FusionHDTV DVB-T Software, Which is the best version to install? Options

[sirhc]

Learned gentlemen , after reading numerous posts here I decided to take the plunge into digital TV and build myself a HTPC/PVR. I settled on the DViCO FusionHDTV DVB-T Plus as the best HDTV card to use.

My system is: ASUS A7V8X-MX, Sempron 2600+, 256MB PC3200, Sapphire ATI Radeon 9250 128MB, DViCO Fusion HDTV DVB-T Plus PCI, Seagate Barracuda ATA IV 40GB (to be upgraded to 160GB later), Windows XP Pro SP2 (clean install).

I like the nice clean look of MediaPortal MCE skin and WebScheduler so I'm hoping to use them as front ends.

My supplied FusionHDTV DVB-T Plus software is Fusion HDTV version 2.80 (dated 20 Nov 2004) but I see that FusionHDTV3.0RC1(Web) is now available from the DViCO website. Before I spend many hours downloading the 61MB 3.0RC1 file, which version would you advise me to use? The many posts here about problems with 3.0RC1 worry me a bit and suggest that I might be better off sticking with the supplied version 2.80. Right or wrong?

Many thanks in advance for your advice and sorry if this has been answered previously. If so please just point me in the direction.

[Guest_icarus420_*]

Personally I've had a lot of probems with the RC1 version of the software. Having the software not recognising a channel when the signal checker says there is 85% signal strength.

I currently use the beta 3 version of the software and am having no problems with it at the moment.

The FusionHDTV download page doesn't currently list version 2.80 of the software but i am assuming that it doesn't contain timeshifting. If you require features such as this, you may want to consider upgrading the software.

PS. On the FusionHDTV download page if you scroll down to below the added features it gives you the option of downloading the PCI type drivers only, this is 30MB, it would save you time downloading the USB drivers that you don't need.

[mitty]

Also, note that the 61 MB version is for PCI and USB. If you check the download page there is a PCI only version which is only around 30 meg or so.

[sirhc]

Thanks for the advice. I will get the Beta 3 PCI version but I was thinking that it might be worthwhile to first try the ver. 2.80 (wonder why that isn't on their website?) to see what it can do.

My only experience with TV cards to date has been with a LifeView FlyVideo 3000 which worked quite well (as long as I didn't demand too much of it).

I'll make a Ghost image of my clean XP install then install 2.80 and see what gives. If anyone is interested I can report back my experiences. If 2.80 is unsatisfactory I can restore the clean XP and then try Beta 3. There were numerous posts when Beta 3 was released about problems with receiving SBS. Were they ironed out?

I have a feeling that I might be in for many hours of frustration with this little project so all advice much appreciated.

[Guest_icarus420_*]

There were numerous posts when Beta 3 was released about problems with receiving SBS. Were they ironed out?

I couldn't get SBS on the RC1 software, there was 85% signal strength but the software could not get a picture. When i rolled back to the beta 3 software, SBS could be picked up again (original drivers for my card were version 2.70).

[Guest_ChompOnRice_*]

im sitting happily on the v3 beta 1's at the moment. i tried beta 2, they fugged up majorly, and i havent tried any later releases since!

a shining example of consumer confidence, aint i?

[sirhc]

Thanks for the replies guys. This is what makes me a bit wary of being too adventurous. As an ageing baby-boomer working his brain flat out to keep up with technology, (built a crystal radio when I was a kid ) I'm planning to go slowly. The ver 2.80 software installed without any hassles and I'm now receiving a zillion channels (well, all of the major ones I think, and a few others as well) and the signal strength seems to be good and strong (have line of sight to the transmitter) so I'm now at the base of what appears to be a very steep learning curve! This new field of digital TV is certainly more complex than the old PAL analogue. Looks like fun! If all goes well with 2.80 I'll make a Ghost image of the XP partition and try 3.0RC1 and see if I have the same problem with SBS that icarus420 had. Cheers!