DVB-S2 Receiver Prof Revolution PCI 7301
Introduction
The Prof Revolution 7301 DVB-S2 PCI card is designed for the reception of standard and high definition Free-To-Air digital satellite television, satellite radio and one-way satellite Internet via a PC. The Prof 7301 occupies one PCI slot and can receive standard DVB and DVB-S2 satellite signals with QPSK and 8PSK modulations. With the supplied Windows BDA drivers, the Prof 7301 supports two main (and most necessary) BDA extensions: operation of DiSEqC switches; motor support; remote control operation.
In this review, the results of Prof 7301 testing are exemplified by satellites received in Europe and the USA. One should realize though the broadcasting of satellite TV using the DVB-S and DVB-S2 standards covers almost the whole planet.
Package description
The Prof Revolution 7301 DVB-S2 PCI is manufactured for reception of satellite television. And that’s why it is supplied in the fullest configuration typical of the devices of this sort, including a remote control unit, battery and infra-red receiver.
The packaging of the Prof Revolution 7301 contains:
- Prof Revolution 7301 DVB-S2 PCI card – 1 pc
- Remote control– 1 pc
- Battery AAA – 2 pcs
- External infra-red receiver – 1 pc
- Mini CD-disk with drivers and software - 1 pc
- Installation Guide – 1 pc
The printed circuit board is blue, the color of all Prof Revolution DVB card series. Even the board of the Prof 7500 USB device (inside the case) is dark blue color.
The remote control has ergonomic design (it is comfortable to keep RC in hand). There are 34 buttons on the remote control. The buttons for channel shifting are formed on a single rubber base.
The external infra-red receiver is equipped by the cable in the length of 1 m and is connected to PCI card via a TRS connector (diameter of 2.5 mm). TRS connectors are frequently used for exterior infrared receivers in similar DVB and hybrid TV tuners.
Construction
The Prof Revolution 7301 DVB-S2 card is compliant with PCI version 2.2 (or higher). The Prof 7301 is powered only through the PCI bus and supports the powering of external components such a LNB, DiSEqC switches and motor. There is no LED status indication. The board is two-layered; installation of the elements is performed on a single side.
The three main chips are: demodulator STV0903B (STMicroelectronics), tuner STB6100 (STMicroelectronics), bus-line bridge PCI CX23883-39 (Conexant). Also the printed board has the memory chip EEPROM - FT24C02 (Fremont Micro Devices) located on its surface.
Technical Parameters of Prof Revolution 7301
Prof Revolution 7301 General Characteristics
| DVB-S2 card type | Internal |
| Stream processing | Software |
| Power supply | From PCI bus |
| Maximum PCI bus power consumption | +12V @ 350mA, +5V @ 3A, +3.3V @ 3A |
| Remote control operation | Yes. RC unit included in box. |
| External connectors | LNB IN, LOOP OUT (F-connector) Infra-red receiver (TRS 2.5 mm) |
| Power supply of converter (LNB) | 13V/18V, 700 mA |
| DiSEqC | 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, USALS. DiSEqC-switch, motor support |
| LED status indication | No |
| Printed board dimensions | 135 x 65 x 18 mm |
| Retail carton box weight | 0.35 kg |
| Operation systems support | MS Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7, GNU/Linux |
| Windows drivers | PTG Engine 1.7 http://www.proftuners.com/eng/download.html |
| Linux drivers | Igor M. Liplianin http://mercurial.intuxication.org/hg/s2-liplianin http://linuxtv.org/hg/v4l-dvb |
Prof Revolution 7301 main Chips Characteristics
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Demodulator Chipset
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| Name | STV0903B |
| Developer and manufacturer | STMicroelectronics |
| Function | Multi-standard advanced demodulator for satellite digital TV set-top boxes |
| Supported standards | DVB-S, DSS, DVB-S2 |
| Signal modulation | QPSK and 8PSK |
| FEC DVB-S | 1/2, 2/3, 3/4, 5/6, 7/8, 8/9 |
| FEC DVB-S2 | 1/2, 3/5, 2/3, 3/4, 4/5, 5/6, 8/9, 9/10 |
| 16APSK, 32APSK | Not supported |
| Roll-Off | 0.35, 0.25, 0.20 |
| Symbol rate range | From 1 till 45 Msymbols/s for QPSK and 8PSK (DVB-S and DVB-S2) |
| Supply current peak | 1.8A |
| Operating ambient temperature | From -10°C to +70°C |
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Tuner Chipset
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| Name | STB6100 |
| Developer | RF Magic, Inc. |
| Manufacturer | STMicroelectronics |
| Function | DVB S2 direct conversion satellite tuner IC |
| Input frequency range | 950 – 2150 MHz |
| Symbol rate | 1 – 45 Msymbol/s |
| Potential modulations | BPSK/QPSK/8PSK/16APSK/32APSK (in Prof Revolution 7301, only QPSK and 8PSK can be used) |
| Input impedance | 75 Ohm |
| Noise Figure | 9 dB (12 dB Max) |
| AFC dynamic range | 70 dB (60 dB Min) |
| Peak power consumption | 290 mA |
| Operating ambient temperature | From -20°C till +70°C |
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PCI Bus Chipset
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| Name | CX23883-39 |
| Developer and manufacturer | Conexant |
| Function | PCI Audio/Video Broadcast Decoder |
| Bus version | PCI version 2.2 |
| Bus width | 32 bit |
| Operating ambient temperature | From 0°C till +70°C |
System Requirements
The intended use of device Prof Revolution 7301 is the reception of satellite signals and the delivery of transport/data stream via the PCI bus to PC memory. The Prof 7301 is not involved in any hardware decoding of MPEG-2 or H.264/AVC, and consequently does not any hardware video or audio decoders. The PC in which the Prof 7301 is installed should have sufficient resources to perform the processing of the transport stream.
Current PCs should be suitable for satellite Internet and to play video in MPEG-2 format.
To play video in the H.264 format, a video card from ATI or NVidia with support of video H.264/AVC hardware decoding is required. These technologies are referred to by the vendors as ATI AVIVO HD and NVIDIA PureVideo HD.
General System Requirements to PC
| CPU | From 2 GHz |
| RAM | Not less 512 MB |
| Sound card | Integrated in mother board or PCI/PCIe |
| Operation system | Microsoft Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7, GNU/Linux |
| H.264 video | Video card supporting H.264 hardware decoding: ATI AVIVO HD: Radeon HD 5000 Series, Radeon HD 4000 Series, Radeon HD 3000 Series, Radeon HD 2600 Series, Radeon HD 2400 Series, Radeon HD 4200/AMD 785G Chipset, Radeon HD 3200/AMD 780G Chipset, Radeon HD 3300 IGP/AMD 790GX Chipset. NVIDIA PureVideo HD: GeForce 200 Series, GeForce 9 Series, GeForce 86xx, GeForce 85xx, GeForce 84xx. |
HDTV video in the format H.264/AVC can also be decoded by means of the CoreAVC software decoder. At the present time, it is the fastest software decoder for H.264/AVC. To provide efficient operation of CoreAVC a dual core processor 2.5-2.8 GHz is required. With CoreAVC since version 1.9.5.0, it is also possible to use a video card supporting the NVIDIA CUDA technology. A list of video cards supporting NVIDIA CUDA technology is available at: http://www.nvidia.com/object/cuda_home.html
System operation description:
- The Prof Revolution 7301 receives the satellite signal and delivers the transport stream to PC memory via the PCI bus.
- The transport stream is processed by central processor (CPU).
- When a H.264/AVC hardware decoder is employed, the majority of the decoding process is performed by the video card with ATI AVIVO HD or NVIDIA PureVideo HD technologies.
To provide stable operation of the system it is required to meet the following requirements: only the official version of MS Windows should be used, non-official code-packs (except for HD Pack, CLVD Pack) should not be used and stable video card drivers should be selected. Stable video-card drivers mean not the latest version of video-card driver but the version of video-card driver that operates most stably with H.264 on your PC and does not cause the BSOD.
Standard loading of the system CPU when playing HDTV video 1080p (1920 x 1080 pixels) with H.264/AVC hardware decoding is about 8-15%.
Supported Software
Prof Revolution 7301 has an extended list of supported software. It consists of almost all DVB applications available at present.
| DVB Application | Official Website |
| DVBDream | http://www.dvbdream.org/ |
| AltDVB 2.2 | - |
| DVBViewer Pro | http://www.dvbviewer.com/ |
| ProgDVB | http://www.progdvb.com/ |
| Media Portal | http://www.team-mediaportal.com/ |
| SkyView | http://www.skyview.pl/ |
| SmartDVB | http://www.smartdvb.net/ |
| SichboPVR | http://pvr.sichbo.ca/ |
| WinClipDVB | http://www.winclip.info/ |
| BlazeDTV | http://www.blazevideo.com/ |
| MyTheatre | http://www.dvbcore.com/ |
One can also use MS Windows Media Center when the DVBLink software by http://dvblogic.com/ is used. By default, MS Windows Media Center cannot correctly operate satellite TV in the DVB-S/S2 formats. But Windows Media Center does have an attractive interface appreciated by some users. The DVBLink software links DVBViewer Pro and MCE, where DVBViewer runs the DVB tuner and Windows Media Center displays the video through its interface. DVBLogic is involved in the process of creating a DVB engine which eliminates the disadvantages of standard HTPC solutions: Windows Media Center, Sage TV, GB PVR allowing using it for video in the DVB-S/S2 streams. Note that Windows Media Center may require additional patches to work correctly with DVB-S/S2 and DVBLink.
Linux developers are involved in the development of Prof Revolution 7301 drivers for Linux. At present experienced Linux users can use versions of the Prof 7301 drivers from Igor Liplianin’s repository: http://mercurial.intuxication.org/hg/s2-liplianin. This repository is a focal point for developing and testing drivers for DVB devices before delivering them to the core of Linux. To display satellite TV, Linux users may choose HTPC and PVR applications such as: Kaffeine, XBMC, VDR, MythTV.
Digital Satellite TV Testing
At present there is no established methodology for DVB tuner testing including DVB-cards. We have done DVB tuner testing on the basis of authors’ methodologies.
Prof Revolution 7301 Testing - European Satellites
Author: Konrad Dabek
The reception of difficult satellite transponders, with low signal level and interference, is claimed to be the important advantage of the Prof Revolution 7301, and we need to establish whether this is true. We tested the Prof 7301 operation with complex European satellite transponders.
Testing of Prof Revolution 7301 work with low symbol rate
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Low Symbol Rate (Low SR)
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| Standard | Parameters | Commentary |
| DVB-S | Eutelsat Sesat (36,0°E) 12633, V, 3/4 SR: 1331 TelefortuneSat |
Signal strong and stable. |
| DVB-S | Express AM-44 (11,0°W) 11,456, H, 3/4 SR: 1001 data channel |
Signal strong and stable, but nothing to receive, because this is just data carrier. Anyway it shows that card can receive SR from 1000 ksps. |
| DVB-S2 | Intelsat 901 (18,0°W) 11000, H, 5/6 SR: 1666 8PSK Videopiu testcard |
Signal low, but stable. Also we have locked successfully freq. 11,154 GHz, pol. H, SR: 1460, FEC: 8/9, but there signal was too low to search. Still this is the best score compared to most other DVB cards. Other products generally cannot receive lower SR values in DVB-S2 than 5000-10000 kbps, and in those cases the feeds cannot be received. |
| DVB-S2 | Intelsat 901 (18,0°W) 11496, H, 5/6 SR:1181 QPSK TV Sonce |
SR is below 1200. Working stable with AltDVB. It is better than previous tests, when the lowest received SR was 1666 for DVB-S2. |
Testing of Prof Revolution 7301 with high symbol rate
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High Symbol Rate (high SR)
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| Standard | Parameters | Commentary |
| DVB-S | Express AM22 (53,0°E) 11044, V, 3/4 SR: 44950 RSCC package |
The signal is strong and stable. There are no problems in reception of channels. This is the highest symbol rate at all European satellites at the moment of testing. So there are no limits in symbol rate value for Prof-7301. Prof-7301 can receive all similar transponders with high SR. |
| DVB-S2 | Intelsat 907 (27,5°W) 11495, V, 9/10 SR: 44100 QPSK BBC package |
The signal level is 50-55 %, stable. All channels are encrypted so there is no possibility to view anything. Actually it is the highest DVB-S2 SR in Europe for all satellites existing at present. So Prof-7301 can be stable in receiving transponders and with such a high SR. Additionally we have approved the information that Prof 7301 can receive SkyVision data feeds from Intelsat 4 (72.,0°E) – transponder 12591,V,2/3 where SR value is 43200 (FEC: 2/3). |
Example of Prof Revolution 7301 work with complex transponders
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Different Complex Transponders
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| Standards | Parameters | Commentary |
| DVB-S | Hellas Sat 2 (39,0°E) 11512, H, 7/8 SR: 30000 Ukrkosmos package |
On some receivers (like Topfield TF770 HSCI), despite strong signal channels cannot be correctly received, picture and sound are stuttering. Prof 7301 had no problems with receiving this transmission. |
| DVB-S2 | Thor 5 (0,8°W) 12015, H, 3/4 SR: 30000 Canal Digital package |
Because of high SR value some DVB cards (like KNC One TV Station S2) cannot get lock. Prof 7301 had no problems with receiving this transmission. |
Testing was done in September 2009 and January 2010. By the date of the publication some changes in these transponders had taken place.
Comparative Testing of Prof Revolution 7301 and Technotrend 3200 on North American Satellites
Author: Pendragon
The Prof 7301 and Technotrend-3200 were in the same machine and fed from a splitter, so they saw nearly identical signals. There werent a lot of low CNR signals up this evening, so I chose a smaller dish for several of the signals to show the ability of the Prof to lock better on weak signals. I did not use my big C-band dishes, because both tuners would have performed about the same. In my experience, the new Prof tuners will hold lock down to about a SQ of 20%. The TechnoTrend-3200 starts to have problems around 45%.
| Parameters | Prof-7301 SQ |
TechnoTrend-3200 SQ |
Commentary |
| 80cm, RTN, AMC 9, 83W, 11735 H 4444 3/4 DVB-S | 46% | 0% | Weak uplink, not an easy signal for a small dish. Prof locks and displays a perfect picture. Technotrend-3200 is completely unable to lock and shows 0% SQ. |
| 80cm, NBC, AMC 1, 103W, 12000 H 30000 5/6 DVB-S2 8PSK | 39% | 46% | Another difficult signal on a small dish. Prof locks and displays perfect picture. Technotrend-3200 is able to lock and scan, but picture breaks up constantly. |
| 80cm, BVN, AMC 4, 101W, 12120 V 30000 3/4, DVB-S | 100% | 54% | Fairly easy signal. Prof-7301 has a lot of margin. Technotrend-3200 locks and provides a good picture, but not much margin. |
| 1.2m, PBS, AMC 21, 125W, 12140 V 30000 3/4, DVB-S | 100% | 67% | Easy signal for this size dish. Both tuners do fine. |
| 1.2m, PBS, AMC 21, 125W, 12072 H 16666 3/5, DVB-S2 8PSK | 100% | 56% | Would be more difficult on a smaller dish. Technotrend-3200 displays fine, but lacks margin. |
| 1.8m, DW, Intelsat 9, 58W, 3840 H 27690, 7/8, DVB-S | 100% | 57% | Easy lock for Prof-7301. Technotrend-3200 gets it, but not with much margin. |
| 3m, IWL, NSS 806, 40.5W, 3848 R 1430, 5/6, DVB-S | 99% | 45% | Easy lock for Prof-7301. Technotrend-3200 has minor video breakup. |
| 3m, TCTV, Intelsat 1R, 45W, 3789 V 1667, ?, DVB-S2 8PSK | 100% | 69% | Solid lock on both, but channel is currently encrypted so no ability to monitor video/audio. Prof-7301 locks instantly, Technotrend-3200 takes about a minute to achieve lock. Unable to determine FEC. |
In North America, there is almost no use of SR > 30000 for either DVB-S or DVB-S2, yet. The AMC 9 signal is very difficult for anything less than a 1.2m dish, so this shows how well the Prof unit does compared to other tuners.
HDTV Testing
We have tested the reception of “troublesome” transponders. But ordinary users may ask how about ordinary transponders? We tested satellites with HDTV with the DVB-S and DVB-S2 standards. For viewing we used AltDVB 2.2, which is the most stable program for HDTV hardware decoding in the H.264 format by means of DVXA and associated ATI AVIVO HD, NVIDIA PureVideo HD technologies.
| Channel | Satellite | Standard, Modulation | Signal Parameters | Testing Results |
| FTV HD | EUROBIRD 9A, 9° E | DVB-S2, 8PSK | 11881V, SR 27500, FEC 2/3 | Stable reception |
| LUXE TV HD | EUROBIRD 9A, 9° E | DVB-S, QPSK | 11804V, SR 27500, FEC 3/4 | Stable reception |
| 3D SAT TV | EUROBIRD 9A, 9° E | DVB-S, QPSK | 11747H, SR 27500, FEC 3/4 | Stable reception |
| ARTE HD | ASTRA 1, 19° E | DVB-S2, 8PSK | 11362H, SR 22000, FEC 2/3 | Stable reception |
| HD TEST ARD | ASTRA 1, 19° E | DVB-S2, 8PSK | 11362H, SR 22000, FEC 2/3 | Stable reception |
| HD 1 | EUROBIRD 9A, 9° E | DVB-S2, 8PSK | 11881V, SR 27500, FEC 2/3 | Stable reception |
Testing of these parameters in software makes no sense because in this article we illustrate testing of DVB cards not TV players. Different TV players have different codecs and splitters and thats why they work differently with HDTV, including through DXVA (hardware speeding by means of video card with H.264 format video). Besides, differences take place when different H.264 decoders (CyberLink H.264/AVC Decoder, ArcSoft Mpeg2/H264 Video Decoder, PureVideo Decoder etc) are used.
Testing of Transponders Lock Speed on Prof Revolution 7301
Author: Konrad Dabek
At the beginning I had planned to do a test with 130cm dish and a motor but that is not the most popular configuration in Europe. People often use a dish ~80cm with two LNBs + DiSEqC or a monoblock for Hot Bird (13°E) and Astra 1 (19,2°E) so I decided to set up 80cm Famaval dish with monoblock LNB (Opticum LMTP-04H) just for testing purposes.
PC configuration: Windows 7 Enterprise 32bit, 1GB RAM, Intel Core 2 Duo CPU E4500 2.20GHz, ATI FireGL V3100 graphic card.
Antenna configuration: Famaval 80cm with monoblock twin LNB (Opticum LMTP-04H) + ~25m Triset 113 cable.
I used the same transponder.ini file with all DVB players (except of ProgDVB which have its own transponders database format). For Hot Bird there were 99 frequencies, for Astra - 83.All times are in seconds.
| Satellite | Freq. | AltDVB 2.2 b3912 | DVBDream 1.4i | ProgDVB 6.32.4 Pro | DVBViewer 4.2.1 | SmartDVB 0.15a with original BDA interface | TT S2-3200 with AltDVB and BDA interface from Diodato |
| with last Dev_Prof.int (PTG Engine) | with lastbda_prof.dev (PTG Engine) | ||||||
| Europe - HotBird 13E | 99 | 174s | 618s | 804s (105 frequencies) | 178s | 243s | 230s |
| Europe - Astra 1 (19,2°E) | 83 | 105s | 499s | 610s (85 frequencies) | 116s | 156s | 187s |
AltDVB: was the absolute leader. It has the fastest scanner from all DVB players in tests. This success is mostly because of great Prof device interface Dev_Prof.int written by Prof Tuners Team.
DVBDream 1.4i: scanning was slow to compare with other DVB players. Also at my configuration it was more unstable. When scanning Astra it hung up at 12,012V (PsiParser error) and I needed to scan again. Also it hangs up almost always when I tried to close it (window disappears, but dvbdream.exe stayed in the process manager for next 5-8 minutes. I was not able to cancel this process - 5-8 minutes to wait, until it closed on its own). Also I had tested DVBDream with original BDA interface, and BDA_ALL interface made by ScanMan. First was even worse than version from Prof, second had similar results. At the end I even tried to DVBDream 1.5 beta 7, but that also didnt help - DVBDream scanner was not very fast or it just failed at my configuration.
Also to be clear: DVBDream had no problems with locking frequencies etc. Speed problem was caused just by the scanner because it (in my opinion) analyzed PMT table too long. White progress bar in PMT field goes to the end but anyway DVBDream waited for PMT timeout and because of that scanned every frequency, even if lock was in less than 100ms was done in not less than 5-6 seconds... That is the reason why scanning in DVBDream was slow.
SmartDVB: very good result, scanning is fast and very precise.
ProgDVB: slow, slow, slow... But that was not a surprise for me. It is just slow when scanning with any DVB card. But channel switching is blazing-fast! ProgDVB doesn’t have a transponders editor built in. It updates frequencies when scanning by obtaining necessary data from Transport Stream of other active frequencies. Because of that in fact ProgDVB started with 99 transponders on Hot Bird but finally updated this value to 105. Similar was on Astra - from 83 to 85.
DVBViewer: good fast scanning, also many options, extended but easy configuration, very stable.
All DVB players were tested with standard settings. There were no changes made with timeouts for tables in DVB Transport Stream.
Summary: If you are a DX-er, you have the necessary knowledge to run more advanced DVB players - You should check Prof Tuners card with AltDVB. For less advanced users I recommend to buy DVBViewer - stable, easy to configure. Also it is worth to notice, that all DVB players had no problems on Prof 7301 with DiSEqC built in monoblock LNB.
TechnoTrend S2-3200 with AltDVB 2.2 and BDA interface from Diodato was tested with latest drivers. In Astra19.2E performance was slower maybe because of DiSEqC-switch in monoblock. In fact it is funny - TechnoTrend is from Germany, so their cards should be especially tested with Astra 19.2E channels and performance should be fast (I expected that there would be difference between Prof-7301 and TT S2-3200 but smaller than in Hot Bird and I was wrong - difference was even bigger, of course in favour of Prof 7301; like I said that was DiSEqC but for Prof-7301 it wasnt a problem anyway.
Satellite Internet Testing
We have tested one-way satellite Internet exemplified by the provider SpectrumSat. SpectrumSat can be received in the Eastern Europe and Asia. Transponder parameters and coverage map of SpectrumSat you can see at the official website of the provider: http://spectrumsat.net/eng/sats/params/hellassat2/
At the moment of SpectrumSat transponder testing (03.01.2010) the satellite parameters were the following:
| Satellite: | 39° East |
| Beam: | S2 (Middle East) |
| Modulation: | QPSK |
| Frequency: | 11629.7 MHz |
| Symbol Rate: | 20500 Ksps |
| Polarization: | Horizontal |
| FEC: | 3/4 |
SpectrumSat has been tested with all possible terrestrial connections. During the testing process no peculiarities of IP DATA operation were found.
Utility IP DATA 1.03 from the package PTG Engine 1.7 was used during the testing. You can see the evidence of successful reception of SpectrumSat satellite Internet in the following screenshot:
A green signal signifies that a transponder has been successfully locked and data is successfully sent to the virtual network adapter «Virtual MPE Decoder Adapter».
DiSEqC Testing (Motors and DiSEqC-Switches)
Converter switches and motors are run by the “Digital Satellite Equipment Control” (DiSEqC™) standard. The main documents of this standard are “DiSEqC™ Bus Specification Version 4.2 (February 25, 1998)” and “Update and Recommendations for Implementation Version 2.1 (February 25, 1998)”. The document “Positioner Application Note Version 1.0 (March 15, 1998)” is used for motor control. The standards specify that for operating the motor and DiSEqC switches, no additional power supply and control cables are used. All commands are transferred via the coaxial cable.
The DiSEqC protocol operates in the following manner: BDA drivers of PTG Engine prepare DiSEqC commands. A DiSEqC message is a command from 3 to 6 bytes. A device working on the DiSEqC protocol receives a command from the DVB card, processes it and fulfills the required actions.
Results of DiSEqC Protocol Testing
| Software |
Operation of 4-port
DiSEqC-Switch |
Operation of Motor
on DiSEqC Protocol
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| AltDVB 2.2 | Operates | Operates |
| DVBDream 1.4i | Operates | Operates |
| ProgDVB 6 | Operates | Operates |
| DVBViewer Pro 4.3/TransEdit | Operates | Operates |
| Different software | Was not tested | Was not tested |
Prof Revolution Series
We plan to write reviews for the Prof Revolution 7500 USB and Prof Revolution 8000 PCIe. From the point of view of an ordinary consumer all three DVB-cards Revolution Series are one and the same device with different connections to the PC (PCI, PCIe, and USB). All three devices are built on the same NIM-module, which contains tuner and demodulator.
So far we have only tested Prof Revolution 7500 USB device and we can conclude that in the respect of reception parameters (stable reception of the difficult transponders) this product is analogous to the Prof Revolution 7301 PCI card.
From the point of view of an engineer the Revolution Series represents different devices with different types of power supplies with different implementations in the basic circuit. For example, the Prof Revolution 7500 USB device is not a mere DVB tuner. This is a device consists of USB bus micro controller with internal commanding.
The Prof Revolution 8000 PCIe card has not merely another bus but a bus with another power supply pins requiring another chip set. Every new chip, every new micro program gives new problems to the developers. And as far as we know from PTG engineers PCIe provides additional challenges for users who decide to use this bus. Thats why we recommend PCI as the best way of device connection to a standard PC. This is the time-tested way.
Interesting fact: work on providing a “Blind Scan” function in the Prof Revolution drivers is in progress. “Blind Scan” means the search for and scanning of transponders with fully unknown parameters (frequency, polarization, symbol rate, FEC and modulation type). These functions are available in the STV0903 chipset but drivers and applications software is required to provide the functionality to the user. PTG is not announcing a project schedule or completion estimate at this time.
Conclusions
Advantages and disadvantages of Prof Revolution 7301 are shown in the table with amplifying comments.
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Prof Revolution 7301 Advantages
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| Modern electronic base | Modern chips STV0903B, STB6100 |
| Stable signal reception under difficult conditions. High sensitivity to weak signals Stable operation | Advantages of tuner and front end chips as well as drivers delicate adjustments. Operation of AFC (automatic frequency control) when the satellite carrier frequency or LNB is drifting |
| Quick transponder lock | Quick scanning of the transponder list, quick channel switching (300-400 ms, when competitive DVB-cards have 500-1500 ms) |
| Support of the extended list of software | All well-known TV-players as well as additional utilities: FastSatFinder, SkyNet, Manna, SkyGrabber |
| FEC autodetection | In DVB-S and DVB-S2 standards |
| Support of high and low symbol rates in both DVB-S and DVB-S2 modes | Prof Revolution 7301 competitive advantage is the support of 1-45 Msymb/s for DVB-S/DVB-S2 transponders with QPSK/8PSK modulations. |
| Possibility of use in the HTPC set | Main HTPC-package supporting DVB-S/S2: Windows: Media Portal, DVBViewer, ProgDVB GNU/Linux: Kaffeine, XBMC, VDR, MythTV |
| Remote control unit availability | The majority of budget DVB-card does not have a remote control unit. Prof Revolution 7301 is always sold with a remote control unit at the same price of the ready product. |
| Motor operation by in-service BDA-driver | Prof Revolution 7301 does not use any exterior power supply. Power completely comes from the bus PCI. Operation on DiSEqC 1.2 and USALS. |
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Prof Revolution 7301 Disadvantages
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| Lack of in service software for video playing | Prof Revolution 7301 is developed for usage by the large list of DVB applications and Home Theater PCs (HTPC). That’s why from the manufacturer’s point of view creation of our own viewer applications is senseless. |
| Big case of remote control unit | From one side it is not a disadvantage. In comparison with a flat remote control unit a bigger remote control unit is more comfortable to keep in hand and it is more ergonomic. |
The Prof Revolution 7301 is the DVB card of the new generation. This DVB-card is developed on the basis of the newest STV0903B demodulator by STMicroelectronics that helps it receive the signal more stably even in difficult conditions of reception and fulfill a quick search/lock of the digital satellite signal.
The Prof Revolution 7301 supports almost all software products which may be used to process the digital signal on PC (TV applications, satellite Internet). The Prof Revolution 7301 receives power from the PCI bus and can operate DiSEqC switches and motors. The Prof Revolution 7301 is the multifunctional card aimed at solving a wide range of problems from use in HTPC set from playing digital satellite TV to using as a device for satellite Internet reception.
We thank Prof Tuners Group for the provided equipment for testing. As well as we thank all the satellite reception enthusiasts who took part in the process of review preparation.
North American TV Tests and Text
Pendragon (USA)
European TV Tests and Text
Konrad Dabek (Poland)
www.satkurier.pl
Text
Steven W.
Viktor D.