Total N00b Seeking Advice

andyman502

Hello everyone, first post here and im a total noob in the world of satellite.

Ive been thinking about getting a PCI card to receive satellite TV on a HTPC. My aim is to receive HD channels, im not sure how many I can receive but I think BBC HD is available?

Really I'm looking for advice on what I need to buy to do this. I was thinking of the skystar 2 card for my PC, but then there is this DVB-S2 thing and I dont think it supports it? Could anyone recommend a cheap card that does support this?

Dish wise I was thinking of getting a kit from Maplins, maybe a 65cm dish, or possibly an 80cm mesh from Ebay, but I'm not too sure what would be best? If HD is limited then I will be interested in getting any English channels I don't currently have on freeview.

I know there are FTA chanels and then there are channels which can be opened but again im not sure how to go about this.

My Location is the North West of england if that helps.

Any advice at all would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks Andy

HB13DISH

Hello andyman502 and welcome to the forum.

If you are going to have both DVB-S or DVB-S2 PCI card and a standalone STB, then the first thing you need to consider is to have at least 2 LNBS (Twin LNB) and two coaxial cables coming down to each input.

Next, you need a DVB-S2 card with CI (Common Interface) adapter so that you can insert a subscription card and watch encrypted channels.
Otherwise you will only be able to watch FTA channels.
Hauppauge has several models. Check their website
_http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/pages/products/prods_digital-s.html
_http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/pages/products/data_novahds2.html
_http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/pages/products/data_ci.html

You might find cheaper cards, but this is a high end manufacturer. I use one of their cards and I am quite happy with it.

As for the dish and LNB recommendations, I will leave it to other members from the UK.
You will also need a standalone HD STB.
Consider only the ones with a CAM slot (embedded or CI), otherwise you will be able to watch only FTA channels.
There are two Dreambox HD models 800HD and 8000HD coming up to the market soon, so spend some time trying to learn about them, as they should have a lot of flexibility and functions.

Edit: The Hauppauge CI unit doesn't support the Nova HD model, only SD models.

philbury

I'm in a similar position, except I'm in London (!). I have a Windows Media Centre PC connected to my plasma and currently can only watch downloaded HD material. Do you know about 'Freesat'? It promises to be a new satellite based version of Freeview (not to be confused with Sky's attempt to appropriate the same name). It will supposedly start in May, be promoted nationally, and have dedicated HDMI PVR's etc marketed expressly for this service. It will have its own EPG like Freeview and there will be some HD.

I am tempted to wait till then because I want something that is easy to use. Media Centre is dragging its heels when it comes to satellite card integration. I must be able to record direct to hard disc so it has to be either one of the S2 PCI cards or a dedicated separate PVR box. I read that Humax will be supplying them for Freesat at around £150. That sounds like a good deal. I don't want yet another box but they may be promoting this service aggresively with the attendant savings for Johnny punter. Discounted aerial erection possibly. I'm not too impressed with the website however.

_http://www.freesat.co.uk/home.php
_http://www.astra2d.com/freesat.htm

I'd be interested to get others' views.

andyman502

Thanks for the replies guys. I have done a lot of reading now and seem to understand most aspects, I think im going to go down the cheap route first, and see if it is worth me upgrading to better equipment.

I wasn't really planing on getting a STB as I will simply connect my PC to the HD TV. With regards to CAMS I was thinking of using a softcam so I should be ok with that.

I have heard of freesat but it doesn't look to promising and im sure they will miss the deadline, so I thoght I may as well get a small system up and running. Also the fact I have no existing equipment, it will make it easier for me to use freesat when it does finally come out.

I think I will head over to dish section for a bit of advice redarding LNB's and dish size

Many thanks for your help
Andy

HB13DISH

Hi andyman502,

Installing a twin LNB from the start will be cheaper than adding another one later on, even if you are doing it yourself.
Also you will be able to watch one channel and record a different one.
There are very cheap SD FTA STBs on the market.

Remember to check that your PC system is compatible with your DVB-S2 card, or DVB-S card. They need a lot of resources and you will find that your PC will slow down noticibly, especially while recording.
Using softcams will not give you a solution when you buy an official smartcard, like DigiALB or an adult card.
Good Luck.

andyman502

Thanks again. Im going to be using a dual core machine with either 1GB or 2GB of RAM so im hoping this will be enough?

LNB wise im thinking of getting a monboloc with 6 degree spacing. The dish is going to be 65cm.

I can always buy a STB at later date if i get hooked

Thanks Andy

jimbo

1 GB of RAM is far too weak. 2 wouldn't be too bad but 4 would be so much better.

Living in the NW of the UK you may prefer an 80cm dish.

Jimbo

HB13DISH

I found a Technisat HD PCI card and a compatible CI adapter (only ~28 pounds).

Edit: You will need to invest in a suitable CAM as well.

Attached Images

	Technisat HD.jpg (44.3 KB, 8 views)
	Technisat CI.jpg (15.7 KB, 7 views)

andyman502

Where abouts did you find that? Seems cheap?

Andy

andyman502

Will a 65cm dish be no good then? I think thats what we took down previously from an old analogue system(wish I hadn't binned the dish now) and I think 80cm might be a bit intrusive on the neighbors.

Im looking at buying all of the kit this afternoon from CPC and Maplin, Maplin do a dish for £29.99 65cm.

Andy

HB13DISH

Sorry, the CI card is ~28 pounds
The HD card is 95 Pounds.

Check our site sponsors, you might find other models.

http://www.satellites.co.uk/index.php?page=sponsors

andyman502

Oh ok, Well im going to get a basic system setup, when freesat launches I will purchase a better card, I need to get used to everything first. Ive decided to get take the advice and get a 90cm dish. Hopefully that will be better.

Off to Maplin now

Andy

rolfw

If you are looking to watch channels on Astra 28.2 East, then a monobloc is not an ideal choice as there is nothing 6 degrees away, you would do better with a 90cm Raven Gemini dish, with offset brackets for Astra 28.2, Astra 19.2 and Hotbird 13 East, then use a DiseqC switch to swap between them automatically.

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philbury

I'd do some research on RAM. I found 1GB inadequate on Vista and moved to 2GB with no more problems.

I've read that 4GB can actually slow some applications down.

I'll be interested to see how you get on with the DVB-S2 card. I think the software you use with it will be important. Technotrend S2-3200 is one to look at. Review on tele-satellite.com.

andyman502

Well guys I decided to bite the bullet and I went down to CPC and picked up all the gear. Got myself a 80cm dish with a quad lnb and picked up a cheap DVB-S card just to try it out and see what was what.

I set it all up today pointed to 19.2e which was surprisingly easy. Got 100% level and 95% quality on ProgDVB. Scanned and got over 1200 channels and thought Great!. So I looked through most were encrypted which I couldn't access and some were radio. The ones I could watch were mostly in german which wasn't too great, i did find about 2 or 3 english chanells I thihk.

Anyway after a couple of hours of tinkering the signal suddenly stopped blank screen, ProgDVB was showing 100% level but 0% quality? So I think my card is goosed or something? Nothing works tried all of the different viewers can't get anything to work so I guess im going to have to get an exchange unless anyone can think of anything to try?

That issue asside does anyone know of how to get anymore english audio channels? I might try aligning to 13e and see if there is anything on there?

All in all its been good so far apart from the stupid card breaking !!

Andy

HB13DISH

Well done. Just goes to show that knowledge can save you a lot of time.

Which card did you buy?
Did it come with it's own application and drivers?
Try installing another application or another version of ProgDVB just to make sure that the card is OK. It has a lot of problems depending on your system.
Try switching off the application and restart it again. Also shut down the PC and restart.

Some packages give you original audio in addition to the dubbed channel.
Check Lyngsat and look for any specific package and you will see this under the APID. Then choose the prefered language from ProgDVB (Click on the channel details and you will see a choice for the audio).

andyman502

Hi thanks for the reply. I tried all of that already, reboot, power off, different programs (DVB Dream & the software that came with the card). I also tried seating the card in a different slot which had no effect.

I bought the Compro VideoMate 350 DVB-S. I bought it mainly because it was cheap just to try out the system. It worked fine, quite good quality on some channels but now nothing will get it to work. Is it worth trying it on another PC??

Thanks for the advice on the audio as well. With regards to the encrypted channels have you used vPlug at all on 19E?

Many Thanks Andy

HB13DISH

Hi Andy,
I find it hard to believe that the card is now faulty.
Try to check the LNB coaxial cable. Did you make it yourself or you bought a finished assembly?
The crimping and the grounding is important.
This could mean to check the LNB end as well.
Remember to weather proof it at at the LNB side.

andyman502

Hi I bought a pre-crimped cable so that should be ok. With the lnb there are 4 sockets does it matter which one the wire is connected to? Currently it is on the second socket and it works on my old analogue receiver.

Im currently re-installing windows and all the relevant software, im downloading new drivers as well, so if it doesn't work after this, then either the card is broken or something with the wire/dish

Thanks Andy

andyman502

Very Strange after a re-install of windows and DVB Dream it is now finding channels??? However there are no codecs installed, I think they must have come from ProgDVB or the software that came with my Card

At least my card isn't faulty

Andy

andyman502

This is very strange, it has been working fine and now it has stopped again? Its something im installing, I think it could be VLC, but once again I have lost the use of all channels, 0 Level and 0 quality?

Bizarre

Andy

HB13DISH

Hi Andi,

What is your operating system?
If it is Vista, then this might explain it, as the VideoMate S350 is for Windows XP/2000. At least this is what I read in their website.
Check your manual about this point.
Might be worth checking it on another PC with XP, as you suggested in a previous post.

Edit: Just seen on the package a logo with "Certified for Windows Vista" , but in the system requirements it is only XP/2000.

andyman502

Hi I seem to have found a solution. There is a piece of software that comes with the card, and it allows you to manually set the tuner up. I have used this to turn on the '22khz tone' this lights up the yellow LED. From there I close this program and open DVB dream and it seems to be working.

Oh I'm running windows XP, I was actually considering using Vista instead

Thanks for your help

Andy

jimbo

I'm running Vista ........................ in about 3 years time.

Jimbo