Author Topic: Which Card to get to watch Satellite TV?  (Read 3860 times)

Cytomax

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Which Card to get to watch Satellite TV?
« on: October 28, 2007, 06:30:00 pm »
Hello all i like watching Satellite TV and i use a Free Over the Air Set Top Box to watch free Satellite TV.  I would like to know what kind of PCI card does LinuxMCE support that supports watching Satellite TV.  I heard that Twinhan 1020A are a very common card and would also like to know if i can use that one.
Thanks in Advance
Eddie

rafik24

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Re: Which Card to get to watch Satellite TV?
« Reply #1 on: October 28, 2007, 06:42:03 pm »
  Hi,

 I have both a twinhan vp1020a and a skystar II pci cards,

 the twinhan works but if your looking for something stable i would recommend the skystar II

 Regards,

Rafik

Cytomax

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Re: Which Card to get to watch Satellite TV?
« Reply #2 on: October 28, 2007, 09:16:21 pm »
Is this the card you are recommending me to get
http://www.cyberestore.com/skystar-dvbs-satellite-receiver-card-with-remote-control-p-77.html

If so... does this card work like a plug and play or is there a massive amount of configuring that is required in order to get this to work in LinuxMCE?

Why isnt this card listed in their supported hardware list
http://wiki.linuxmce.com/index.php/Category:TV_Cards

Thanks in Advance
Eddie

rafik24

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Re: Which Card to get to watch Satellite TV?
« Reply #3 on: October 29, 2007, 02:28:41 am »
Is this the card you are recommending me to get
http://www.cyberestore.com/skystar-dvbs-satellite-receiver-card-with-remote-control-p-77.html

Indeed it is, however i'm not recommending anything (the dosh does not fall in my pockets),
i can just say that mine works fine.

Why isnt this card listed in their supported hardware list:

 The listed cards do not appear to be dvb-s cards for satellite, correct me if i'm wrong.

 

Well look at it this way, you have two kind of dvb-s sat cards, some do mpeg decoding some dont.
The ones that do mpeg encoding are quite expensive, since i worked on few projects using those cards
i had to get the hardware i could afford.

 the skystar 2 does not do mpeg decoding its a budget card so in order to use it you ll need at leat 1.5 ghz proc and 512Mb of ram since the mpeg encoding is done on the MD regardless of the card location.

 I used the Twinhan vp1020a and it's not reliable scanning channels.

 Hope this helps,

Rafik

Cytomax

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Re: Which Card to get to watch Satellite TV?
« Reply #4 on: October 29, 2007, 02:55:17 am »
Thanks for the reply.. i plan on using the AM2 Asus board that the developers use with a 4600+ or better proc...
My question is.. was it easy to setup the skystar 2 or did you have to do a lot of tinkering to get it to work?
Thanks in Advance
Eddie

rafik24

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Re: Which Card to get to watch Satellite TV?
« Reply #5 on: November 01, 2007, 03:22:39 pm »
 It is quite simple,

 the card is detected fine the modules for it get loaded automatically.

 mythtv sees the card without any tweaks, the only thing you need to do is scan the sat transponders manualy using the scan command from the dvb-utils package.

 then you run mythtv setup and give the path of the channels.conf file you just created using the scan command.

 quite simple compared to other parts of pluto.

 There are also ways so see encrypted tv channels but i wont cover this topic here as it is not the main purpuse of
 lmce and it might not help the project in the right way

 If you get the dvb card i'll be quiet happy to help with more details.


 Regards,

Rafik
« Last Edit: November 01, 2007, 03:29:49 pm by rafik24 »

rafik24

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Re: Which Card to get to watch Satellite TV?
« Reply #6 on: November 04, 2007, 02:02:42 am »
 Hi Eddie,

 I sent you a reply from my personnal account but my mail is being rejected

==> Remote host said: 553 sorry, that domain isn't in my list of allowed rcpthosts (#5.5.3 - chkuser)
Giving up on 208.1XX.XXX.XXX

 Please post another email address to my personnal mailbox so i can get this trough.

 Regards,

Rafik

Cytomax

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Re: Which Card to get to watch Satellite TV?
« Reply #7 on: November 04, 2007, 08:21:32 pm »
Again i was not emailed to your response but i guess i figured out how to make it email me... for further post finally!
Anyways i will pm you another email..
Eddie