[mythtv-users] DVB-S2 tuner cards for the UK

[Chris Dennis]

On 18/09/17 17:31, Stephen Worthington wrote:
> On Mon, 18 Sep 2017 16:51:23 +0100, you wrote:
>
>> Hi folks
>>
>> I'm planning to upgrade my Mythtv backend to have four DVB-S2 tuners.
>>
>> The TBS6904 DVB-S2 Quad Tuner comes in at about £230, whereas two TBS6902 DVB-S2 Dual Tuners are £90 each, which would work out cheaper.
>>
>> Which is likely to be the better buy?  The cards will go into a bog-standard PC running Linux.
>>
>> Or is there a better approach?
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>> Chris
> That price for a TBS6904 sounds rather high.  This one is cheaper:
>
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/TBS6904-DVB-S2-Quad-HD-Tuner-PCIe-Card-Satellite-TV-Receiver-for-IPTV-Streaming-/232038106255?hash=item36068c848f:g:PMQAAOSwIgNXovAP
>
> The problem with all the older multi-tuner DVB-S2 cards is that you
> have to provide them with individual aerial inputs, which can involve
> using splitters and that can give problems with signal levels (4 way
> splitter = 1/4 signal level to each tuner).  If you really want to
> spend £230,
I don't!  I want to spend as little as possible.
> then you could probably get a TBS6909 instead:
>
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/TBS6909-DVB-S2-8-Tuner-PCIe-Card-TV-Receiver-IPTV-stream-With-Windows-Linux-OS-/232270498537?epid=1874269362&hash=item3614668ae9:g:DrkAAOSwsE5ZlT-s
That would be overkill for me.
>
> That has four aerial inputs for its 8 tuners, but they go through a
> multiswitch frontend on the card, so you can use just one aerial input
> for all 8 tuners if you want to, which is the way I run mine here in
> New Zealand where we only have one satellite to receive from.  In
> multiswitch mode, there are two tuners attached to each of the inputs,
> but I have not played with that.
>
> So it depends on how many dishes and LNBs you are connecting to as to
> what is the best option.
>
> If you really only need four tuners, and you have two PCIe slots to
> spare, the two TBS6902 tuners should be fine.
Yes, I think that's the plan.
> But if you are running
> out of PCIe slots, then more tuners on one card is much better.
>
> In Linux, with most TBS cards you have to compile their drivers each
> time the kernel is updated, which is a significant pain.  And if you
> have other older non-mainstream tuner cards, it is possible that their
> drivers will not be compatible with them.  My old Hauppauge PVR-500
> card had driver crashes at boot time with the TBS open source drivers.
> Fortunately, I no longer need to use it, so I just removed it.
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