FAQ

In a nutshell, what is a DVB card?
A DVB card, can, among other uses, replaces a satellite receiver. With available software, you can get all features offered by a regular receiver, even use your DVB card as a PVR(Personal Video Recorder), since DVB cards help schedule and record what you receive.


Is it legal to own a DVB card?
Yes, very much so. DVB cards are in essence data cards. Their main use is to receive information from the Internet or other types of communications via satellite transmission. Take gas stations for example: many of them have a satellite dish pointed to a satellite to receive information from the head office. More often than not, the PCI cards receiving this information are DVB cards. Of course, receiving free-to-air television from almost all satellites is also a nice bonus.

It is illegal to decrypt encrypted channels from any source. DVB cards cannot be inserted into your PC straight out of the box and watch Pay-Per-View movies, for instance. They can only receive what is not encrypted, or if you have the proper Conditional Access Module(CAM) from your satellite provider, receive authorized channels you purchased.


Can I use it to decrypt encrypted channels?
No. These cards are for data transmission, whether downloads from the Internet, audio/video, or other data typs. If any signal you receive is encrypted, nothing in what we provide can decrypt encrypted signals.


What advantages do these DVB cards have?
Well convenience of not having to purchase a Personal Video Recorder(PVR: a satellite receiver with a hard disk), for one. Another, on some models, is that you can use your existing antenna cable, and connect your DVB card between your dish and your regular receiver, saving you the hassle to run a second feed from your dish. There is one thing to mention here: you can use your receiver or your dvb card, not both at once: this is because if you watch a channel on the same polarity, you will loe reception.


What exactly do I need to receive satellite on my PC?
The basic requirements are You need a dish antenna, a PC, and a DVB card. Just to prove the point, you could go camping with the USB version of the nova connected to a 1Ghz laptop or more, and a dish antenna connected to the DVB card and watch feeds from any satellite you are pointed at.


Can I use my regular subscription card and use it with a DVB card?
Yes, but be aware that the many adapters(called Conditional Access modules or CAM) between your smartcard and your DVB card are expensive, and that those you see sold in Europe may not necessarily work here in North America. Presently, Dishnetwork and Bell ExpressVu for instance do not issue CAMs for their services, therefore you cannot use your regular smartcard with a CAM inserted into a DVB CI card. But there are other services in North America that offer CAMs for example Asia After Dark and ethnic programming packages.


Some cards are inexpensive, some are high-priced. What's the difference?
The difference is the hardware on the card. Your typical DVB card processes the signal on your PC. The more expensive cards do the processing on the card itself, using much less CPU processing time than the inexpensive cards. The Hauppauge Nexus-S does on-board processing, all other do it on the PC(example: VisionPlus VP 1020 or the Nova-S).


Some cards do hardware mode, and other software mode. What's the difference?
As explained above, hardware mode is signal processing onthe card itself. Software mode does the processing on the PC. Software mode always requires much more CPU time than hardware mode.


Ok, so I get a card. How do find the signal without a regular receiver?
You can use utilities for this, but we have not seen any yet specific to DVB cards, and so we are in the process of releasing one shortly. This SatFinder will calculate the position of your dish and also have graphic and audio indicators built in to it.


Your card can also let me download at up to 400kps?
Yes you can. With a subscription to an Internet service provider that transmits by satellite, you can download at these speeds. The one condition aside from owning a DVB card and having a subscription is that uploads are made with a land line(dial up, cable, or DSL type connections.


How much is a subscription to satellite Internet service?
We are presently negotiating with a satellite Internet provider. A standard package will be competitive to others that offer the same, which is in the neighbourhood of $60CAD per month.


Do I need something special on my PC to use this PCI DVB card?
Not really. Most people choose software mode cards, and therefore require geater CPU speeds. The typical setup for using a DVB software mode card is to own a PC with a 1Ghz CPU or greater, a 32MB video card, a CD player(to install the software), Windows 9X up to XP, and 128MB of RAM(memory) If you are looking to purchase a hardware-mode card such as the Nexus-S, a 500Mhz CPU is the recommended minimum (Hauppauge states less, but official requirements tend to be unrealistic).


This card replaces a receiver?
Yes, totally makes a receiver redundant.


Can I watch Dishnetwork and ExpressVu with a DVB card?
Yes, you can point and receive the signal from Dishnetwork(Echostar) and ExpressVu(Nimiq) satellites. No, a DVB card and the software included with your card will not let you see the encrypted channels on these satellites.


How many satellites can I point to?
Any and all that carry DVB-standard signals, which means almost all of those transmitted over North America.


Can I watch DirecTV with a DVB card?
No. DirecTV uses the DSS standard which is not compatible with DVB, although many are looking into some form of translator software to adapt it to DVB. This has been done in the UK with NDS cards, but NDS in the UK does not mean NDS in North America.


What warranty do you have on your cards All cards are warrantied for a year against manufacturing defects.


I live in the Montreal area. Can I go pick up my card somewhere?

I live in the USA. What about customs problems?
There is no duty on DVB cards, They are listed as circuit boards. As for the legality of DVB cards, a good part of our cards come from the U.S.A.


My shipping charges seem high because there is a charge per item. Can you fix that?
Yes, but you must email us, or add a note to your PayPal payment.


Are DVB Master and DVB Canada owned by the same people? The sites are similar because we know each other, but that's about it. We our our stuff, they do theirs, in another province.