Page Notifications Off

MediaPortal Wiki > MediaPortal 1 > Preparing Your System > Supported TV Cards

Supported TV Cards

0 of 1 found this page helpful

Redirected from TV-Server/tvcards

1. HTPC TV Card Info
2. Unsupported TV Cards
3. Special Features
1. 3.1. DVB-C Cards
2. 3.2. DVB-S(2) Cards
3. 3.3. DVB-T Cards
4. 3.4. Video Capture Cards
4. Feature Explanation
1. 4.1. CI/CAM
2. 4.2. CI Menu
3. 4.3. Multichannel Decoding
  1. 4.3.1. Multichannel decoding example:
  2. 4.3.2. Multidecrypt example:
4. 4.4. DiSEqC
5. 4.5. DVB-S2
5. Changes in the latest release

HTPC TV Card Info

MediaPortal's TV Server supports

Any DVB/ATSC card which has BDA drivers. This includes the vast majority of all tuner cards available today.
All analog cards with hardware encoding on board.
Some analog cards which require software encoders. The card must not require a connection to the "Line In" or "Microphone" input of a sound card to make the audio work. Also, TV Server only works with some software encoders.
The TechniSat SkyStar-2/Airstar-2/CableStar-2 cards when using WDM drivers.
The Hauppauge Colossus and HD PVR video capture devices. TV Server also supports capture inputs on cards with analog tuners, however other capture cards without tuners are not supported.
CableCard tuners are not supported.

Unsupported TV Cards

The following cards are currently unsupported (or not yet fully supported)

Anysee (DiSEqC, CI)
Avermedia (DiSEqC, CI) - please petition them if you want support for these features in MediaPortal
Blackgold (DiSEqC) - support planned for 1.3.0
Ceton - Ceton CableCard tuners do not work at all in MediaPortal
Compro (DiSEqC)
Hauppauge WinTV DCR-2650
HDHomeRun Prime (CableCard) - clear QAM works with the latest drivers, but encrypted channels will not work
KNC TV-Station DVB-S2 Twin (DVB-S2, DiSEqC, CI) - DVB-S tuning should work if you use the DVB-S network provider
Omicom (DiSEqC) - support planned for 1.3.0
Pinnacle/PCTV Systems (DiSEqC) - support planned for 1.3.0
Realtek RTL2832U based tuners (DAB, FM) - RTL2832U is a chipset used in many tuners (eg. DigitalNow Dabby and Quad, Mygica T803 and T188) that support DVB-T with DAB/DAB+ and FM radio. DVB-T functions work fine, however DAB and FM functions are not supported at this time.
TBS (CI) - support planned for 1.3.0
Technotrend Premium

Special Features

The following tables lists the special features of various tuners that are supported by MediaPortal. It is not meant to be a list of each supported card - we support far too many cards to be able to list all of them individually. If you want to know whether a certain card is supported then first check the comments above. If your tuner has a BDA driver (most DVB and ATSC/QAM tuners do) and is not listed in the unsupported list then there is a very good chance that it will work.

DVB-C Cards

Model/Brand	CI/CAM support	CI menu support	Multichannel decoding	Remarks
Digital Devices	Yes	Yes	No	Cine CT, DuoFlex CT
Digital Everywhere	Yes	Yes	Yes	FloppyDTV-C Digital Everywhere is no longer in business but Digital Devices are still selling the Digital Everywhere Floppy DVB-C.
Hauppauge	Yes	Yes	No	The WinTV CI can be used with Nova and HVR series tuners.
KNC	Yes	Yes	No	TV-Station DVB-C
Mystique	Yes	Yes	No	CaBiX-C2
TechniSat	Yes	No	No	CableStar Combo HD CI, CableStar HD2
TechnoTrend	Yes	Yes	Yes	Budget C-1501, Connect CT-3650 CI
TerraTec	Yes	No	No	Cinergy C PCI HD, H7
Twinhan (Azurewave)	Yes	No	No	AD-CP400

DVB-S(2) Cards

Model/Brand	CI/CAM support	CI menu support	Multichannel decoding	DiSEqC - switch	DiSEqC - motor	DVB-S2 support	Remarks
Blackgold	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	BGT3590, BGT3595, BGT3600, BGT3630
Digital Devices	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	Cine S2, DuoFlex S2
Digital Everywhere	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	FloppyDTV-S, FloppyDTV-S2
Genpix	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	SkyWalker 1, SkyWalker 2
Hauppauge	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	HVR-3000, HVR-3300, HVR-4000, HVR-4400, NOVA HD-S2, NOVA HD-USB2, NOVA S Plus, NOVA S-USB2 The WinTV CI can be used with Nova and HVR series tuners.
KNC	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	TV-Star DVB-S, TV-Station DVB-S, TV-Station DVB-S2
Mystique	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	SaTiX SE, SaTiX SX, SaTiX S2, SaTiX S2 Dual
Prof	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Red 6200 PCI, Red 7300 PCI, Revolution 7301 PCI, Revolution 7500 USB, Revolution 8000 PCIe, AdvanceTune 7700 USB, AdvanceTune 8700 PCIe
TBS	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	QBOX, QBOX S2, QBOX 3, TBS5922, TBS5980, TBS6920, TBS6921, TBS6922, TBS6928, TBS6980, TBS6981, TBS6984, TBS6992, TBS8920, TBS8921, TBS8922
TechniSat	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	SkyStar 2, SkyStar HD2, SkyStar S2, SkyStar USB HD, SkyStar USB 2 HD CI
TechnoTrend	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Budget S-1500, Budget S2-1600, Budget S2-3200, Connect S-2400 Connect S2-3600, Connect S2-3650 CI
TerraTec	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Cinergy S2 PCI HD, Cinergy S2 USB HD, S7
TeVii	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	S420, S464, S470, S480, S630, S660
Twinhan (Azurewave)	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	AD-SP400, Sat-Ci

DVB-T Cards

Model/Brand	CI/CAM support	CI menu support	Multichannel decoding	Remarks
Digital Devices	Yes	Yes	No	Cine CT, DuoFlex CT
Digital Everywhere	Yes	Yes	Yes	FloppyDTV-T
Hauppauge	Yes	Yes	No	The WinTV CI can be used with Nova and HVR series tuners.
KNC	Yes	Yes	No	TV-Station DVB-T
Mystique	Yes	Yes	No	TeRiX-T2
TechnoTrend	Yes	Yes	Yes	Connect CT-3650 CI
TerraTec	Yes	No	No	H7
Twinhan (Azurewave)	Yes	No	No	AD-TP300

Video Capture Cards

Model/Brand

Configurable bit-rate

Remarks

Hauppauge Colossus

Yes

Colossus is a High Definition video recorder for making real-time H.264 compressed recordings at resolutions up to 1080i. HD PVR records component video (YCrCb) from video game consoles and cable TV and satellite set top boxes.

Includes a built-in high quality hardware H.264 high definition encoder, for high performance, high quality video recordings
Record high definition video at up to 1080i resolution. Also records standard definition video. Record at datarates from 1Mbs to 20Mbs.

Hauppauge HD PVR

Yes

HD PVR is the world’s first High Definition video recorder for making real-time H.264 compressed recordings at resolutions up to 1080i. HD-PVR records component video (YCrCb) from video game consoles and cable TV and satellite set top boxes.

Feature Explanation

CI/CAM

Some cards have a CI/CAM slot. Some examples are shown below:

The CI slot allows you to watch encrypted (pay TV) channels when you insert an appropriate CAM and smart card. It is not possible to watch encrypted channels without a CI slot, CAM and smartcard.

CI Menu

CAMs generally have a service menu that allows you set parental control settings and view information about your subscription, smart card and CAM. If your card supports it, MediaPortal allows you to access the service menu in two ways:

- from the fullscreen TV context menu (F9 or Info/More key)

- from TV-Server Configuration

Multichannel Decoding

Multichannel decoding is the ability to decrypt multiple channels from a single transponder/multiplex with a single tuner. Both the tuner and CAM must support decrypting multiple channels for this feature to work.

Digital Devices tuners support a feature called multidecrypt (MTD) which many people confuse with multichannel decoding. Multidecrypt is the ability for multiple tuners to share a single CAM. Digital Devices cards support multidecrypt, but they do not support multichannel decryption.

Multichannel decoding example:

A single Digital Everywhere FloppyDTV S2 card can decrypt multiple channels from a single transponder with a single CAM.

Multidecrypt example:

A Digital Devices Cine S2 card with its two DVB-S2 tuners can use one CAM to decrypt two channels from any two transponders. Both tuners must be used even if the channels are on the same transponder.

There are no tuners that support both multichannel decoding and multidecrypt.

DiSEqC

DiSEqC is a communication protocol that allows satellite tuners, switches, LNBs, dish motors (positioners), and other related satellite equipment to work together. It is most commonly used by satellite tuners to control a switch or motor that enables you to receive channels from multiple satellites.

The picture below shows a dish with four LNBs. Each LNB is connected to an input on a DiSEqC switch, which is in turn connected to one or more tuners. When the owner of this dish wants to watch a channel, their tuner must use DiSEqC commands to select the correct LNB corresponding with the satellite which broadcasts the channel that the person wants to watch.

DVB-S2

DVB-S2 is the second generation DVB satellite broadcasting standard. It is commonly used to transmit HDTV H.264 channels since the better compression and modulation techniques allow HD channels to be transmitted using the same bandwidth as a normal SDTV MPEG-2 channel.

Changes in the latest release

The following table shows the changes that affect the user interface in the latest version of MediaPortal (final or test release), either within MediaPortal or in the Configuration tool(s). Select the links to view details of the changes. These changes are incorporated into this wiki page once the final stable version is released.

You may sort the table by any of the columns. Note: the Date column displays the date the UI Rellated Change wiki page was created.