General observations:
For computers with:
CPU < 1 GHz only Nexus or WinDVB-S in hard mode should be
used. Computer can be used to perform other tasks.
There is not a difference in performance between Nexus and WinDVB-S
1.6 card. The only difference is Nexus comes with
remote and WinDVB-S has s-video connector on board.
1 GHz < CPU < 2 GHz soft card can be used, but
computer should be dedicated to watching/recording TV only.
On non dedicated computer each additional activity, like opening
or closing programs causes received data packets loss/momentary
picture freeze. |
For prices click
Asus A7V333, Athlon 2000+, 512 MB RAM, NVIDIA
GeForce4 MX 440 with AGP8X, default codecs,
Windows 2000 Pro |
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WinDVB-S
1.5 (or Nexus) |
SkyStar
2
(soft mode only) |
VisionPlus
1020
(soft mode only) |
Hard
mode |
Soft
mode |
ProgDVB |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
MyTheatre |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
TSReader |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
CPU usage: |
ProgDVB |
3-5 % |
30-40% |
30-40% |
50-60% |
MT |
4-7% |
60-70% |
70-80% |
80-90% |
Switching channels |
< 1
sec |
5 secs |
5 secs |
7 secs |
FTA |
very
good |
very
good |
very
good |
very
good |
regular signal on ProgDVB |
very
good |
good |
rare
freeze/quick recovery |
occasional
freeze on some channels / no recovery |
regular signal on MyTheatre |
very
good |
very
good |
very
good |
very
good |
PPV on ProgDVB |
very
good |
occasional
freeze on some channels |
occasional
freeze on some channels |
occasional
freeze on all PPV channels |
PPV on MyTheatre |
very
good |
very
good |
very
good |
very
good |
HDTV on ProgDVB |
----- |
freeze
after few seconds |
no
video |
no
video |
Signal strength causing video
freeze/loss |
< 7% |
<
10% |
<
15-20% |
<
20-30% |
Asus A7V266, Athlon 1300, 512 MB RAM, Vodoo,
Cyberlink codecs,
Windows XP |
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Virtual Remote is a missing link in
ProgDVB
evolution.
It is not a free software.
After finding Virtual Remote suitable user is requested to donate $20 to ProgDVB
development or
directly to Virtual Remote's author  |
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Downloads:
Virtual
Remote's major features are:
New in the latest version 4.0:

*** 44 hours guide ***
*** 2 TV Guide instances ***
- watch one provider's TV Guide online and
- another provider's offline
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-
Real time TV Guide:
- change channels from within the guide (double click on channel
No or channel Name)
- favourites list
- selection by categories
- selection by languages
- search titles
- alert: pop-up window reminds about incoming prior selected event
- one click adding event to the Scheduler
- auto refresh every 30 minutes
-
Time shift
-
TV Guide broadcasted over LAN:
- select 'LAN' option and in the client app insert server's IP or
server's computer name
-
TV Guide offline :
- for softcard users (SS1 softmode, SS2, TwinHan) for uninterrupt
viewing
-
Save TVGuide to file
- use 'Save TV Guide on exit' option to browse it offline
-
A/B switch:
- switch between 2 different satellite providers (when using
Diseqc switches)
- or use the switch to turn your equipment on/off
-
Customizable HotKeys:
- the advantage of using VR Hotkeys is that ProgDVB window does not need to have
a focus.
- very useful when using TV window mode.
-
Time synchronizing:
- automatically synchronizes computer clock using NTP (Network/Internet Time Protocol).
- never miss your show.
-
User friendly Scheduler.
-
Scheduled recordings will automatically activate
ProgDVB.
-
Multiple recordings can be saved into different
hard drives.
-
Sleep function.
-
Wake-up with maximum volume.
-
Alert: pop-up window reminds about pre-selected event.
-
Customizable display's font size:
-watch TV Guide on the television screen.
Special
options:
Screenshots (TV Guide):

Screenshots (General):


Note:
There is not need of having automatic A/B switch to take the
full advantage of dual Power On. Let say you watch 2 different signal
providers and each time you swap dish cable and change ProgDVB settings.
Instead of doing that you can:
A. Keep ProgDVB in 2 different folders: make sure that \Modules
subdirectories in both folders contain the same modules.
B. In Virtual Remote setup fill in the General tab required info.
C. Depending on you actual signal feed Power On -->A or Power On
-->B as illustrated above.
Utility options:
1. 'Clear' button: removes all programming from the current window.
2. 'Load' button:
- use it to load (from previously saved
file) and display TV Guide in offline mode (single mouse click)
-use it to display raw data dump file.
(mouse right click on 'Load' button)
3. 'Dump' button:
- use it to save TV Guide in plain text file (single
mouse click )
- use it to create 1.5 MB raw data (pid12) dump file.
(mouse right click on 'Dump' button)
4. Red light: click on it to manually refresh displayed data.
5. 'A/B' switch: it toggles selected ComPort output:
DB 9 ---> pin 7 (RTS) and 5 (GND)
DB 25 ---> pin 4 (RTS) and 7 (GND)

DiSEqC and A/B switch setup:
Please post your comments and suggestions in forum:
http://forums.dvbnetwork.com/viewforum.php?f=12
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