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Moved to set top box instead of computer


Benarty

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We lost a week ago suddenly the encrypted bouquet.

The smartcard was not accessible anymore, okay, free replaced but after all, the bouquet was still not receivable.

At least, then new smartcard worked, it did reply on every cam menu option. Also the tuner log of the digital devices tuner card

reported that the smartcard was working.

 

A computer is fine, as long as it does what it supposed to do and the existence of these board shows that many computer users

have problems.

The computer is replaced by a Xtrend 9000.

 

So bye DVBViewer. :bye:

Edited by Benarty
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The computer is replaced by a Xtrend 9000.

Don't forget that receivers are also sophisticated computers nowadays. There are plenty of reports about receiver problems / software / firmware bugs in the web. The price for rapidly increasing complexity has to be paid in any case. Good luck... :bye:

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The difference between a set top box and a computer =

A computer has a hardware receiver but the decoding is done by software, in fact, everything else is software.

So, if a computer has some trouble, then it can be various thing.

 

Set top boxes decode the signal with hardware, the OSD is a software.

Less software involved.

 

About the price, don't forget that a decent Hifi alike computer case is also much more expensive then standard computer cases.

Second, if You want a real quiet mediacenter, then this asks also more expensive actions.

 

DVBViewer is OK tho, that's why I did not paste a support.zip.

 

As soon when the xtrend receiver shows some bugs, then I'll share this on the DVBViewer board, just to keep you all informed that set top boxes contain bugs.

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STB is OK provided you are not willing to watch SD contents...Unfortunatly, there are still a lot of SD chanels..

 

All STB look terrible versus HTPC in that situation...I would say, HD chanels as well in some way..especialy when connected to demanding videoprojectors.

 

Also, the STB price can very easiliy reach 800/1000€ without acheiving the HTPC quality that cost alf for more features...

 

The dark HTPC side is it is not very family easy...

Edited by trifon33
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About the price, don't forget that a decent Hifi alike computer case is also much more expensive then standard computer cases.

Second, if You want a real quiet mediacenter, then this asks also more expensive actions.

 

You don't need to buy an expensive computer case for an HTPC. I bought two of these Mini-ITX case for 35 euros each. For the price they come with an external PSU (No fan!). A complete motherboard with an AMD E350 cost less than 100 euros ASUS E35 M1, can be left fanless and decode all HD content as a charm. Together with a 2.5" hardisk it is completely silent.

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SD is no problem except when the set top box scales it to high definition and then it depends on the quality of the used hardware cause the processor is usual way to slow to handle the scaling.

The video of the Clarke-Tech/Xtrend ET-9000 is not that bad at all and indeed, performs better on Channel 4 HD(NAR) which is a problem channel.

 

The amd E350 is not a stable platform , ok it runs fine but HD not so fluent at all on all HD channels.

XP was a good choice for HTPC use, windows7 sure with areo and EVR leads to better image quality.

 

Trifon33

Indeed WAF is very low. But that counts for the STB also if the settings menu is used in advanced mode.

 

JF2020, I've been there, but then I wanted more PCI-express slots, more ram slots etc.. and soon the limits of a mini-itx chassis and mainboard is reached.

And in bigger cases, that are wide enough but as low as possible and, engineerd towards cooling which is a problem in many mini computers and...STB's. as soon when the processor reaches a higher speed

 

 

I left the PC cause, sudenly, bouqet not acessible, smartcard replaced but still not accessible and as usual, checked windows logs, re-installed drivers system restore etc..

And, not rto forget, a HTPC version is not a typical computer, so just OS, drivers, one decoder, dvbvviewer

DVBViewer could access CAM, and the smartcard but there is a point that enough is enough. The digital devices software could access cam and smartcard. The tuners are linked to the cam.

This cam/smartcard combination works in the et-9000, heck, I could not receive HD channels of the bouquet. Ah, DVB-S instead of DVB-S2.

A scan towards DVB-S2 and poef, there are the HD channels. Checked linux too, great but WAF even more problematic.

 

But, DVBViewer is and stays the best choice on computers.

 

SQTB's are also computers but video is hardware related. The OS controll's the hardware.

Firmware can be buggy also.

 

I had a Nokia mediamaster STB years ago , The original sofwtare was dissapointing, good luck, Overflow was there.

This box was 7 years used. Never a problem but sure, FTA reception.

 

Sure STB's have a downside, if technology changes, but that is also for computers a prolem if a tuner can not handle the new technology.

Oh and, the ET9000: sure I did see a fatal error but the software restarts and poof, fatal error gone.

Note: if the STB is not connected to the internet, expect more problems.

That counts also for computers :-)

 

About prices: A mainboard: 100 euro, harddisk : 150 euro, DVB receiver: 120 euro, CAM support: 90 euro, CAM : 80 euro, 90 windows license : 90 euro, Chassis : 100 euro, DVBViewer : cheap 15 euro. :-)

,PowerDVD: 80 euro . Approx. 900 euro.

 

STB's of 800 to 1000: ah dream multimedia., they are good but rather too expensive for the hardware.

The rest of the STB's look to these receivers as default, so the way to go.

 

Enigma2 Openpli

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It is true that E350 shipset is too basic for DVB HD appication. Weak IGP can even not working at all for DVB HD. DVB is more demanding than contents play back.

 

The key component is the graphic card. It is possible to make rather low cost HTPC with cheap CPU but good GC.

It is common that many people choose powerfull CPU with crappy IGP or GC when that's just the oposite.

 

With STB one have to consider the cost of external or internal USB DD, DVD/bluray player...and you need a PC to handle recorded contents anyway.

Edited by trifon33
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True, there are not many STB's that support DVD/Blueray drive.

But, what's the proint of heaving such drive while recordings are made on HD and recordingd can be transfered via lan to a computer.

STB's have hardware decoding chipset, the software side is to controll the hardware and the OSD( OpenPli for example)

The key in stable recording is a good implementation of hardware acceleration or.. using a full featured DVB-S/S2 receiver card and a slower processor

is also good for stable reception. An frankly, related to video, ATI/AMD is still not so good, I prefer Nvidia.

 

I had a E350 based board, nothing then trouble with it as soon when HD channel was selected, a Intel Xeon 2x2Ghz, nvidia GT520, 2GB ECC ram was a good combination with nvidi's cuda.

Still not stable reception of channel4HD (NAR) but far better then the amd-350 system.

 

The Xtrend/Clarke Tech et-9200 has no problem at all to receive channel 4HD (NAR)Far better WAF acceptance compared to DVBViewer but ok, since DVBViewer is software,that can be always improved.

One possible improvement is, off basic and expert setting related to the menu where the basic has no access to the advanced menu.

 

DVBViewer is great: I just left the computer reception cause bouquet reception was no more possible.

And everything seemed fine , the tuner log, DVBViewer debug logs, windows logs so had time enough spend and reached the point to end the computer age for dvb reception.

This same cam module and smartcard in the Xtrend et-9200 and whoops, reception of the encrypted bouquet.

 

 

The xeon cpu will move to the backup server. Ubuntu server software Raid 6, now based om amd so a great test to check the the raid volume is still accessible after main hardware change.

 

ps. DVBViewer only 15 euro: cheap but powerfull.

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Still not stable reception of channel4HD (NAR) but far better then the amd-350 system.

 

The Xtrend/Clarke Tech et-9200 has no problem at all to receive channel 4HD (NAR)

 

Previously, I also noticed Channel 4 HD, BBC HD were stuttering a lot, and audio was going out of sync on my system on these channels.

I spoke with a BBC engineer I know, and he explained there is a massive increase in data throughput from 1440x1080 to 1920x1080.

The BBC recently standardised digital HD output of BBC One HD and BBC HD to 1440x1080 on both Freeview HD and on Astra. On basis this uses less transmission bandwidth across platforms and with fairly new encoding technology, most viewers wouldnt notice the difference in picture quality (and most viewers with TVs or STBs cant see datastream information in any case). If BBC HD becomes BBC 2 HD, a fair amount of content will be upscaled for a while, so c**p in, c**p out to use a technical term :)

 

My solution was straight-forward and cheaper than a decent STB - change from an AMD x2 2.5GHz, 2gb RAM to an AMD x4 3.6GHz, 3Gb RAM and use efficient H264 & AC3 codecs from Mainconcept. 1920x1080 channels are fine - C4 HD, ITV1 HD NorthWest). 1440x1080 channels like BBC One HD, most ITV1 HD channels and now BBC HD are also fine. I did untick open whole transponder as never been required up to now and reduced processor usage.

 

Good luck with your STB. I guess you could always put your retired mediacentre in a cupboard with a cheap case and stream over homeplugs to your new STB... New DLNA TVs and streamers readily available too. Mine is this way - just clean setup of a big TV and speakers in front room. No cables/black boxes. As much internet content on my TV as I want without begging manufacturers at add new services. Nice, patient tech support from DVBViewer guys too...

 

Each to their own I guess...

 

 

 

 

Fixed the problem

Edited by xtonys
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Still not stable reception of channel4HD (NAR) but far better then the amd-350 system.

 

Are you aware that (NAR) means that it contains "narrative" - i.e. descriptions of what's happening for the blind? Not many programmes use it yet but it could prove irritating so I suggest changing to the (AC3,eng) channel by dragging it on to the (NAR) version.

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Excuse me, E350 windows7 etc, crappy video, same windows7 on intel xeon,and nvidia graphics far stable reception, but related to the settings of the channels, identical.

The ET-9000 has no discontinues on the most problematic channel on 28.2. An STB is less tweakable compared with a full OS, mpeg decoder soft, drivers, dvb application.

But as soon when you use a full-featured DVB-s(2) card(so on-board hardware decoding) then the difference is much smaller.

Anyway, I could compare. E-350 is no competition compared with the latest hardware setup.

AMD/ATI and drivers is still a problem.

 

So, conclusion is: DVBViewer is a great DVB application.

Edited by Benarty
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