TBS 6984 PCI-E DVB-S2 Quad Tuner TV Card

[jamesdisco]

This looks fantastic, who dares buy it and see if it works on sage.

http://www.buydvb.net/tbs-6984-pcie-...-card_p33.html

I have just bought the TBS 6981 does anyone have both tuners working with this version i know sage was only seeing 1 tuner. With the BBC moving to DVB S2 we need sage to supprt this type of card.

[starfire]

TBS 6980 should be supported according to this so depends how close 6981 is.

Wish Sage would update their supported card list

[logsvp]

I am successfully using dvblogic software with 2 x 6981 cards - a move forced on me at short notice by the sudden change of the BBC HD channels now transmitting using DVB-S2 - it rendered my Pinnacle 7010ix cards effectively useless as far as picking up freesat was concerned as they couldn't handle the BBC HD channels.

I am not optimistic about using dvblogic beyond 4 tuners as apparently the new beta (yet to be released but which will allow more than 4 tuners) will be using PBDA drivers and require someone to use an upcoming http/xml based API to build a specific DVBLink client to SageTV. Given the news about google - whether this happen or not is I guess a big unknown

[matterofrecord]

if you need lots of tuners you could try

LM DVB Smart Recorder

from http://www.lmgestion.net

LM DVB Smart Recorder can turn a phsical tuner into multiple netwrok tuners so long as they are all tuned to the same frequency. with dvb-t/2 I can record every UK channel at once using only six tuners ( assuming I had a hard drive setup that could take it ) . But you get the idea. for instance with dvb-s2 bbc 1 hd , bbc hd and itv hd are all broadcast on the one frequency
Astra 2D 10847.00 V
so to record 6 show 1 from each channel back to back with no loss of padding requires only 1 tuner ( using LM DVB Smart Recorder to create 6 network tuners ) the down side is that it can be slow to change channel 1 - 2 minutes and it gives you less flexability as each physical tuner you choose use with LM DVB Smart Recorder is effectively tied to one frequency. however there are only so many tuners a computer can hold so its a good piece of software. only been using it for 2 days now but am very impressed. the non donator version is a bit rubbish as it only supports 1 network tuner but the donator version is unlimited. I would recommend sandboxing it first either taking an image b4 or first tying on a different installation. although maybe thats just me.

[emotionnotion]

I have just bought the dual tuner version of the TBS PCI-E (the 6981) as I already have 2 HD Homeruns for the SD channels.

I am hoping this works out of the box with Sage for both tuners?

If not, I assume I have to buy the LMGestion Utility?

[jamesdisco]

Originally Posted by emotionnotion

I have just bought the dual tuner version of the TBS PCI-E (the 6981) as I already have 2 HD Homeruns for the SD channels.

I am hoping this works out of the box with Sage for both tuners?

If not, I assume I have to buy the LMGestion Utility?

I have one of those but only one tuner works. I havent had time yet but you can still ask for sage support here http://www.sagetv.com/request.html it should be an easy fix for them as sage sees both tuners on the old model.

[brewston]

I'm keen to hear of any dual/quad DVB-S2 card which works natively as I'm looking to upgrade my whole setup at some point. If anyone has those cards and could engage Sage support to get them working then that would be very cool

Everything I've heard about DVBlogic and LM DVB talks about slow channel changes and we use Sage for live TV a lot

[matterofrecord]

@emotionnotion

it should work out of the box because it should have bda drivers. however these are chinese made so driver support probably only extends to media center. I have had products with bda drivers that media center found and sagetv didn't ( digitv dvb-t usb ). are those WHQL drivers or not personnally if I were to go dvb-s2 I would look to blackgold. they have WHQL bda drivers and a price tag to match. if they don't work with sage they might not work with lm dvb either. IDK.

@brewston yes I've found LM dvb to be slow to start a channel - I've just been doing some lm dvb tuning and found start up times ranging from 5 second to 1 minute 20 secs. native tuning is never more than 5 seconds.

native tuners are undoubtedly easier to setup and quicker to tune and more flexible as they can be tuned to every channel and not just one frequency BUT I have found With too many tuners operating natively I was getting recording breakups and tuner crashes. also I've only been using LM dvb for a couple of days but they seem less susceptable to interferance than my native tuners were or still are. I can't explain and it's only been two days but when viewing the recordings with neroshowtime 2 ( nero 6) ( which shows every flaw in a mpeg stream ) the native tuners show small scale break ups in nero showtime ( not in cyberlink or vlc or sage ) whilst the lm dvb recordings look flawless. the way Lm dvb and sagetv is setup it's difficult to have one native tuner just from watching and lm tuners for recording. you can mix both native and lm tuners but obviously not using the same phsical tuner with native and LM mode.

If I had the money I would shop here http://shop.blackgold.tv

@jamesdisco
if only one tuner is working ( and sagetv team are all getting sage ready for google ) you could try using
DVBLink TVSource from dvblogic.
It's designed for media center to act as a driver bridge to make tuners with compatability problems work with media center. however people have got it working with sagetv. there was a link to a guide some where in the not too distant past

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51628

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56839

however you should know that dvb logic DVBLink TVSource has been reported to slow down channel changes ( I think all network tuners do this ) so it is not as good as using a tuner natively.

[Oddity]

I have a TBS 6981, sage only sees the one tuner so direct into sage is not going to work.

I have tried dvblogic, I found it to not work very well at all with the TBS card, tuning was very hit and miss with lots of "No signal" messages. I do like the product it did not work for me.

Have you tried DVBe4sage, really easy to set up and channel changes are really quick and unlike dvblogic it tunes the channels every time.

[matterofrecord]

Originally Posted by Oddity

Have you tried DVBe4sage, really easy to set up and channel changes are really quick and unlike dvblogic it tunes the channels every time.

I haven't yet. I've just started playing with satellite. I still can't all the channels with the default frq file ( or any modified frq file. I just don't understand the satellite tuning model. boquet frequencies etc are all new to me. )

However DVBe4sage looks a really interesting project. Essentially the one physical tuner for one frequency is a far better tuning model than sages 1 tuner to 1 channel model ( a change is top on my sagetv wish list ). When I first read about dvbe4sage I was so disappointed it didn't support dvb-t/t2.

the only reason I have recommended lm dvb recorder is because it's the only option for dvb-t/t2 (afaik) so it's the only option I have tried. I have found it works well, it's a good way of adding tuners to your computer and I get a better quality of recording ( I cannot explain why there is less interference/image breakup in the recording I have checked its not a codec thing etc I just know what I see ) however lm dvb smart recorder has a mix of fast and very slow channel changes ( people say the same about dvb logic tv source so it might be a network tuner thing IDK)

I plan to properly get down to this satellite thing soon but there are other things that have to be done first unfortunely.

dvblogic isn't necessary for me at the moment as I have a compro videomate s350 which is fully supported so theres not need for a driver compatability bridge. There are a lot of dvb-s tuners that don't have bda drivers so I guess dvblogic has it's uses.

[emotionnotion]

I tested with TBS 6981 last night on a sandbox PC using Media Center as a starter for 10.

Both tuners work flawlessly for SD.

It fails to tune any HD channels though; is compression a factor?

Installed SageTV last night; it only sees one tuner.

I have yet to test SD/HD tuning in Sage natively; will try that over the weekend. I must admit I am reluctant to introduce DVBlogic or DVB4Sage as they look complicated to configure and maintain -- If I wanted that I would be running Windows Media Centre!

[Oddity]

DVB-S2 HD channels work perfectly with sage and DVBe4sage.

DVB-T2 will work directly with sagetv ( I use the pctv HD model ). For the HD channels you will need to use an external EPG source.

Suggest using the excellent XMLTV importer application with Radio times data plus EPG collector ( for the channels where radio times cannot get the data ).

Use XMLTV to create your lineups for DVB-S and DVB-T2 ( note you do not need a .frq file )
see http://cgi.mattandden.plus.com/?page_id=8

[Oddity]

Just ordered one of these.
Found that the two tuners on the 6981 was not enough.

Will be using with DVBe4Sage

[Oddity]

Using the latest version of SageTv, it will find all 4 tuners directly using the add sources.

Swapped out the dual 6981 card I had, which sage only found 1 tuner, installed the latest TBS driver for the 6984. Started Sage and all 4 tuners visible in add video sources.

[jamesdisco]

Originally Posted by Oddity

Using the latest version of SageTv, it will find all 4 tuners directly using the add sources.

Swapped out the dual 6981 card I had, which sage only found 1 tuner, installed the latest TBS driver for the 6984. Started Sage and all 4 tuners visible in add video sources.

Thats great news, annoying the 6981 doesnt as i bought one of them. But am very tempted to get a 6984 now we have confirmation it works natively.
One question would you try putting the 6981 back in with the new drivers and see if sage sees both tuners.

[bunch92]

Tempting indeed ... thx for the update

[Whitey]

Originally Posted by Oddity

Using the latest version of SageTv, it will find all 4 tuners directly using the add sources.

Swapped out the dual 6981 card I had, which sage only found 1 tuner, installed the latest TBS driver for the 6984. Started Sage and all 4 tuners visible in add video sources.

Does DVBE4Sage see all 4 tuners?

Where did you purchase your 6984 from?

Thanks

Whitey

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by Oddity

Using the latest version of SageTv, it will find all 4 tuners directly using the add sources.

Swapped out the dual 6981 card I had, which sage only found 1 tuner, installed the latest TBS driver for the 6984. Started Sage and all 4 tuners visible in add video sources.

This is FANTASTIC!!! Please let us know how you're getting on with this card. Personally I'm interested in mixed simultaneous recordings (HD [DVB-S/DVB-S2] and SD) and channel change performances.

TA

[Oddity]

Whitey, good to here from you

Yes DVBE4SAGE finds all four tuners an works perfectly as ever.

Can confirm that TBS6984, EPG Collector and DVBE4SAGE all working perfectly

Just wish I could get OSCAM to work after resuming from Sleep on the server.

[Oddity]

Purchased mine from Southenrsat

http://www.southernsat.co.uk/cart/in..._detail&p=1380

They had a discount a week or so ago and had it priced at £162.

But now BuyDVB appear to be the cheapest at £162+del

http://www.buydvb.net/tbs-6984-pcie-...-card_p33.html