Complete newb at this..

[sumdude]

Ok, as you might know already. I'm completly new at this. I do have an old directv with 1 lnb hooked up and already pointed. But what card is compatible? I've seen pci card and USB dvb systems and wondering wich is better. Also I have a modded xbox with xbox mdeia center running on it and was thinking of using it to watch the cannels on tv with it. Plus if the usb ones work and since they're cheap. I was thinking of hooking another one up to a pc and use it to hook up to my TV as well.

Now, my main question for everything above.. Is all this possible and if so, how can I do it?

Thanks in advance

[Reefer]

USB or PCI? I have not tried a USB DVB so I can't really comment on that.

Which card is compatible? First tell me what your pc specs are. There are 2 types of PCI DVB-S cards: those that do hardware accelerated decoding and the the cheaper ones that do not.

If your cpu is 2.6ghz+ with 1GB+ ram, either card will be fine. If not, go with a hardware decoding card.

HD will work with either, but I would recommend a hardware decoding card if you intend to test a lot of HD.


Streaming over the network is another beast to wrestle with. The software you'll be using to test (My Theater for example) is most likely not compatible to run through the Media Center interface.

What I mean is that My Theater runs great on Windows XP MCE OS but does not run through the MCE interface. MCE interface will most likely not recognize the DVB-S card as a valid tuner card - but there are hacks around that.

You can still stream over the network (and to the Xbox360) using the built in broadcast feature built into My Theater, transcode 360, Xbox extender, etc... But, don't expect to use MCE's sweet guide, live TV, and other glossy functions...


Hope this helps.

[sumdude]

Well, my computer has a socket A AMd athlon xp 2600+ 266mhz, 640megs pc2100 ddr ram, 80gig and 160gig HDD, and a 256mb geforce 5200 video card overclock to a 5500 equilvelent. Also was thinking using a mytheatre xbmc script to stream the video to it if that helps.

[Reefer]

Your pc can run standard def with either card no problem. For the extra $40.00, I'de get a hardware accelerated DVB-S card (HD is worth it).

The video card doesn't impact much - except if it has HDTV out (R/G/B or DVI-I) and an HDTV tv for true 720p/1080i. Incredible image quality!

I played with the xbmc plugin for MCE. It works (kinda) but not as a practical solution. Give it a shot. It's fun and you'll learn loads...

Good Luck. Lemme know if / when you need help.

[Crazy1_79]

damn reefer, we need to make you dvb modz! Very informative posts. Well done.