Suggestions for new receiver or DVB-S2 PCIe card for C-Band??

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arcangelnew

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Hi everybody,

I'm a little sad as my old fta receiver failed (it burned like a sacrifice for the lord of light), So I'm looking for a new one, any suggestion or advice is welcome, I had a limited budget, and the only thing I require is something with good DVB-S2 support, I was thinking on buying a TBS PCIe card for the HTPC as they support all PSK modes (just for the future), and a cheap one is around the $85, but I don't know if it will work smoth like a receiver, I will appreciate any suggestions.

Sorry for any grammar error, english is not my main language.
 
If you are thinking DVBS2 card, think about what software you want to use with it. I use MyTheatre for my DVB card and it doesn't support DiSEqC in TBS cards. Most people use DVBDream with the TBS card and I don't like that program. It's hard to choose because you can't try without buying. Going down that road can get expensive ;)
 
I never found DVB cards/USB devices very friendly to use. Seems I was always messing with codecs for any little new thing, curves, different software, computer problems, interlace settings basically everything plus needed a STB to do the moving and switching reliably. I'm sure this would have been different if I had to depend on one but I'm glad I never had to. Some guys do swear by these and they do provide some interesting options for a complete HTPC build.
 
If you are looking for a low cost, but solid receiver, I would go with the Amiko Mini HD SE. Works right out of the box and works great, plus has NA support, from Joe in the post above me. ;)
 
I wouldn’t recommend using a pc card/ usb receiver as your primary receiver. They are great for things like watching h264 4:2:2 feeds and for analyzing transport streams, but are not as convenient as a set top box for feed hunting. There is usually a learning curve involved when using one and you will need to get software to use with it (I use Easy Blindscan, Transedit, and Dvbviewer). If you want something you can pull out of the box hook up and start watching tv you need a set top box.
 
But if you want to learn all the finer details of DVB broadcast reception, buy a DVB tuner and hang on cause there is a steep learning curve ;)
 
I'd go with a good, new, STB. Then slave a card to it if you're really 'investigative'.
Real flames??? What was the old fta receiver??
 
Despite the negativity about cards by some, I have been looking into this topic myself. As Magic Static notes, it depends a lot on what software you plan to use with the card, and that will in a large part depend on how comfortable you are with Linux. There are guys like UpdateLee who can make these cards do darn near anything but that is because they know how to compile their own software - by the way, if you are into that, search on his name because he's written some software that works with those cards, that he makes freely available. It's far above my comprehension level, but maybe you are more on his level than I.

Then there are people like me who just want to watch TV and don't care to dig around in Linux, nor understand the nuances of compiling software. My understanding, and please be aware that I am speaking here without benefit of actual experience, is that if you use MythTV (or Mythbuntu) it has a certain amount of baked-in support for these cards. There is a list of supported cards, including some TBS models, in the DVB-S section of this page. There are setup instructions here, although those seem to have been written some time back.

Having said that, if you ask in these forums people tend to make it sound like it's very difficult to use these cards to their fullest potential if you don't recompile MythTV, or whatever PVR software you're using, with some kind of additional code, which is something most people won't do. And the fact is that most of the people in these forums just buy set top boxes, which often have built-in PVR support, and many will have no idea what you are talking about when you start talking about PVR software like MythTV or TVHeadEnd. I have looked all over to try and find a post by one actual, real person that's using one of these cards with MythTV under Linux to record and watch programs, and I have yet to come across anyone doing that. And I think that's a bit sad because if folks would really get into that mode of operation they'd find it offers a lot of benefits that you would not have using a set-top box.

The biggest benefit, in my opinion, is the potential for using multiple tuners so you can watch one satellite signal while recording another, or record two or more different satellite signals simultaneously. Another benefit is that when you use MythTV as your backend software, then you can watch live or recorded programs on any computer or device capable of running either the MythTV frontend software or XBMC (using the cMyth plugin). And, if some new format comes out and they release a new card to receive it, you only have to replace the card, not an entire set top box - not that I think that's real likely to happen in the immediate future, but you never know. And a final benefit is that if lightning hits near your dish and knocks out a tuner, you might only need to replace that tuner card and not an entire receiver.

Everybody has their own reasons for doing what they do but if you are really wanting to try a card, and especially if you have any inclinations toward getting into Linux, I would say go for it, and don't be too discouraged by the negativity. But if you do, just understand that not very many will have taken that path, so when you run into snags it might (or might not) be more difficult to get help.
 
Use a Prof 7500 here and like it...Smart DVB and DVB Dream...In the process of a new build with a TBS 6982.There is claims of a couple receivers that will do 32 APSK but no confirmation so I go to a puter card...This day in time it is a waist for a receiver unless it will do 32APSK...Better off with a build in the puter!
 
I'd go with a good, new, STB. Then slave a card to it if you're really 'investigative'.
Real flames??? What was the old fta receiver??

I really don't know it just shut down, and then it smell like burn, then I unplug everything, and after a few minutes I disassemble it, And for my surprise some chips where carbonized at the ends, near the internal power supply, so it was impossible to fix.
 
Despite the negativity about cards by some, I have been looking into this topic myself. As Magic Static notes, it depends a lot on what software you plan to use with the card, and that will in a large part depend on how comfortable you are with Linux. There are guys like UpdateLee who can make these cards do darn near anything but that is because they know how to compile their own software - by the way, if you are into that, search on his name because he's written some software that works with those cards, that he makes freely available. It's far above my comprehension level, but maybe you are more on his level than I.

Then there are people like me who just want to watch TV and don't care to dig around in Linux, nor understand the nuances of compiling software. My understanding, and please be aware that I am speaking here without benefit of actual experience, is that if you use MythTV (or Mythbuntu) it has a certain amount of baked-in support for these cards. There is a list of supported cards, including some TBS models, in the DVB-S section of this page. There are setup instructions here, although those seem to have been written some time back.

Having said that, if you ask in these forums people tend to make it sound like it's very difficult to use these cards to their fullest potential if you don't recompile MythTV, or whatever PVR software you're using, with some kind of additional code, which is something most people won't do. And the fact is that most of the people in these forums just buy set top boxes, which often have built-in PVR support, and many will have no idea what you are talking about when you start talking about PVR software like MythTV or TVHeadEnd. I have looked all over to try and find a post by one actual, real person that's using one of these cards with MythTV under Linux to record and watch programs, and I have yet to come across anyone doing that. And I think that's a bit sad because if folks would really get into that mode of operation they'd find it offers a lot of benefits that you would not have using a set-top box.

The biggest benefit, in my opinion, is the potential for using multiple tuners so you can watch one satellite signal while recording another, or record two or more different satellite signals simultaneously. Another benefit is that when you use MythTV as your backend software, then you can watch live or recorded programs on any computer or device capable of running either the MythTV frontend software or XBMC (using the cMyth plugin). And, if some new format comes out and they release a new card to receive it, you only have to replace the card, not an entire set top box - not that I think that's real likely to happen in the immediate future, but you never know. And a final benefit is that if lightning hits near your dish and knocks out a tuner, you might only need to replace that tuner card and not an entire receiver.

Everybody has their own reasons for doing what they do but if you are really wanting to try a card, and especially if you have any inclinations toward getting into Linux, I would say go for it, and don't be too discouraged by the negativity. But if you do, just understand that not very many will have taken that path, so when you run into snags it might (or might not) be more difficult to get help.

Actually i know a little of linux,I was thinking on using VDR or tvheadend as backend and XBMC as front end, I already use a similar setup for ATSC over the air tv, Thanks for the heads up.
 
Don't know about satellite cards and I haven't used MythTV for probably at least five years, but with my Hauppauge HVR1600 ATSC cards, I did have to modify and compile drivers to get them to run with Myth, same with a wireless card that I was using. Have to say though, nine times out of ten, if you look, someone's already done the hard work and just compiling the stuff isn't all that bad. What made me stop using Myth was the MySQl database, absolutely hated it.

I too have been recently looking into getting a PC DVB-S2 card for my Media Center setup to add a few channels from my fixed dishes [Media Center doesn't do motor control].
 
The TBS 5980 USB and Skystar 2 express HD PCIe are both around $80 and excellent cards. Neither are supported by the mainline kernel but are well supported with other kernels like mine (v4l-updatelee) TBS also supplies a media tree drivers you can compile. Depends if you want something that can work out of box, or something that can work better with a little bit of work on your part.

UDL
 
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