129 replies to this topic

[Joelster]

Does this tuner have analogue capabilities as well?

[renura]

Joelster, on Oct 7 2010, 08:10 PM, said:

Does this tuner have analogue capabilities as well?

No analog TV or analog video capture if that is what you are asking.

[dJOS]

Arrrgh, I spoke too soon; because I have the S2 dual tuner in my HTPC which gets used 1st I missed a major issue:

When watching or recording 1 channel with my quad the PQ etc is fine no issues but as soon as the Quad adds a 2nd channel I start to get some breakup, as soon as the quad adds a 3rd task all 3 channels suffer serious breakup and adding a 4th renders all un-watchable!

I've even removed my S2 dual, tried with and without my kingray active RF splitter (better with it on and conected) and there's no real change.  I never had these issues running 2x Dual Hybrid S2's.

Im using Win7 and the DNTV supplied drivers.

HELP!!!  

Edited by dJOS, 07 October 2010 - 10:31 PM.

[jasoroony]

I still use my S2 dual, but not the TinyTwin I bought (a few years ago, wasn't I the first?!) anymore for this same reason.  The S2 was a good card.  The TinyTwin always did the same thing mentioned here - but had no extra input to boost the 2nd tuner, unlike the S2.  We have 2 neighbours who have installed 30ft aerials, nearby, but with my 4-way powered Kingray and separate cards I don't need to spend the extra $'s doing that.  If you want to fix your issues, that may be what you need to do.

I also have a PlusTV KW-399U device, uses the same TinyTwin drivers (for the tuner, not the remote) and always reports a slightly higher signal than the TinyTwin - even though it has no internal tin shielding and the TinyTwin does...  From the looks of the picture of this card, maybe it could do with some extra shielding like the S2 & TinyTwin.  Clearly this new 4 tuner card isn't for me.  Oh well, hopefully my S2 lives for a few more years yet.

Edit: I just remembered I mentioned the issues about using the 2 tuners and recording glitches in this post...

http://www.dtvforum....rt=#entry786994

Edit2: at $69 each, the 399U would be a cheaper investment too, I guess, when my S2 dies.

Edited by jasoroony, 08 October 2010 - 01:39 AM.

[DrP]

dJOS, on Oct 7 2010, 10:26 PM, said:

Arrrgh, I spoke too soon; because I have the S2 dual tuner in my HTPC which gets used 1st I missed a major issue:

What happens if you force your recording app to use the 2nd tuner first?  Does it produce glitches or do you have to kick off a second recording from another tuner (which may be the first)?

[dJOS]

DrP, on Oct 8 2010, 04:48 AM, said:

What happens if you force your recording app to use the 2nd tuner first?  Does it produce glitches or do you have to kick off a second recording from another tuner (which may be the first)?

I even took out the dual s2 and did a full rescan, as you add more Channels/tasks to the Quad the PQ degrades across all tuners in use - just using 1 tuner results in excellent PQ but after that it's all down hill.

When I was running dual S2's all 4 tuners worked perfectly using just a passive splitter, the quad has issues even being fed from a kingray active splitter applying 12db of boost.

Is anyone else having these issues? do I have a dud card?

Edited by dJOS, 08 October 2010 - 08:32 AM.

[aussierob]

dJOS, on Oct 8 2010, 09:23 AM, said:

as you add more Channels/tasks to the Quad the PQ degrades across all tuners in use - just using 1 tuner results in excellent PQ but after that it's all down hill.
...
Is anyone else having these issues? do I have a dud card?

Yep same here, watching 1 channel on its own ... great
Watching 1 channel while recording another = both recording & watched get breakup & audio dropouts

Edited by aussierob, 08 October 2010 - 08:44 AM.

[renura]

Hi Guys,

Firstly let me say that there is no doubt that you need a good quality signal for this card, the desirable signal level should be around 55dbuv.

In general I do not recommend amplifiers with any cards, let alone this one. Just remember you are feeding 4 tuners with one antenna.

Having said that, we have not observed the behavior reported by aussierob and DJOS in any of our tests and neither have the many beta testers , to the best of my knowledge, over the last several months

Please remember also that this sort of issue might be related to the PCIe bus or other component on your system, not just the received signal level.

Trying different PCIe slots, if possible, is a good first step, flashing the MB with the latest BIOS is also a good idea. If you are using such systems as Windows 7, using High performace power profile is imperative for good performance.

Also ensure that you install only and exclusively the drivers provide on the CD, not other generic Realtek drivers that might be installed by Windows

If having done that the issue persists, please email support and we might get you to run some tests to try and determine what the issue might be. We have not had one "dud" card yet, but I am sure some will crop up, in which case, of course, we will replace them under warranty.

Cheers

Renura

[dJOS]

Hi Renura, Im running Win7 in perfromance mode (Quad core AMD CPU) and my MB is using the latest FW. Im also using the supplied drivers via the quadinstall.exe from the CD, I've also tried a different PCIe slot with no change.

I installed DNTV Live and ran the TV scan and it showed 78% Signal strength with 100% quality - I just dont understand why my 2x DNTV Dual Hybrid S2's never had a drama? (until 1 of them died).

[DrP]

dJOS, on Oct 8 2010, 08:23 AM, said:

I even took out the dual s2 and did a full rescan, as you add more Channels/tasks to the Quad the PQ degrades across all tuners in use - just using 1 tuner results in excellent PQ but after that it's all down hill.

Quite unusual.  I have a Quad with all four tuners regularly in use for testing purposes and its been good so far.  Are you using tv scheduler pro to record?  If you alter the tuner priority, ie put tuner 4 at position 1, and then start a single recording does it glitch or is it clean until you start other recordings on different tuners?

[dJOS]

DrP, on Oct 8 2010, 10:24 AM, said:

Quite unusual.  I have a Quad with all four tuners regularly in use for testing purposes and its been good so far.  Are you using tv scheduler pro to record?  If you alter the tuner priority, ie put tuner 4 at position 1, and then start a single recording does it glitch or is it clean until you start other recordings on different tuners?

How do I get a user name and the serial # to register DNTV Live? There is nothing in the manual or on the site and ive tried the email address I used to buy it with and the 2 numbers marked on the box (one is lable SN but seems to short)?

[renura]

dJOS, on Oct 8 2010, 11:18 AM, said:

How do I get a user name and the serial # to register DNTV Live? There is nothing in the manual or on the site and ive tried the email address I used to buy it with and the 2 numbers marked on the box (one is lable SN but seems to short)?

If you installed the latest version of DNTV Live! as per email sent to you, then you do not need any user name or serial numbers.  
Can also get it here http://www.digitalno...NTVLive!1.4.zip

[dJOS]

renura, on Oct 8 2010, 11:07 AM, said:

If you installed the latest version of DNTV Live! as per email sent to you, then you do not need any user name or serial numbers.  
Can also get it here http://www.digitalno...NTVLive!1.4.zip

Ok thanks, I've just installed that one now.

[dJOS]

DrP, on Oct 8 2010, 10:24 AM, said:

Quite unusual.  I have a Quad with all four tuners regularly in use for testing purposes and its been good so far.  Are you using tv scheduler pro to record?  If you alter the tuner priority, ie put tuner 4 at position 1, and then start a single recording does it glitch or is it clean until you start other recordings on different tuners?

Jeez, after fiddling with DNTV Live for 10 mins I remember why I never bothered with it before, It's a PITA and I really cant be bothered with it! I can get it to show live tv no probs but the scheduling stuff is pretty convoluted imo.

Edited by dJOS, 08 October 2010 - 11:25 AM.

[Dave_L]

I installed my Quad yesterday and noticed a similar thing (lots of breakup both in Live TV and some recordings).

I plan to try some things over the weekend (as suggested by Renura in an earlier post) to try and rule out what may be the cause.

Hopefully a different PCIe slot or something might make things better.

I know my setup is currently running through a splitter and also supplying a tein tuner PVR (as well as the quad tuner) so that won't be helping matters.
I tried disconnecting the PVR so it was only feeding the Quad, but it didn't make any difference...and admittedly the signal is still being split...so I will try going straight from the wall to the Quad card and see if this helps.

Dave

[texass44]

dJOS, on Oct 8 2010, 12:23 PM, said:

Jeez, after fiddling with DNTV Live for 10 mins I remember why I never bothered with it before, It's a PITA and I really cant be bothered with it! I can get it to show live tv no probs but the scheduling stuff is pretty convoluted imo.

Hi dJOS,
I have a quad card also (was one of the testers).  So far I have no issues, but having said that I just moved my media PC to a different location so I will retest multiple recordings.  I also have an original LP card that has RF passthrough so I have 5 tuners available from the one RF cable input.

I agree, DNTVLive is a bit clunky for recording so I use Sched Pro.....which is a thing of beauty I believe.  I use DNTVLIve for watching back recordings and other media files.  I don't use DNTVLIVE for live viewing, I have never been able to get rid of slight "stutters" which anoys the #$#^^ out of me.  If I watch Live TV in "timeshift" mode, it's perfect.  I just use the TV digital tuner for live viewing.

So, I'll get sched Sched pro to record 5 channels at once across seperate channels (differents MUX's ???) and report back on the quality of the recordings as a final test.  I do love the quad card, it's just worked really well for me so far and is a very elegant multi tuner card.

I also spent about $700 overhauling my cabling and digital ariel a few years back (Beeblebrox did the work in Melbourne) and I have never looked back.  Great signal strength/quality and no more pixellation/breakup.

Cheers......Tex.

[dJOS]

Cheers Tex, I find that 7MC works incredibly well and has very high WAF and we run a couple of xbox360's around the house connected to the Media Center via a Gigabit network.

Our antenna is only 2 years old and im using all quad-shield RG6 for everything.

[texass44]

dJOS, on Oct 8 2010, 01:59 PM, said:

Cheers Tex, I find that 7MC works incredibly well and has very high WAF and we run a couple of xbox360's around the house connected to the Media Center via a Gigabit network.

Our antenna is only 2 years old and im using all quad-shield RG6 for everything.

ok...sounds like antenna & cabling should be fine.

LOL re WAF....my wife hates trying to schedule anything to record or watch back for that matter.  My 8yo son however can drive it with his eyes closed and probably knows more about the setup of it than I do !!!

[dJOS]

Today my pregnant wife finally cracked it with the Media Center and came home with 2 TiVo's!  

http://users.adam.co...lic/TiVo_01.JPG

Needless to say you dont argue with a pregnant woman and they have now been pressed into service and the Media Center has been removed from service.

Edited by dJOS, 08 October 2010 - 07:41 PM.

[glenncol]

dJOS, on Oct 8 2010, 08:28 PM, said:

Today my pregnant wife finally cracked it with the Media Center and came home with 2 TiVo's!  

http://users.adam.co...lic/TiVo_01.JPG

Needless to say you dont argue with a pregnant woman and they have now been pressed into service and the Media Center has been removed from service.

      sorry dude

[dJOS]

glenncol, on Oct 8 2010, 11:01 PM, said:

      sorry dude

All things Considered, it is pretty funny!  

[jasoroony]

dJOS, on Oct 8 2010, 11:27 PM, said:

All things Considered, it is pretty funny!  

Yes and no...  I admire your wifes responsive decision.  I could've saved myself as much trouble.

[DrP]

linux-ers may be interested that the Quad has been gotten to work under Ubuntu 10.4.1 32 bit.  Installation was fairly straight forward under a plain vanilla Ubuntu configuration - unpack the v4l archive, make all and make install.  No doubt with appropriate bits installed (gcc etc, kernel headers etc etc) it could be as easily built under another 32 bit linux variant.

[myrantz]

DrP, on Oct 9 2010, 10:08 AM, said:

linux-ers may be interested that the Quad has been gotten to work under Ubuntu 10.4.1 32 bit.  Installation was fairly straight forward under a plain vanilla Ubuntu configuration - unpack the v4l archive, make all and make install.  No doubt with appropriate bits installed (gcc etc, kernel headers etc etc) it could be as easily built under another 32 bit linux variant.

That sounds good I think.. All working good properly under MythTV?

And also, what about the above issue?

[DrP]

I don't use mythtv, but given that the linux DVB side works correctly I can't see any reason why mythtv shouldn't work.

Above issue?  Do you mean the glitching problem some people have experienced?  I don't have that problem under Windows so I wouldn't expect it under linux.  Simultaneously dumping each tuner's output to a file via the command line produces clean recordings.