PC USB Freeview???

[Binky]

Has anyone used one of these to watch Freeview television on thier PC or laptop???

Are they anygood and can someone please reccomend me some good models or brands???

got one from aldi a few months ago coz it was cheap - picked up nothing so got a refund

[tigersaw]

They are rubbish.

I've got a freecom one, about £30. it's very good, works just as you'd expect and you can either use the supplied small aerial or use the adapter to plug your standard tv aerial feed into it. You can record tv, minimize it to a small box in the corner and a few other tricks.

[Binky]

Originally Posted by tigersaw

They are rubbish.

Where did you get yours from and how which model was it, f you don't mind me asking???

I'd like to know which one to avoid.

You need a REALLY good signal with freeview, or you'll get nowt, dont even think about a set top arial, you'll get maybe two stations... Rooftop arial ONLY!!

Steve

[jambo]

I used to work for a manufacturer who sold these in the UK.

The Ariel is the most important component. If you live 30 miles from the transmitter, no portable Ariel is going to pick up a good signal, I don't care if the signal booster goes up to 11. Signal boosters take a poor quality signal and make it very loud. That's not the same as providing a good strong signal.

Start with the signal predictor here:

If you live in a basement, in the middle of a concrete block or on the back of a hill, be honest about the Ariel type you're going to need. If you've already got a suitable main outdoor Ariel at the place you want to watch TV, bonus, use that.

After that decide if you want to buy something out of a Christmas cracker with support on a page in the manual converted from Chinese, and on line downloads only from a page in Taiwan, or if you want something with UK support and a team who've actually seen the product. Then vote with your wallet.

Jambo

[Binky]

Originally Posted by jambo

Start with the signal predictor here:


Jambo

Thanks for that Jambo. I've done a search for my postcode but am not entirely sure what to make of all the numbers.

My "antenna suggestion" is "amplified extra hi-gain" which, i presume, means i have a weak signal then. Guess a USB freeview box is a no goer then????

[jambo]

Originally Posted by Binky

Thanks for that Jambo. I've done a search for my postcode but am not entirely sure what to make of all the numbers.

My "antenna suggestion" is "amplified extra hi-gain" which, i presume, means i have a weak signal then. Guess a USB freeview box is a no goer then????

Not at all. It means you definitely need a nice big 3ft long Ariel up in the roof, with a signal booster and a nice clean bit of co-ax coming down into the room you want the laptop in, and you can plug the receiver into that. Provided you have that sort of input a USB freeview receiver will be fine, provided you buy one that's compatible with your system.

DVB-t (freeview) signals are already digitally encoded MPEG2 transport stream, the receiver has to do very little work aside from tuning in and decoding the stream you want to watch. I believe you can now get duel tuner USB2 items so you can watch one channel and record another, provided the laptop's up to spec.

The reason USB2 items are seen as more problematic is people want to walk or drive around with laptops and TV receivers and get a perfect signal anywhere. You wouldn't expect to do this with a PC or TV, but the same reception technology has to be used by laptops and USB2 receivers.

HTH

Jambo

[tigersaw]

Originally Posted by Binky

Where did you get yours from and how which model was it, f you don't mind me asking???

I'd like to know which one to avoid.

PC world

Hauppauge something or other.

I'm in a good signal area too, it may well have worked if I had connected it to the rooftop aerial, but that defeats the object in my case.