[bluewizard]

sparklyballs - In tuner terms your setup is rather like mine. I have 2 dvbs2 and a dbvt. All usb.

Do let us know once you are fully setup how your Apple works. Aswell as my pc downstairs I use a Pi upstairs. Love it, but it is low powered. Would like to hear your feedback on the Apple. Maywell get one.

[JesusOnEez]

JesusOnEez.... Let us know how your install goes. Remember Google is your friend when it come to finding cheap tuners. I really do recommend the PCTV tuner though. The only other thing I can think of is to double make sure your Acer Revo has the grunt to run a s2 card before buying one. The specs of all the cards are on the sites I listed. I don't see why ont though. My little Asrock ION 3D can.

I'm still a little undecided regarding which one to get. As for letting the wider community know how it goes, I plan on doing a detailed blog of the setup which if all goes will will include my experiences getting the XBMC database on my Synology NAS, getting the PVR going and Sickbear/CouchPotato/SABnZBD. Given I'm a beginner with all this, it should hopefully be a decent resource for any other beginners looking at doing a similar setup as I'll detail where I've gone wrong and what settings I've tweaked and so on. It should be pretty lengthy...I have chapters mapped out already.

Not sure which forum I should put it in though...probably general discussion I guess...

[Prof Yaffle]

At the risk of necroposting, I thought I'd update this thread with the facts that...

1. My PCTV stick duly arrived from Germany, and failed to work in any way. With a loud cry of "aha!", though, I re-installed v4l to get rid of TBS' modifications (easy enough to clone, compile and install) - and then the stick worked perfectly.

Well, the only other downside in the experience is all the emails in German I received along the way, and never *really* understanding them properly... it's amazing what you can divine from context...!

2. I contacted TBS about my QBox experiences and - despite the box being nearly two years old - they decided to replace it without hesitation as it clearly had never worked entirely properly. So they swapped it for a newer version of the same box, no questions asked.

So, full marks to TBS for customer service. Okay, so I ended up about ten or twelve quid out of pocket for postage to Bulgaria (for the old unit) and from Singapore (for the replacement), but I can live with that. All I need to do now is work out how to use a brand new TBS tuner given the clear argument it would have with the PCTV unit...

[JesusOnEez]

The PCTV sticks are as rare as rocking-horse poop at the moment. Can't get hold of one for love nor money. Even eBay is a fail, and everything I've read about DVB-S2 is that the PCTV stick is the only one worth trying.

Are you happy with the QBox?

[Prof Yaffle]

The TBS stuff works well enough - my old Qbox's problems aside (such as frying eggs and ultimately dying), enough people get on well with them that I'll dismiss my experience as a duff bit of kit. When it worked, though, it was kind of satellitey, which is the best you can ask for, I suppose!

The problem with TBS is purely one of driver support, and specifically how their drivers interact with anyone else's. If you're running a pure TBS system, you'd be fine; if you're running TBS and something really well supported (e.g. in the kernel or v4l since the dinosaurs roamed the earth), you'd be fine; if you're running TBS and something modern (e.g. a PCTV 290e or 460e alongside it), you'll get problems since the installation of drivers for one will kill off the other.

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PS the PCTV 460e is showing as in stock at play.com as well as on ebay from a German seller.

I also just checked amazon.de, and there are a few there - so they do exist, it's simply that delivery is going to involve a border crossing or two.

[charlie0440]

I'm a little late to this thread. I see most of you are buying USB sticks. I can only assume this is because you are using them with small HTPC, I saw someone mention they were using one with a revo.

I went the other route and got a dual DVB-S2 PCIe and fitted it in my headless server (VDR backend) and use XBMC boxes throughout the house.

Highly recommend this card for linux http://www.l4m-shop.de/product_info.php?...r-6-2.html (had to import it from Germany). I'm sure there are cheaper cards available which work. But it is so cool, you can buy an addon card to add another dual DVB-S2 without using up any more PCIe slots. Take a look at the photos

[JesusOnEez]

I also just checked amazon.de, and there are a few there - so they do exist, it's simply that delivery is going to involve a border crossing or two.

Didn't even think to link there. Thanks...I should have looked harder!

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I'm a little late to this thread. I see most of you are buying USB sticks. I can only assume this is because you are using them with small HTPC, I saw someone mention they were using one with a revo.

I went the other route and got a dual DVB-S2 PCIe and fitted it in my headless server (VDR backend) and use XBMC boxes throughout the house.

Highly recommend this card for linux http://www.l4m-shop.de/product_info.php?...r-6-2.html (had to import it from Germany). I'm sure there are cheaper cards available which work. But it is so cool, you can buy an addon card to add another dual DVB-S2 without using up any more PCIe slots. Take a look at the photos

PCIe cards for DVB-S2 seem to be ten a penny compared to USB sticks, and I can only assume that it's something to do with performance or data transfer rates or something. Unfortunately, the USB stick/external box is my only option as my Lenovo Q190 can't accommodate one of these cards, and my NAS is, well, a NAS, not a headless server that can upgraded in that way (Synology DS212J).

We only have the TV in the living room, so having the Lenovo running DVB-S2 inputs with NextPVR (or something) as well as XBMC hooked directly up to the TV seems the best bet (all networked to the NAS and my router obviously).

I'll be giving the 460e a go though.

[denz13]

I've just purchased this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/DVB-S2-Definitio...B00F5Z6LYO

As it was the only USB DVB-S2 tuner I could easily source in the UK, does anyone have any experience in setting it up in linux (Kodibuntu)?