irene Wrote:Hi Kevin,
You should connect the dish directly to TBS6981 card. It won't work if you connect the dish to a receiver ( I think you are talking about a normal STB receiver) and then to the TBS6981 card.
TBS6981 card can working excellently for freesat.
Here is some additional matters for your reference: TBS6981 is a dual tuner card, which allows you to receive 2 frequncy at the same time. Then, If you just split the sat cable by a switch, you can only receive 2 Vertical frequency, or 2 Horizontal frequency at the same time. It does not allow to receive a vertical frequency and a horizontal frequency Synchronously. Because they will fight in a LNB. But, if you use a dual LNB, you can do that, a vertical frequency and a horizontal frequency simultaneous.
Best Regards
Irene
Hi Irene,
Thanks very much for the prompt and clear advice, it's answered my question prefectly
In that case i'll buy the TBS6981 and connect it directly to the dish.
One question on the rest of your advice, i'm not familar with horizontal or vertical frequencies. What advantage is there to being able to receive a horizontal frequency and vertical frequency synchronously? As a guess, are some channels on a vertical and some on a horizontal frequency (meaning with a single LNB I won't be able to watch a vertical frequency channel whilst recording a horizontal frequency channel)? Or is it something else?
If you don't mind, i'd just like to get a sanity check on what i'm planning on doing. As I said, i'm getting a dish installed in order to view the subscription free channels on Freesat. I'll connect the dish to the 6981 in my pc (thanks Irene) and then use Window's Media Center to watch and record tv (pc is connected to a HDTV via HDMI cable). I want to be able to get the few HD channels that are available on Freesat, and use Windows Media Center to record programmes for me to watch later. All sound ok?
If I get a dual LNB (not sure what that is but the guy installing my dish said he can do that) does it have two cables which connect to two ports on the 6981, or will I need something like the switch you mentioned to split the cable (or is the switch only required for single LNB)?
Also, I know I have a spare PCI-Express slot for the 6981, but does it need to be connected to the power supply?
Thanks in advance for any help.
Regards,
Kevin