DigitalNow Dual Hybrid PCIE S2 vs DViCO Dual Digital 4

83fly · **4th March 2007, 06:23 PM**

Hi all,

I've narrowed down my choice of TV Tuners to these two tuners. My motherboard has 1 PCIe slot so either one is a viable option. I'd just like to know what people's experiences or opinions are about these two in Vista.

My specs are as follows:

OS: Vista Home Premium 32 bit
MB: ASUS P5VDC-MX
RAM: 2 GB DDR CORSAIR 667
GPU: Nvidia 7300GT
CPU: Pentium D 3. GHz

Thanks to all

Brett

simbot82 · **4th March 2007, 06:52 PM**

Can't comment on the reliability of either as I dont have either but I can comment on customer support.

Dvico for mine are terrible. Yes they may respond with new drivers often but is that a good thing consistently needing new drivers?? Also under vista they simply decided to cut spport for the Dvico lite cards just because they would take a little longer to enable officially even though they are still being sold and I bought one last year for $140.

Digitalnow on the other hand are very good on customer service, many people will swear by them and the boss other their is a well respected memeber here who will answer all and any questions you may have.

Sounds like an advert but it isn't as i actually now use Avermedia cards

83fly · **4th March 2007, 08:02 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by simbot82

Can't comment on the reliability of either as I dont have either but I can comment on customer support.

Dvico for mine are terrible. Yes they may respond with new drivers often but is that a good thing consistently needing new drivers?? Also under vista they simply decided to cut spport for the Dvico lite cards just because they would take a little longer to enable officially even though they are still being sold and I bought one last year for $140.

Digitalnow on the other hand are very good on customer service, many people will swear by them and the boss other their is a well respected memeber here who will answer all and any questions you may have.

Sounds like an advert but it isn't as i actually now use Avermedia cards

Do Avermedia make a good dual digital tuner? Never really looked into them as an option. Can you comment on any benefits of running a PCIe tuner compared to a PCI tuner? Having the most trouble with that.

Cheers

Brett

simbot82 · **4th March 2007, 08:43 PM**

No avermedia dont yet. They make a great single tuner and I bought two.

Really so far there isn't a bit difference other than the fact it leave more PCI slots free. Faster badnwidth etc but not really necessary with dual

83fly · **4th March 2007, 09:07 PM**

So, your preference out of the 2 would be the Digital Now tuner? Is there major problems for the DViCO tuners that have driver support?

Brett

simbot82 · **4th March 2007, 09:17 PM**

in terms of customer support and action Digitalnow, performance wait on a few more replies

Auldar · **6th March 2007, 02:41 PM**

I'm running the S2 on a new vista rig - since this is my first HTPC, I can't compare it to anything else, but mine worked with the drivers on the disk in the box for Vista x86 (which were up to date with their website).

Can't complain about that.

I think I also received it the next business day after I ordered it. It shipped within an hour of ordering too.

I'm perfectly happy with the quality and reception, but I do live in a high reception area.

ozGremlin · **6th March 2007, 05:26 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by 83fly

Hi all,

I've narrowed down my choice of TV Tuners to these two tuners. My motherboard has 1 PCIe slot so either one is a viable option. I'd just like to know what people's experiences or opinions are about these two in Vista.

Brett

Well I've used both, in MCE2005 and Vista, and my thoughts are as follows:

Dual tuner PCI cards are fickle at best - most of them are actually USB tuners bolted onto a PCI card with a USB chipset.
DVICO drivers are terrible - I'm being nice there!
DVICO picture quality (Once it all works) is excellent.
Virtually all DVICO cards have problems returning from standby. (If you leave the machine on, this won't bother you)
The DigitalNow card (The original one at least) runs very hot - may be an issue in a packed box!

If you have the option to change the mainboard and use two PCI tuners, that is wortha good hard look. After that, I'd recommend the PCIe dual tuner cards over the PCI ones, but give Picture QUality a good hard look.

ozGremlin

Innie808 · **6th March 2007, 07:29 PM**

hello 83fly,

I recently replaced a rebadged divco (Ultraview) with a digitalnow dual hybrid pcie s2.

Easy setup, had vista detect and scan all channels on the first go.
Great Picture(although depends somewhat on mpg2 decoder)
Channel changing much faster than the divco or ultraview
Ability to have 2 digital tuners, or 1 digital and 1 radio (analogue), or 2 Analogue

( i'm not sure how this is done in Vista Media center though)

The only issue i am having at the moment is the card just dropping out of device manager and getting the "No tv signal" in media center. Last time this happened, i scanned for hardware changes on the fly and it picked up the pcie card again.
I'm not saying this is the card, it may be my AAbit Mainboard, or my install of vista. A reinstall will soon tell the tale here.

I would still recommend this card.

Auldar · **6th March 2007, 08:14 PM**

I'm not having that issue with an Asus P5B Deluxe Wifi and my S2 card.. Although my suspend isn't reliable at the moment..

83fly · **7th March 2007, 01:09 AM**

Hi All,

Sorry about the lateness of checking this post but work, flying and uni take a hell of a lot of time out of the day and this is the first chance I've had to sit down at a computer for 5 consecutive minutes.

So at the moment it seems that the Digital Now is in front.

ozGremlin, I think that you said if I could I should run 2 PCI cards? Is that what your initial preference would be?

Other than that from what I've been able to gather it seems that the local boys over at Digital Now have unrivalled customer service.

The only other real thing that has been drawing me to the DViCO is the cooler looking remote control. How does the Digital Now's remote go? And forgive me for sounding so noob but what exactly does the Green Button do anyway??

What are the problems that people have been having with the suspended mode? Is it that after waking up the tuner or program receives "no signal"?

Thank you very much to everyone that has contributed thus far, your kindness shall not go unnoticed.

Brett

jollster101 · **7th March 2007, 08:10 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by 83fly

Hi All,
And forgive me for sounding so noob but what exactly does the Green Button do anyway??

The Green Button is the all hallowed button that launches MCE in all its failings (I mean Glory.)

MCE is a great beast once its tamed and it realises just who is in charge in the house when it comes to doing what it should, when it should. Just like the missus really.

Its a good job she doesnt read this forum.

Or the Green Button is also a very good website, although not as good as this one, which also has a large following for all thing MCE related. I think it is more US orientated though.

simbot82 · **7th March 2007, 09:12 AM**

83fly would suggest you buy the MCE remote separate or bettter yet Harmony remote for MCE. The dvico remote is nothing fancy and from memory doesn't work exactly like standard MCE one which costs $49 at some places.