PC Card receivers - benefits and features

[TheToad]

Hello all,
I'm considering applying to the financial controller (wife) for a relaxing of the pure strings to purchase a PC card but I'm looking at what all the benefits are.

Some of the benefits are obvious from recording, pauing, rewind, streaming etc but I wonder what other benefits there are. For example, can the card be used to receive data transmissions from weather satellites or othe sources? Are APIs or SKDs available for any of ther cards? How about the cheap cards, are they worth having for an entry level toy?

I'm almost scared to ask but are there any offerings available for Linux ? As a windows application programmer, not sure if I want to step into that arena again!

many thanks in adance

Tony

 

[Topper]

PC card receivers are notoriously problematical when used on motorised systems as they cannot supply the power required to drive a motor.
The days of ' hacking ' systems by card programming are long gone so no freebies to be had to speak of these days, encryption systems are too secure now. As regards weather satellites, I very much doubt it.

 

[Low Profile]

Check out the Skystar 2, but be aware there are 3 variations of it.
(2.3 2.6 & 2.8)
Some are better with Linux than others.
Good cheap cards, but you will probably end up paying a lot more for weather software than for the cards themselves.
For the sake of less then 50 quid they're worth getting just to have a poke around with.
There are plenty of (free) DVB viewing software packages that allow all sort of plug ins; emulators, card sharing etc.
They have decent receivers, the 2.3 (which is quite rare now) also allows hardware blindscan - which is nice if you don't know symbol rates and FEC.

 

[TheToad]

Thanks for the info guys,
I have a Vbox for the motor so that part is covered

Is the hardware blindscan only available on the 2.3 and not the 6 or 8 ?

T

 

[pgh13]

Twinhan is pretty good too. Depending on your taste, there are quite a lot of music programmes - rock and classical to be found on the German FTA channels on Astra1. Slap a DVB-T card or 2 in it and some software with good WAF and you're well on the way to getting a PC allowed in the lounge

 

[Low Profile]

Thanks for the info guys,
I have a Vbox for the motor so that part is covered

Is the hardware blindscan only available on the 2.3 and not the 6 or 8 ?

T

Yes, that's correct.

I think the SS2 was the budget card of choice for many meteorological enthusiasts, but I think you'd get more info from a meteorological forum rather than a general satellite forum.

 

[TheToad]

Skystar 2 rev 2.3 on the way! I'm looking forward to getting it installed and having a play - just need to get the wife to watch terrestrial for a few hours so i can take the cable out and use it on the PC.
No doubt I'll be reading a lot of history in this particular section of the forum over the next few weeks
T

 

[Lazarus]

Looking forward to your reviews .........

 

[Low Profile]

I would recommend DVBdream V1.4i P1 as a viewer (versions 1.5 onwards are not free). Preferably install a Cyberlink video codec and use the Intervideo audio codec. If you have Nero then that codec will decode 4:2:2 feeds (but I would switch back to Cyberlink for normal 4:2:0) or elecard is another solution for 4:2:2 feeds (DVBdream configures graphs for you under options/video).
Download Vplug 2.4.4.0 and S2Emu V1.28 (emulators) and Wincsc V1.40 build 2579 (if you want to access remote cards) then update your (V_plug) emulator files and search for some free servers (for test purposes).
BXS transponder finder is a decent bindscan tool (ALTX also created a blindscan tool, but I'm not sure how compatible it is with current SS2 drivers).
Personally I use Technosat's 4.4.3 driver - as I find this is quite stable and has no major issues.
Google is your friend!

 

[TheToad]

This card keeps locking up and then randomly coming back to life after many reinstallations of the drivers. I have 4.6.0 of the technisat drivers and so far cannot find the 4.4.3 but still looking.

What is the Wincsc ? You also mention free servers, that's that for?

Are there any article that explain what all these things do and more terminology?

many thanks
Tony