Majesty Posted November 7, 2004 Posted November 7, 2004 Hi there, i'm looking to purchase the card above but i have some questions. 1) I have an AMD Athlon 64 2800+, 1gb of ram, ATi Raedon 9800 Pro 128mb and on board AC 97 sound. Would my rig be able to cope with HD broadcasts using that card? 2) How much cpu do these cards take for both SD and HD broadcasts? I have a dual monitor setup at the moment and i'd like tv to be run on one whilst i do my work on the other. 3) Can i use an internal rabbit antenna? I have excellant signal from my external antenna on our current television. But considering this pc is in my room i don't have access to the external antenna. Has anyone used these cards with rabbit or internal antennas? 4) Can i record programs to my hard drive using this card? I've seen the comparison between this card and the others and i can't see any real differences other than the lack of analog and some bundled software which i assume i could download anyway and still get it to work? Cheers.
tvboy Posted November 7, 2004 Posted November 7, 2004 1 and 2: You’ll be cruising with something like 25% CPU usage, thanks to DxVA. 4: sure
Magnate Posted November 7, 2004 Posted November 7, 2004 Hi there, i'm looking to purchase the card above but i have some questions.1) I have an AMD Athlon 64 2800+, 1gb of ram, ATi Raedon 9800 Pro 128mb and on board AC 97 sound. Would my rig be able to cope with HD broadcasts using that card? 2) How much cpu do these cards take for both SD and HD broadcasts? I have a dual monitor setup at the moment and i'd like tv to be run on one whilst i do my work on the other. 3) Can i use an internal rabbit antenna? I have excellant signal from my external antenna on our current television. But considering this pc is in my room i don't have access to the external antenna. Has anyone used these cards with rabbit or internal antennas? 4) Can i record programs to my hard drive using this card? I've seen the comparison between this card and the others and i can't see any real differences other than the lack of analog and some bundled software which i assume i could download anyway and still get it to work? Cheers. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Hi, I bought one of these cards recently, and run it in a box with a P4-2.4Ghz, 1Gbyte RAM, 40 Gbyte HDD, DVD Burner, Radeon 9600XT car. I'm using the Fusion HDTV software that comes with the card. Q1 - no problem at all - you've got plenty of grunt there Q2 - My box runs at about 28% Processor utilisation. I've had it burning DVD's, and recording HDTV at the same time, and it handled it fine Q3 - I'm using a basic internal rabbit antenna. I get about 80% signal strength with 20dB. If it drops much below 80% the signal gets pretty scratchy and I get lost frames. Thats to be expected. SBS is particularly bad where I am. Q4 - you can record to the hard-drive no problems. I think the software is supposed to be getting time-shift capability soon. I looked at the "non-Lite" version of the card, and the only real difference I could tell was that the other card has analog inputs. Cheers, Magnate
Majesty Posted November 7, 2004 Author Posted November 7, 2004 Thanks to both of you I'm getting this card pretty cheap ~ $100 so it sounds like really good value. Thanks a lot.
anthonysimilion Posted November 7, 2004 Posted November 7, 2004 That's a really good price - for that, you should have no regrets.
PaulP33 Posted November 7, 2004 Posted November 7, 2004 3) Can i use an internal rabbit antenna? I have excellant signal from my external antenna on our current television. But considering this pc is in my room i don't have access to the external antenna. Has anyone used these cards with rabbit or internal antennas?Cheers. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> The basic answer to this is that you won't know until you try. If you are close to the transmitters with line of sight you will probably be in luck. I have both a lite and full dvico and the lite definately seems to be better at working with lower signal levels. When it is has been raining hard my full dvico won't get a picture on SBS (signal level of around 74%, my aerial is pointing through a stand of trees and the water on the leaves is a barrier to signal) whereas my lite card does not seem to have too many problems.
Majesty Posted November 7, 2004 Author Posted November 7, 2004 Thanks again, anyone want to recommend a rabbit/indoor antenna? Pref under 50 dollars.
renura Posted November 7, 2004 Posted November 7, 2004 I have both a lite and full dvico and the lite definately seems to be better at working with lower signal levels. When it is has been raining hard my full dvico won't get a picture on SBS (signal level of around 74%, my aerial is pointing through a stand of trees and the water on the leaves is a barrier to signal) whereas my lite card does not seem to have too many problems. Hi PaulP33, I have heard you say this a few times, so I think I might say something about that. In all our tests, the third generation LG tuner on the FusionHDTV has performed as well or better than the Thompson tuner that is on the other cards. I must say however, that when using certain low gain aerial, rabbit years etc, (in other words, when the signal is on the weak side) we have found that performace can vary from tuner to tuner, and some tuners appear to like certain aerials better than others. In one particular situation, for example, we found that the VP Comtech tuner, using a particular aerial was getting much better results than all other cards we tried on the same setup. In another situation a planar aerial (that is supposed to be for the DVICO cards), was performing much better with Philips tuner than any of the DVICO cards. In conclusion I think that where portable aerials, etc, are concerned, you just have to experiment and try to determine what is best with your particular setup. Keeping in mind that what works with one card/tuner, may not necessarily work as well, or as bad, with others. Cheers Renura
joeybloggs Posted November 7, 2004 Posted November 7, 2004 I see this too. If it's raining, thunderstorms etc and a particular channel is dropping out or pixelating on a particular card. It's sometimes fine on a different card (all from the same antenna feed) And it's not always the same card that is dropping out
keithsebastian Posted November 7, 2004 Posted November 7, 2004 Thanks again, anyone want to recommend a rabbit/indoor antenna?Pref under 50 dollars. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I use this one http://www.crest.com.au/product.php?prodcode=I2500 from David Jones Melbourne with the Lite card. Good results in inner northern suburbs of Melbourne. However, I have to change it's position to get Ch 9 without dropouts. Keith
joeybloggs Posted November 8, 2004 Posted November 8, 2004 Missed the original question Dick Smith Electronics L4069 is the best of what I've tried.
ocujos Posted November 8, 2004 Posted November 8, 2004 I'm getting this card pretty cheap ~ $100 so it sounds like really good value. Where are buying this card from? The Fusion HDTV (non lite version) from Renura costs $199. Apart from lack of S-Video in on lite version, is there any other difference?
joeybloggs Posted November 8, 2004 Posted November 8, 2004 I'm getting this card pretty cheap ~ $100 so it sounds like really good value. Does that include the asbestos gloves
renura Posted November 8, 2004 Posted November 8, 2004 Where are buying this card from?The Fusion HDTV (non lite version) from Renura costs $199. Apart from lack of S-Video in on lite version, is there any other difference? Hi ocujos, The tuner is different, the Lite has a Thompson, whereas the Full Version has a third generation LG. The chipset is also different, while the Lite has a BT87A, the Full version has a more recent Cx23881. The full version comes with analogue inputs (S-Video and composite, and audio plug) and it includes the Ulead Video Studio 7 software. the Lite has RF pass through. You can read about the differences here http://www.dvico.com/products_dvbt_plus.html#1 Cheers Renura
ocujos Posted November 8, 2004 Posted November 8, 2004 the Full Version has a third generation LG (tuner) If Fusion DVB-T1 is the one sold here in Australia what is the "Fusion DVB-T Plus" then?
kenneth1503559512 Posted November 8, 2004 Posted November 8, 2004 the Full Version has a third generation LG (tuner) If Fusion DVB-T1 is the one sold here in Australia what is the "Fusion DVB-T Plus" then? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> DVICO's new version of the card.
PaulP33 Posted November 8, 2004 Posted November 8, 2004 I have both a lite and full dvico and the lite definately seems to be better at working with lower signal levels. When it is has been raining hard my full dvico won't get a picture on SBS (signal level of around 74%, my aerial is pointing through a stand of trees and the water on the leaves is a barrier to signal) whereas my lite card does not seem to have too many problems. Hi PaulP33, I have heard you say this a few times, so I think I might say something about that. In all our tests, the third generation LG tuner on the FusionHDTV has performed as well or better than the Thompson tuner that is on the other cards. I must say however, that when using certain low gain aerial, rabbit years etc, (in other words, when the signal is on the weak side) we have found that performace can vary from tuner to tuner, and some tuners appear to like certain aerials better than others. In one particular situation, for example, we found that the VP Comtech tuner, using a particular aerial was getting much better results than all other cards we tried on the same setup. In another situation a planar aerial (that is supposed to be for the DVICO cards), was performing much better with Philips tuner than any of the DVICO cards. In conclusion I think that where portable aerials, etc, are concerned, you just have to experiment and try to determine what is best with your particular setup. Keeping in mind that what works with one card/tuner, may not necessarily work as well, or as bad, with others. Cheers Renura <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I mentioned this in the dvbowners forum when I got the lite and it always seemed to show 95-97% signal for SBS whereas the full would drop as low as 74% under the previously metioned circumstances. No-one commented which I put down to the likelihood that few other people have both cards so I thought this observation woulkd be a valid one. Since then I have found that in practice the lite gives better quality captures (judged on the number of dropped frames reported by projectX) on this marginal channel for me. So you think that it is individual circumstance that I get such a difference rather than card capability? My original aver struggled to get a good capture on SBS at the best of times and getting the full dvico was a huge improvement in this respect. I was surprised to find that in my setup the lite seemed to do even better than the full version. At the moment I have the two cards in different PCs on different aerials (I originally made this observation though when they were in the same PC) so I might switch them around and see if I get the same result.
physwizz Posted November 8, 2004 Posted November 8, 2004 I don't have both cards either but I suspect that the venetian blind effect so often discuued in this forum is unique to the full card and not seen on the lite card. Can anyone with both cards confirm or deny this?
PaulP33 Posted November 8, 2004 Posted November 8, 2004 I don't have both cards either but I suspect that the venetian blind effect so often discuued in this forum is unique to the full card and not seen on the lite card.Can anyone with both cards confirm or deny this? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I don't use FusionHDTV much (I don't use either card for live viewing). I don't recall ever having noticed it on either card.
digitalize Posted November 8, 2004 Posted November 8, 2004 I don't have both cards either but I suspect that the venetian blind effect so often discuued in this forum is unique to the full card and not seen on the lite card. I have the Nebula and DVICO full version. I get no blind effect?? Whats that?
physwizz Posted November 8, 2004 Posted November 8, 2004 I don't have both cards either but I suspect that the venetian blind effect so often discuued in this forum is unique to the full card and not seen on the lite card. I have the Nebula and DVICO full version. I get no blind effect?? Whats that? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Some people have reported horizontal stripes when they view the HD channels using HDTV and the PCI 9200 video card.
keithsebastian Posted November 9, 2004 Posted November 9, 2004 I don't have both cards either but I suspect that the venetian blind effect so often discuued in this forum is unique to the full card and not seen on the lite card. I have the Nebula and DVICO full version. I get no blind effect?? Whats that? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Some people have reported horizontal stripes when they view the HD channels using HDTV and the PCI 9200 video card. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I have a Lite card and a Radeon 9800, and, have never experienced the "venetian blinds" effect ever. Currently I'm using Cat 4.10.
Majesty Posted November 9, 2004 Author Posted November 9, 2004 I'm getting this card pretty cheap ~ $100 so it sounds like really good value. Where are buying this card from? The Fusion HDTV (non lite version) from Renura costs $199. Apart from lack of S-Video in on lite version, is there any other difference? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Ebay I've just been notified that it's in the express mail now.
Majesty Posted November 10, 2004 Author Posted November 10, 2004 Okay got the card and a rabbit antenna. (Digitor one) I get perfect reception on all channels Cans omeone tell me why when i take a screenshot from Fusionhdtv it comes out as a squashed 4:3 rather than the native 16:9?
kenneth1503559512 Posted November 10, 2004 Posted November 10, 2004 Cans omeone tell me why when i take a screenshot from Fusionhdtv it comes out as a squashed 4:3 rather than the native 16:9? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> That will be because digital is broadcasted (usually) in 4:3 resolutions. Only HD is meant to have the correct resolution but Aus broadcastors don't have the correct resoluiton.
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