Virgin Cable TV Tuner cards for Media Centre PC?

[alan.surry]

I'm planning to build a media centre PC & need to know is whether or not there are any TV tuner cards specifically designed for Virgin Cable TV service. Alternatively, we may buy the virgin branded hard disk recorder & connect it via Scart to the media centre PC, if there are no tuner cards avaialble.


I am very familiar with PC hardware, having repaired thousands of them, but not very clued up on media centre stuff, so any advice or help on how best to proceed would be very welcome. We will be using the PC to playback MP3's, record TV & burn DVD's fro our old VHS collection.

Many thanks, Alan.

[nichomach]

OK, firstly your Terms & Conditions with the cable service require that you use the set top box provided by Virgin Media to receive their service. There ARE DVB-C cable receivers that you can plug into a PC, but you'd also need a Conditional Access Module compatible with Virgin's smart cards, and there are no approved setups like that - digital everywhere - digital TV cards for PC, Laptop and HTPC do DVB-C tuners and CAMs but even if one were compatible, you'd be breaking your Ts & Cs and you'd be completely unsupported. If it's just time shifting or recording, then the V+ box will do all of that. It'll also output to a DVD recorder, and it's a 1080i upscaler for use with HDTVs. It won't play back your MP3s, and you'd need a separate DVD recorder. That said, as far as that goes (and as far as transferring your VHS tapes), what about one of THESE?

[directhex]

also worth noting, even if you work out which CAM you need and get a DVB-C card, virgin purposefully transmit garbage NIT tables (the tables which map channel data to audio and video streams), making it impossible to actually successfully tune anything without something which has a local valid NIT table. like a virgin set-top box

[weegie.geek]

That's not true at all i'm afraid.

There are plenty of people using "alternative hardware" like DBOX2 or DVB-C tuners without problem.

It's against the terms and conditions of the service as has been mentioned, but it's very possible to use a pci DVB-C tuner with VM.

Not entirely sure if there's support in MCE for it mind you. I know there's pretty good support in the linux MCE alternatives, but there'll no doubt be a fair bit of setting up to do in that case.

[directhex]

That's not true at all i'm afraid.

There are plenty of people using "alternative hardware" like DBOX2 or DVB-C tuners without problem.

It's against the terms and conditions of the service as has been mentioned, but it's very possible to use a pci DVB-C tuner with VM.

Not entirely sure if there's support in MCE for it mind you. I know there's pretty good support in the linux MCE alternatives, but there'll no doubt be a fair bit of setting up to do in that case.

possible, yes. if you overlay your own NIT tables over what is broadcast, plus obtain the correct CAM (nagravision, if you really want to know), plus violate your binding contract with virgin media. in fact, i'm pretty sure i mentioned local NIT overlay, somewhere around "something which has a local valid NIT table"

most people recording cable do so with an analog tuner plugged into a set-top box - e.g. most off-the-shelf dvd recorders suppoet virgin media using this method

[alan.surry]

I reckon we will be better off with the Virgin V+ box & maybe a dedicated PC for buring DVD's & managing the MP3 collection etc. We've got a load of vinyl & a pair of Technics 1210's, so it would seem to make sense to have a system that will cope easily with audio recording as well.

As for the Virgin V+ box, can anyone tell me how easy it is to transfer data from the box to a PC? I understand there's an ethernet port on the rear. What I don't want (if it can be avoided) is to have to playback recorded content on the V+ box in real time to be able to burn it to DVD or transfer it.

Once again, thanks for your help.

Best regards, Alan.

[Jay]

you can't transfer your recordings to a PC unles you play them in real time and even then you will have to do it via scart or coax. When you activate HDMI all other outputs are turned off by the box so it can be a real pain. The RJ45 on the back is for providing low bandwith internet.

[Russtavo]

On this topic, do you think that the new ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner could be made to work with Virgin Media? I'm not savvy when it comes to "NIT Tables" and such like.

I do know that some clever folks have figured out how to workaround the OCUR BIOS problem:
DubDubDub.engadgethd.com/2009/05/12/how-to-install-a-cablecard-tuner-in-your-diy-media-center

According to the setup manual, the only CableCard user settings you might need are:

CableCard Serial Number
Digital Cable Product Key (feely available on the net)
Data ID (ex. 279-947-nnn-nn)
Unit Address (ex. 000-0nnnn-nnnnn-nnn)

Contract and legal issues aside, can it be made to work with Virgin Cable?

[nichomach]

...and can I be the first to say

[nichomach]

OK, seriously? I don't think it'll work, basically because that's an American product designed to work with CableCARD, which is the system that US cable companies were forced to bring in to allow third-party companies' hardware to be used with their service. We don't have that here. You also couldn't use the analogue tuner component either since it's ATSC/NTSC.

[Funkstar]

I am led to believe that Virgin Media use the DVB-C standard. So you would need a DVB-C card, like this:
http://www.digital-everywhere.com/en...sid=1190057723

After that, there is the question of Media Cetner having any support for DVB-C, I have no idea if it does. MediaPortal on the other hand does as far as I know. I would say you'll get a far better response if you ask on their forums, or on the Digital Everywhere forums.

But regardless of that, it is against the Virgin Media Terms and Conditions to use anything other than the supplied set top box.

[Agent]

It can be done. I know someone who had success with: http://www.digital-everywhere.com/en...sid=1190404644

[nichomach]

*cough* See my first post in this thread from 2007? That said, Russtavo asked whether the ATI TV Wonder tuner would work.

[Agent]

*cough* See my first post in this thread from 2007? That said, Russtavo asked whether the ATI TV Wonder tuner would work.

Yes, and I've no idea - I was simply pointing out that other alternatives are available if it doesn't.

Just because the thread was bumped from 2007 doesn't mean we can't try to help the poster.

[Russtavo]

Thank you very much to all qho posted and cleared this up for me