USB dvb-t dual tuner recommendation please

[matterofrecord]

Hi

I am looking for a Dvb-t USB dual tuner (UK compatible) to add to my system and I need some advice please.


"xp sp2 ( unpatched )sage 6.4.8
2 hauppauge nova-t-500
1 terratec cinergy 2400i
e6750, 2 gb ram, lots of hard drives
and not enough pci-slots"

The only two I can find are
KWorld PlusTV Dual DVB-T Stick (DVB-T 399U)
OR
Hauppauge WinTV NOVA-TD Dual DVB-T Tuner

My preference at the moment is for the Kworld (if it works with sage ?)as it only needs one aerial lead


If anyone has had any experience of any of these usb dual tuners or any others then your help and advice would be appreciated.

Many thanks

Jon

[Alistair]

Hi Jon

Did you get a dual tuner USB dvb-t in the end & if so which one did you go for?

I'm thinking of changing my HTPC to mini itx & so will need to get one of these so I can use a pci express soundcard

[matterofrecord]

Hi alistair

I ended up getting both - kind of

I bought a

Hauppauge WinTV NOVA-TD Dual DVB-T Tuner

and an

Msi digivox duo

the Msi digivox duo looks very like ( and is priced very like) the Kworld tuner. It also uses the same chip as the kwolrd the
the AFAtech AF9015 -

http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.ph...013_and_AF9015
(poor linux people they have to know so much just to get simple things to work)
However the drivers from kworld don't work with the MSI so it's not identical in every way
(fyi the Hauppauge usb uses a dibcom chip.)
both tuners are dba so they both work with sage



if you have a weak signal then it is an issue with usb tuners, you should probably read everything posted between the two black mark lines. If you can always get all the channels without interference then you can skip all this and move to the next chunk where there is the rest of the info
_______________________________________

IF YOUR AREA SUFFERS FROM WEAK SIGNAL STRENGTH READ THIS

The ability of the tuner to recieve weak signals is probably the main difference I have seen although I live in quite a poor signal area. I have had 4 different tuners and in order of quality I would say

1 terratec 2400i pci-e - really the gold standard
2 nova-t-500 pci - good but can struggle with weaker signals
3 hauppauge-nova td stick - struggles with weaker boradcast signals
4 Msi digivox duo - struggles with weaker boradcast signals slightly more

I use my hauppauge-nova td stick in dual tuner mode ( no point in diversity it does nothing as I need a roof top aerial to get any signal and who has two roof top areils - there's no point to one aerial and a splitter - I've tried)
I use the hauppauge-nova td stick only with strong signal channels bbc, itv, five. I leave the the weaker signal channels to the pci tuners as they are better with weak signals.


there are 6 multiplexs ( channel groups ) in the UK
see official site here
http://www.dtg.org.uk/industry/dtt_channels.html

generally channel groups 1,2,A and B are good strong signals. channel groups C and D can produce interference especially with a usb tuner.

If you look down the dtg.org list you will see that your not missing much. Its Film 4 and Virgin 1 on D possibly 4 music and the history channel "yesterday". On mux c its Sky 3 and Dave.

you can find out the effective power of your local transmitter from this site
http://www.wolfbane.com/ukdtt.htm
(although there is no substitute for actual experience.)

It is not an idiot friendly site but it is usable and up to date - you need to know the name of your local transmitter

the erpw - (effective radial power in watts ) gives you a good idea of power of the broadcast signal although this will all be academic if you live next to the boradcast aerial

to give an example
I live in the durris transmitter area (number 112). I get Multiplex 1,2,a,b with no problems as they're boradcast at 20kw, 20kw 20kw,10kw
It is Multiplex c and d that give me problems as they broadcast with a 5kw output - this produces a weak signal that the usb cards struggle with.

overall if you have a weak signal problems I wouldn't really recommend the usb tuners over the pci - however if you get a strong signal all the time ( even when the wind is moving your aerial ) signal strength should not be an issue and either the usb cards would be good.


If you are planning on using a signal booster here is what I found happend
I use a cheap signal booster/splitter and here's the results I got.
If both of the nova-td's aerial inputs come from the amplifier/splitter I didn't get sky, dave etc. If only one of the inputs to the nova-td cames from the amplifier/splitter ( the other form before the splitter ) I would get all the channels, sky3 & dave included.
With the MSI digivox duo if I used the amplifier I don't get film4, virgin1 ukhistory tmf 4music. If I don't use the amplified input I don't get sky3 or dave. I can sometimes get all the channels its just not reliable. My signal booster is not of the highest quality and I share an aerial with everyone else in my biulding so don't take these quirks too much into consideration.

signal strenght is the main issue with these usb tuners. The hauppauge being better than the MSI

They will not preform as well or better than the pci equivilant. My nova-500s are better with weak signals than the hauppauge nova-td sticks. period.

END OF WEAK SIGNAL STRENGTH INFO/RANT
______________________________

Overall I would recommend the hauppauge.
The remote is easy to use with sage and takes ordinary batteries. MSI's credit card sized offering is so pathetic I tried once and didn't bother again - matter of preference though.
the Hauppauge is slightly better with weaker signals so it wins that round
The MSI digivox duo is cheaper though.
The MSI can also work with one aerial input whilst the Huappuage needs two aerial inputs so you will need to buy an aerial splitter and the two extra cables to run from the splitter to the tuner. As well as costing more it looks untidy.
MSI is also more stylish in my opinion.

Overall for me the hauppauge is clear winner because its slightly superior at handling weak signals and has an easier to use remote. If you already have another remote to use, recieve a good strong signal on all channels and don't want the extra expense and mess of buying both a cable splitter and the two extra cables to run from the splitter then MSI starts to make sense. - as long as you don't ever want MSI customer support which is entirely "return to vendor based" as opposed to the dedicated UK team that Hauppauge have.

Well thats all I can tell you about usb sticks. If you have any other questions then you can ask but i've probably told you all I know.

hope this helps you and not hinders you

good luck

Jon


PS


--------
What sort of mini itx are you planning -
if it's atom or via I would recommend waiting for nvidia to release thier ion chipset for the atom ( 9400gm apparently) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NVIDIA_Ion
They recon it will play blue ray
if your not using the atom or via what would you be using?? are you using laptop parts??

Also when you oc'd your Q9450 to 3.21 did you have to raise the southbridge voltage at all?? I was just wondering how it affected your add-on cards??


thanks

J

[Alistair]

Thanks Jon for the detailed Reply

At one pont I had a nova-t 500 & no signal issues, so thats encouraging.

In terms of mini itx I was thinking of using my current cpu in a ZOTAC nForce 9300 tbh i'm finding a suitable case the biggest problem. If I go for the silverstone sugo sg05 then i have to use a slimline drive, but it would take a full size pci express card. Very interested in getting an Auzentech X-Fi HomeTheater HD if they ever get round to releasing it as my amp is capable of HD Audio ( Onkyo HTX22HD). So may just wait a bit longer


I only bumped the core voltage slightly to get the CPU to 3.21. I have since changed my setup slightly & am now running stock on the CPU with my memory slightly overclocked