Requesting advice on the best PCI DVB S2 card to buy

[SatScanner]

I bought a Technotrend 6400 S2 card many months ago because I wanted a hardware based card, those have always given me the best performance as far as picture quality and video editing go. I know they are not as versatile as a software card but hardware cards are perfect for what I need. Here is my problem, I finally got my 10ft C band dish setup and hooked up to my TT 6400 card yesterday as a test I turned the dish to NASA TV on AMC 18 but could never get a signal. I hooked up my Bird Dog satellite meter and verified a 74% quality at the connection to the back of the card but could never get a signal. After hours of researching and experimentation I have come to the conclusion that the TT 6400 card is Ku band only and will not allow a LO freq of 5150. Even the software that came with the card will not allow a LO frequency less than 9000, I use MyTheatre by the way. I payed over $300 for the card so I will continue to use it when I get some 1.2m Ku dishes setup for Galaxy 19 and the PBS HD satellite.

It seems now that I will be forced to buy a software based card as I haven't found a DVB-S2 hardware card that works with C band. My only PCIe 1X slot is taken with my TT 6400 card but I have a couple of PCI slots so I will have to get a DVB-S2 PCI card. I have been looking at a Prof Revolution DVB-S2 7301 PCI card and a DVBWorldDTV DVB-S2 PCI2004D card. I use MyTheatre to view satellite TV but it doesn't seem either supports it. I don't know which PCI card is better or if either supports C band, I don't want to make that mistake again. The DVBWorld seems to have hardware blindscan the Prof Revolution does not seem to. I'm hoping some of you out there have these cards and can answer my questions. Can they tune in C band? What is the consensus between these two cards, ie. which is better quality, better supported? Does anyone have any problems editing recorded video? with stuttering video, out of sync audio, ect?[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/FONT] The last time I used a software card I was not at all impressed with the video quality, soft picture, lacking contrast, muddy video quality all around, is any of that anyone's experience with these SW cards? Anyone know of a better card than the two i have listed above?

Thanks

 

[Magic Static]

I'm using a Hauppauge Nova HD S2 with MyTheatre but it's not perfect. I'm missing the FEC 3/5 stuff. I wish I knew a better card to use. The Prof doesn't work with MyTheatre. I have a TBS8922 (PCI) but use DVBDream with it. It's not supported in MyTheatre but I've used it anyway with some success. I've heard of a newer S2 card from TT that supposed to do it all but don't know for sure. I wish I had that solution you are looking for
And everything I've used tunes C-Band, I didn't know there was a KU band only tuner.

 

[brentb636]

I use the Profs 7500 ( usb) card, essentially the same as the 7301, and it is excellent. I use EasyBlindscan Pro for blindscanning with the Profs 7500. I typically only use the card for 4:2:2 feeds, or feeds that are too weak for my stb's to display without pixelation. The Profs tuner is very sensitive and catches some marginal signals for me.

 

[chaskuchar]

i have a usb dvb-s2 unit that i am not using. the sensitivity is not what i get with my receiver and dish. i think it does c-band. make an offer. charlie

 

[SatScanner]

i have a usb dvb-s2 unit that i am not using. the sensitivity is not what i get with my receiver and dish. i think it does c-band. make an offer. charlie

Thanks for the offer but I have a USB receiver that i never did like, which is why I am leery about buying a software tuner now. I'm trying to stay away from USB devices so I can keep as much as possible inside the case so I have less hardware dangling from the case when I move it later.

 

[wallyhts]

I have a TBS8922 PCI card and it works great and they are cheap.

 

[updatelee]

The LO value is only used to display the satellite freq to the user, all satellite recovers we use actually tune the IF . The hardware itself doesn't care if the satellite signal is c band, x band, ku band, or ka band they all tune the IF l band that's coming down the coax. If your having an issue entering a lower LO them its a software issue not hardware.

 

[SatScanner]

That is helpful. You are referring to software based cards? Not hardware like mine?

 

[SatScanner]

I opened up my case and I do have one more PCIe slot open, it sits behind the RAM so as long as whatever card I get is not much longer than 6.25 inches I could squeeze another PCIe card in there. Which means I could go for the Prof Revolution DVB-S2 8000 or the DVBWorldDTV DVB-S2 PCIe2006. I have been doing some more research on this forum as well as Google and a lot of the posts about any of the cards them selves and software and hardware problems and such are old (2008, 2009, 2010). I get the impression that the DVBWorld cards are not as well supported or the support is hard to get from the company, I don't know if that is true today or not. The Prof Revolution cards do not state support for 16APSK and 32APSK or hardware blindscan as the DVBWorld description states, maybe that doesn't matter, I don't know how often those signals a transmitted.

 

[SatScanner]

I found this just now searching around the back doors of the Internet, I didn't see it listed anywhere on the Proftuners site pages, I'm not sure but this may be old. This looks like what I want if I have to buy a software based card. After searching more I looks like it may have come out a while back. Does anyone use this card? Another card I found is the TBS6925 DVB-S2 Professional, it looks to be a competitor to the 9000.

Prof Revolution DVB-S2 9000 PCI-E (QPSK, 8PSK, 16APSK, 32APSK) | proftuners.com

Prof Revolution DVB-S2 9000 PCI-E (QPSK, 8PSK, 16APSK, 32APSK)

• The signal reception standard DVB-S with QPSK modulation and coding CCM (constant coding and modulation);
• The signal reception standard DVB-S2 modulation of QPSK, 8PSK, 16APSK, 32APSK and coding CCM, VCM (variable coding and modulation), ACM (advanced coding and modulation).

• High sensitivity
• Features of reception and presentation of DVB data services (high-speed multicast and internet access)
• Support of AltDVB, DVBDream, DVBviewer, ProgDVB, MediaPortal, FastSatFinder
• DiSEqC 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, USALS, 2.0
• Remote control
• Drivers for Windows XP/Vista/Win7
• PTG Engine 1.7 Blind Scan Interface
• BDA-driver (Broadcast Driver Architecture) supports many 3rd party applications
• PTG Engine
• Designed in Germany

Video Features:

• HDTV support (MPEG2 and MPEG4/H.264)
• AC3 5.1 software decoder
• Support of DXVA (DirectX Video Acceleration) for H.264
• Plug and play installation
• Recording and playback via TV/radio
• Teletext
• Time shift support
• Electronic Program Guide (EPG)

Additional Features:

Prof DVB-S2 9000 PCI-E can operate with Manna, Skynet, SkyGrabber, FastSatFinder software and different plugins for DVBDream, ProgDVB, DVBviewer.
Prof Revolution DVB-S2 9000 PCI-E works successfully with all providers of satellite internet, including: SatGate, SpaceGate, OpenSky, Sky-Fi (S/S2), STV (S/S2), Raduga (S/S2), HeliosNet, StarBlazer (S2), Tooway (S2), Tricolor-Internet, etc.

Package Contents:

• DVB-S2 PCI-E Card - 1 pc.
• CD-ROM with drivers - 1 pc.
• Remote Control - 1 pc.
• External IK-receiver - 1 pc.
• Installation - 1 pc.
• Retail package (mikrogofra, lamination) - 1 pc.

Requirements:

• OS: Microsoft Windows 32bit 2000/XP/Vista/7 (for satellite Internet needs version Professional)
• CPU: 2.0GHz
• Memory: 512 MB
• Sound Card
• Free PCI-E (PCI-Express) slot
• A set of satellite equipment

System Requirements for HDTV in h.264 :
Video card ATI or NVIDIA:
ATI with ATI AVIVO HD: Radeon HD 5000 Series, Radeon HD 4000 Series, Radeon HD 3000 Series, Radeon HD 2600 Series, Radeon HD 2400 Series, Radeon HD 4200/AMD 785G Chipset, Radeon HD 3200/AMD 780G Chipset, Radeon HD 3300 IGP/AMD 790GX Chipset.

NVIDIA with Purevideo HD: GeForce 200 Series, GeForce 9 Series, GeForce 86xx, GeForce 85xx, GeForce 84xx.

Technical Specification :
​

• 8PSK/QPSK direct conversion tuner IC: STB6100
• Multi-standard advanced demodulator: STV0900A
• PCI Express Video and Broadcast Audio Decoder: Conexant CX23885

 

[updatelee]

Hardware vs Software refers to the mpeg decoder is present or absent. There was only one ever made with a hardware mpeg2 decoder, maybe there was others but imo it doesnt really matter anymore anyways, even a simple atom processor has no issue decoding mpeg2.

Every consumer grade receiver and even pretty much all if not all commercial receivers actually tune the Lband, nothing else. There were a few way back when (70's ?) that actually tuned Cband, but these used special waveguides instead of coax etc, if you had one, youd know it lol

I dont use windows often and the very few times I do I use tsreader, nothing else for satellite. I use linux pretty much exclusively.

 

[guacharaca]

My TBS6922 with DVBDream is quite sensitive. It can receive DVBS signals that my CS5K can not receive and S2 signals that my TBS6980 can not receive. Perhaps I got the one made after the employees got a raise. If I wanted to spend more time (and money) chasing signals, I would have purchased the TBS6925.

 

[SatScanner]

My TBS6922 with DVBDream is quite sensitive. It can receive DVBS signals that my CS5K can not receive and S2 signals that my TBS6980 can not receive. Perhaps I got the one made after the employees got a raise. If I wanted to spend more time (and money) chasing signals, I would have purchased the TBS6925.

I'm glad to here from someone that has a similar card to the one I was looking at. I had never seen the TBS6925 before so I am hoping more people with this or a very similar card will post their thoughts. I don't know anything about the company or the quality of the card or if there are many problems with drivers and such.

 

[SatScanner]

FYI and for the record I decided on getting a TBS 6925 card. It arrived yesterday. Sometimes I get video and sound, sometimes only one or the other. I have to figure out this graph stuff and figure out which codecs give the best quality for audio and video as well as what combination works. Some work some don't, some will work when you set up the graph then will not work when you restart the satellite program.

 

[Magic Static]

So you decided to give up MyTheatre and go with DVBDream? I decided to get a TeVii S464 PCI card and stick with My Theatre.

 

[SatScanner]

So you decided to give up MyTheatre and go with DVBDream? I decided to get a TeVii S464 PCI card and stick with My Theatre.

Nope, MyTheatre seems to work with TBS 6925. I was testing it out watching NASA TV with it yesterday. I got better results with MyTheatre than DVBDream. With DVBDream I could get audio with no video or video with no audio. With MyTheatre I could get both but sometimes it would work and sometimes not.

 

[Magic Static]

I ran my TBS card under MyTheatre also with some success, But it really wasn't working the way it should. I could not get DiSEqC commands to work for one. MyTheatre needs a TBSbda.dev file, but one was never made

 

[SatScanner]

I'll have to continue testing then decide what program I will end up using. My biggest problem right now is figuring out the best codecs to use and then how to get them working flawlessly in what ever program I use. I noticed on the Telemundo channels the video would stutter and freeze for a second periodically. I never had these problems when I was using a hardware card.

 

[updatelee]

I also got myself one (TBS 6925) Im going to be using it in linux though, I pretty much use my own apps, that way I know they work

I havent had alot of time to play with it but it seems to lock quite well, I'll try later this weekend to play with sensitivity compared to my Prof 7500. I havent looked to hard yet but havent seen any obvious source code for using the blindscan, or spectrum analyzer, or eye plot like in windows.

 

[Magic Static]

I'll have to continue testing then decide what program I will end up using. My biggest problem right now is figuring out the best codecs to use and then how to get them working flawlessly in what ever program I use. I noticed on the Telemundo channels the video would stutter and freeze for a second periodically. I never had these problems when I was using a hardware card.

With DVBDream you have an option to port to VLC Player, which worked well for me.Ekard codecs worked for me. But as much as a tried I couldn't get DD to be stable. Any weak channels would cause it to lock up. And the thing I missed most was having seamless intergration of my ATSC card with the DVB card. DD won't do that . I hope to have MT fully functional with the TeVii card.