2xTBS6284

[gjsearle74]

Hi,

Just ordered one of your quad tuners. I'm currently using W7 media centre 64 bit with 4 extenders running off of the main pc; has anyone tried using 2 quad tuners in one machine, as ideally 6 tuners regularly get used in my house?

Thanks

[CyberSimian]

has anyone tried using 2 quad tuners in one machine, as ideally 6 tuners regularly get used in my house?

I currently have one TBS6284 operating in my HTPC, and was planning to add another. However, my HTPC is suffering some problems at the moment, so I have not yet installed a second TBS6284.

I have used 7 DVB-T standard definition tuners in my HTPC in the past (not TBS products), and that worked fine (although I do not use extenders).

I should add that the problems that I am experiencing are related to a new graphics card that I have just purchased, and not to the TBS6284. (It takes 90 seconds for the HTPC to enter sleep state (S3), whereas my existing graphics card takes only 4 seconds; I am pretty sure that this is a problem with the drivers for the graphics card.)

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

[gjsearle74]

Hope you get your gpu sorted.

Might have to bite the bullet and get a second card. Currently running 3 dual tuners, but not happy with the quality, hence upgrading to the quad.

Been testing the card and am very happy with the results to date; much better quality (less artifices) and quicker channel switching that my other manufacturer tuners.

Will report back on my experiences when I get the second card installed, unless you beat me to it!

[CyberSimian]

Will report back on my experiences when I get the second card installed, unless you beat me to it!

I have just installed a second TBS6284 card in my HTPC. There is one oddity that I have noticed (not necessarily related to having two 6284 cards in one PC), but I will describe that in a new thread.

My primary setup currently uses Vista, so no support for high definition TV. However, using the "MCE Tuner Extender" tool I was able to set up all 8 tuners on the two TBS cards for use in Windows Vista Media Center. Eight simultaneous recordings? No problem!

In another partition on the disk I have a trial version of Windows 7 (not activated yet). Using the "Tuner Salad" tool I was able to set up all 8 tuners for use in Windows 7 Media Center. And, of course, this time I was able to receive the high-definition channels on Freeview. I will moving to Windows 7 as my primary setup after I have done a clean re-install.

The TBS cards have "feed through" for the co-axial aerial feed, but I decided not to use that. My previous setup used 4 tuner cards (3 duals plus one single, giving 7 DVB-T tuners), and none of them had co-axial feed-through. So I already had a 4-outlet aerial amplifier available, and decided to use that for the two TBS cards. This ensures that all tuners really do receive exactly the same level of signal.

The only disappointing aspect is that in order to get a usable system I had to adopt "plan C"; I could not get either "plan A" or "plan B" to work. I will give details in the thread about "wake from sleep".

-- from CyberSimian in the UK