Freesat HD card for HTPC

Thinking of purchasing a Freesat HD card for my HTPC. Currently looking at the Hauppage WinTV Nova HD S2 as I kow it'll be future proof (DVB-S2 as opposed to DVB-S).

Anyone got any experience with it or other recommendations?

I have an old Hauppauge WinTV card. It's been rock-solid. When I upgrade to HTPC, I'll certainly be going with Hauppauge.

In reply to a post by dicko1975:

Thinking of purchasing a Freesat HD card for my HTPC. Currently looking at the Hauppage WinTV Nova HD S2 as I kow it'll be future proof (DVB-S2 as opposed to DVB-S).

Anyone got any experience with it or other recommendations?

They are planning an hvr 4400 which hasn't been launched also a dvb t2 device is due apparently before the world cup (their intention!).

Anyhow they are actively working on wintv v7 which is great. The only thing i would say is if you do now buy an oem hauppage product you will find installing wintv v7 slightly impossible due to it requiring an original wintv cd!,

In reply to a post by dicko1975:

Thinking of purchasing a Freesat HD card for my HTPC. Currently looking at the Hauppage WinTV Nova HD S2 as I kow it'll be future proof (DVB-S2 as opposed to DVB-S).

Anyone got any experience with it or other recommendations?

Oh forgot to say - make sure your gfx card can do h.264 decoding otherwise your cpu be having fun decoding instead

Get a Hauppauge WinTV Nova HD S2. That's what I use and it works flawlessly. However, one big warning! Avoid ATI graphics cards with BBC HD. Basically, they don't work reliably. Depending on who you want to believe, BBC encoding, ATI chipset/drivers or Microsoft's decoder or some combination of them are the source of the problem. Nvidia cards do work without a problem and you really do need a relatively recent discrete graphics card. Older cards may not cope at all and on-board graphics (if they work) will have your CPU (and the fan attached to its heatsink) running flat out at times. I use a fanless Nvidia G210. They're cheap and have 6 channel audio out over HDMI (no need for a connection to SPDIF on your Motherboard or sound card).

Cheers for the info Des, that will come in handy over the next couple of months

In reply to a post by Desmond:

Get a Hauppauge WinTV Nova HD S2. That's what I use and it works flawlessly. However, one big warning! Avoid ATI graphics cards with BBC HD. Basically, they don't work reliably. Depending on who you want to believe, BBC encoding, ATI chipset/drivers or Microsoft's decoder or some combination of them are the source of the problem. Nvidia cards do work without a problem and you really do need a relatively recent discrete graphics card. Older cards may not cope at all and on-board graphics (if they work) will have your CPU (and the fan attached to its heatsink) running flat out at times. I use a fanless Nvidia G210. They're cheap and have 6 channel audio out over HDMI (no need for a connection to SPDIF on your Motherboard or sound card).

I believe it was the ati radion 4xxx series causing this problem ..

I'll have to check that. Using an ATI Radeon HD 3450 at the mo.

Edit, according to the blurb, the HD 3450 does support H.264/AVC encoding.

Edited by deleted (Mon 22-Feb-10 07:42:19)

Most folks seem to be recommending GBPVR or DVBViewer.

Des,

Currently running an ATI Radeon HD 3450 card. So what you're saying is a bit of a concern!

However, I guess I can try it as it is, and if I get any probs I'll grab another card from Nvidia.

Cheers.

can you use freesat cards within MCE? Do you get a full guide?

Yes and yes you do. However bare in mind Media Centre gets it's guides from an online source and not from the digital feed.

cool, i tried alot of different software with freeview and was all rubbish apart from MCE.

I've been using a Win TV Nova S2 card with an ATI Radeon 3800 HD card for a couple of years, with no problems at all.

OK, better late then never, but I've finally ordered the Hauppage WinTV Nova-S2 HD card.

Question is, what software to use with it. I've read articles online stating that Vista Home Premium's Media Centre won't be able to detect/play the HD content I want the card for.

The card comes bundled with PowerCinema, but I've also read some pretty indifferent comments on that.

What about DVBviewer?

In reply to a post by dicko1975:

OK, better late then never, but I've finally ordered the Hauppage WinTV Nova-S2 HD card.

Question is, what software to use with it. I've read articles online stating that Vista Home Premium's Media Centre won't be able to detect/play the HD content I want the card for.

The card comes bundled with PowerCinema, but I've also read some pretty indifferent comments on that.

What about DVBviewer?

I would have gone for the pci-e hvr 4400 . dvb s2 and freeview

In reply to a post by dicko1975:

OK, better late then never, but I've finally ordered the Hauppage WinTV Nova-S2 HD card.

Question is, what software to use with it. I've read articles online stating that Vista Home Premium's Media Centre won't be able to detect/play the HD content I want the card for.

The card comes bundled with PowerCinema, but I've also read some pretty indifferent comments on that.

What about DVBviewer?

or GBPVR

I did look at the 4400, but as I only need it for satellite, it seemed like overkill.

Have you used both DVBviewer and GBPVR? Which do you prefer and why?

I've been using GBPVR for 5-6 years.
Its been good enough for me to not try any other program, and my missus likes it.

Al

Ah, missus "friendly". Just what I'll need. Cheers.

Although I've just been reading that the Vista 2008 TV Pack includes HD support. SO I'm wondering if I'll be OK with the machine as it is, seeing as it nailed together back in March 2009.

I guess I can only try it.

In reply to a post by dicko1975:

I did look at the 4400, but as I only need it for satellite, it seemed like overkill.

Wouldn't mind doing a hvr 1300 plus hvr 4400 ... (have a hvr 1300 btw)

The Hauppauge WinTV Nova S2 HD card arrived yesterday. Within 45 minutes I had the card installed, channels scanned, and was watching BBC HD.

The card came bundled with WinTV V7, which seems to do a reasonable job. I will however take a gander at GBPVR and DVBviewer as well.

Thanks to all for your comments and help.

In reply to a post by dicko1975:

The Hauppauge WinTV Nova S2 HD card arrived yesterday. Within 45 minutes I had the card installed, channels scanned, and was watching BBC HD.

The card came bundled with WinTV V7, which seems to do a reasonable job. I will however take a gander at GBPVR and DVBviewer as well.

Thanks to all for your comments and help.

Yeah thought it would be bundled with wintv V7... Which version 1.3c or below? I would suggest you not loose the cd because updated versions from Hauppauge's site require the cd !

Yeah, I read that. I always keep install CD's anyway, just in case.

It must've come with a lower version, as when I enabled the "check for update" option, it almost immediately flashed up the 1.3cd update. I've downloaded it, but not installed it yet.

Curiously, I noticed that the update says that H.264 codecs aren't included. I assume this isn't a problem as the update is an overlay, so the existing H.264 codec should remain in place. Hopefully.

In reply to a post by dicko1975:

Yeah, I read that. I always keep install CD's anyway, just in case.

It must've come with a lower version, as when I enabled the "check for update" option, it almost immediately flashed up the 1.3cd update. I've downloaded it, but not installed it yet.

Curiously, I noticed that the update says that H.264 codecs aren't included. I assume this isn't a problem as the update is an overlay, so the existing H.264 codec should remain in place. Hopefully.

it should you can check in the configuration window, if it isn't wonder over to their forums, theres a post or two about the hd codecs .

In reply to a post by Taras:

In reply to a post by dicko1975:

OK, better late then never, but I've finally ordered the Hauppage WinTV Nova-S2 HD card.

Question is, what software to use with it. I've read articles online stating that Vista Home Premium's Media Centre won't be able to detect/play the HD content I want the card for.

The card comes bundled with PowerCinema, but I've also read some pretty indifferent comments on that.

What about DVBviewer?

I would have gone for the pci-e hvr 4400 . dvb s2 and freeview

Except that HD is not available on Freeview in a large part of the UK.

In reply to a post by zebedeee:

In reply to a post by Taras:

In reply to a post by dicko1975:

OK, better late then never, but I've finally ordered the Hauppage WinTV Nova-S2 HD card.

Question is, what software to use with it. I've read articles online stating that Vista Home Premium's Media Centre won't be able to detect/play the HD content I want the card for.

The card comes bundled with PowerCinema, but I've also read some pretty indifferent comments on that.

What about DVBviewer?

I would have gone for the pci-e hvr 4400 . dvb s2 and freeview

Except that HD is not available on Freeview in a large part of the UK.

HD via freeSAT... There are no freeviewHD pci/pci-e/usb devices yet ...

Not a lot of point in having a dish for one service and an aerial for another, when everything that is available via the aerial (and a lot more) is available via the dish.

A good argument except that it is based on a false premise. There are some things available on via a terrestrial aerial which are not available via a satellite dish.

And Vice Versa.

Nice to have both.

A USB TVB-T2 device is supposedly going to be launched by Hauppauge in late summer. Expect that others will also appear about the same time since this will mean the required chipsets are available.

In reply to a post by Desmond:

A USB TVB-T2 device is supposedly going to be launched by Hauppauge in late summer. Expect that others will also appear about the same time since this will mean the required chipsets are available.

Yep heard the same (as am on their forums too)

Certainly is. For now I've got my (somewhat creaky) Topfield 5800 for Freeview, and the DVB-S/DVB-S2 card in the HTPC. I'll look at a Freeview HD box sometime down the line, but for now I'm happy.

To be honest, I really only wanted the Freesat service for HD. I thought C4 had launched an HD service, but I guess that's only on Freeview or something. At least I've got BBC HD and ITV HD which will cover the bulk of the World Cup. Not sure about Freeview HD in my area. What I do know is that we don't get the digital switchover until 2012.

In reply to a post by dicko1975:

Certainly is. For now I've got my (somewhat creaky) Topfield 5800 for Freeview, and the DVB-S/DVB-S2 card in the HTPC. I'll look at a Freeview HD box sometime down the line, but for now I'm happy.

To be honest, I really only wanted the Freesat service for HD. I thought C4 had launched an HD service, but I guess that's only on Freeview or something. At least I've got BBC HD and ITV HD which will cover the bulk of the World Cup. Not sure about Freeview HD in my area. What I do know is that we don't get the digital switchover until 2012.

CH4 HD is s2 i believe on freesat!

Freeview sources have it that C4 HD is coming to Freesat soon. While it's most likely later in the year after another Astra 2 satellite goes up, it may happen before then if they can negotiate some switching about with existing services to free up a block of bandwidth big enough on a UK centric beam.

S2 and scrambled for now, but the scrambled bit may change soon.

Ah, so only available to Sky subscribers eh?

4 HD is now on Freeview

In reply to a post by Desmond:

4 HD is now on Freeview

S1 or S2 ?

S1 or S2 on Freeview does not compute.

In reply to a post by gomezz:

S1 or S2 on Freeview does not compute.

Dvb-s or dvb -s2 - freesat

Freeview != Freesat.

So it appears ATI cards are still not working? I have windows 7 32bit with a TBS 6981 dvb-s2 dual tuner card. I am using a ATI HD 5450 graphics card. I also have shark007 codec pack installed.

I can view SD channels just fine, but when I turn it over to BBC HD, I loose all sound, and dont get it back until I restart WMC, also the picture breaks up quite a bit. So this is not a codec issue and is purely because im using ATI hardware?

The reason I am posting this is because your original post was a long time ago and I would have thought ATI would have fixed this by now.

PS, what Nvidia card would you recommend that costs less than £40 but supports bit-streaming of DTS-HD.

Edited by deleted (Wed 27-Apr-11 19:35:44)

Me to ! I'm running windows 7 64bit with the tbs 6981 card on an ati 5870 with shark codecs and have hd playback issues. BBC hd used to be unwatchable both live and recorded tv as it would break up, pause and cause media centre crashes all the time. So annoying.

I rolled back to an old ati driver and it fixed the issue for me.....until this week. Just tuned into channel 4hd and the issue is back but only on that channel. I'm 37 minutes into a program and it's paused, black screen and restarted probably 10 times already. Tomorrow I will try different drivers for the ati card again.

If anyone has any suggestions I will welcome them.....