progdvb.com

Well I got a question here.

I have PowerDVD 7.2 Ultra and download ProgDVB.

I want to buy a Technisat Skystar HD2 card to view BBC HD and other HD programs. Is this possible just with PowerDVD and ProgDVB or do I need something other like the Professional Version of ProgDVB?

Only ProgDVB Pro support h264 channels.
Trial version you can download from www.progdvb.com

OK. So I need the Pro version.

And that's it or must I buy anything else?

You will as well need suitable codecs.
But you can try with yours during the tryout period.

Well I need to know BEFORE I go and buy my a DVD-S2 card. Will PowerDVDs drivers work or not?

Not drivers, but perhaps codecs...
Drivers come from HW manufacturers.

I did not try that version of PowerDVD yet.
Still got PowerDVD XP / 4 here, that came with my DVD drive, and the Cyberlink codecs from that do work.
Other users successfully report using 6 and 7 versions.
But these days, codecs may (but not must) be limited to the software they came with.

Also keep in mind, an eventual HW acceleration from your graphics card will surely depend on your codecs, and the manufacturer of it should be the first to be consulted for this. Check all the software that came with it, then look for downloads and updates.
h.264 decoding can really benefit from as much as possible HW support, even on a very powerful machine..

Your new hardware should also come with software and codecs, if bought as retail from a good vendor. And this should be working anyway, once the requirements are fulfilled.

After testing all that, you may think about using 3rd party software.

Our main problem here is, people with well working solutions normally don't report. So in most cases we only get informed about those having trouble...