• expired

Pinnacle 3010ix PCTV Dual Hybrid Pro TV Tuner DVB-T $30 Landed! (Now about $40)

510

Dual HD TV tuner capture card PCI-e For PC.
my favorite functions are capture directly to DVD (with Pinnacle software), record two shows at once, or watch one and record another

product specs on the link: (snarfed from xpmediacentre)
PDF on the card: http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PressKits/EMEA/PCTV/North/Q&APinn…

dual HD tuner turn your PC into a PVR.
2x HDTV support (Australia only) requires an Intel® Pentium®D processor

I know a lot of people don't like ebay because of limited supply but this guy has hundreds and thats all he seems to be selling and for 20 bux + 10 postage its too good to miss been looking for this exact same thing but most of the same spec cards are 200+
with all his positive feedback looks good.

keep in mind that its pci-e not PCI/USB thats seems to be the only catch, (ie can't use on a laptop, different to PCI) it uses 1x PCI-e, (not the graphics slot, although it also fits in that if you have 2)

mine has now arrived,
I've been updating the link, with new batch, this guy sells them fairly constantly.
Yes this is HD, yes this is a dual DIGITAL tuner. (each tuner is digital AND analogue)

7 second issue hasnt been a problem in AU… (see below comments) i have not experienced these problems a typical channel change takes 2 seconds.

received my card in the morning before work, had 5 minutes to set it up and test.
my thoughts with 5 minutes:
windows 7 64 picked it up right away no intervention required.
no 8 second channel change delay
media centre noted that it had a dual tuner installed.
i didn't plug the audio internal cable in and sound worked fine with the digital tuners, didn't worry about checking if it worked for analogue.
I won't be using analogue except for the svideo connector
problem i've found is that when i record i get a signal issue on the channel i'm recording, didn't have enough time to investigate. Edit: upon further investigation found a compatible driver link provided.

for 30 bux you cant really go wrong!

blackgold compatible new drivers. with thanks to blurn
http://shop.blackgold.tv/epages/BT3159.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=…

Grab these ones: I've only tried the 64 bit ones, update your windows driver.
BGT3540 Driver 6.0.0.49 64 bit Vista 64, Windows 7 (Windows 7 Limited pre-release support)

first batch (now sold out)
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190330…

second batch (now sold out)
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Pinnacle-PCTV-Dual-Hybrid-TV-Tuner-Re…

third batch current + 5 AUD but still an absolute bargain.
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Pinnacle-PCTV-Dual-Hybrid-TV-Tuner-Re…

another batch:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Pinnacle-PCTV-Dual-Hybrid-TV-Tuner-Re…
bit more expensive again but with the strong AUD still only 30 bux plus cheap post…

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closed Comments

      • under a week was great postage. ordered tuesday or wednesday arrived monday.

  • Well done wisc …. that is good news for those of us with win7-64….I look forward to my tuners arriving.

    How many seconds does it take to change a channel?

    • +1

      2 seconds, about standard for digital.
      thats from when i hit the keyboard to when its a good picture.
      doubt there would be any issue with other versions of windows.

      • Thanks….That is good…any less than 3 seconds is good in my expereince (had about 5 tuners now!). Hopefully I can get two cards working side by side without issue.

        • dont get why youd need two of these bad boys! thats four tuners/channels… think there is a registery change you need to make to get more than one tuner working (though that may only be required for win xp 2005 mce)

          nah these cards are fine. could even be a bit longer without a major issue.

  • Four tuners is quit common. Most regulars on the xpmedia center forum run two dual tuners (ie 4 tuners total). Some people in fact run 6! From experimenting with 3 usb tuners and 1 pci tuner I know W7 can support at least 4 tuners without any reg hacking.

    Anyway….I look forward to firing up these "bad boys"….and all going well I may have to declare this listing as the bargain on the year, especially considering I was about to buy $360 on two Hauppauge duals!

    Cheers.

    • Bargain of the year vote from me :) These things are so damn expensive which is why I've been using the USB DVB-T sticks for a while. They work well but I like to have everything enclosed.

  • Bah my signal strengh issue is back NFI why. was working last night.. let me know how you guys go, will try different drivers tonight as im certian its a windows driver issue.
    http://www.quantexzone.com/guides/pinnacle_3010ix.htm
    more info…

    I've found when you install another driver (reboot as needed) then change back to the default driver it seems to work fine until next reboot which is very dodgy

    • Yikes! not good.

  • Hey guys.
    I need some suggestions on the best indoor antenna for this card.

    • Your success with an indoor antenna will largely depend on your proximity to your local transmission tower. If your close enough, and the room that you have the antenna in is near a window facing the direction of the transmission point, you can actually just use a pair of "rabbit ears". This used to work fine for m when I lived in Melb. Now I'm in Syd, no indoor antenna (even amplified UHF antenna) would allow me to receive a digital signal strong enough to power a dvb-t card.

      Your best option would be to trial an antenna from dick smith…..they have a 14 day no questions asked return policy if you don't like a product. Good luck!

      • Oh cheers for that.
        I might give that a go, if not i will try and get a run off the roof top aerial

  • Just bought one…thanks

  • hi guys, just to confirm. this cannot be used on a laptop right? because it looks really good but I only have a laptop.
    Might get a USB Tuner then I guess.

    • nope as its an internal PC card.

      there are dual tuner USB cards that ive seen around, one of those may be better suited.

  • Wisc, any developments on the driver issue? Cheers.

    • seems to work when I do something to it, eg move the tuner card to another slot or change drives then change them back however, however, after a reboot it always gives me the signal error/issue, then i cant use the dual tuner, single tuner seems to work ok. waiting on someone else to get the card to provide feedback, i got a feeling its my machine… just dont get why it works sometimes.
      hence the constant checking of this thread!

  • Hopefuly the first batch of cards (post your ozbargain submission on the 9th) won't be too far away, and then there will be 100+ expereinces to share.

    Are you running W7 RC or RTM ?

    • went legit so RC :D found a driver that is compatible. but they do the same thing.

      • Damn….Will report back once I receive my cards. Hopefuly there will be others attemtping to install this into a W7 system also.

        • it ok just found the blackgold one now,
          the one in the previous post was the same driver just had a different label, be back after a reboot and will edit this post.
          scanning channels….
          looks good… reboot to confirm.
          GOLD ON THE BLACKGOLD!
          see origional post for more details. numerous reboots all good.

  • FYI guys, linux seems to be a no go for this card/chipset. Looks like I'm installing windows again.

    • cant find any drivers? try other brands, anything thats compatible with this, the blackgold or
      NXP SAA7162 or
      Blackgold 3540
      many of drivers are compatible with this chipset.

      • http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/DVB-T_PCIe_Cards

        Looks like nothing has eventuated yet. Doesn't bother me too much. MediaPortal has a pretty sweet setup with TV. Going to have a pair of these as well as a couple of DVB-S tuners in one central box. Hopefully I can get foxtel working with the dvb-s cards under windows (I have a legit subscription).

        • let us know if the foxtel works! i tried with my old tv card…didnt work

  • Received my cards this at 7ish this morning (SYD)…..I would imagine others who ordered after this post by Wisc should be receiving about now also.

    Only had a chance to throw a card into my Vista desktop…. works perfectly…good channel change speed, and only needed one antenna to power both tuners.

    I'm gathering it is not possible to us media centers FM radio function unless you preallocate one of the tuners to analogue during the media center setup process?

    Anyway, I look forward to running another two of these cards side by side in my W7 HTPC machine tonight.

    Wisc, are your issues now solved post installation of the blackgold drivers?

    • yep, media centre now has no problems with the card. I've let the ebay seller know about the drivers too.
      Ill be interested to see how you go with windows 7.
      I think hybred means that the tuners can do both, analogue and digital, just not at the same time. ie if your not recoding two channels you can use one tuner for analogue, dont think you preallocate although im not sure as im only using digital.
      Happy++ easy steep to do no major dramas, i gave him all five stars, (one of the first ive given it too)

      can't believe how quickly it got here.

      • I looked like under vista media center you needed to prespecify how the tuners were to be used (analogue or digital), so you would only be able to record two digital or two analogue. I suspect the proprietary Pinnacle software would allow you to watch/record one of each. This doesn't worry me, I have no intention of watching analogue!

        Yes, the shipping was fast…the item was only posted Friday afternoon UK time.

      • I have items from Sydney take longer to arrive, I haven't received mine yet but it might be waiting for me when I get home, looks like it will be here before the end of the week anyway.

        Does it arrive regular post or registered?

        • regular … I've also received mine today

          • @monkp: let us know how you go and if you need the aditional drivers… my understanding is that its only 7 that you may or may not have issues with.

        • just normal i think, but not by the post man bike, its a carrier.. he just left it at my doorstep and i got it on the way to the bike, but couldnt resist and went out and installed it. postage was 3 pound but he puts it in a padded envalope (which is where the other $ goes)with cardboard on either side so its pretty secure.

          as i said, absolute steal at that price. yeah got it faster than i get some local deliveries!

  • Just got mine out of the letterbox (south west Sydney)
    THanks alot to wisc for posting.
    Now for the install on XP

    • ahh xp should be a peice of cake, let us know how you go and how you find the card and software…

      surprised by the activity on this post it didnt score more than 45 as he sold a few hundred so people must have thought it a good bargain.

      guess its a specialty item though no to everyones taste.

      • Well im actually having a bit of problem with the supplied software.
        It just sits there saying that installation is finishing.
        So im currently downloading the most recent version of TVCenter pro and hopefully that one will work fine.

        Apart from that, all the drivers required were on the cd and was installed easily to the pc

      • +1

        It is a bit of a speciality / enthusiast item but those who know what they are truly appreciate the bargain :)

        When you're giving away free cake or coffee it's easy to hit 100+ votes, but a lot of less savvy people or those with no need will simply ignore this even though they are worth ~$150pp and this is $30-35 delivered.

      • I'm having all sorts of trouble getting it to work with DVScheduler and my DNTV card.

        Both cards use the same chipset, so when I installed the card, it used those drivers, but I couldn't get anything to work.

        After un-installing both cards, and then re-installing the Pinnacle drivers, I can get all 4 tuners to work with their respective software (using PinP), but only seem to be able to get 1 tuner from each card to work in DVScheduler.

        Anyway, the nights recording sessions have started, so I'll play some more tomorrow.

        • try installing each cards drivers sepratly by going to the card selecting update driver and picking the driver you want to install.

          does DVScheduler support more than one card?
          what version of windows are you running?

          • @wisc: Yeah, got it all working once I installed the Blackgold drivers.

            I decided to add 1 card at a time and then rename the tuners in DVScheduler (which happily runs with 2 cards - might try 3 cards one day!) as all 4 tuners have the same name (because they run the same chipset).

            All is working fine in DVScheduler now for the short test I did.

            One thing I did note while changing cards, my DNTVLive! card has a later version of the 7162 chip than the Pinnacle cards.

  • Mine turned up today and I couldn't be more happy with it! :)

    Installed the card, fired up the system (Win7 Ultimate RTM), detected the card and automatically installed the drivers for me, nil issues! Went to Media Centre, it asked me to set up the region/channel details, minimal input required, all auto detected, scan found both tuners and 25 channels (took about 8mins)! All done, watched some TV, all channels worked fine, no channel change lag noted (about 1-2s max, same as my Strong STB), timeshift, pause play & record all working fine (only 1 tuner tested though). Couldn't have been easier, and I'm stoked! ;)

    wisc, you are the man! ;)

    • good to hear you dont have the issue with the recording if you recorded for longer than a minute the problem would have become evident.
      im gonna get another one im gonna build a media centre in the future and will use it for that.
      in the mean time ill use it as a quad tuner :D

      windows 64 bit or 32?

      • 64bit dude! I'll give it more of a go record wise tomoz, I'll schedule a few programs & see how that goes, fingers crossed it continues to behave! ;)

        Quad tuner, lol, now that's hardcore! :)

        [update] First 1hr scheduled program finished recording fine, auto switched to second channel & commenced 2nd scheduled flawlessly - will update again in the AM (again, all under Win7 with basic drivers and Windows MC!) :)

        • Great to hear it's working fine in W7.. glad I didn't hesitate and bought it before the price rise (however minimal it is).

          Now to sell the USB DVB-T tuners I have lying around the house.

        • Update on the update, all scheduled programs recorded successfully; 1x 1hr, 1x 5hr, & 1x 30mins! Again, I only used a single tuner for these, but all on different channels!

          Full steam ahead! :)

  • wow just received mine, fast postage!

    by the looks of the comments, it seems that installing this card into vista MC shouldn't require any extra drivers… is that right?

    and if i run into problems, i should install the blackgold drivers?

    cheers

    • yeah pretty much, but photonbuddy(XP) and myself the only one so far thats experienced any problems so you should be pretty right to just plug it in and use it with vista.

      • My issue was an odd one, as I could get all 4 tuners (2 dual tuner cards) working fine with the supplied software for each card, but DVScheduler was having issues.

        The issue was odd, because I could only access 2 tuners, but it didn't matter if they were both from 1 card, or 1 from each card.

        I think it may be a quirk on my system (just as you suspected with yours) that just need to be handled the right way to get it running.

  • takes so long to get to melbourne

    edit: got it! well got one of the 2, thanks wisc

    • cool let us know how you go with it, interested to see if anyone else has problems.

    • woohoo made two pages.

  • Glad to hear everyone are enjoying their cards … My experimentation has stalled somewhat due to an issue I was not expecting.

    Rust.

    Yep, my cards are rusty. :(

    Waiting an a reply from seller.

    • Yep, my cards are rusty. :(

      EEEK! That's a deal-breaker for me!

      • Indeed….Seller has confirmed I'm not the only one reporting rust.

        • wow! At least he's honest about it.
          Wonder where he sources these cards from??
          Sending them back to the UK isn't going to be fun for ya …

          • @agoodtip: he's seemed fairly good in my dealings with him. even if they are rusty do they still work?

            try wiping it off with metho or shellite, might not affect the actual card specially if you get all the rust off…

  • Oh, thats no good with a rusty tuner.
    Well my dad is so impressed with the tuner, im gonna grab him one for his computer

  • I have a Hauppauge HVR-220 (PCI-E dual tuner PCI-E) & a DVICO Fusion HDTV (PCI single tuner). My current setup is with an indoor antenna plugged into the DVICO and looped out via it's RF output into the Hauppauge. This actually works ok, but only gives me 3 tuners.
    I would like to get 4 tuners working, but I understand that the Pinnacle, like the Hauppauge does not have an RF output. Will I need some sort of amplified splitter , to feed a separate signal to each card?

    • you can get splitters for a couple of bux, so its the least of your worries, yeah easiest way to do it.

      Edit, i picked up a splitter today from my local hardware store 7 bux, one of those external ones. 1 - 4 splitter, two going into my PC one into the TV in the same room… PC is in the bedroom at the moment so 2 lines into the PC (1 for each card, now quad tuner)

  • I've received the card yesterday, after playing around changing/update different drivers I still cannot find any of the 9 digital channels using both the WMC Vista & DVBviewer. I use the same roof antenna that works perfectly with a Leadtek USB DVB-T dongle so I am wondering if anyone else have the same issue?

    • EXACTLY the same issue. I received mine yesterday, installed (Win 7, 64bit) and drivers seemed to install automatically and card was detected by both MCE and DVBViewer software. But it just does not receive anything! Tried the Blackgold drivers but they made no difference. Tested antenna signal with my USB DVB-T receiver and that worked fine as it always has. It seems that the card kind of tunes in when using the channels that were scanned using the USB stick, but no image or anything comes up. And when trying to scan from scratch, it just does not find anything. At the moment I don't have another system with PCI-E to test the card, but I am seriously suspecting that it is faulty.

      • I can see all the other digital channels, including the regional channels, it just doesn't seem to be able to find any of the 9 digital channels.

        • Ah, I somehow thought that you meant "any of the nine available digital channels" and didn't actually think whether there is nine of them or not. Well then our problems are different indeed. That does not unfortunately resolve my problem in any way. Does anyone know of a good software that would show the true received signal strength?

  • ok so i setup both my cards and besides from an intial set back with one of the cards (wasnt the cards fault) everything is working great. the problem i had with it was that it didnt pick up the channels on one of the cards but Windows Media Centre picked up the tuners so just changed the cheapo cable to a proper one and everything worked fine

  • From the shipping confirmation email to delivery, how long did it take for everyone to receive their card?

    I got confirmation on monday and haven't received anything yet. I don't mind waiting, I just hope I'm not one of the unlucky recipients of the rusty version.

    • about a week, i wouldnt worry till about tuesday.

  • Could ash2000 or someone with a rusty card confirm whether the card is working at all, and can it receive all the channels? I would never thought of a rust problem with a new card, but now it's confirmed as a problem I would better check mine. It's most probable that the rusty circuit/contact causes a degradation of signal from the antenna. I'll advise after checking mine this evening.


    OK, checked my card only a few tiny spots on the steel enclosure. So I thought maybe Nine digital is down for today. Google found this:
    http://www.theage.com.au/digital-life/hometech/nine-flicks-t…
    New Nine, Digital TV More No Go Than Go - Smarthouse
    7 Aug 2009 … The new Channel Nine digital TV channel “Go !” is more no go, than Go for thousands of consumers who when switching to the channel found …

    As a result, on DVBviewer I did a complete scan, not just the free to air, of the entire frequency range and found Nine as well as GO.

    On Windows Media Center I deleted all existing channels and scanned again, only then NINE & GO appear.

  • hey guys, got the card and installed easily on vista, using it in VMC with dual tuners

    just wondering, what program should i use to get a program guide? the microsoft one mentions that it does not support my location (QLD)

    cheers

    • Download the Microsoft VMC TV-Pack 2008 and you will get proper EPG data so you don't have to muck around with other programs.

      Or, you can use Free*EPG which is a free (donation-ware) alternative to the above method.

      Alternatively, Windows 7 will support EPG data out of the box.

  • cool thx cyssero, i installed VMC tv pack 2008, and got proper EPG data, but now ONE HD doesn't load up (fragmented picture, lagging). It loaded up before installing the tv pack 2008.

    has anyone experienced that on VMC?

    cheers

  • some reason i'm using windows 7 but can't download the data. It says data is unavailable

    • download what data, your ging to have to be a bit more specific?

      the EPG? you dont need it in windows 7 it gets it from the stations your watching.

      just ignore the message and watch TV per normal. the only problem with the free one you have to watch the channel for about 30-1 min to get the weeks data. works fine for me.

  • After a few days with this card it's working sweet on Windows 7 and Windows Vista. Might stick with VMC for now though as it works a lot better on lower end systems (my HTPC only has x1250 onboard gfx, works fine in VMC).

    I think VMC + TV Pack is the way to go!

  • Received mine, put into media center. Clean install of Windows 7 64x RTM.. Card got drivers through windows update. Opened WMC scanned, picked up every channel and radio station perfectly. About 2 second delay between changing channels, which is nothing really. Records programs through EPG without a hitch. This is an awesome tuner. Not a single problem. I'm bloody stoked. A couple of mates have bought some now, hopefully they have similar experiences.

    Thanks very much wisc!!
    It's not very often you pick up a cheap tuner, that actually works how it should. :)

    Now; to figure out how to get my computer to sleep and wake up to record programs for me..

  • Looks like somebody bought 32 of them and now he's all sold out :(

    • ill keep an eye out and update the post if he adds another batch. Im pretty sure everyone who would have gotten one from this post has gotten one now.

      Damn love this tuner.

    • i will have more soon
      regards
      jamal

  • got my second one today, four programs recording right off the bat, figured my inital problem may have been cause i was running with the windows seven origional drivers, there is a june update on windows update, I dont think my system was set to pick up these drivers for some reason.

    however im pretty happy with the black gold drivers for no so ill just let it be.

    oh btw no issues with rust on either card was tempted to spray it with silicon or some electronic stuff incase its suseptiable to it, but think ill leave it.

  • Mine seems to be DOA - nothing shows up in device panel and I've even got someone else to test it out for me to confirm.

    Has anyone else had any problems? I think I might still try to get a replacement sent (even if I have to pay postage costs) as it should be an awesome card….

    • have u put a antenna in?

      • Having the antenna in or not should not make any difference as to whether is shows up in the device manager. You can try wiggling the card a bit and pushing it in more, just to make sure that's not the fault. Although having someone else test it too sounds like that can't be it. I had a faulty card also. Mine is recognised fine, and analog tuner works, but nothing on the digital side of things. The seller has promised to send me another one, which I really hope will work.

        • as an update for mine, mine have disapeared from the control pannel NFI why. then after a few reboots one or the other will show up again… i got a feeling it could have something to do with power, maybe they need a bit more.. first time it happened i unplugged it and replugged it in and it reappeared.. this time there are none in there… odd as they where working fine for quite a while now they seem to not be showing, dont have another motherboard with PCIe so cant really test if they show up in another system.
          Edit: bumped up the PCIe voltage to 1.54 from 1.5 and wham both of them showing again… weather or not thats a coincidence ill find out in the next few days…
          Edit: nope one has gone again :S

  • 4th batch
    http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Pinnacle-PCTV-Dual-Hybrid-TV-Tuner-Re…

    Price is now $3-4 increased (around $40 delivered). Increase twice since original price, looks like the seller start getting greedy.

    • oh comeon 40 bux for this card is still pretty sweet. 25 bux was stuipidly cheap!

      thanks for finding these ill update the main link.
      edit can no longer update the main thread…

    • I ordered 2 and it costed me $37.5 shipped each. Looks like the exchange rate is also better now than 2 weeks ago. Greedy - may be, but not as much as the ones that are flogging on the ebay right now!

      • then vote it positive i wanna see if i can get over 50+ :D

        • I will, when I receive it.

          PS: As I understand you cannot go around asking for votes in here!

  • I'm very interested in that s-video input on this card for capturing from analogue sources.
    I want to archive some old vhs/beta tapes.
    Can anybody (wisc?) confirm that it works ok? Thanks.

    • you know i havent yet tried it as i havent had the need. not sure if i have a program that will even use it.

      if your that keen on trying it before you buy it ill download another program and test it for you if you like….

      • +1

        ill download another program and test it for you if you like….

        that would be wonderful!

        • any luck, wisc?

          I've jut been reading on another forum about this card and apparently it won't fit in my mobo:
          http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1279763&p…

          I have the p35c-ds3r

          • @agoodtip: sorry for the delay downloaded DB viewer but you need to buy that software so couldn't test it… haven't got much installed on my PC.

            have you only got 1 PCI-e? looks like a few others have got it in without too many problems…

            few people have had a few issues but most of them have been overcome. for the price its worth buying it even if there is some risk involved…

            • @wisc: fair enough.

              Looks like he's out of stock again.

              Next lot will probably be dearer. At the same time, the AUD is getting stronger :)

  • I bought 2 of these cards(7 days from UK to Sydney). Both installed, no problems. Only complaint would be that the jiffy-bag packaging was a bit thin. That said my cards were 100% (all new & sealed)
    BTW, in regards to the previous posters fears of not fitting his/her motherboard, I have a GIGABYTE P35-DS3P and have sucessfully fitted 2 Pinancle cards. (with a big 9600GT in the middle)
    Anyone know any software that can show signal strength for these cards ? . I miss my old Fusion Signal checker app.

    • the software that comes with should show it somewhere? can't remember if ive seen it anyway as i just use media centre….

      yeah mine have been running strong for a while now… even since i put another PCI-e card in (a raid controller for some reason) they haven't been disapearing.

  • Did everyone use the tvcenter pro 4.91 that was supplied or did you download the latest from ftp://ftp.pctvsystems.com/TV/application/TVC_5.4.1_ISO.zip ?

    • nah, does that one work with windows 7? would love to record direct to DVD… i just use windows media center which is pretty awesome and easy to use… bit simple but gets the job done if you have a large hard drive.

  • Has anyone managed to unlock the H.264 Decoding (MP4)and PSP mode recording features?

    • You need a 3Ghz processor or higher. If you do the benchmarking in the options, it will tell you that. As for Ipod/PSP, no idea why that isn't activated.

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