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Crystal HD Decoder Boards

Broadcom BCM970012 and BCM970015 Crystal HD card boards can be installed in the Apple TV’s mini-PCIe slot as a replacement for the Broadcom BCM4321 wireless card. These boards enable OpenELEC to decode H.264 video content using a dedicated hardware decoder chip instead of software decoding H.264 using the main system CPU. The standard Apple TV box will handle software-decoding of SD and standard profile 720p content but the 1GHz CPU chokes on higher profile 720p and all 1080p content unless you spend many (many) hours painstakingly re-encoding videos with tools like Handbrake. Even then the CPU is typically running at 90-100% during playback and you can expect dropped frames and stuttering during fast panning shots. With a BCM970015 Crystal HD decoder card installed and decoding offloaded from the system CPU the Apple TV is capable of playing all but the most challenging of 1080p content with the system CPU load peaking around 45-50%. (continue reading…)

TBS, a professional PC TV card manufacturer, has released a new USB DVB T2 tuner box. This is a dual tuner USB TV box which is compatible with the advanced DVB T2 transmission technology being used for Freeview HD in UK, or Italy, Sweden and many other European countries. This DVB T2 USB TV box makes a feature of the Freeview HD support but also says ‘for standard DVB-T Freeview too. With USB slot, it is more friendly for laptop users.

The TBS5280 has with two terrestrial tuners available on board. That means you can record one channel while viewing another Freeview HD channel. The tuner also has a built in IR receiver for the supplied remote control.  There are rare choices for DVB T2 card, especially for USB slot. The price is US$116.99 , each tuner for $58.99. It might be a little expensive but acceptable. Here is a test in Window Media Center. It does work properly in0 Window Media Center and receive the Freeview channels in high definition without any clash. (continue reading…)

Some of Windows Media Center remotes have the ability to control other hardware in addition to the Media Center. The most common one is the Microsoft MCE Remote Control. On this one you can program the “TV”-button and the Volume-button. Most likely you would want to control the ON/OFF-function on your TV and the volume on your amplifier. (continue reading…)