Thread: Tuner and demodulator chip models comparison

Hello satguys,
I've looked around and you guys seem to know lots of things about DVB technology.
Lately I searched the net for a very good HDTV DVB-S2 card and I've found out that the majority of the cards usually found out in stores here in Europe are build around old and sometimes obsolete tuner and demodulator chips.
After nights and nights of "googling" I hopefully was able to select two tech solution coming from manufacturers like: Tevii, DVBWOrld, TBS and Prof-Tuners and namely either Montage Technology TS2020/DS3000 or
STMicroelectronics STB6100/ST0903. Unfortunately no Broadcom solution on the market.
Now some of you already tested such cards and I hope you can share your experiences.
What can you guys say about these two solutions? Which one is a winner and if possible explain your opinion?

I have only tried the DVBWorld receiver with the "Montage Technology TS2020/DS3000".

From my experience this receiver is the most sensitive tuner that I have ever used.
I have used the Coolsat 6000, Pansat 3500 / 2700, Twinhan 102G, and the BroadLogic 2030.

The TS2020/DS3000 combination by its specifications is able to supports symbol rates from:
1 Msps to 45 Msps -> QPSK (45 Msps), 8PSK (45 Msps), 16APSK (36 Msps) and 32APSK (28 Msps) modulations.
(A maximum data rate of 130 Mbps)

The feature that I like the most about the Montage DS3000 demodulator is that it has a "Fast blind scan" feature,
but I don't know of any cards that are using it for a full "blind scan" feature yet.
(DVBWorld mentioned in another thread that it might be possible to implement this feature on their receivers).
I don't know how important a "blind scan" feature is in Germany, but in North America it is very important.

The DVBWorld receiver makes use of that feature slightly,
in the sense that you can enter an approximation of the correct symbol rate and it will lock the correct symbol rate.
I have managed to find 6 symbol rates that will cover symbol rates from 1000 - 30000 kSym/s.
( I have never found any signals over 30000 kSym/s on the North America Ku-Band)

Here is an example:

Entered SR [Will reliably lock a symbol rate between]
1400 [ 1000 - 2170]
2400 [ 1600 - 3600]
3700 [ 2500 - 5900]
8000 [ 5900 - 12000]
14000 [10000 - 21000]
17000 [13000 - 30000]

Overall I am very happy with the DVBWorld receiver that uses the Montage TS2020/DS3000,
and I have not seen any issues with it. When DVBWorld adds a full "blind scan" to the receiver I will consider it a perfect PC tuner.
(It locks low symbol rate transponders that are normally hard for receivers to do and it locks low quality signals that my other receiver can not)

Here are two threads that may be interesting to you:
Prof 7301, 7500 and 8000 Tuners
DVBWorld DVB-S2

I think you're going to find it hard to get objective reports from people who have tried both chipsets. The STM chips have been out in products for some time, while I have only recently seen the Montage chips become available in cards. I had originally been waiting to buy one of each, but I got impatient this past October and bought a couple of Prof units (7301 and 7500 - they use the same tuner and demod).

I've been very impressed with the STM chips. My experience, along with a number of others, is the Prof units lock low CNR signals much better than previous generation devices. I have the TechnoTrend S2-3200 and DVB World 2104 (the CX24116 version) and they are simply not in the same class. The new STM chips have a blindscanning capability that I have running under Linux, although this is not yet ready for prime time, and I am seeing evidence they can at least recognize S2 signals beyond 8PSK.

While I have been testing the Prof cards very thoroughly, I have no information at all about the Montage chips. You probably will have to wait for others to give cards based on that chipset the same thorough evaluation. Having now purchased four of the Prof units, I am not in a big hurry to buy something else without a good reason. If you want to buy something now, get one of the Prof cards. They are a major improvement over the past.

Mohaator

I dont't think your Poll question set is adequate, since most Sat Receiver manufacturers do not use all chipsets form the same supplier in a single product. I.e., they may use a tuner from Sharp or Samsung, a Demod from CX, and a universal video processor to decode MPEG signal. Apart from that, its hard to find someone who have a full collection of all newest receiver products and is professional enough to test compare them all.

Besides, what is good in Germany, may be bad news for North American signal reception, since FTA is very different creature in Europe in many aspects. Have you considered current Technotrend brand products?

thanks for the quick replies,

I own a Dreambox DM800 as well as an Azbox Premium and I use to do a lot of interesting things with them but some weeks ago a friend of mine came by to visit me and told me that he's got an HTPC with an Tevii 470 card (before he had a TT-S2 3200 and he sold it on e-bay because he wasn't happy with it) and the SD, HD channels switch faster than my both stb's and I start wandering and decided to build up a HTPC. Was all up and ready and I got a TechniSat SkyStar 2 HD ( I wanted to get a Prof Revolution 8000 but I think they are not on the market until may 2010) and I am not impressed with the image quality I get over NVIDIA 9800 GT HDMI output on my 52" LCD, the channels switch in 2-3 sec and the card is getting very hot, and I decided to get rid of it and now I look to get a new DVB-S2 card.

I've had a Prof 7301 for a few months now and I like it. I have it in my htpc using Dvbviewer and don't have any heat problems. You can see in my equipment list some of the devices I've used, some I still have connected. The first thing I noticed about the Prof was the quick channel changing speed in Dvbviewer, quite a bit quicker than my other cards, less than a second for sure. I had been watching with the Prof quite a bit after I first got it then switched to my Azbox elite and the channel changes seemed very long. Of course the Az channel change times are reasonable but the Prof is that much quicker that it is really noticable.
I don't have any test equipment to compare devices nor the expertise to do it but just from having used a lot of dvb cards in the past I would say the Prof 7301 is the best one I've had yet.
I use an ATI 3870HD video card through a Pioneer 1019 AV receiver to a 42" Sony LCD.

I see you don't want to vote for my poll.....
Has anybody got an Prof Revolution 8000 DVB-S2 PCIe card up to now? As far as I understood the card was on the market but it's been redesigned at the moment.

Prof 8000 was never offered on the marker, and no-one knows if it will be. Your Poll sounds like a sales push for Prof to me. Why don't you look at newest (not older like you did) Technotrend offerings designed for your area signal reception, and let us know your opinion, may be present Technotrend cards survey - surprised? You'd need to ask moving your thread to PC DVB section to get more interest and replies.

Mohaator - I haven't done the poll because it asks which chipset is better and I have only tested one. It's likely very few people have tried the top two on your list. If you get any responses it will be more of a straw poll of who bought what. That's a popularity contest, not a meaningful measure on which is better.

Zamar - I don't see anyone selling here, just people honestly describing how the card they purchased functions for them. As you have not tried any of them, I guess there's not much you have to offer to the request posted: "Now some of you already tested such cards and I hope you can share your experiences."