Not enoug PCI slot for TV tuners? – this might help

[mapleleaf]

I am planning to retire my 3 months old BTV server with newly purchased older model of MOBO that came with 5 PCI slots and AGP (wanted to use my old hardware), because BTV begun to tax my CPU so much lately that I am considering upgrade to newer MOBO with dual core support… Lack of PCI slots for my existing tuners really pisses me off. Most of new boards come with useless PCI-x 1 slots and 2 – 3 PCI slots only. That is not enough for my 3 tuners + sound card which is bare minimum I need to get in my box (not mentioning my RAID5 and second NIC card I have decided to sacrifice already).
After some searching, I have found this:
http://www.deca-tech.com/MG-P19014-WH.html PCIe to PCI×4 Expansion Box
and also this:
http://www.mobl.com/expansion/produc...lot/index.html
Firs option is about $120 while second is supposed to be professional solution for about $1500.
Obviously, I am leaning towards first option... Any comments?

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by mapleleaf

Firs option is about $120 while second is supposed to be professional solution for about $1500.

Instead of spending more money to use your older capture cards, you could go for some usb capture devices, network device like the HDHomeRun, dual PCI or PCI-E x1 capture devices, motherboard with on board soundcard/network/raid...

[mapleleaf]

I need analog hardware encoding tuners, most of new combo tuners have analog software based encoding. I have no HDTV yet and even if I did I would not be able to record it. I don't want to replace perfectly good tuners with USB option either. I prefer my Audigy 2 over any onboard sound card...besides, I could not get onboard SPDIF working reliably anyway.

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by mapleleaf

I need analog hardware encoding tuners, most of new combo tuners have analog software based encoding.

What I had in mind were the hauppage PVR-500, VistaView 2020, NVidia DualTV... While they are no longer manufactured in the USA, they should still be available.

[mapleleaf]

I have to respectfully disagree, why to replace perfectly functional tuners with dual tuner option instead just because there is not enough PCI slots? Analog tuners are dying breed, why to buy more of them, isn’t it better option to get more PCI slots instead so I can utilize my other existing perfectly functional PCI hardware as well? With that expansion box, I could have 12 or more PCI slots available easily… It isn’t cheap though.
Besides, wasn’t there an issue with PVR-500, one tuner not working well or something? I think that you can have one Nvidia dual tuner card in your system only… I don’t know much about other tuner you have mentioned…

[tenax]

consider this board..it will get you into dual core, yet still give you 4 pci slots, agp and option of ddr1 or dd2 memory..and will support dual core intel processors. i had one of these in my system and recently switched cause i wanted to fully convert over to a pci-e 16x enabled mobo (this one is restricted to 4x pci-e) it's inexpensive, you'll get 4 slots, and it works very well and reliably.

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.as...5Dual-VSTA&s=n


the other option is this one..a little bit more money but still cheap, much of the same tech as top one but adds 4 core support, and pci-16:

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.as...eDual-VSTA&s=n


the only issue you could run into down the road if you decide to go pci-e is that using the pci-e slot will block off the pci slot to the left of it from use with some cooler designs and pretty much all aftermarket coolers.

if pci-e is in your plans sooner than later or you want to go that route now, i suggest this one from msi:

http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p...eo3-F&class=mb

4 accessible pci slots, ddr 2 i believe, dual core supported (maybe quad core with bios update?) and pci-e only.

i've had 3 msi boards and they aren't big overclockers, but i have found them to be solid workhorses..perfect reliability for pvr systems.

the asrock if you're not familiar is what is called the value mobo division of asus. the manual is decent and for it's price, reliability and options, the 2 mobos i've shown you have received many a rave review..and helped many people including myself, set their own timeline for transition to pci-e, ddr2 only mobos. i had mine in my system from june to february and slowly converted starting with dual core. i built a system for more kids around the asrock recently and it's working great as always

[GeorgeH]

mapleleaf ---

I think you are missing the best option - record on 2 computers.

Use the new dual core for the heavy lifting.

[mapleleaf]

I would love to use two or more computers to record, smartskip, showsqueeze and serve recordings to BTVLink clients only if Snapstream supported such setup. It is doable using non-Snapstream’s software but then I lose near real time TV availability and I would have to wait for 2-3 computers to chew on recorded shows before I will be able to watch them. I watch some of my favorite shows with maybe 30 minutes delay so I can skip commercials and this would be more difficult to do… Currently, my TV comes from regular cable and digital satellite with many channels being available from both sources. It would be very time consuming to setup both computers not to record same show twice, deal with unnecessary conflicts, hunt for recorded shows on two different computers, switching BTVLink between two servers, etc. Snapstream’s architecture is just too immature for such setup…
Mediaportal has something of that sort and soonest they make loading of TV listings more user friendly I may have to jump the boat...

[mapleleaf]

Originally Posted by tenax

the asrock if you're not familiar is what is called the value mobo division of asus. the manual is decent and for it's price, reliability and options, the 2 mobos i've shown you have received many a rave review..and helped many people including myself, set their own timeline for transition to pci-e, ddr2 only mobos. i had mine in my system from june to february and slowly converted starting with dual core. i built a system for more kids around the asrock recently and it's working great as always

I know about Asrock, myself, I have been long time fan of Asus boards. Just before I got my current mobo, I was seriously considering Asrock boards you have mentioned until my trusted high volume PC parts supplier warned me about very high failure rate and recommended not to get one. I like MSI boards a lot and they are usually my second choice after Asus. I will definitely consider your recommendations, thanks a lot.

[myktek]

I have an Asrock 775Dual-VSTA if anyone needs help on it, I know i can fit 3 pci cards in it w/ a X1950 pcie... i think the video covers that 4th slot, not sure, i'll have to check tonite when i get home.

[Joe The Dude]

I have an ASRock 775Dual-VSTA Motherboard.
It reboots every couple of hours or so whenever I put a Hauppauge PVR-150 or PVR-500 into it.

It doesn't matter witch PCI Slot I use, and I've tried 3 diffrent power supplies.

I currently own the Neo 3-F Motherboard, but I don't yet have a Video Card or RAM for it.
It has 4 PCI Slots, One PCI Exepress (x1) Slot, and one PCI Express (x16) Slot.
It also has a single RJ-45 Gigabit LAN Port.
I'm going to order a Video Card and RAM for it on April 6'th, and try it out with the four PVR-500's mentioned in my signature.
I'll post my results at This Link.

You could put a RAID Card or an extra Gigabit LAN Card in it's single PCI Express (x1) slot, but the choice is yours.

[Rich A]

I'm currently getting ready to upgrade my own system and have purchased the MSI K8N Neo4-F. It may be hard to find but should fill all your needs.

In my case I also need 3 or 4 PCI slots and am also upgrading to a dual core Athlon. My old system is a Socket A believe it or not and has been running continuously for almost three years now. (this will be my third mobo upgrade) in those three years.

Yup, I figured it ain't broke so I'll fix it.

Here's some info on that board:

http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p...eo4-F&class=mb

[massey4]

I'm in the process of doing just this since Fry's recently had a good price on an E6300 & an ECS PT890T-A combo. The board has a PCIx16 for the video card (or PCIx1 if you prefer) and four PCI slots that do not conflict with each other. I'll start by using the on-board sound.

[Joe The Dude]

Originally Posted by massey4

I'm in the process of doing just this since Fry's recently had a good price on an E6300 & an ECS PT890T-A combo. The board has a PCIx16 for the video card (or PCIx1 if you prefer) and four PCI slots that do not conflict with each other. I'll start by using the on-board sound.

I've never had any luck with motherboards that have VIA Chipsets, but I hope that's not the case for you as well.


Here's a link to ECS PT890T-A Motherboard on NewEgg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813135044
They have working pictures of it, and more specific details.
It's onboard LAN is 100 Megabit, It has 2 IDE ports, and 2 SATA I (150) ports.
It supports DDRII 533, but not DDRII 667.
It doesn't support Dual Channel Memory Mode.

Be sure to let us know how it works out for you.

[mapleleaf]

http://www.missingremote.com/index.p...=1509&Itemid=1

I would love to see Snapstream to come up with this as well