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hey everyone,
I run an Athlon XP 3200. 1GB RAM. 2x200GB SATA HDD. ASUS A7N8X Deluxe Mobo. ATI X1650 AGP Video Card, a MCE Remote, connected to plasma via DVI running at 1920x1080 resolution and currently have DVICO Dual HDTV Tuner card.
I am running MCE2005 using DVICO codecs altho I have powerDVD codecs installed as well which I just dont bother using right now.
I find the DVICO Fusion HDTV Dual (gen1) card very frustrating since the second tuner is USB 2. Initially I had issues recording from the second tuner due to USB dropouts with the mobo's USB ports. I got a PCI USB card and connected the 2nd tuner to this but have issues with the signal split between the 2 tuners as this seems to be about a 60/40 split, ie the PCI tuner gets good signal, the USB tuner gets very average signal. So when you are in MCE, often you will change channels (MCE seems to swap tuners with each channel change) and as it changes to the 2nd tuner, you are unable to get signal, if you go to that same channel with the PCI tuner all is ok. Or if you are recording on the PCI tuner, you get alot of dropouts watching the USB2 tuner. I added an inline signal amp booster to the antenna feed from DSE which has helped alot, and I was careful to not turn it up too much so that I introduced excessive noise,etc, this has gone along way to helping the situation but I still get many dropouts on the USB tuner.
My solution has been to disable the second tuner in MCE and just use 1, the setup functions perfectly, but I am finding I would like to have the second tuner as it is nicce to be able to watch and record another show at the same time.
Many of the dual tuner solutions which dont have a USB cable running out of them into your motherboards port seem to be nothing more than a PCI card with a USB controller onboard using some kind of PCI-USB bridge (heard this about the Hauppage Nexus T tuners), hence many of the problems associated with having a USB tuner (waking up from standby and USB devices having to 'come back online' causing recording problems, signal drops and the like) seem to be still present with the newer dual tuner solutions. It seems that (i find this interesting) the PCI interface cant handle 2 tuner data feeds at once?
What I am considering as I have no need to keep the DVICO is removing the DVICO and substituting it with 2 individual PCI tuners. I dont want to upgrade my system to a PCI-X configuration as its performance is more than adequate for a media center PC.
Can anyone make a recommendation for a PCI tuner from their own experience please!
The tuner must:
1. Work with MCE (BDA drivers)
2. Work well in tandem (2 identical tuners in same box)
3. Support HD TV
I dont need a remote control so if I can save money by not having a remote that would be a bonus but optional. I dont need analog tuners, just digital. I dont need analog inputs or any third party software.
Thanks in advance.
.... and if anyone is interested in a Fusion Dual digital at a good price/trade let me know hehe :P
Just installed Avermedia a777. Good pic and everything but I my next one will be Hauppauge again. Unfortunately their dual digital tuner seem to have some problems and I would advise to stay away from them until the fix is there.
Just installed Avermedia a777. Good pic and everything but I my next one will be Hauppauge again. Unfortunately their dual digital tuner seem to have some problems and I would advise to stay away from them until the fix is there.
Bella,
why wouldn't you go with the DigitalNow Dual Hybrid PCI-e X1 card?
I have just ordered one after the firmware issues with the Hauppauge NOVA-T-500 MCE.
I do not know this tuner. I strongly believe in Hauppauge tuners after having some several nasty experiences with other brands. I cannot keep on making up stories to buy new tuners at home without the wife getting suspicious.
I do not know this tuner. I strongly believe in Hauppauge tuners after having some several nasty experiences with other brands. I cannot keep on making up stories to buy new tuners at home without the wife getting suspicious.
I have three Avermedia 777s and am happy with them. I would definitely buy Avermedia again. Like bella, I can't justify continually buying new tuner cards, but I originally had Twinhan but they gave me problems. The Avermedias have never missed a beat. Bella swears by Hauppage, but I haven't used them so can't comment.
I've used the leadtek DTV 1000, it worked fine but was slow to change channels.
The DTV 2000H this was faultless changed channels faster than the 1000.
I tried the Dvico lite but it would stutter had no luck I'll try it again in the next one I build.
And at the moment I'm using the Asus my cinema 7313 dual, works really good, very fast channel change, only problem I have is the case I'm using doesn't have room for more than 1 pci card, so if I want dual tuners I'll have to use a usb one.
cheers.
Hey everyone,
I picked up a Avermedia A777 for $109 yesterday in melb cbd.
Uninstalled the drivers and software for the DVICO, powered down and changed the cards.
Booted PC again, downloaded driver and s/w pack for the avermedia (newest version on their site). I then installed ONLY the driver.
Rebooted, went into MCE, clicked MY TV and there it was. No need to even rescan channels. Works perfectly, fastest channel changes I have ever seen on a tuner card. No worries, no issues, perfect picture.
Installed my HIS X1650 256mb ICE2 AGP card last night, only made things better. Flawless DXVA playback of SD and HD picture at 1920 x 1080 resolution using Cyberlink and ATI codecs.
That's an important one, astormsau. I had problems when I first installed as I put in the Avermedia app as well. Dumped it and loaded the driver only and it was sweet.
Congrats on your purchases. Good to hear it's running well.
