Looking for USB 2 MPEG4 card

[peter in the bus]

Hi,
anyone know of a DVB-s card that is USB 2.0 and will decode the new BBC HD trial in MPEG4?
Or am I hoping for too much?
Cheers
Peter

 

[Horatio]

I replied not least to ty and and encourage responses since I'm looking for a USB HD unit too.

One which I know of which may fit the bill is

http://www.dvbshop.net/product_info.php/info/p157_Technotrend-S2-3600-HDTV-S2-USB.html

No idea who these people are or where they are based and delivery is about a week - perhaps.
Edit: I think its a German outfit. Release date 8th June - cutting it a bit fine for the World Cup.

You could google FireDTV [Firewire] but I don't think it will run with ProgDvb which I want and I was a bit unsure about this unit.

I'm pursuing this so will post if I make any progress.
If you have any joy please post.

Good luck

 

[peter in the bus]

Cheers for that, Horatio.
That particular card is for S2 encoded HD. Have you seen the specs required? !!! Not sure if my laptop would be good enough (P4. 3.00ghz, 512 ram, and ATI mobility radeon 9700 graphics card). Also, it appears to be in huge demand and dificult to get hold of.
I have found these 2 cards though, but not really sure if they are suitable for HDTV.
http://www.cyberestore.com/twinhandtv-starbox-dvbs-receiver-with-remote-control-p-159.html

http://www.cyberestore.com/dvbworld-digital-satellite-receiver-p-163.html

Anyone know if either of these will work with HDTV?
Cheers
Peter

 

[cfphoenix]

Have purchased sat, cable and freeview cards from dvbshop.net and their service is excellent - delivery from Germany to UK usually within a week and they offer 1 year warranty on their cards.

Hope this helps

 

[Horatio]

Hi Peter

I am chasing up a USB device because my ASUS A8N Motherboard can't cope with satellite PCI TV cards and I thought I'd at least consider HD if feasable.

My knowledge of HD and DVB-S cards just about ends there.

Not sure what the significance of 'S2 encoded HD' is.
Will you be kind enough to explain.

Links to the Twinhan DVB-T suggest they can receive HD Transmissions but that doesn't mean the -S can of course.

John

 

[peter in the bus]

Hi, John,
to be honest, I'm not sure myself!
From reading other threads on this forum, it would appear that the latest HD transmissions from Sky are in a form called "S2", and can only be received with equipment designed for it. The BBC, apparently, are not using the S2 format for their initial trials, although they will be changing over to it "at some point". People who have Skystars (pci versions) that can get MPEG4 are obviously hoping the BBC wont change over until after the world cup.
I am looking for a USB2 version for my laptop, so I can then output it to a projector...
Someone, somewhere, must have some answers ???

 

[Prophessor]

I have have a skystar2, the pci kind, and I can tell you that getting HD tv takes a lot of cpu, and this is for DVB-S. I searched a bit for cards capable of receiving S2 transmitions and found that I'd have to sell an arm and a leg to be able to get the pc specs it needs. It's all software based, codecs and stuff... I would wait for a hardware accelerated card.

This is why I dislike them:

For HDTV (1080i / MPEG4 (AVC/H.264) )

3.4 GHz P4 (Single Core with Hyperthreading) or
2.2 GHz AMD 3500+ or
Dual Core P4 D820 / D830 or Dual Core AMD X2 3800+
with graphics card: ATI X1600/X1800 or NVidia 6600GT/7600GT

I also believe that a USB card would make any pc get on its knees and ask to be put down.

 

[peter in the bus]

Thanks for the input prophessor, but i do believe that a moderate specified pc will run MPEG4... S2 is something completely different it seems...
I am sure my laptop will cope with MPEG4, I just need to find a USB2 card that will do the trick...

 

[kamaleon]

Well basically a usb 2.0 card like the dvbworld and the starbox you mentioned can get you hd in dvb-s in mpeg2, matey. not the ss2 usb as you know, though, as that is usb 1.1.

But in case you haven't still found out, hd will probably be mainly dvb-s2 mpeg4 in a near future. so forget about those boxes.
the technotrend that's advertised on dvbshop.net might be the one to look out for.
But what respects getting H.264 on your laptop, i think your underestimating what it takes, though. sorry to disappoint you mate. But it takes really, really, ridiculously powerful stuff... this is not your regular divx/xvid/matrosk, man.

let's see what the industry makes of it in the future, maybe they'll come out with premium hardware mpeg4 decoding boards like back in the old days when desktops weren't powerful enough to decode mpeg2.

btw, how's your bus? ;)

 

[kamaleon]

oh yes, the firedtv looks really sweet. But that don't do no dvb-s2 as far as i know, innit? so it will be pretty duff soon...

 

[kamaleon]

another question is whether those cards will soon be supported by 3rd party software like the ones we all love

 

[kamaleon]

looks like dvbshop is now selling them...