGT3620 has been around for a good 6 months longer (although there was also problems shortly after it's release). Many of the posts in relation to the Quad version make reference to how dissappointed people have been who have swapped out the Dual BGT3620 for the quad since they had the dual working fine.

I am still concerned about availability of the TBS6280 and you're probably right that there could be a component supply issue.

It's going to be a few more weeks before I commit to getting my new PC so I've got a bit of time before I finally decide between the BGT3620 and the TBS6280. However, something I really would like to see is a review where there's a direct comparison between the two cards - from my perspective I really want to know how they compare for sensitivity. I'm not getting the strongest of signals where I live so if anybody has experience of both cards I'd appreciate their assessment.

EDIT: BTW - This is an interesting read

A.Penny.Saved

I have never thought of the BG cards as having sensitive tuners, believing the TBS cards to be better, although without any hard evidence.

I am currently looking for a replacement DVB-S2 card to replace the one in my desktop because it corrupts recordings under certain circumstances. I was considering the TBS 6982 but noticed that there are other cards such as DVBSky and similar, available using newer tuners which claim to be sensitive. Reviews of the TBS card claim it to have a fairly decent tuner but I have seen at least one user saying that the signal level was low in comparison to their sky box. You cannot compare different devices because of so many variables and the way that they measure the signal giving percentages for signal strength. This is for a different card type and a limited sample so nothing to prove either way about the sensitivity of TBS cards in general.

I might get a DVB-T2 card at some point.